“I—uh…” Panic fluttered in my belly. We’d never said those words before. “I was watchingThe Exorcist,” I said lamely, too scared to use the real words. It almost felt like a jinx. If I confessed that I loved him, he’d for sure meet some beautiful actress, fall madly in love, and forget about me.
“Groovy,” he sighed, quoting Ash fromEvil Dead, clearly disappointed. After a beat, he finished the phrase fromThe Exorcist. “It got me thinking about you.”
We fell asleep, his workout alarm rousing us. I joined him, as my mom had directed, noting that she had, in fact, not come home last night. We went to the gym, did our workouts, and then headed to the lot. He dragged me through the large bare sound stage, over to set. The only lights were the security lights above various exits, creating shadows across the already creepy set. I glanced around. We were in Sebastian’s character’s bedroom. He paused near his bed, tilting his head toward it and smiling wickedly at me.
“Movie fact—this is a real bed.”
I bit back a snarky comment but couldn’t contain the eye roll and excited butterflies in my belly.
“We’re early, but that just means we can sneak in round two. They say it hurts less and less each—” Suddenly, he stopped midsentence, and his eyes widened.
“Beep beep, Ritchie,” he whispered.
The use of our code, alone in the dark, made me freeze. Goose bumps rose on my arms as he reached for my hand, squeezing it tight. Something was wrong—very wrong. I turned slowly, fear sliding up my spine as I tried to keep my steps quiet. When I was fully facing the rest of the room, my blood ran cold. I snapped my mouth shut as I saw a shadow running away, pushing open the emergency door and fleeing.
“Evie, don’t look!” Sebastian shouted and tried to turn me away, but it was too late. I saw the body swaying from the scaffolding right where the man had just been. My entire mind went blank as I stared at the familiar dress and high heels.
And then, I screamed.
Chapter 2
Evie
The Time Jump
“Hello, and welcome toFeatured Creatures, the only show where we keep the female gaze at the forefront as we explore all things horror. I’m your host, JoJo Perkins. Today, we have Evie Reyes in the studio, the daughter of legendary Final Girl, Lita Reyes—rest in peace.”
JoJo put her hands together in a praying motion and looked to the ceiling. “Evie here has granted us an exclusive interview as she prepares to reenter Hollywood, this time in front of the camera.”
She turned her chair, adjusting her bright yellow cocktail dress to better cover her lap. I forced myself to keep up the fake smile as I waved to the cameras. I caught myself starting to slump forward and straightened my posture.
JoJo’s hair and makeup looked gorgeous, and the yellow dress complemented her flawless dark skin perfectly. Herstylistswere great at their jobs. I, on the other hand, had dressed myself today. Thankfully, I’d recently gotten my hair cut to resemble the Betty Page look, so the maintenance was minimal. I’d curled my black bangs and fluffed my shoulder-length hair and called it good so I could focus on painting my lips red and giving myself a simple smoky eye. The colors complemented my naturally tan skin tone, but they didn’t make me stand out like JoJo in her yellow dress. Paired with my ripped black jeans and a black shawl over a lacy black crop top, I looked…boring.
I needed a stylist.
I reached for the glass on the table and took a sip. My hand shook slightly as I placed it back down.
“You left California after Lita’s passing,” she prompted.
I nodded. “I did. I moved to Michigan. My aunt Yvonne took me in. It was really healing to be around people who knew my mother like I did.”
“What did you do during your time there?” JoJo crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. She was ignoring the cameras altogether, focusing her eyes and smile on me.
“Well, I finished high school. After I got my diploma, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with my life, so I—” Heat flooded my face. I laughed. “I’m going to sound like a man having his midlife crisis right now, but I started a podcast.”
The crew on the other side of the room chuckled, but JoJo, ever the expert host, rolled with it.
“Yes! I’m actually an avid listener ofThe Body Count Bimbo. Or was. I switched to the videos when you started your YouTube channel. I love seeing your gorgeous face light up and get all excited about our favorite topic, horror.” She turned to the cameras and flashed a megawatt smile.
“It’s so fun, going in every week and gushing about horror movies. It’s the best job ever.” I beamed.
“Mood, girl. You have over three million followers—we’ve got how many?” She scrunched up her nose.
A cameraman called over to us. “Seven hundred thousand.”
“Oof. If you’re watching a clip of this on YouTube and haven’t already subscribed to our channel, make sure to hit the like and follow buttons so we can attempt to compete with Miss Three Million over here, and you’ll never miss aFeatured Creatureinterview. Anyway, you’ve got your channel, what do you plan on doing with it now that you’re back in Hollywood?”
“Unfortunately, my channel has to go on hiatus while I’m here, but luckily, there are tons of videos from the last three years to binge while you wait for me to come back.”
