Page 107 of Ruby
Beyond us, some kind of construction is going on, the purple furred alien directing Thivoll with bowed shoulders and shy movements.
“Oh, this one is good!” Eli says, tone bursting with eagerness. “On the days I desperately needed cash, I accepted jobs to be a crime scene cleaner.”
“Okay, that’s actually insane,” I remark, getting in the spirit of conversation.
Eli grins, seeming to relish my response and it brings a thrill along with it to have made her happy instead of seeing her shut down, like people usually do when I remark.
Or… when the Bitch remarks.
“Well, it was only for a little while,” she says, her tone suddenly hushed like she is about to tell a grand tale, “but a few times was all I needed honestly. Most of the scenes there were… graphic. The most bizarre one I ever cleaned was like a scene straight from a horror movie. According to what I heard from the others, the victim was murdered with a chainsaw, sending blood and guts everywhere. The entire clean, I felt a shiver down my spine, like the ghost of the deceased was watching me.”
“Ghosts aren’t real,” I scoff.
If they were, my mother would’ve gotten her karma earlier.
“We thought the same of aliens but here we are,” Ree points out in a dry tone. I raise my hand in surrender, smiling.
“Perhaps Ani is right and ghosts don’t exist. However, the chill persisted the whole time I was there. What about you, Ani? Got any bizarre work stories to tell?” Ree asks and Eli turns to me expectantly.
“I dabble in the arts,” I respond, raising my pinkie, the claw somehow making the sarcastic gesture more grand. “Of course I know a good story.”
After a pause, I think of how to scrub it of identifying information. “I… helped on the set of a survival type reality tv show, but with famous people, so you would not believe the drama. I was only there for one season and well, let’s just say things got weird fast. The first signs things were going wrong was when the director decided to shoot the whole thing outdoors instead of using the studio like a regular person. Those actors nearly burned the place down.”
“It’s all studio magic?” Eli exclaims, clearly betrayed by the movie industry.
“You’ve seen the actors, Eli. There’s no way they can survive in the great outdoors like they claim. I saw more critters that day than I’ve seen in my life. Well.. until now, of course.”
“Sounds like the recipe for drama,” Ree remarks, focused on my story.
“Well, it only got worse when we realized the producers lied about the setting of the survival show. In the casting call, they included castings for male models, so we thought it was going to be a normal show with a twist. However, we were all dead wrong.”
The memories of that show from hell resurface in my memories. The producers thought it would be funny to have an all-female survival show, pitting various women of different ethnicities against each other, like a dumb experiment. The male models were just there as some sort of prop, sent in for “rescue” or “service”. Those words were explicitly used, making me suspect there was something more.
There was, in fact, something more.
The whole thing, boasting a fat budget, one of the reasons why my mother didn’t allow me to quit on the first day, was a giant cover for money laundering and a huge orgy. I was extended an invite but I took the imperative to decline before my mother saw the invite. Thankfully, that dumb show didn’t make it out of production.
I leave out those details, but share some harmless antics.
“My only regret was going along with that stupid idea for over a month.”
“Oof! Sounds terrible honestly,” Ree says, sympathy actually forming in her eyes. Eli echoes her sentiment almost immediately.
“Yeah. Hollywood does sound as bad as I’ve heard.”
“Trust me, honey. It gets worse. Much worse,” I say, lowering my voice for dramatic effect. Eli visibly shivers while Ree rolls her eyes.
“Let’s get some work done, shall we?” Ree says, breaking up our story telling, but not in a mean way, all of us still smiling as she doles out chores.
I ease down onto a rock near the water, testing the weight of my wings. They’re still sore, but less violently so. Every shift pulls along new muscles, reminding me I’m not what I was.
Ree is already moving, brisk and purposeful. Eli mumbles about needing to get back in the water.
“Inventory first,” Ree says, almost to herself.
I glance at her.
She’s in her element.
