“Well…,” she starts, “Bambi and her hoodlum-looking cousin, and his friend. They kind of gave me the creeps. And then Bambi kept giving me dirty looks, because of what Rico was doing. You don’t think I’m being stupid, do you?”
“Not at all. A very good friend of mine used to say, don’t trust this one because it’ll cut that one. Meaning you can’t trust anyone else. Always trust your gut, Angel,” he says kissing her on the tip of her nose.
John giving affirmation to Elsie’s concerns didn’t make her feel a whole lot better.
Maybe she should tell him that one of the hoodlums works on set.
Chapter 16 “…coming like an avalanche…we’ll bury you alive….”Lyrics: Bury You Alive by Caustic
It’s been an incredibly long day for Elsie, but being back on set is exhilarating for her. She loves bringing life to things, the scripts and the stories, the designs and the fabrics, it doesn’t matter. She glances at her watch and is stunned to see that it’s 9:00 at night, shooting broke two hours ago, No wonder it’s so quiet. She needs to get out of here before it gets any later. She goes over her notepad with the outline of tomorrow’s cast and costumes, and the crew sheets and call times, scanning the pages one more time. A ripple of excitement runs through her at how perfect the designs she’d brought in from her own collection had worked. Thank God the producer liked them and gave her the green light, saying they were perfect for the shoot. Elsie was thrilled that she was finally selling some of her pieces and the thought of it made her do a happy dance.
The ringing of her cell phone startles her out of her little internal celebration.
“Hi John,” she almost squeaks, not able to contain her excitement.
“Hi, Angel, you sound really happy, good day today?” he asks and Elsie can hear the smile in his voice, maybe he’s reacting to her obvious giddiness.
“Oh my God, the absolute best!” she bursts out.
“Whoa, this sounds good, you’ve got to tell me about it!”
“Well, when I was reading over the script and prop requirements I realized that some of my original designs would be perfect for the movie. So, I brought them in and showed them to the producer and director and they agreed with me!”
“So your clothes are going to be in the film, Angel?!”
“YES! Two outfits, isn’t that incredible?!” she squeals flapping her hands as the excitement seeks a release from her wound-up little body.
“Well, Elsie, your talent is amazing, it was only a matter of time before you got the recognition you deserve,” John says, so proud of her.
“But wait, that’s not all!” Elsie says, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“There’s more?”
“Yes, Rachelle Lefevre loved them so much, she asked me to bring some other pieces by her place this weekend!”
Elsie’s enthusiasm has her bouncing and jumping again.
“I am not at all surprised, Sugar. Like I said, it was only a matter of time. You deserve it.”
“Thank you so much, John, I…”
A heavy knock on the door interrupts their conversation.
“Hold on a second, someone’s knocking on the trailer door.”
“You’re still on set?! Don’t answer the door, Elsie!” he yells as a strong sense of foreboding prickles his skin and makes his hair stand on end.
But it’s too late, she’s already set the phone down and has her hand on the doorknob. She heard him yell into the phone, but she’s too wrapped up in her own thoughts and emotions to hear his warning.
“Yes...,” Elsie begins to say as she turns the lock and twists the doorknob, opening the door just an inch.
“Move out of the way, bitch!” a white man in a black hooded sweat-jacket shoves the door open, throwing a shocked Elsie off balance.
“What the fuck!” she yells in surprise as she stumbles backwards and catches herself on the table attached to the wall behind her.
John is already on his feet, grabbing his keys and running out the door with the phone plastered against his ear. Every one of his military instincts has come alive. And he knows what he has to do. But it’s going to kill him.
FUCKFUCKFUCK! screams through his mind before he hangs up the phone, the last words he heard were Elsie’s ‘What the fuck’. As he’s jumping on the back of his bike, it will be faster to get to Elsie on his Harley, he calls Marco because he’s closest to the set.
“What’s up, Bro?”
“GET TO ELSIE FUCKING NOW. SHE’S IN TROUBLE ON THE SET, CALL THE COPS, I’M ON MY WAY!!” he yells into the phone and hangs up.
Adrenaline’s pumping through his body, John’s on high alert. But he’s amazingly calm, he’s been in so many perilous situations, responding to an emergency comes as first nature to him. He takes his phone out at a red light and texts Brian with the emergency signal followed by ‘Elsie Set’, they’ve used this system since the beginning of their friendship.
Each second is killing him.
Tick tock.
Tick tock.
Tick tock.
FUCK THIS SHIT! He guns it and runs the red light, and every other one, on his way to the movie set.
Dear God, please, let her be ok. Not for me, I’m not worth it, but for her. PLEASE! the agonized prayer chants through his mind. Please don’t let me be too late!
In the two seconds it took Elsie to regain her balance, she’s cleared her head so she can comprehend what’s happening. One thing is certain, she is in trouble, but how much trouble she’s not sure of.
“What can I do for you, do you need to call someone?” she asks, desperately trying to get to her phone but trying not to look scared.
“No, I don’t need your damn phone! And you don’t need it either,” the hooded man tells her, grabbing her phone off the counter and throwing it to
