Chapter Three: Had to Get the Curling Iron
Sonny sat with her legs crossed on a plastic folding chair seated at a white and black polka dot table with Zora and Nico occupying two of the other three seats. She watched with a look of concern at Tawni sitting on a pink blanket on the floor with her knees brought up to her chest and her arms hugging her knees. She was rocking back and forth on the floor, for once not caring how crazy she looked, staring straight ahead of her at the wall.
Nico looked again at his watch and tapped it twice with is index finger to make sure it was still working. "Man, I'm hungry! It's been thirty minutes already!" he complained, not even paying attention to Tawni anymore.
Sonny pushed her hair out of her face. "Tawni, it's going to be fine. Andrew and Jason were being stupid. They were showing off at the worst possible time ever. We'll be fine."
Tawni's wide blue eyes didn't leave the spot on the wall. "No we won't. One of us is going to die next," she stated without flinching and void of emotion.
"What makes you think that?" Sonny's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion and she uncrossed her legs so she could lean down closer to Tawni.
"Where is that pizza?" Nico asked no one in particular. "Heh. If Grady were here his stomach would be growling so loud we wouldn't be able to concentrate," he observed fondly of his past best friend.
"They really should get those pencils unstuck from the ceiling," Zora commented with her head angled up towards said ceiling.
"Isn't it obvious?" Tawni finally shifted her gaze and looked to her left at Sonny. She completely ignored the extra chatter from Nico and Zora before she could talk. "There's a pattern, and So Random is next."
"What?" Shock spread across Sonny's face and she hopped off her chair to join Tawni on the floor.
Tawni nodded once. "First was Marissa from Mackenzie Falls, then Grady from So Random, Jamie from Hoosier Girl, Riley from The Scene, and now Andrew from Mackenzie Falls. Either that or Riley, then Jamie. But whatever way it was… it's our turn again next," she said bleakly.
"Wow, Tawni. How'd you make that connection so fast?" Sonny wasn't used to Tawni being the first one to spot a pattern or figure anything out that didn't involve fashion, first.
"It's not rocket science, Sonny," she said, resorting back to her normal "duh" tone.
Sonny tried not to be offended by that as she shook her head and pressed on. "But you know it could've just been a fluke that Andrew was killed in the pattern order."
Tawni met Sonny's gaze and half-glared at her. "You really want to wait and see if it was just a fluke?"
"Okay, okay, we probably should tell Mr. Condor about this."
Murphy suddenly walked in carrying a large pizza box in the palm of his left hand. "So how's everyone holding up?" he asked in his slightly nasal voice, for once sounding the tiniest bit compassionate.
"Hungry."
"Bored."
"Scared."
"Nervous."
"Well good, then. You know though, it'd probably be a lot smarter of all of you to just leave now while you have a chance. You don't get a second chance at life, you know. Who knows? I may not see one of you tomorrow if you stay," Murphy said seriously, still balancing the pizza in his hand.
Tawni looked away from Murphy, fell down sideways on the blanket, and curled into the fetal position. The rest of them just stared up at Murphy, wondering if this was supposed to be encouraging.
"I mean, I'm just glad I'm only a security guard here. If I were an actor I'd be on the next plane out. And if you all were smart, you'd do the same," Murphy said, suddenly taking on a harsher tone. He dropped the pizza down in front of them on the tabletop with a loud smack before he laughed and walked away.
Not even Nico or Zora dove into the pizza like they'd been planning to.
"Sonny?" Tawni addressed in a muffled voice.
"Yes?" Sonny stood up on her knees so she could at least see the side of Tawni's face.
"What does it feel like to have a nervous breakdown?"
Sonny stared at Tawni for a minute before she got to her feet and pointed to the door with one finger. "I'll go tell Mr. Condor about the pattern."
Zora grabbed a slice of pizza out of the box and followed after her. "I'll come with."
"Thanks, Zora," Sonny said once they were out in the hallway. She turned her head towards Zora while she spoke. "You know, maybe Murphy's right and we really should go-" She rotated her head to face forward again. "Aah!" Sonny shrieked when she saw the Chad cutout only inches away from her face again. Glaring at the piece of cardboard, Sonny batted it out of the way and continued walking down the hall with Zora.
