LIZZY 3

The next morning Lizzy was awakened by the sound of her alarm. When she woke she was drenched with sweat and remnants of her dream at the edge of her memory. What Lizzy remembered about her dream was disturbing. She awoke on edge and nervous. In her dream she loosening the bolts on the catwalk, which made Umberto fall to his death. Lizzy knew she did not have anything to do with Umberto’s death.

Yesterday after Umberto was found tangled in furniture on the set the police questioned everyone. The police kept everyone there till well past midnight. They finally released everyone and concluded it was an accident. Something about the catwalk bolts coming loose resulting in it coming apart when Umberto walked over it. Umberto fell to his death in a pretty horrific way and scared the shit out of all the cast and crew.

Lizzy knew that the news media was going to have a hay day with this one. It was going to be another story to corroborate the stage being haunted. In a way it did not bother her that the show was going to be getting some more attention. Hell, the writers may just write it into the script somehow.

The day before, her and Jered said nothing to each other about Umberto’s accident. She knew he was thinking about the revenge he wanted to get on the guys that may have been harassing them that he confessed to her.  Not that she and Jered had a chance to talk after the fall yesterday. The police kept everyone pretty quite just by their presence. No one wanted the police to think they had anything to do with it so everyone just kept quite and to themselves.

Lizzy threw the covers off herself and jumped out of bed. She might as well get up. She was too restless to sleep anymore and did not want to stay in bed trying. All that would end up happening is she would continue playing her dream of loosening the bolts on the catwalk over again. .

Lizzy put on a robe and walked to the kitchen to get some cereal. Her mother was up and dressed to go out when Lizzy got there. Lizzy said the customary “Good morning” and went about her business. Lizzy heard her mother talking to talk to her but Lizzy just tuned her out. The sound was like a gnat near your ear that kept coming back when you swatted it away. Time to swat this gnat away. Lizzy turned to her mother with her nose scrunched up and disdain her voice and said, “Where are you going today dressed like that?”

That shut up the gnat. Lizzy’s mother stopped what she was doing and just stared at Lizzy. Lizzy smiled to herself, she was not willing to be nice to her mother. Lizzy walked over next to her mother and placed her cereal bowl in the sink. She then kissed her mother on the check sweetly. Lizzy turned around and headed back to her room and cheerfully said, “Have a good day Mother”.

Back in her room Lizzy dressed in her yoga pants and slim fitting top and headed out to the gym. Lizzy was wound up and thought she should burn off some of the excess energy in the gym or she would go out of her mind.

While Lizzy was doing yoga after her aerobics class, she was picturing revenge on her mother. It actually gave her great pleasure and peace while doing yoga. Amazing how that felt. She thought she could get lots of Belladonna and slowly spike her mothers coffee in the morning. That should not be that hard since her mother was the only one in the house that drank coffee. Lizzy and her father were tea drinkers. Maybe Lizzy could sneak into her room at night and super glue her hands together, or maybe loosen the some of the heels on her shoes. Lizzy kept going over these thoughts in her head during the hour-long class and was quite relaxed and at peace at the end. She bounced on her toes in exhilaration out of the gym and went home to get ready for her day. She had another late call with Jered. Her life was beginning to be so perfect.

Lizzy was euphoric when she got to the set. She was on her way to makeup and wardrobe humming away when she was unexpectedly grabbed by the arm and a hand went over her mouth. She was yanked into one of the bedroom sets. Lizzy wanted to scream. Her heart was racing and all the bad memories of that night alone in the dark came back to her. Suddenly the hand that had grabbed her was suddenly moved from her mouth and replaced with an urgent pair of lips forcefully kissing her.

Lizzy melted into whomever had grabbed her. The kiss was amazing, she had never experienced a sensation like this before. Maybe it was the euphoria and sudden terror combined with the urgency of the kiss. Lizzy finally opened her eyes to see who was kissing her. It was Jered. At that moment Jared pulled back breathless and said “That was amazing”. “I have been wanting to do that since yesterday. What you did was thrilling”. Lizzy looked a little confused at Jered thinking of what she could have done that was so amazing. Lizzy knew it wasn’t the rehearsal or the scene they were doing yesterday, everything had been so routine. Jered then said “I only wish you would have let me in on it, I would have helped” he was caressing her face with the back of his hand. He kissed her again and Lizzy forgot about everything for the moment.

Lizzy was not sure how she found her way to makeup and wardrobe after that. She seemed to just float in. When Lizzy finally came back to earth she was standing in front of Jered again ready to shoot a scene. She could not remember what they were doing. Lizzy had butterflies in her stomach and knew she had stars floating around her eyes. If Jered kissed her like that again she would be lost for sure.

Lizzy came out of her day dream just enough to ask what scene they were shooting, she was just blank. They handed her the script and she reviewed it quickly. Now she was on the same page as everyone else again. Her and Jered were arguing in this scene and he was supposed to grab her and kiss her in anger. Lizzy was then supposed to slap him.

