MATURE: - Ongoing [SuBuWriMo] Hell's Theater [P4]

[Parma]

Subuwrimo entry. Original material. Rated Mature for guns. Lots of guns. Tear it up all you want in regards to crit.

-

table of contents

P1

P2: the attempted coverup

P3: conversion

P4: fruits of labor


-

"Five minutes to curtain call. Get ready."

The talkie started Kathy out of her trance. She stared silently at the rowdy audience below her. Kathy sighed. Another show, another drink, she thought. The room she was in right now only fit one person. The stool below her was getting harder and harder to sit on. She put her hand on the large mixing board and begun to breathe in and out.

"Getting ready in five, four-"

Hearing this, Kathy sat up straight and became alert as the house lights dimmed. The large brown curtain on the stage slowly opened itself to reveal a small brown podium. A large man stood up behind it.

"Hello and welcome to the production of the Fifth Regiment Armory. I trust that you all will cooperate in this manner."

Kathy focused her attention and hearing on him. Okay, he's not too high in regards to the microphone placement, she thought. The booming voice gave her no help. But the low parts of his voice were now seething through. Kathy looked down at the board she was running and focused her attention on the fourth channel. Even though the lights were down, she could see what she was doing. She looked down to the LF knob and turned it slightly to the left. The bass part of his voice was slowly drifting lower...lower...got it. Kathy focused back on the man.

"I hope you enjoy your presentation." Sounded fine from here, she thought. The man slowly walked off of the podium as two stagehands walked up to the podium and rolled it away. The audience below remained silent. A spotlight now shone on some of the performers. They were all dressed in combat fatigues and stood at attention.

"Listen up, you maggots!"

The voice came from offstage. Kathy instinctively kept her hand under the fifth channel. The stage lights illuminated the performers as the spotlight shone on a large bulky man. He walked from the back stage and stopped at the block of performers.

"Now you listen to me and listen good. We've got a war to fight. You haven't been acting like yourselves lately, now have you!?"

Kathy fumbled around to the house volume switch. If he was deafening to her, then she could only imagine what the audience was going through. She pushed the button down to about -10 on the indicator. She sighed. To make matters worse, he had insisted on speaking like that every time they rehearsed, which drove her nuts. His voice shifted in volume to a significantly lower level. That was better, she thought.

"Is that understood?"

All the performers shouted out. "Yes, sir!"

"Now, then. We must-" He was interrupted. The spotlight on him was now gone.

The stage lights all suddenly got cut off. Kathy blinked. This wasn't in their rehearsal. A loud scream ripped through the little room. It came from the stage. The house lights now dimmed. BLAM! She heard a gunshot. BLAM! Another gunshot. This was definitely not in their plans. She couldn't see what the performers were doing due to the darkness of the stage. The gunshots had sounded like they had come from the stage, Kathy thought. BLAM! She whirled around.

That one came from the room beside her. From below, she could hear screams from the audience. More gunshots rippled through the audience. Kathy turned around and walked out of the small room. The hallway was strangely silent. It was just grey with doors on her left. One led to her domain. The other domain belonged to the light technicians.

Kathy's stomach dropped. She went against the wall and slowly slinked to the door. She didn't hear anything yet.

"Okay, that's enough guns," a voice said. "You think we should pull out now?"

She recognized that voice as Taj, one of her dearest comrades that was on that section.

"No way, dude," said another voice. "We can never have enough blood."

"Fine," Taj said. "Do whatever you want. It's not like this place is gonna survive for long anyway." Like I care, Kathy said.

"I'll be back, though." Kathy sprinted to the room. Good thing the lights were out. She huddled and stood against the wall. Kathy kept an eye on the hallway. Nothing. Two seconds. Nothing yet. She had to hold her position. Kathy tensed up. She hoped that Taj didn't enter the room. A shadow walked past the room. Taj, she thought.

"Hmm. I don't know if that girl is here, but I can't take any chances."

Taj walked into the room. Kathy didn't move. She couldn't move. The slightest movement could give away her position. Taj walked to the boards.

"Hmm. Nothing is here except these boards."

She rummaged around. Taj picked up the talkie.

"This has gotta go." Kathy felt her body shake with anger, but she had to hold it all in.

"Kathy? Are you okay?"

DAMN IT. Kathy could've let out a stream of curses right then. Taj placed the erupting talkie on the floor and stepped on it until it was no longer usable. Kathy thought, Whew.

