Act 1 – Scene 1 –Will you sabotage a wedding for me?
"Get up!" I heard the door slam shut followed by the crunching of gravel as she stormed across the area – apart from that it was deathly silence, the others waiting to see what happened before they gossiped about me. I knew she was talking to me because I was the only one on kneeling on the ground "I know you can hear me!"
I smiled at the ground, my hair falling around me, hiding and protecting me from the outside world. She couldn't see how I supressed my laughter or the smirk on my face. Poor fool. Her feet entered my vision, clad in those diabolical boots. Seriously, I'm glad I don't have to wear them, it's probably the reason she has an attitude. Although, that could just be because in these last five years, I've done almost everything to spook her.
"Get up! You have a visitor!" She growled, her voice low and aggressive. I bit back my laugh, before jerking my head up to look at her, my eyes met her cold grey ones which widened and she looked away. I agitated her just from eye contact, my eyes were unusual so I get the reaction a lot. She recovered quickly and grabbed my arm – and not gently can I add – and hauled me upwards, so I stood. I barely got used to the higher altitude before I was dragged towards the grey buildings, the others watching curiously they began whispering to each other.
I was taken (pulled, dragged, hauled) down several corridors and hallways, but thanks to my brain I remembered every turn, corner and step. By the end the steps were up to seventy-three and I saw eighteen security cameras. I was shown a grey door, then patted down - the woman checking I didn't have any weapons on my person. I actually didn't have any. This time. She opened the door and shoved me inside, murmuring instructions and slammed the door shut again. I stood in a silence for what felt like forever, but was actually two minutes forty-two seconds, I counted, I heard the busser and opened the door to the other room.
The first thing I noticed was that the room was small and grey, with minimal furniture (a desk and a chair) The second, was that it was split in half by glass, the third thing – on the other side sat a boy, no more than sixteen, tapping a pen on his side of the desk. I recognised him instantly, the family resemblance was impeccable. The eyes. Eyes such a dark brown they looked black. I laughed.
"Nice to meet yo-" He started, his voice was too well rehearsed.
"Cut it out. I don't have the patience. Just tell me what you want to know so I can tell you and can go back to being alone and crazy." I snapped. I was confused and angry – I hadn't had a single visitor in the five years I had been here, so why now?
"I'm doing a report for school and I got assigned the crime category. I thought I could get the story of someone here, the guys at the reception sent me to you. They said it would be interesting and original. So, I guess I want your story." He acted embarrassed and a little shy. I didn't buy it. He was one of them. But, the guys on the reception were being mean to him. They knew I wouldn't give him a story.
"What, five years after it happened?" I raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know, I don't know who you are." He admitted blushing slightly.
"I'm not telling you my story." I snapped. His face fell and he opened his mouth to speak. "But I will tell you a story. A true story." It involves some of your family members, I kept the thought to myself.
He looked at me quizzically, thinking if he could actually use the story or if he'd do this just to humour me. "Okay, it had better be a good story."
"Oh it is! It has the classic features: love, betrayal and murder. It's a tragedy for some, a happy ending for others." I grinned. "It fits into your category well. And it's true. I'm editing a few minor details but it is completely true."
"Okay…" He tried not to look eager, he failed.
"It starts with a young man who was a journalist, he was waiting for his big break so he could write professionally. He was called Alexander." I hissed the name but carried on hoping he didn't notice. He didn't. "He had help though, from two people called Isabelle and Jace. The trusty trio met a girl called Tessa Gray."
"Alec," the girl sighed, "just call her."
"You can understand his worry, Izzy. It isn't every day you get asked that." The golden boy sighed as he took a huge gulp of his milkshake. They were sat in Alec's kitchen catching up. They hadn't seen each other as often as they had liked since Alec had moved out – well more like was kicked out but he didn't tell either of them two that.
"I know." The tall blue-eyed brunette sighed.
"It does seem random, I guess." Izzy agreed, helping herself to a homemade cookie that she had brought over for Alec. The two males refused to go near her cooking, nine times out of ten it resulted in food poisoning or illness.
"It was odd, Izzy but not random." The eldest sighed again, "It was like she planned it, she knew my name."
"She might be a psychopath, then." The blonde responded, "Alec, you can't trust everyone who talks to you on the street."
"Jace, I'm not naïve and she looked pretty harmless." Alec responded, fiddling with his phone. He tapped his fingers on the table, should he call the girl or not? Surely if he could stop the wedding like she believed he could, he should do it.
Isabelle scoffed at this taking a bite of her cookie and pulling a face, "I look pretty harmless, but I'm not." Alec did have to agree to that, thanks to their parents, they were made to have self-defence classes when they were little. Anyway, they had all been naturals at it and had then learnt all kind of fighting styles.
