1: Quiet on Set

Daria finds an odd bit of fabric, stuck underneath one of the large rocks that make up the facade of the massive set. As she pulls it free of the rock, it feels soft and flowing. As she holds it up to inspect it, she sees it is a deep black hue, so black it almost seems to be its own color. A new black with odd pin pricks of white scattered throughout it. As the producer looks at the cloth, the pin pricks undulate and sway in a breeze Daria doesn’t seem to feel. The mesmerizing sight is interrupted as Daria feels a burn start to permeate her fingers. A cold burn that causes her to drop the cloth in pain. She looks at her fingers and sees the marks of what seems almost like a dry ice burn coating them. When she looks down to find the cloth, it seems to have vanished.

Blake sees David inspecting the set and moves to look himself. The PR agent searches and doesn’t seem to find anything of note. Just as he goes to stand, though, he sees a glint of something nestled within the cracks of the rock. Getting on his hands and knees on the rough hewn rock, he reaches in and plucks the item from the crack. The man holds it up and realizes it is a tooth with a bit of gum still clinging to its root.

Daria and Amanda leave the set, loading into Amanda’s car.As the two women drive to the exit of the studio complex, they pass the gate guard who smiles and raises a hand in farewell. The complex is surrounded by a ten foot tall concrete wall, interspersed with two gates on either side of the Hollywood block that it inhabits. The surrounding blocks are low end apartment buildings that at one time were used to house the various actors and stagehands building the burgeoning film industry. These have long since degraded as the workers chased more lavish housing into the Hollywood hills.

Now, most film studios existed within neighborhoods that no one would want to be caught in at night. The wall was a way to try to keep the sets secure, and so was a measure of safety.

As Amanda pulls the car past the wall to get a view of traffic, she sees a couple of vagrants sleeping with their backs against the wall. She also sees a woman in a jogging suit with a pitbull on a leash. The woman is talking on a cell phone and the pit bull seems to be sniffing some trash that has collected at a storm grate maybe 50 feet down the wall’s length.

Amanda makes the turn into traffic and begins the 20-30 minute drive to Jared’s apartment.