"Hey!" Another voice? She still didn't move. Now another person appeared in the door.

"What are you two doing, fooling around like this? Get out of here. A sniper has been reported somewhere in this building. We have to leave right away!"

The director stood in the room for two more seconds.

"Sorry, ma'am, I was just helping Kathy-" Taj looked right at her- "with turning off the equipment. We'll be out soon." "Good."

The director turned and ran out of the room. Kathy felt Taj looking in her direction.

"I thought you'd be out with the rest of them by now. What gives?" Taj folded her arms.

"I was just trying to figure out what was going on," Kathy said. Taj narrowed her eyes. "You know something," she said.

"I don't know anything," Kathy said. She felt her body being pinned to the wall. Kathy felt herself becoming apprehensive. She and Taj had known each other for three years. The latter had seldomly acted like this.

"We're not getting anywhere with your circular answering of questions, Kathy." She soon felt and saw a pistol pointed at her head.

"Listen," Taj said. "You were up here like the rest of us. Unlike the members down there, you stayed up here. That alone _should_ make me kill you on sight."

"Why?" Kathy asked.

"Your behavior alone stuck out like a sore thumb." Kathy saw the finger narrow on the trigger. Thinking quickly, she punched Taj in the stomach. The two fell to the ground. Kathy was on top and she punched Taj in the face. The latter didn't flinch. She pulled the trigger. Kathy moved off of Taj and started running out of the hall. Another gunshot followed her.

BLAM! A bullet whizzed past her head.

Kathy bolted down the hallway and ran down the stairs. She turned the doorknob. Once. Twice. The door refused to give way. Kathy then remembered that the technical director would always lock the doors just before the play started so that nobody would get a chance to steal the equipment. But she had nowhere to go except back upstairs. Kathy ran back upstairs-except Taj's pistol stopped her.

"I'll only give you one chance at this," Taj said. Her blue eyes stared so much into Kathy that the latter thought she was going to fall.

"I should've asked you this a long time ago, but I put it off. Join us. We'll give you everything you need. In fact, you're my friend, Kathy. Refusing to help a friend is considered suicide in my mind. What do you say?"

Kathy only had one answer. "No. I'll never join you."

Before Taj could move, Kathy managed to grab the gun and release it from Taj's grip. The gun fell onto the lowest step. Kathy ran back downwards to the step and grabbed the gun-but Taj pushed her to the ground again. This time, Kathy held the advantage. She held on to the gun and kicked Taj in the stomach. Taj then put her hands on the gun. Kathy held her grip and hastily pulled the trigger.

BLAM! The resounding shot suddenly drowned out Kathy's ears. She pointed the gun at Taj and pulled the trigger. She couldn't hear the gunshot, but the effect was the same. Taj grabbed her bloodsoaked leg and fell to the ground. Kathy pocketed the gun.

A thought flashed through her mind. Keys! Kathy reached into a pocket and gathered a rusty old key. Only one way to find out, she thought. Kathy grabbed the key and stuck it into the doorknob. She jiggled the key inside the keyhole. Kathy turned the knob. The door suddenly forced itself open. Kathy pushed it open, pulled the key out and slammed the door behind her.

She continued running past the hallway. Kathy ran past the other people, the audience members and everyone else. She had no idea if anyone was following her. Taj had at least one goon. One goon could mean multiple goons. Either way, she wasn't sticking around. Kathy soon saw the glass doors.

Freedom! It was by a stroke of luck that the police weren't there yet. But there were two ambulance vehicles at the front of the auditorium. She had to be quick. Kathy pulled the door open and stepped outside. The cool air hit her face. People were standing and milling around the two emergency vehicles. To her right was a smaller parking lot. Kathy remembered that one as limited parking and only for the stage workers. She ran to the golden Lexus on the right corner.

Kathy pulled her own car keys out of her pocket and got into the car. She started the car up and soon found herself driving out of the parking lot. Kathy then drove to the school entrance and stopped. The stop light was in her way. It glowed the fiercest red. Kathy put her left hand down and felt the familiar metal of the gun.

The gun! Kathy thought frantically. I can't leave this here! Kathy quickly threw the car in park. She rolled the window down and threw the gun into the nearest grass bush. The stoplight soon clicked to green. Kathy threw the car into drive and drove off into the approaching sunset.

