The second I muttered that word, footsteps sounded from my right, large and imposing. And fast. "…what is that?" I gasped, although I had an idea why and who was causing the noise. "Uhhh ok guys! The foot from the junk pile is gone! I don't know if that's important but I'm not sticking around to find out!" The noise was getting louder, so loud I could feel it in my chest as I pounded at the door, not bothering to check frame. "Come on… come on come on come on LET ME OUT!" To my surprise the door swung open and instinct took over; I rolled and hit the pavement with my rounded shoulder instead of my stomach, carrying the impact to leave me crouched on the ground on my feet. I quickly righted myself and sprinted back, slamming the door shut, still breathing hard. I turned my back to it, kicking something in the process. I glanced down, pivoting my phone as well out of years of habit.
It was the other arm. I gave an utterly real scream and kicked the thing away as far as I could, which wasn't very far given its strange shape. "What the heck just happened?!" I screamed. "What was that? What just happened?" I was repeating myself but didn't care, knowing it would only make my reaction more realistic. "Did the mannequin open the door and let me out? Was that all a scare tactic? Or was that someone's sick idea of a prank?" I shook my head fast. "Whatever it was, I'm disturbed. That was insane. And the most creepy thing I've ever been a part of." Suddenly getting an idea for an ending, I stood off the door a little, turning to face it. "Is it over? Did the footsteps stop?" I became still, listening intently. If they hadn't, that could be a cue to continue the story and find something more. Or run.
"I can't hear them anymore… should I…? Should I check? I mean, I don't want the thing to come after me. And I should probably know so I can tell whoever is supposed to handle this sort of thing- gosh this whole conversation is ridiculous!" Good, keep it real. "There's still a chance this was a prank, right?" I sucked in a breath, twisting the brass handle. "Ok, here goes nothing- again." I creaked open the door slowly, aware of just how loud it sounded in the silent, open space covered in artificial turf. "I… don't hear anything." I glanced around. "The head's gone, and the spotlight, that's disturbing. And the leg is still missing. I'm not going all the way back in there to check the arm, no thank you!"
I slammed the door with a relieved sigh, pivoting. "So the only thing left is the other arm, right?" I edged toward the arm that had been outside the door, grabbing a broom that had been left outside for a weapon. "Sure, a little cheap purple broom will hurt an inanimate mannequin that can teleport and disassemble itself now apparently, right?" When I was close enough, I used the end of the broom to tip the arm over and gasped. Written on its forearm in the same red ink was the phrase "Did I scare you?" I yelped. "Ok, that thing's going in the dumpster right now, prank or not! Not that it will stay there… where's the closest one?" I turned, pretending to look for a dumpster.
Pretending because I knew where they were already, but I needed to stall. Because I'd seen something my clear-cased phone's camera hadn't picked up. A thin fishing wire attached to the arm.
I heard a shallow scraping sound behind me and forced myself to stay put, face blank as if I really was just looking for a dumpster. Inside I was beaming- I was playing in perfectly. Hopefully I can cover that sound with music in post. Or maybe the mic didn't even pick it up. After I deemed enough time had passed, I pointed off screen toward a tree, imagining there was a dumpster there. "There! Ok, buddy-" I turned around and staggered a step back, pretending to be surprised. "What? It's gone!"
I turned back toward the building, straying back to the middle of the parking lot and preparing to give the kicker. "Why is that thing back all of a sudden? And it's playing some sort of weird game, I'll say that. And it disappeared somehow! Is this just a really elaborate prank?" I paused for dramatic effect. "…or is Project 863 back?"
I turned off the phone after a few seconds and yelled somewhat pridefully: "I turned the recording off, you can come out now!"
—-
In my mind, Matt's next actions were sheepish. He stepped out from behind the right corner of the building, farthest from me, dressed in white pants and a black long-sleeve tee with the Spellbound insignia on the sleeve. He was followed by Sam toting her classic rig- how long had that been around for now?- and wearing her long, brown-blonde dyed hair in a messy bun, dressed in a large gray cardigan and white shirt. But there was one person missing. I whipped the other direction, towards where the arm had disappeared, and almost shrieked when I saw Woods appear from the other direction, trotting towards us with a hyped grin on his face- familiar to me as his expression whenever a prop or choreographed scene was pulled off, although he had a few extra wrinkles now. And he was still dressed in that tight black suit- was that from Team Edge?
I should have something witty to say, I realized.
But it was all gone. My mind was blank, and all the nerves and excitement and anxiety were crowding back in. I wasn't sure whether to melt or fangirl or run across the United States and back. I certainly had enough adrenaline to. "Oh wow." Was all I could stammer as my literal idols walked toward me. No fangirling, no fangirling, OK maybe three seconds. "I can't believe I did that! I can't believe I'm here! And… that actually kind of worked! Did…" I turned to Matt, eyes wide. "Did I just sort of make a 863 video?" He nodded, graying beard catching the sunlight ever so slightly. "Yup! You missed a couple plot points, but overall you did pretty good for a noob." Despite his kind words and enthusiasm (thankfully my quick fangirling session hadn't phased him) my confidence plummeted and I clapped a hand to my mouth. "Oh no. What did I do wrong?"