Their little brother had not learnt though. His parent took him travelling the world because he was ill and thought he hadn't much time left. He had been diagnosed with leukaemia and had fought it well for about year and a half now. But he and his siblings rarely saw each other, apart from big holidays and birthdays so he was never around.
"True, but I think genuinely she was very gentle." He replied to his sister.
"And I'm not?" Izzy frowned and hit him in the arm, hard. Proving herself wrong. She took the plate of cookies, adding the one she had bitten, and walked over to the bin. She dropped them all in – they were vile if she did admit it herself, not even the birds would want them.
"Iz, when you do things like that," Jace gestured to the Izzy-sized-fist mark on Alec's arm, "it proves you aren't gentle." Izzy shot him a death-glare and Jace faked his death, landing face down on the kitchen table. A classic act Alec had been relieved to leave behind.
"Well, I did grow up with two brothers who loved to fight all the time." Izzy scoffed, defending herself.
"We didn't love it, well I didn't." Alec told her.
"Great blame it on me as usual." Jace grinned, sitting upright again, done with being dead. Alec sighed again replaying the scene in his mind…
"Alexander Lightwood?" Alec crashed into the girl, who seemed to magically appear in front of him. He had finished work and was exhausted. He looked at the girl who apparently knew him, she didn't look much older than him, her brown unruly curls pulled back into a braid, and her grey eyes were full of hope and determination.
"Yes?" he brushed his hair out of his eyes. He was tired from a day full of writing and composing articles – he didn't mind his work but he didn't really want to deal with random people on the streets. Especially when he was this tired.
"The Angel, you look so much like Will." She sighed a forlorn look fell onto her face, her eyes turned sad.
"I'm sorry? I don't know a Will." Alec frowned trying to work out her accent, he decided it was English with a slight American twist.
"No, you would not and I am not here to talk about him. I am here to ask you to do something. Of course, I will pay for your time, but I believe you are the only one who can do this." Her face contorted in worry, she looked at the path as she fiddle with her necklace, and it was made of clockwork in the shape of an angel. It was quite beautiful. "It feels so wrong to ask this…"
"What is it? He asked, her worry making him worry. As well as his mind skipping to the worst conclusion - if he looked like a past lover and she was nervous... His mind went to one thing, he got ready to refuse her. She looked at him again, her grey eyes showed her conscious battling over what she should do.
"Will you…" she sighed, shook her head, looking away again, "Will you sabotage a wedding for me?"
"Pardon?" Alec looked at her in shock. It was not the answer he had expected. At all.
"Will you sabotage a wedding for me?" this time she looked at him and remained eye-contact, "My friend is being forced to marry someone he does not wish too. I know it sounds strange but he can't get out of the wedding himself – the… woman, she's a monster." He voice strained at the words "someone" and "woman" like she disliked them but was trying to be pleasant about them.
"I'm sorry, I don't think, I-"
"Please. You are my last hope!" he saw the panic and desperation in her eyes, she had her hands in front of her, palms together.
"I-I don't… I can't… I-I don't know you."
"Oh, forgive me. I did not properly introduce myself. I am Theresa Gray, I prefer Tessa though." Alec nodded, she looked relatively harmless, she wore a floor length maxi-dress, it had a simple pattern repeated over and over again, she had sandals on her feet and her toes were painted in rainbow colours. "Please Alexander. Or, if you could think about it? I'll give you my number – it is really important." Alec had nodded, taken her number and hurried away. Quickly…
"Maybe you should call her." Jace suggested. "Ask to meet up and discuss it?"
"Alec, dear. We'll come with you so you aren't alone. Together we can be the Wedding Saboteurs!" Izzy's face lit up with excitement. The two males could see she was planning it already in her head, Alec started to object but Jace cut him off.
"Yeah, for once I am agreeing with Iz. We should check it out, it could be fun." Jace chimed in. "And you need a little fun, Alec, you're so uptight." Alec blushed at Jace's suggestive eyebrow wiggle, he might be the oldest there but he didn't need or want Jace implying his romantic –or sex- life was dead. The fact that it was, was another point.
"We're doing this!" Izzy grinned, she got out her phone and typed the number from the paper sat in the middle of the table. She pressed the green call button and waited. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Alec tried not to think about that as he heard the phone ring and then a beep as someone picked up…
"If only they knew." I laughed and watched as he sat and scribbled down what I had told him. "I mean who even tries to sabotage a wedding?"
"Well," He replied, he looked up from his writing, "He does, of course. And, the other two."
I smirked at him, "Ha ha. Well done, you're smart I'll give you that."
"I'm guessing he isn't the murderer." He went back to writing in his note book.
'Nope he isn't.' I smiled to myself, my face perfectly composed. Dearie, that was me.
W/M: So finally! The new fic I've said about millions of times before! The story at the start and end is a framing technique, it will not be in every chapter but it is important. But what do you think? Honest reviews, please! Thank you for reading!