Epilogue
Sterling
Three months later
Lisa’s body hangs from the tree, her wrists tied to the branches with rope.
Her feet sway side to side and her dress has a giant gash in the center with her guts falling out.
She really wanted a machete used in all her films .
. . well, she got to have one used on her in one of mine.
Not much has changed. I’m still doing all the same kind of scenes in front of a camera.
It couldn’t be real for Phil or Ben, or anyone else I played but this is me I’m showing to the audience now, everything I do will be very real.
Her eyes are fixed, pupils enlarged, and her lips are parted enough to see a little bit of teeth. Even in death she looks annoyed.
“That was a great first take,” Hayden says, wrapping his arms around me from behind and kissing my ear.
“It was perfect.”
“You’re perfect,” he says, pressing his lips to my blood-splattered cheek. “This view, not so much.”
I laugh, rubbing my nose against his. “Help me clean up and I’ll show you a better one once we’re back inside.”
“Deal. I don’t think this mess can be left for tomorrow.”
“It’s okay. We can bury this body off camera. We can finish that scene using a body double. Since Lisa liked using those so much, we can do it in her honor.”
“I think she would have appreciated that.”
“Me too.” I look up at her again, resting a hand on his hip.
He takes out his phone and pulls up a message. It’s from Rachel. I love it when they make it easy. That way we can leave all the chasing for the camera, along with all the pleading and begging.
Rachel: How does spaghetti at my house sound? Say Thursday at seven p.m.?
Hayden: Works for me. Text me your address and I’ll see you then.
Rachel: Can’t wait.
“I can’t either,” I say, smiling wider when I catch my reflection in the phone screen.
“It’ll make for the perfect date,” Hayden says with conviction in his tone.
“Will it?” I raise a brow, my arm pulling away from him.
He holds me where I am, gripping onto me tighter. “For you and me, yes. So close to our anniversary too.”
My heart warms and I relax against him. “I can’t believe it’s almost been a year.”
“With so many to come too.”
“Many more years and movies,” I say, licking at his cheek.
He smirks. “Movies and victims.”
“So many, and only time will tell who the next one will be.”
“It will tell you, my little idol, and you’ll show me whose direction it sends you in.”
“You and your camera,” I remind him.
“We both belong to you, and we’re always here for you to use any way you’d like.”
I run a hand down the center of his body. “The sooner we finish here, the sooner you can prove it to me.”
He brushes his lips over mine, stroking one of my nipples through my shirt. “I love you, you know that, my movie star?”
“I love you too, Hayden, my cameraman.”
Maybe it’s not a romance for the stars, but it is one worth capturing on film.