 

[Parma]

Re: [SuBuWriMo] Hell's Theater

[P2 - the attempted coverup]

It had been two days since the attempted takeover. Kathy had refused to leave the house for anything. But there was another obstacle in Kathy's way to sleep around the house.

Ashley was the original sound technician for the theater. However, she had to depart for a funeral. This landed Kathy square into the crosshairs. There was no flinching in being a sound technician. Adjustment of levels was the bread and butter. She couldn't let the boards control her. Kathy yawned and rolled over.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Hey, are you in there?" Ashley's voice floated through Kathy's ears. Kathy groaned and sat up.

"Yeah, come in," she said.

The door opened. Ashley, wearing a chrome sweater and black pants, walked into the room. The floors were the usual hardwood brown. The ceiling and corresponding walls were all white. Kathy's room consisted of a bed, window, television and a laptop. The latter item had remained unused for so long due to her job.

Kathy spoke first. "How was the funeral?"

"It sucked," Ashley said. She sat down on the bed. "You expected a funeral to be happy or something?"

Kathy felt even dumber for even asking.

"How was the play?" Ashley asked. "I told you the situation, so spill."

Kathy was reluctant to tell anything to Ashley about this. She was already in trouble. Taj had known everything. Now she had no idea of what her former friend would do to her. She didn't intend to put Ashley in jeopardy for anything.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell about what happened back there," Kathy said. "It's just that the play was so boring. Nothing of interest happened there. The army guy just acted like a large ham and the sound was fine. Let's watch some television, shall we?"

Kathy was just eager to put that behind her and do something else. She turned on the television.

"We have a special update from the scene of the crime." The television screen then showed the outside of the theater that they worked in.

"That's odd," Ashley said. "You told me nothing happened. Is something wrong?"

A tall white female wearing on orange dress suit stood on the right side of the screen.

"Thank you, Michael. Hello. I'm Renee Terwilliker and I'm here in front of the Last Dance Theater with some sad news. 31-year-old Tabitha Wilkes, and her husband, 35-year-old Dana Carpentier, both died from gunshot wounds to the chest. Their deaths were a result of the shooting that occurred Saturday afternoon. Police were unable to find the perpetrators of this vicious crime."

Renee nodded as the screen shifted to some random person.

She was sobbing. "It was horrible!"

The screen showed another random person. "The lights went out then all you heard was gunshots, man. I couldn't tell you what went on in there. It just happened so quickly."

The screen shifted to Renee, who stood in front of the theater again.

"Police have collected some bullets from the crime scene, but they were all too trampled to count. Nevertheless, the forensic team in the police department will try to collect enough data and release it as soon as it can. Thank you. This is Renee Terwilliker."

Ashley turned off the television. Kathy felt like hiding under the blanket now.

"A shooting occurred?" Ashley asked. "Were the boards okay? Was everyone all right?"

Ugh. This was why she didn't want to divulge information to Ashley. The latter peppered questions like how salt landed on french fries.

Kathy sighed and recounted the story. However, she wisely left out the part about Taj's involvement. Kathy wanted to handle that one alone. She remembered the goon threat from that day. If too much information got out, then bad things would happen.

"Did you get out okay?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah," Kathy said. She shivered a little.

"I hope that you feel better," Ashley said.

She picked up her phone. "From the looks of things, we're scheduled to perform at another theater soon since ours is regarded as a crime scene. We won't be able to access it for a while."

Kathy nodded. She was nervous about the whole ordeal. It didn't look like her life-her work-related life, rather-was going to recover, either.

 

[Parma]

Re: [SuBuWriMo] Hell's Theater

[P3 - conversion]

The hospital room was too sterile for her own liking. The bed Taj was in didn't help matters one bit. She held a hand down and touched her leg. It was a bit swollen from the wound she had received two days ago.

"I can't believe I didn't strike when I did," she said. Nobody was in the room with her.

"I mean, I had her in my sights. Ugh.." Taj rolled her eyes. She just wanted to keep that behind her. But another thing had almost made her sick with worry. That thing was named Kathy.

She couldn't believe that Kathy was on to their operation. It was gonna turn out so well. Then again, Kathy never really cared about that place, Taj thought to herself. She then remembered that both of them were sometimes content on skipping rehearsals when Kathy wasn't the lead technician-and that was the entire time.

Now what? Taj looked to the desk beside her. A black cellphone just laid on the desk.