----
Within an hour that day, each past member of So Random had two guards trailing after them, wherever they went.
On their second day of taping the special, Sonny pivoted around with a forced smile on her face and looked at her two body guards, Dan and Larry. "Alright guys, I'm going into hair and makeup," she said in a faux cheery voice.
Dan and Larry nodded and each took a step forward when Sonny started backing up into the tiny, box of a room.
"In this tiny room," Sonny hinted sweetly. "With one entrance," she had to add after ten seconds of silence. "And no possible way for any killers to get in except this one entrance…"
Dan and Larry stared at her blankly, not budging from their places.
Sonny finally sighed and gave up the roundabout approach. "You guys can just wait outside the door."
Dan and Larry reluctantly peered inside the room to check to make sure there weren't any killers in the room. All they found was the Condor-approved hair stylist/makeup artist standing behind the styling chair with a curling iron in her hand. There was nowhere for the psycho killer to hide in the room since all it contained was a counter with beauty supplies on it, a large mirror on the wall, and the chair. On the walls were a few taped up movie posters and one large framed picture on one wall. No hiding places.
Accepting Sonny's proposal, Dan and Larry assumed posts on either side of the door.
"I'll scream if I need you," Sonny assured them. "Don't worry. I have a really loud scream." Closing the door behind her with a soft click, she heaved a sigh of relief and closed her eyes. Lately, she'd been feeling strangled (no pun intended) by having dear Dan and Larry follow her everywhere she went. And it had only been a day and a half.
"Don't you worry about having to scream, sweetie. You're perfectly safe in this hole in the wall," the makeup and hair woman said reassuringly. "Now, you just sit on down. My name is Clarissa."
Sonny sat down heavily on the chair and watched Clarissa start brushing her hair and then curling it with the curling iron in the mirror.
Clarissa wrapped a long strand of Sonny's hair around the hot iron and started counting in her head to ten. She released her hair from around the iron but then suddenly sneezed loudly and Sonny could see how close the hot curling iron came to burning her skin by watching Clarissa's movements in the mirror. She went rigid in her seat and Clarissa gasped.
"Oh, shoot, sorry, sweetie. I'm just getting over a cold. Won't happen again."
"It's okay," Sonny said weakly.
She curled Sonny's last piece of hair and patted her shoulder. "All right, sweetie, let me just spray you down with hair spray and then you'll be done." Clarissa turned off and set down the curling iron, then scanned the counter for the hair spray but came up empty. "Shoot. Macy must've taken it to work on that Murray girl. I'll be right back with the spray, don't move an inch," she ordered.
As soon as Clarissa had left and shut the door behind her, the room became too quiet for Sonny's tastes. The sound of Clarissa either chewing gum or humming off-key had been a good silence filler, and now all there was, was the sound of Sonny's breathing.
She tried filling the silence herself by drumming her fingers against the counter, which did work for about a minute. Her breathing accelerated when a small squeak echoed through the boxy room, though. A few seconds passed and Sonny held her breath looking intently at the fresh polish on her fingernails. She finally sighed in disgust and buried her head in her hands. She hated feeling so darn paranoid.
Pull yourself together, Sonny, she told herself.
Sonny reassured herself for several more seconds, shaking her head at how shaken up she'd become with this… situation. She couldn't help honestly wondering who was next. What if it was her?
No, stop it! You've got freaking body guards going with you everywhere! No one can get to you!
Sonny massaged her forehead and just wished that none of this had ever happened. But oh, how ideal that would be.
She finally lifted her head away from her cold hands and gazed at the assorted makeup spread out in front of her.
A flicker of motion in her peripheral vision caused Sonny to instinctively lift her eyes up to stare past her reflection in the mirror. The good loud scream that she'd been saying she had stuck in her abruptly dry throat.
Standing no more than five feet behind her was a figure wearing a long black hooded robe and a horrific and colorful clown's mask over their face. It was the killer.
Barely even breathing, Sonny jumped off her perch on the stool and stood with her back facing the mirror. So this was how it would end? Spliced to death with two bodyguards standing outside, completely clueless of her murder?
