“No no no! Don’t touch me! leave me alone Noah!” She was swinging the hook in her hand around and I worried that she might get hurt. “Sam!” I yelled just as the room light came on. A needle glimmered in the light as she rushed towards us. “Help me hold her down.” She commanded and expertly caught mum’s waving hand. Lily ran into the room. “Shit!” She cursed and jumped on the bed to help. Mum screamed and struggled, her legs bucking under me. If she got free and kicked me in the stomach, it would be over. Samantha gave up trying to collect the pin and grabbed the needle from the table, she cursed as mum refused to keep her head still. Please calm down, I pleaded as my tears blurred my vision. Please… I don’t know how she managed it. But the needle was in mum’s neck and her violent struggles turned into little jerks until there was nothing but heavy breathing filling the room.She retrieved the knitting pin from mum’s grasped and tucked it into her pocket. “You’re bleeding
“Can I see that?” He handed the phone to me without a second thought. As the waitress took down Adams' new order I skimmed through the mail. Fantasy movie…’esteemed’ crew. They really wanted to keep it as secret as possible. A script was attached to he email and a date for his audition. Zombies didn’t count as fantasy right? “What’s the audition about?” Adams asked as I handed Jace his phone. “There’s not a lot to go by.” I described the contents of the email. “If they’re being this secretive it either a really big deal…” “…Or the work of a child-loving foot fetish psycho.” Jace finished snagging a fry. I was going to say crazy but I guess that works too. What if they only wanted one person from our show? Since Jace got the email, that would be it for me. Adams flashed me a smile and gave my hand a supportive squeeze. I smiled back. “I can tell you what the movie’s about. At the cost of your fries.” Jace offerred. I pushed it towards him. “Werewolf movie.” “How do you know?”
Throughout the time of our relationship, I followed Pierce’s lead. Zero touch was given, I only reciprocated unless I was told otherwise. But tonight I reached for him, I didn’t wait for him to gingerly get up and look around me the way that made shivers climb up my spine. Or wait to hear his commanding voice giving me his next orders. While that felt good, it was supposed to be Tami’s way. I wasn’t playing the role of Tami anymore. I straddled Pierce and kissed him, pushing my frustrations into it. I thought about the cut I inflicted at his office and nipped him on the lip, then sucked on it with more ferocity. His fingers tightened on me and he moved his head back to escape the onslaught of my lips. Being on him gave me the upper hand in this situation. His fingers tightened, digging into the soft flesh of my thighs. “Fuck Myra.” He cursed after leaning his head away from me. At an impressive speed he planted his palm on my back for support and flipped us, so I was now in the c
“…It’s one of the best things Abby.” I smiled ruefully at Mckenzie. Adams put his arm around my shoulder and I shot him a look till he retrieved his hand and acted like he was scratching his ear. “It doesn’t matter where we are, as long as we keep dreaming.” Rico, another lead said, Pushing himself off the table he was leaning on. “We should keep the gossip down a bit though.” Sarah grinned. Then we all spoke loudly to each other in the background as the music grew louder. “Annnnnd cut! That’s it folks. Last episode of Gossip and dreams!” Lancaster yelled. We clapped and shared bittersweet hugs, this show had been everything to me for the past few months, I could not picture myself not coming to this studio to be with this crew. “Now I know Miss Baker is going to have a big bash for us, but our little celebration is still on, alright?” Mckenzie yelled on stage, “and it’s at the same address, Ask Rico if you can’t fined it, he’ll be here for a while. Who needs a ride
Time seemed to slow in my mind as I plunged downwards. My safety was far from my mind, all I could think about was what could happen to my baby if I fell the wrong way. I swung my arms around as I tumbled, grasping the air till I caught hold of a railing. Then I gave myself a few seconds to process what had just happened. I sat on the bottom stair as I tried to assess the pain on my body and where they originated from. There was a bad scratch on my hand without the bandage that spanned from somewhere around my wrist to my elbow, my left side was throbbing with quickly mounting pain, I spotted another scratch on my leg that looked like it needed a bandaid, other than that, I was fine. I sighed in relief and hugged my tummy, ignoring my poor ribs. When I reached Lancaster’s office, I knocked low on the door. “Well don’t be shy now, come riiight in.” Lancaster drawled in a bad Texan accent.. At Least I thought it was him. When I pushed it open, I blinked in horror. He wasn
I draped my arm over Lily, “Oh don’t look so surprised, now you see, beauty runs in my family.” “Beauty? She looks nothing like you. She’s more…chipmunk or a midget.” Jace deadpanned. “SHE is standing right here.” Lily retorted with a frown, her cheeks pink. “SHE looks angry.” He countered again, “and I know exactly what will fix your face.” He lifted both hands to Lily's face and cupped her cheek before sliding his hands down. It was after he had taken his hands off that I realised what he had done. “There.” he smiled like a proud artist. I groaned, “Jace…could you be a little more mature.” “What did he do to me?” “Nothing sweetie, it’s just glitter.” She gasped and ran her hand on her cheek repeatedly. “This will never come off” “Good you look like the type that likes glitter.” I could feel Lily getting angry, this was a first in a long time. For my butterfly loving sister to get riled up, whoever was on the receiving end of it… “Okayyy” I started to pull Lily a