Suddenly, the door swung open. "What the-" Three people walked in. The first person was a woman with a white shirt and blue shorts. The other two were both men and had the same items on-black pants and white shirts.

Taj recognized them instantly. "Hey, guys. Thanks for visiting. You too, Erin." She nodded.

"We couldn't leave you behind," Erin said. "Good news, though. The theater is closed due to it being a crime scene. We might get to perform somewhere else."

Taj laughed at the joke. "Yeah, well my leg is still a bum one," she said. "It'll take about two more days for it to heal up."

"Well, we're here," Tim said. He held a bald head. His brother, Sheldon, kept his hair constantly cut down to his shoulders. "You need anything?"

"Yeah," Taj said. "Listen. I want all of you to return to the crime scene."

Erin had a quizzical expression on her face. "Wait," Erin said. "We can't tamper with the evidence." Sheldon coughed.

"Look, babs," Tim said to Erin. "You want us to be found out?"

"No," Erin said. "Good. Do exactly what Taj says and you won't get hurt. Got it?" Erin nodded. She said nothing.

"Okay," Taj said. "I want all of you to return to the crime scene. Search for things that don't tie us to the crime. We can't afford to lose here."

"What about our paychecks, though?" Sheldon asked. "We can't work without them, ya know? Sheldon without a paycheck is a very angry Sheldon indeed."

Taj became flustered. "I know, Sheldon, I know. I haven't called the director yet in regards to the paychecks. I'll get on that soon."

"Good," Sheldon said. Taj shook her head. In the past year that she'd known him, he was always concerned about money. This was no exception.

"But there's something really important to discuss. You guys know Kathy?"

"Isn't that your friend?" Erin piped up. "The one that you kept skipping rehearsals with?"

"Yes," Taj said. "She knows. I let her get away."

"You did what?" Tim's face suddenly turned red. "You've never had lapses of judgment like this, Taj? What the hell were you thinking?"

"Hey," Taj replied. "It was unintentional. She got the best of me. Anyway, she might be on to us. The director saw us during the shooting and told both of us to get out of there. I did give her a chance to join us."

"What did she say?" Erin asked. "She declined."

"See, this wouldn't have happened if _I_ was the leader of this operation," Tim said. He'd interrupted their conversation.

"I would've killed her without any questions."

"Shut up, man," Sheldon said. "You weren't even there to help out. Therefore, your opinion is invalid."

"Anyway, we need to get to her,"Taj said. "I have her phone number and address. She stays with Ashley in her house. I'll relay this information to you guys."

Taj picked up the cellphone and dialed the number.

-

RING! The phone startled Kathy out of her sleep. She swung out of the bed and lumbered to the dresser. Her white cellphone kept ringing and vibrating. Kathy stifled a yawn as she answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Kathy, you alright?" Kathy nearly froze. Taj was on the other line. Kathy remained mute.

"Look, you answering this call or what?" Taj said.

Kathy finally managed to craft a response. "What do you want?"

"I want you to meet me at the hospital," Taj said. "It's located at the corner of Meyer Street and Blaine Boulevard. You know how to get there, right?"

Kathy nodded. "Well. I do remember that you would come down on your own volition. I somehow got shot in the leg. I still want you here tonight. Got it?"

Kathy opened her mouth. "No, I'm sick." She coughed a few times in the phone receiver. "I won't be able to come tonight. Maybe another time?"

"Fine," Taj said. "As you wish." She hung up the phone.

-

Taj pushed the end button on her phone. "She ain't coming down. Claims she's sick."

"What now?" Sheldon asked. "If she isn't coming to us, we come to her," Taj said. "I won't be discharged until two days from now. But I must continue to heal up for now."

"What's her address?" Tim asked. Taj took out the cellphone and scrolled downwards in the contact list to "Kathy Mason". She gave the phone to Tim. "Her address is 612 Spinner Drive. Just say that you're a friend of Kathy. She'll let you in just fine."

Tim passed the phone to Erin. Soon, she passed the phone to Sheldon. Taj received it back.

"Go there tonight. I will be calling her cellphone at 7 tonight. Call me when you get to her. No excuses this time. We need her in our circle. You understand me?"

They all nodded in an affirmative manner.

"Good." Erin took out a small paper bag that had grease throughout it. "Bought you a hamburger." Taj nodded in delight. "Don't forget the operation."