Sonny's mind reeled for a solution. Bodyguards around or no bodyguards, she couldn't just be helpless. Okay, okay. Fight or flight? Fight or flight? Fight or flight? Flight was out since the killer could easily make it to the door at the same time she did and could slit her throat before she could even beg for help. Fight was all she had left after that. That and dying.
A second had passed, and in the next second, the killer raised their hand up and revealed a glimmering knife.
Her subconscious found her voice as she let out a loud crystal-shattering scream as an instinct.
Sonny turned her head away to find the first item that could be used as a weapon. The first thing her eyes lit on was the purple curling iron. It'd have to do since the only other weapon around was a brush. She snatched it up into her fingers and held it up, ready to hit him over the head with it, but the killer was gone. Vanished completely within seconds. How could that be? She hadn't imagined it… Had she?
The concerned body guards standing in front of her suddenly registered in her mind, along with the feeling of warm fingers undoing her steel grip on the handle of the curling iron.
"What happened? What's wrong?" Dan asked quickly.
"The killer. The killer was in here with me and had a knife…" The words spilled out of her in a rush. "He was here, and was going to kill me, and I turned away for one second to get something I could hit him with and then he was gone!"
"How did he get in?" Larry questioned seriously.
"I don't know. He was just suddenly there one minute and then gone the next," Sonny rushed out, feeling a little hysterical. I saw him. I'm not seeing things. Unless… No! I'm not seeing things!
----
Fumbling, Sonny took her room cardkey out of her pocket and in her hurry to get inside, shoved it into the slot upside down. A line formed in the middle of her forehead as she pulled it back out in and slid it in the right side this time. The little light on the handle stayed red instead of turning green when it was unlocked. She jiggled the handle and tried again but no luck.
Sonny frowned disapprovingly at the piece of plastic in her hand. Why'd you have to demagnetize today?
Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Sonny whirled around with her empty hand held out ready to strike and instinctively flinched when she felt her hand make contact with something and a slapping sound followed.
"Ouch! Jeez, Sonny, what was that for?" Chad yelped, holding a hand over his stinging cheek. He glanced suspiciously around when he heard light snickers coming from somewhere in the hallway.
Sonny's eyes widened and she reached out helplessly, finally letting her hands fall to her sides. "Sorry. But you know I've been through the wringer today, so you shouldn't have snuck up on me. I was in self defense mode."
"I thought you had bodyguards. Where're they?" Chad demanded, sounding surprisingly protective.
Sonny rolled her eyes and pointed to a couple of potted plants on opposite ends of the short hallway where Dan and Larry were staked out until Sonny left the hall and went somewhere else.
Chad snorted. "And those are the guys you want protecting you?"
"It's not like I hired them," Sonny retorted. "So, how's your cheek?"
"I think you bruised it."
"Chad, please. I'll have been lucky to have left a mark. I didn't even hit you very hard," Sonny said while she waited for Chad to move his hand already.
"Yeah, right," he responded sarcastically. Reluctantly, he pulled his hand away from his cheek.
Sonny gave it a quick onceover. "Eh, it's fine. Like I said, there's barely a red mark that'll go away pretty soon."
"Great," Chad said with sarcasm saturating his tone again. "Thanks for the assault."
"No problem."
"Speaking of assault, I heard about the killer in your room. So, what exactly happened there?" Chad questioned, already sounding to Sonny like he doubted her word. "He was suddenly in there even with your bodyguards watching you at the only entrance, you look away for whatever reason, and when you look back, he's gone…?"
"Well, I had to get the curling iron!" Sonny said defensively, throwing her hands in the air. "And it's true!"
"I didn't say it wasn't, it just sounds very unlikely." Chad innocently held his hands, palms facing the ceiling, and shrugged his shoulders.
"I know what I saw," Sonny said intensely. "The killer was just suddenly in the makeup room, and I looked away for one second and when I looked back he was…" Her sentence trailed off as she studied his face while she'd been talking. "You don't believe me."
"Well, I mean… How'd he get in? Is there some other entrance or are those two bodyguards of yours taking gum breaks when they shouldn't?" He shrugged nonchalantly again, watching Sonny's disapproving, upset face stare him down. "I'm not saying you made it up. Maybe you're just… stressed."
"I'm not stressed. I'm fine," Sonny insisted, jabbing her useless cardkey in the air. "And I'm not seeing things."