The ad assistant snapped the clapperboard as one of the board members began reading the scene out. “Amber Farnworth snaps out of her drug induced rage and looks at the massacre around her. She turns to child cowering in the corner and addresses him, go.” I took a deep breath in and as I breathed out I pushed myself into the headspace of my character. There was no money issues or sick mum, or Pierce, or Tami, or photos… photos with his mother…photos that implied Tami was her soon to be daughter in-law, photos of Pierce in bed with Tami. shit. “Anytime now, miss Thompson.” I could smell failure on the horizon. Maybe it would be better if I just got up and left, I thought to myself. I should’ve taken the Ad assistant’s offer earlier. “If you can’t remember the line, just use your script.” O’Malley suggested, sounding like he was through with this audition already. “I’m sorry.” I apologized and flipped the script open. The embarrassment I was feeling fueled my anxiety and m
TAMI… She looked around the room of actors, producers, and other production members with a pleasant smile on her face. Sarah, forever the loyal mutt, hung at the back, even though she did not look particularly happy this evening. She had hinted at how much she wanted to be the main lead in the show Myra had auditioned for. And while she sent those pictures and the article to throw her off her game, she wasn’t particularly doing it for Sarah’s sake, Although she did tell Sarah to be patient In truth, Tami had no intention of getting her on the movie unless it benefitted her. She had also decided to keep the fact that Myra had failed at her audition a secret, just so she could enjoy Sarah’s misery for a little while longer. Lancaster approached them with a wine glass between his chubby fingers. “Mr. Pierce, Miss Tami, I’m so glad you decided to throw this party. “Certainly, gossip and dreams is an excellent show; it deserves this wonderful celebration.” Tami answered with
The first second I felt dawn break the next morning, I slipped out of Seth’s house after dropping a note to say thankyou, and went into mine to take a shower. Then I spent the last day of my weekend in Hannah’s home who listed the many merits of accepting Pierce’s money.“You don’t have to convince me Hannah, I’m not saying No. That choice was taken away, and in exchange, Pierce will stop bothering me.” Everytime I answered that, she would look at me with a sad expression on her face and whenever I glared at her, she would raise her hands in the air. I tried to spend a little more time with Lily while I was there. Seth’s story reminding me just how valuable she was to me, but Lily was out most of the time, I figured she was still mad at me for not taking her to the new house. Monday came, and I marched into Pierce’s office building with false confidence . When was the last time I had been there? That was right, when I brought lunch for him as a thank you. Then, I had told him that I
I thought about my neighbors while dad was acting a tyrant over us. We tried to be quiet a lot. But a few times dad would yell. Or shove us too hard against the walls. Our neighbors said nothing, and avoided eye contact. “It’s easier to pretend.” I answered quietly, staring down at my twisting fingers. “True. I got tired of pretending. I got into a lot of fights as a kid.” He continued. “So I could pretend the welts on my body were from my scuffles, not from my father. Now I cover those scars with tattoos.”“What about the scars in your mind?” He slowed his chewing, “those ones, we just have to live with. You’re doing a good job of it.” I let out a laugh, ready to deny knowing what he wad talking about, but the knowing look he gave me told me there was no point. My shoulders sagged. “You think so?” “Oh yeah, movie star.” “You know?!” He chuckled, “I’ve seen a couple of your series while in prison. Was my warden’s favorite . Seeing your…friend, jogged my memory.” “I d
His eyes zeroed on Donna with the money outstretched. “What did Donna do?” “Why do you think I did anything?” She retorted, shoving the money back in her pocket while I looked around. I had to find a place to sleep tonight. “You’re offering money to someone else and her house is empty, you did something.” “Oh piss off.” “She helped Myra’s…uhh, pack a mattress and collected a bribe for keeping it a secret.” “I thought it was a prank!” “He took your stuff?” Seth asked me, his brows raised in surprise. “Yeah, he did. But I’ll get it back.” Maybe I could just lay on the floor? I didn’t check the bathroom yet so I didn’t know if he had taken the sheets too. “When?” “Monday? Tuesday maybe.” “Where are you going to sleep?” Layla asked, hitching her bag up her hip again. “Till monday, I can crash with a friend.” “Today?” Three pairs of eyes looked at me expectantly, and I shrugged. “A motel.” “There isn’t one nearby. Oh! Seth can drive you to the closest one thou