Sam came up to me, setting her rig on a white plastic foldable side table I hadn't even noticed, sitting under the slight overhang. "You did good though. We didn't give you any direction and that mannequin is years old. You proved that you know our lore and have some great improv skills, and you picked up a beat path pretty fast. You could explore your options more first is all I would say. Maybe turn camera off and look around- for example, there was another note and the other limb upstairs." My heart sunk and I had to force myself to not stray down the path of imagining the worst possible outcomes.
"But," Matt continued. "You were way more natural than any of us expected- you showed lots of emotion, but believable emotion, and you built up your character almost perfectly. You caught on fast, I'll say."
Aaaand I was back over the moon. Matt- Matthias Fredericks, CEO of Spellbound Inc, had just complimented me. I was riding on what felt like an unpuncturable high of energy and in that moment, I didn't regret anything I'd done to get here. I knew this was the right choice, even if I somehow didn't make it into the company, this confident buzz would last me through until I figured out my passion on my own.
Because now I knew it was really possible.
"Thank you so much." I breathed. Sam grinned, startling me by clapping a hand on my shoulder and steering me toward the front of Red once more. "Now it's time for the formal interview." I stiffened ever so slightly and Sam chuckled. "Nothing so scary." She leaned closer until I could see the faint wrinkles under her makeup, probably caused by one of her two kids- I smiled at the thought- "If you ask me, you're in, but I can't make any promises until Matt gives you the whole package." If I was grinning before, I was beaming now. My smile felt like it was reaching my ears, and I realized it probably looked a little maniacal so I coughed, smoothing a strand of blonde hair, streaked with lighter highlights, down behind my ear. Sam sighed. "I know that look- I remember it pretty well." It took me a second to remember she'd gone through mostly the same process I had.
"Oh yeah. I guess we're kind of similar in a sense." Is that assuming too much? "We both started young-" I began- "Although you were even younger, and you had real theater experience." Sam held the door for me going in. "Yeah." She continued. "We both finished school and headed straight off for our dreams, both across the country from home." I smiled, glad to have a natural conversation starter. And that she agreed with me. I guessed it was easier when you already knew the person in a sense. I'd followed her for years, and although I knew that didn't mean much, I knew a little about everyone here. She caught me staring. "What?" I shook myself. "Nothing. This just all feels… surreal." She gave me another small smile, lost in memories of her own first interview. "What was the process like when you started here all those phases ago?" I asked.
She snorted. "You make me sound old!" I grinned. "What, you aren't like 35?" She gave me a light shoulder slap, "No! I'm only 29!" I smirked. "Woah, that's old." She snorted again and threw open the door to the warehouse, turning on lights as she went. "So, how did you catch on to our little setup so fast?"
I smiled, following her towards the large pile of toys and equipment piled higher than my head. "I don't think Woods expected me to come in early." Sam snorted, reaching on her tiptoes to grab an RC car from the top of the pile. "I always tell him that early is on time and on time is late, but does he listen? No." Her tone was teasing. "Good on you for catching him." I hastened to explain how well he'd pivoted from there, feeling guilty at outing the guy.
Sam took the RC car, looked it over, and chucked it to her right where there was a circle taped in gray duct tape on the turf. The same circle that had been spotlighted minutes ago with a mannequin head sitting in the center. I glanced around and saw another to our left and yet another behind us. "What are those for?" I asked, gesturing to the circle closest to us. "It's for organizing all this stuff." She replied, pausing for a moment to tuck her blouse into her purple bell bottom pants. "Left is trash, right is keep, and behind is for donate or eBay or employee day, depending on what we end up doing with it." I nodded. "Ok, so keep, trash, and get rid of- do you mind if I help?" I wanted to make a good impression, but I also enjoyed the idea of sitting around and talking to Sam. We'd hit it off better than I'd expected, and I was thoroughly enjoying our conversation. She didn't mind, so I started grabbing random things from the pile.
We worked together for almost half an hour, sorting things while we waited for Matt to 'summon' me. Apparently they were going to need the space we were in later and as Project Manager of a few different channels in lieu of 863, Sam was in charge of making sure everything was set up and clean, hence the impromptu sorting session. As we worked, we talked, conversation varying from trying to figure out what on earth some of the stranger contraptions were to discussing YouTube and social media strategies to funny stories from our past.