"Never said you were," Chad said with a smirk. "You made that jump by yourself."
Sonny crossed her arms indignantly over her chest. "He was there. Wow, you know, time really hasn't changed you at all. You're still just as jerky as the day I met you and you stole my frozen yogurt."
"If I was such a jerk, why'd you date me?" he retorted.
"Oh, you didn't read any of the magazines?" she questioned sarcastically. "I was young and naïve and still trying to find the good in everyone. Besides, you weren't a jerk for about six months and then it was like some horror movie. Return of the Jerk-face."
----
Meanwhile, Tawni was walking through the halls of the studio with her two bodyguards trailing along with her on their way to lunch outside of the studio.
"…so that's why I decided I'd just wear this cute white and pink top. I mean, it's not like Sonny knows everything, but I figure, as long as I have bodyguards, there shouldn't be a reason for me to get blood on this. Unless someone shoots me." Tawni cocked her head to the side and kept walking. "Are you two trained to take a bullet for me? You should." She held up her index finger in the air to make her point as she said this.
Tawni clutched the sides of her head with her hands and groaned. "I'm getting a headache from all of this. My old friend is dead along with four other people…" Tawni suddenly turned to the taller one on her right. "Do you think you could find me some Cocoa Moco Cocoa lip gloss? I need something to soothe my nerves and calm my-"
Tawni let out a gust of air as one of her bodyguards, Ricky, suddenly yanked her back and the other one, Dewey, stepped part of the way in front of her in a defensive position. Her heart felt like it was in her throat as she practically drew blood digging her nails stressfully into Ricky's arm.
"What? What's going on?" Tawni whispered in a panic.
"Darn it!" Dewey exclaimed. "Another one! Stay here with her, I'll check the area! Call for backup!"
"Got it!" Ricky put his arm around Tawni's shoulders protectively and got out his cell phone.
"What?" Tawni squeaked. Then she saw the body of Brian Kress lying on the floor splattered with blood and she breathed in an unsteady breath, bringing a shaky hand to cover her mouth. It was the only thing to keep her from screaming out loud.
----
"Well, you did always hate horror movies," Chad commented cheekily.
Sonny raised her eyebrows at him and smiled wryly. "That I do. If I didn't already know I wouldn't have bodyguards in Wisconsin I'd be on the next plane out of this horror movie that's now my life." Sonny paused for a minute, just looking at Chad with her lips pursed. "So, yeah, Return of the Jerk-face was not something I enjoyed. And so now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to the front desk with Dan and Larry and get this darn card magnetized again."
"You actually trust those guys?" Chad asked, angling his thumb towards one of the potted plants a few feet down the hall from them. "They seem like a bunch of goofballs to me. I could protect you better than them."
"Is that an offer?" Sonny questioned sarcastically.
"Why? Interested?"
"Not after The Return of the Jerk-face sequel yesterday, thank you very much." Sonny walked around Chad down the hall, and Larry and Dan quickly followed.
"Chad!" Portlyn suddenly called from the other end of the long hallway.
Chad and Sonny both turned at the sound of her voice.
"Someone else is dead," Portlyn announced, walking closer to them with her cell phone held loosely in her left hand.
Sonny bit her lip and braced herself for the name of one of her friends. Nico? Zora? Tawni?
"It wasn't someone from So Random," Portlyn said, still in shock. "It was Brian Kress from Hoosier Girl. Stabbed outside a bathroom in the hallway and found by Tawni and her guards. Stabbed like, four times. Really gruesome."
Sonny frowned, her eyebrows wrinkling in pain and she pushed her hair back from her face. Another friend stabbed to death. When would it end?
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Unfortunately, that's all I've got for today. I have about half of chapter four done, but I still have to finish it and the rest of this story. Which I will do as fast as possible since I really want to finish my first murder mystery/horror. I really did try to finish it for today. I stayed up writing last night until like, three in the morning with Scream 1-3 on in the background the whole time. I wrote a little today also, but not much. What can I say? I tried.
Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to post chapter four tomorrow, but if I don't, it'll be because I was too sick from all the sugar today to move. ;-) Kidding.
Okay. Happy Halloween! :-)