I blinked and looked at the numbers glued to the door. It was my house, that much was true. But it was empty. No brown couch, lemon side-table, my ginormous bean bag. Even the bohemian style rug that managed to pull the whole together was hone. Every single thing was missing from the living. Color drained off my face as I wondered what else was gone. I rushed into my room and looked around in search of Yvette’s box, sighing with relief when I found her on a dingle table in the middle of the room. Everything else was gone, save for the bed frame, and a wardrobe. There was a small note and cute little teddy bear beside her urn. I grabbed the note and read it. ‘Call me.’ I didn’t have to dial the number to know it was Pierce. Did he really rob me?! “Ah there you are!” A woman exclaimed excitedly beside me and I jumped in surprise, I didn’t even hear her come into the house. She had on the biggest t-shirt and basket ball short and was grinning from ear to ear at me. “Nice to me
After the money I cost him, I figured I owed him an explanation. I wiped the corner of my lip nervously and adjusted the blazer. “When I left home today, I…someone who I didn’t want in the house was in it.” “Oh?” “Yeah.” I hoped he had deduced himself that the “someone” was Pierce. After-all he was the only touchy subject in my life. “Just to make sure we’re on the same page, we’re talking about Pierce?” “Yeah him.” “Oh.” He went quiet after that. But his face said the things he didn’t want to say. “You can…ask me about it.” I offered. “You sure?” He had stopped eating and was studying me like a wounded kitten. “I’m sure.” “Okay…why was he at your house?” “He wanted me to sign some papers.” I grimaced, remembering the amount. “He was trying to alleviate his guilt by buying me off. Such an asshole.” I muttered. Carter took another bite of his burger and chewed slowly. He had lost interest in the food but was trying to give me a sense of normalcy, so I wouldn
I cringed at the sound of the bottle shattering and cursed again. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-“ “It’s fine, It’s just a little wine I shouldn’t have startled you like that-“ “Let me clean that up.” A waiter said, a barely hidden grimace on his face. I could feel a lot of eyes on us and my cheeks turned bright red as I tried to wipe the mess on the table. Carter’s hand slipped over mine again and gave me a reassuring squeeze. When I looked up, he was smiling. “Let me do it.” He said and collected the table cloth from my shaking hands. “That was a disaster.” I muttered under my breath as the waiter left to get a broom. “It’s not that bad, a disaster would be someone slipping and falli-“ A waiter chose that particular time to walk by and I guess he did not see the dark liquid on the ground with the dim lights because he slipped, hovering in the air for a split second before his body came down, and the lobster dish he held, rained down on him. “Oh my God!” I gasped a
He cradled his helmet in his left hand and had the other in the pocket of his jeans. His eyes looked past me and were focused on Pierce, the viking braids on his head turned him into a viking , biker God, if those existed. “Are you okay, Myra?” He asked bending his head to look at me. Why on earth was I always caught staring at him? “Yeah, everything’s fine-“ I started, “wait. No. Everything is NOT fine.” I turned my back by to him, crossed my hands, heels still in them, and glared at Pierce. “But it will be as soon as he leaves.” “Who the hell are you supposed to be?” Pierce asked her neighbor, sizing him up. “The one guy here she doesn’t want gone.” He answered coolly. I felt a mini war going on from the stance both men were taking. I started to think that it was a bad idea to get him involved. “Is this your date? He doesn’t strike me as your type.” “My “type” as scarred me for life, it’s time I try something new, don’t you think so, Pierce? Now for the love of God, LEA
He had the guts to look at me like I was the problem in this situation. His bushy brows were furrowed as he scowled, his eyes showing equal parts of desire and annoyance. Ditto. “Going out with Hannah?” He questioned. “This isn’t your usual filming getup. “Well excuse me, fashion police, but you need to get out of my house!” He looked at my face finally, then around the house like cockroaches were crawling all over the place. “Really Myra? This? This is what you settled on finally? It’s a dump. Why didn’t you take the apartment I offered?” “And be indebted to you even more? No fucking thank you.” It felt so hot in the house. I had Pierce to blame for that. He was only standing by the doorway, but he managed to fill the room so far all I could see was him, all I could smell was him, all I could think for crying out loud was him! I wanted him gone. “Now if you would be kind enough…LEAVE.” “You can’t be serious Myra.” He started, moving into the room further. “did you even have
I typed the name into google, having never heard the name before. Scrolling and reading while I peeled another pepperoni slice off my pizza. The mythological wife of Yahweh according to the Canaanite pantheon. Mother of sacred trees…Erased from history like most divine females. I slowed my chewing till it came to a halt. That last bit sounded familiar.A notification from Carter popped up on my screen. I opened it.-I understand that it could be taken the wrong way. But I consider her a powerful deity. Queen of the heavens. I think looking at you feels like I’m looking at the sky. I sat up on the bed and pushed my tongue through my cheek as I read the text over and over, trying to find a double meaning, or hidden insult. There were none.-I like Asherah. I texted back.l-I’m relieved. More dots hovered and I waited. Peeling a single pepperoni from the top of my pizza. -Would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow?”I looked at the text silently.-yes* * *The next d