"Yeah, I've been writing fanfics on Spellbound+ since it came out. I still make 863 fics from time to time, but now I'm really into writing one-shot sketches for Spellbound Vlogs stuff." Sam glanced up from her work next to the steadily diminishing pile of equipment. "Wait… what's your username on the Reddit? " Utterly confused and curious, and suddenly bashful- what if she hated my work? That wouldn't go over well!- I replied. "Well, uh… It's Grace McGraw- my name- slash The Storied Life. The Storied Life 'cause that's my YouTube channel, so I figured…"
I was surprised to see her turn to me with wide eyes. "For real? That's you?" I nodded uncertainly. She knew me? Had she read any of my work? This was insane!
"I love your fanfics!" Sam squealed, shocking me even further. I literally staggered a full step back as she continued. "What the heck? I read through your application form, but it didn't connect! I knew those titles sounded familiar…" It took me a second to realize what she meant.
She read my work.
And liked them.
"Wow." Was all I could manage. I felt like I was going to pass out! The whole point of all of those edits, vlogs, music videos, fanfics, even helping edit story beats for a while, was to get noticed- but I hadn't expected it to actually work. I knew my stuff was popular in our community, but this? She was an actual fan? Her and Matthias were my idols- Sam for her backstory and position, and Matt for his strategy and writing skills…
And I'd actually succeeded.
"Oh my gosh." I muttered, sounding silly and redundant. "How did I never notice?" I was in a repetitive tailspin of shock and realization that I simply couldn't process.
My plan of five years had actually worked. Days spent writing and rewriting and painstakingly editing chapters, or working late into the night after sneaking my phone into my room to get out a great idea. Months spent planning giant hooks or weeks spent editing music videos I wasn't too proud of. The excitement when I'd realized I could use my writing skills to improve their story in writing sprints- the first time they'd marked one of my ideas as "Planned"…
"Grace?" I jumped at hearing my name spoken in Sam's voice- I still couldn't get over the fact that I was actually talking to her. I forced myself to act nonchalant. "Sorry. It's just a rush, getting complimented by Matt and you in the same day. Same hour, for that matter." She smirked. "Don't get used to it- I like having that effect on people." I forced myself away from the lingering reverie, although what I really wanted to do was race around the room jumping as high as I could and screaming "Hallelujah!" to the black-painted rafters. "So, what's your favorite thing I've written?" I was determined to get as much advice as possible, even if I didn't get the job.
Sam walked over to the "keep" pile, grunting softly as she placed a car mount onto the stack. "I don't know. I really liked The Falling, with all the family vibes and stuff, even though the grammar and world building was atrocious." I shrugged in agreement. "You were the first person to imagine me getting pregnant too- creative." I laughed awkwardly- I never expected to talk with the people in those stories about the stories! "Yeah, well, I needed a kicker and I always love those sorts of stories." She smiled. "It's weird hearing that when it ended up being kind of my life- although it wasn't nearly as interesting as your story, it was hard to manage all my growing responsibilities with Season 4, have fun, take care of myself…"
"You did it though." My response was quick, yet sincere. "I really admire the way you kept everything you love in your life in one way or another." Her brown gaze flitted to me for a moment before returning to her work. "Thanks. It was really hard to make the decision to cut hours here once Ava was born." Ava was her first child, now three. "I'd been going nonstop for this studio since I was sixteen, so the change was hard. And Ryan and I had to work things out…" I nodded in what I hoped was a understanding fashion, although I'd never been in any situation even remotely similar to hers. "I'm glad I got a part of it right, at least." I replied.
She nodded, and we both worked silently for a moment until I came across a little tan box, rounded on one end. I slid the hatch across and revealed a very familiar code entry port. I slid the rollers until they reached 8-6-3 and to my surprise the little key safe popped open! I turned to Sam, delighted at getting my hands on my first piece of 863 history. "Sam, is this-"
Roze's voice stopped me in my tracks. She was leaning out from the black door to my left rimmed with red. "Hey, Grace?"
It took me a second to realize she was talking to me. "Yeah?" I asked shakily. The nerves were back.
She shrugged from the doorway, sending one shoulder of her yellow and blue plaid jacket off to the side. "Matt's ready for your interview."
A/N: Ok, so I almost stopped it at the line break but then realized how short it was (under a thousand words) so this chapter is long now. But IT'S OK! Hopefully you guys enjoyed it. Also, I've always loved how my dream and what Sam ended up doing are so similar. Of course, my parents aren't gonna let me drop out to pursue my career (although I probably would if I could), but still. I'd like to think there's a few parallels.
Also, yeah. There's a time jump if you haven't noticed. It's 2025 and Sam. Has. Kids. I don't really know how I feel about it, but it seems reasonable... ish? I was just trying to make it realistic. And back then I had a lot less fanfiction to reference (meta again, I know) so it kind of worked out. I know The Falling is horrible by the way- I'm just not feeling like rewriting that whole conversation. But if I WASSSS... I'd give a hint on a super complex fanfiction that I'm not going to tackle for another couple years that may or may not be real...
ANYWAYS- Peace and God Bless!
Also the fact that doesn't think fanfiction is a word... makes no sense but ok-
