Second Skin

By: Clare Castleberry

Narrated by: Clare Castleberry

Under the glitz and glamour that is Los Angeles, a darker truth hides.

On the surface, Brooke seems to have it all: She lives in Los Angeles with a decent boyfriend and has a steady income as a model and a promising career as an aspiring author. But her life begins to spiral into a vortex of drugs and depression as she learns more about the dark side of her modeling agency.

At first, she is just as hollow and jaded as those around her, but behind the painted face, there is a vulnerable person walking down a dark and desperate path. As Brooke struggles and faces one crisis after another, author Clare Castleberry turns the alluring side of Hollywood into a harrowing, poignant short story.

Fans of horror, transgressive, and dark stories will enjoy this short listen.

Excerpt:

The car purred and the intensity of the drugs soared. It was like diving into a pool of rich, warm Jell-O. Putting my hands on the wheel and keeping them there was quite the task; it felt like my elbows were being pulled down to the floorboard. I drove forward; at least, I think I did. Tail lights and headlights blurred together to create brilliant colors and auras. I pulled up to a stop sign and waited for it to turn green. It did. I didn’t realize until much later that stop signs don’t turn green.

I didn’t pull over until my breathing got labored. I let my head fall back into the headrest and slowly sucked in air, but it never quite seemed to fill my lungs. I felt like I was breathing through a pinhole. I began to panic and tried to scream at the cars passing by, but the only thing I heard emerge was a faint rattle.

The panic soon eased into a mellow, peaceful feeling. I began to let go. I dove further into the pool of rich, liquid nothingness. This time, I let the skin fall off of me, a scaly remembrance of the film and the corruption that had followed me here.

Content warnings: Abuse, anxiety, blood/gore/graphic injuries, body shaming, bullying, death/murder/drowning, depression, drugs/addiction, hallucinations, manipulation/toxic relationships, paranoia, rape/sexual abuse, sex/slut shaming, and trauma.

©2016 Clare Castleberry (P)2022 Clare Castleberry

Transgressive Hollywood Ennui Horror

Castleberry's voice is perfect for the disaffected, dissociated protagonist of Second Skin: a woman who came to LA with hopes of modeling (everyone's a model in LA), but for whom the city has other, more horrible plans. Castleberry's affect, both spoken and written, reminds me of Cali transgressive writers like Bret Easton Ellis at their best, and most accurate to the ennui with which Angelinos describe or experience the abuse they suffer and enact. Second Skin is an uncomfortable quick dose of powerful, bleak misery, and I'd love to read/hear more like this!