{Tour} Hello? by Liza M. Wiemer (Character Interview + a Giveaway!)

Character Interview

Thanks for joining us, everyone! This is the first time we’ve done an interview this large, but we are so excited for our readers to get to know you all a little better today. We promise to try and go easy on you, let’s get started…

BFF, accepting, nurturing

My grandma was always amazing at reading people, seeing them for who they are under whatever persona they might be showing the world. She used to say real beauty comes from the inside. Someone can be absolutely gorgeous, but the most ugly person because they’re cruel, rude, or unkind to others. She would have loved how genuine and caring Emerson is, thoughtful in an introspective way.

Truthfully, at first I did want to hang up. Alarm bells were going off in my head, especially when Frankie said, “You don’t know me.”

But then…

It was weird. I felt this unexplainable pull. Maybe it was because I heard a boatload of pain in her voice. And when she started crying, I just…couldn’t. I would have driven myself half-mad wondering about her. My family would say I have this need to help people. As much as I hate admitting that they’re right, facts are facts. Caring is a part of who I am. I’ve wondered a million times over if I’m this way because of the trauma I had when I was five. I hope not. I hope that it’s just me being me and that I would have been this way regardless of what happened. I like who I am. I like that part of me.

Also, I had Frankie’s grandma’s old phone number. I was curious, and that, too, was enough to keep me from hanging up.

The first time I saw her, I didn’t know it was actually her. But the thing that struck me was that this petite girl knew how to take care of herself. She put Brian in his place and I admired that.

When we actually met… Well, obviously you can’t see me, but I’m shaking my head. Because WOW! Meeting Tricia for the first time, seeing her alive and real…I could barely believe it. I was dumbstruck and awed and wanted nothing more than to wrap her up in my arms and hold her. Since we hung up the phone so much in my life had gone wrong. But finding her, being with her… It was the first time in what seemed like forever that the scar across my chest no longer ached. A person can get used to pain. But to be free of it is something I’ll never forget.

Poetry
………..allows me
to reveal
………..the parts
I’m afraid
………..to show
the world.

No
right
or
wrong
way
to say
what I need
to say.

No……………hiding.
No……………shame.
……Honesty.

I can be
ME.

Integrity.
Seesthrough
mybullshit.
Perfect forme.

SPOILER ALERT! But I’m going to be honest here, so you decide if you want to read this before reading Hello?. I’ve spent so much of my life keeping secrets that it feels pretty darn good to just say what I want to say. I’m not going to tell you specifically what happened. You WILL have to read the novel for that. 🙂

What made me decide to finally reveal my secret? Emerson. Damn him and love him. It never occurred to me that he perceived me the way he perceived me. You know the—Don’t make me say it because it still pisses me off that he said something to Angie. You know what they say about assumptions, right? What an ass.

The whole situation sent me into a tailspin. Terrified me. I had thought I was doing a great job of living with the past and taking charge of my life now. But then I realized I wasn’t really living at all. Angie was right. I was more comfortable in the world I created on stage or wrote about in screenplays.

I hated Emerson and hated Angie. Even though they were completely clueless about what I had gone through. Most of all, I hated myself for being stuck in the past. I knew I had to face it or I’d spend the rest of my life reliving that defining moment. It was too much. Too painful and I couldn’t run away from it anymore. I didn’t want it to define me. That’s why I called my dad. That’s why I got help.

Please, please…I know there are people out there right now hurting the way I was hurting. You deserve more. I know it takes a lot of courage. I know it’s terrifying to reveal a secret. But there is no bigger prison than the one you create in your mind. Find someone to tell. Someone you can trust. What you’ve gone through is awful, incomprehensible, but it can’t define you unless you choose that. I didn’t think it was a choice. Not until I was so sick and tired of it defining me. No freaking Devil deserves that much power. No one should own you that way.

I’m not sure. Maybe when it’s not so raw. Telling my secret freed me. For now, that’s everything. I just want to move on, get to New York, and start my life.

And…
…oh wow. WOW!

Spoiler Alert!!!!! Maybe people shouldn’t read this yet? Maybe wait until after you read Hello? because…

…uh, there’s something I just realized. This very moment! I’m not so sure I want to write screenplays and act anymore? I mean, I do love it and I guess I could decide once I’m studying at Tisch. I GOT INTO TISCH! But—But now, there’s a part of me that just wants to experience life, to see where it takes me, to discover me.

Sorry, I need to go. I need to call my dad. I need to talk to him. Oh God. What am I going to do with my life?

Arrrrrrrrrg! How do I answer your question? I could tell you it’s the first mask I made out of clay, adding details to the face and making it so life-like that people did double-takes. It’s when I realized I had talent. A gift. From that moment on, I didn’t wanna do anything else with my life, but art.

But truthfully, and it pains me to admit this, my favorite piece is a drawing of Tricia that I made when she was sleeping. Before her grandma died, before we broke up, obviously. Before everything between us crumbled. She doesn’t even know about the picture. No one knows about it. It’s mine. Just mine, and I loved pulling it out of my drawer to look at a moment in time with her that belonged only to me. But now…I dunno what the hell to do with it. There are moments when I wanna tear it to shreds, get in my kayak, and dump it in Lake Michigan. Seems morbid, though. Like I’m spreading the ashes of someone I’ve loved. I can’t do it.

Despite everything, I still care about Tricia. Plus, we’re making our way back to being friends.

Once again, arrrrrrrrrg! You’re asking some really tough questions. Have I moved on? I guess so. But I have these moments when it’s really tough. Like now. In the past, every time I thought about my future, Tricia was a part of it. We were gonna get married. Yeah, I’m relieved we’re over. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. For so long we were TriciaandBrian, BrianandTricia. Now I’m just Brian.

And you wanna know the real kicker? Emerson. One phone conversation and this guy changed her life? Okay, I get it. I do. Tricia needed someone and he was there for her. I should be grateful. I am grateful. But what. The. Hell?

See? That’s the crap that runs through my head. I’m trying. The good news is that I’m going off-island this summer and am gonna work with a master potter. I’m looking forward to learning some new techniques and helping out in his gallery. I’ll even get to sell some of my work there. It’ll be great experience for when I open my own gallery on the island. At least I have that part of my dream for my future to hold onto, even without Tricia.