Lizzy wasn’t sure she wanted to slap Jered and stop the kiss. Lizzy corrected herself that this was “make believe” and that she had a part to play. Lizzy told herself “The show must go on”. She got herself ready for the scene and looked to Jered, she could not read him at the moment as he was looking at the floor. The director called action and Lizzy and Jered just fell into their characters. They argued for a few moments and then he grabbed her. They argued a bit more while he held her tight adding to the tension between them. Just like before she melted into him when Jared kissed her. The kiss was forceful again, Lizzy will have to reevaluate Jered later. Right now she was enjoying this too much. Jered had gripped her arms roughly and she could tell by the way they bit into her skin that he was going to leave a bruise. Lizzy suddenly remembered she had to slap him. Lizzy pushed away roughly. Jered did not want to let her go and they fought for a second like this.

Finally Lizzy was able to get her right arm free and let loose with a great slap. Jered reeled toward the camera from the slap. Lizzy grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. She could not remember one of her lines, she was so lost in the moment. Jered looked up at her with a devious smile on his face and touched her face with his fingertips.

Just then the director screamed cut ranting and raving about the scene and declared it was perfect. He told the cameraman to make sure the film and take was good. That was the take the director wanted. The director watched the playback to see what it looked like on the screen while he waited. The cameraman reported back all was good and the director yelled “Moving on”.

Lizzy looked at Jered in exhilaration, she really was in the clouds. Her and Jered had just done a great scene, she came into work in a great mood and then the kiss to top all kisses . Jered was looking at Lizzy with a devilish grin and a mischievous glint in his eye. This excited Lizzy and she was wondering what had got into Jered. Lizzy had never seen him like this and she was thinking  she would have to take another look at Jered. He did not seem so “sweet” anymore. Clearly there was something else underneath that sweet  act of Jered’s.

They both walked to makeup and wardrobe in silence. As they passed the section of the stage where they were setting up for the next scene they overheard the director talking the his assistant “I don’t know what had gotten into those two but I hope they keep it up.” Lizzy and Jered smiled at each other.

Lizzy and Jered continued to makeup and wardrobe in an electrically charged silence. They both went to their respective sections of the wardrobe department and then their makeup chairs. Lizzy and Jered did not talk or rehearse which they normally did. They sat in stunned silence, occasionally glancing at one another. They emerged ready for their next scene just as everyone was done setting up for it. Lizzy and Jered did not waste any time but went straight to the set.  Lizzy came prepared to scene this time. While she was in makeup she went over the script. The director told them what he wanted and they went through the motion. It was an uneventful scene and it was wrapped just in time for dinner. Lizzy walked off the set alone and went to her trailer. She did not know what to think yet about Jered. She did not want to start making assumptions and be wrong. Then it would be awkward to work together.

Lizzy was opening the door to her trailer when she heard her name called. She turned around and saw Jered walking quickly toward her. Lizzy still had the incredible glow of the day about her when she looked at him. Jered reached her and lifted her off her feet and into the trailer and closed the door in one simple motion. They were kissing and their hands were all over each other. Lizzy was breathless and laying on the couch a few moments later.

Half of their clothes were lying about the floor and neither seemed to be in any rush to take the rest of them off. Jered started whispering in her ear “You were amazing yesterday, what you did was truly inspiring”. He was nuzzling her neck again “I wanted to tell you yesterday but the police were all over the place and I did not want to bring any attention to you”. Lizzy could not figure out what Jered was talking about, she was in two places at once. She really was trying to make sense out of what he was saying but he would kiss her again and she could not concentrate. Jered continued whispering in her ear “You have to let me help next time”.

Lizzy finally asked “Help me with what?” Jered stopped and pulled back to look at her. Jered said smiling to Lizzy “You know what I mean. What you did to Umberto, that was brilliant”. He had the look of admiration on his face and was leaning in to kiss her again when it dawned on Lizzy that he thought she killed Umberto.

She suddenly pushed Jered off and leapt to her feet and said “What the fuck are you talking about? I did nothing to Umberto. You heard the police it was an accident, the bolts in the walkway just came loose at the wrong time. I didn’t do anything”. Lizzy was scared. If Jered thought she killed Umberto, did the police as well? This could not be happening. She did not want to be investigated for murder just when her life was going great.

Jered sat up on the couch a little put out and looked at her grinning. “Right” he said. “After you left I heard the police talking and they did not believe it was an accident. They found out that the catwalks in all the stages are maintained monthly. The logs were pulled from the maintenance office last night. I heard them say that maintenance told them the catwalks in our stage were just gone over and several bolts were tightened just last week.” Jered reached for her and grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him “The police were going to list it as an accident because they had no leads and there were no fingerprints on anything to show it was a murder.” Jered spoke as he kissed Lizzy’s stomach “Brilliant Lizzy, really.”

Jered held up his hands when Lizzy pushed away from him and started
protesting his accusations of her killing Umberto. With a devilish grin Jered told Lizzy  “I will not mention it again and I agree you did not kill him.” Lizzy was looking at Jered stunned as he got off the couch and came toward her. He pulled her close and ran his fingers around her neck and pulled her in for another fiery kiss. Lizzy was lost again.

Jered had suddenly become very intoxicating in his thought of her being a killer and she was perversely enjoying every minute of it. Lizzy pulled back smothering a sudden sickening feeling but not sure why. “I think I need to eat” she said and hurriedly got dressed. Lizzy left her trailer with Jered standing there with a puzzled but admiring look on his face.