-

[later that night]

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Kathy jumped up from the bed above. That's odd, she thought. I wasn't expecting this call from anyone, nonetheless this moment. RING!

Kathy took out her cellphone.

"Hello?" "Open the front door." She didn't recognize the voice. "Excuse me?" Kathy asked. "We're in front of your house. We're not here to harm you."

"We?"

"Yes," the gruff voice said. "Is your name Kathy Mason?"

Kathy almost gasped in shock. "Answer me."

"Yes."

"Good. We know something that you don't want anyone else to know about," the voice said. "This is your last warning. Open the door."

Kathy walked out of her room and down the carpeted steps. She walked down the stairs carefully and entered the living room. The living room was colored grey.

The lamps were lit and the windows were all covered in drapes. She walked to the door and looked through the peephole. The group of light technicians was outside. She just barely recognized them.

"I wonder what they all want," Kathy mumbled. She opened the door. The trio of them walked in. The first thing Kathy noticed was the clothing. They all wore the same clothing. Black shoes, black pants and black jackets.

"Yeah?" She recognized the woman among them as Erin.

"Hello, Kathy," Erin said. "Who are these two?" Kathy asked. The brunette thumbed to the two men beside her.

"Tim is the bald guy. Sheldon is the other guy." Kathy looked at the two men. Like Erin had said, one of them did have a shaven head. The other one did have long hair down to his shoulders.

"Right," Kathy said. "Now we don't normally talk."

Tim turned to Erin. "I'll take it from here."

He looked at Kathy. "Taj told us all about you. We know that you know our secret. We can't afford to have you running around and blabbing this to everyone."

"I'm not going to talk," Kathy said. "I don't know how to make you believe me, but I can't do that."

Tim took out a knife. "Listen here. Listen good. We have to do damage control. You have two options. You can join us and live. In actuality, that should be the option that you take."

"Why should I join you guys?" Kathy asked. "Taj already threatened me and I said no. That's what happened the first time between us."

The door opened. Ashley walked in. "What in the world is going on here?"

Tim quickly held the knife behind the back. "Nothing, ma'am," Sheldon said. "We're just talking with Kathy about the next performance."

"Then why haven't I gotten anything about this?" Ashley said. "I am the lead sound technician. I must know everything first."

"It's between us, not you," Tim said.

"Well, you guys can decide this amongst yourselves," Ashley said. She walked to the television and cut it on.

"We have a new development on the Last Dance Theater tragedy." Renee Terwilliker was on the television again. Everyone's heads turned to the reporter onscreen.

"The police have found a gun on the premises." Kathy gulped. "They've done some investigation and found some interesting results. We might have the perpetrator after all. The fingerprints on the gun belonged to two people: Taj Shelton and Kathy Mason."

Everyone looked directly at Kathy.

"However, the gun is unregistered on the Gunsmith Database. Regardless, if you come in contact with these people, please do yourselves a favor and call the police. We must bring these two to justice."

Ashley turned off the television.

"You never told me about this," she said. "You've gotta turn yourself in."

"Well, well, well," Tim said. "Looks like you're going to pay by going to jail. Unless, of course, you ally yourself with us. You'll be covered."

Kathy was in no mood to answer any questions from the police. She became exasperated. "Alright, fine. What do you want in return?"

"Your complete loyalty," Tim said.

"Fine," Kathy said.

 

[Parma]

Re: [SuBuWriMo] Hell's Theater [P3]

[P4: fruits of labor]

Erin looked at the scene before her. Tim now looked in her direction. "Erin. You and Sheldon take Kathy outside and discuss some things, okay?"

She nodded and turned to the silent Kathy. "Come on." Erin was a bit apprehensive now. She knew that Tim was going to harm Ashley in some way. But at least Tim was being nice this time in letting her leave the area before he started his work. He had seldomly done this when he had started the operation out.

"Ugh," she said to Kathy. "Come on, let's go outside."

"Fine."

Erin led both Sheldon and Kathy outside. The cool night air hit them as the light from the house faded away. Somewhere in front of the street was a large streetlight. Erin saw the black car parked in front of it.

Sheldon turned to Kathy. "Well, looks like you're gonna get paid with us," he said.

Erin remained silent. She couldn't divulge any of her true intentions. Erin surveyed Kathy slowly. The latter wasn't talking.

Hmm, she thought. I'm gonna have to wait with her and see how she turns out. I can't just let everyone in on the deal. If too many people disappear, then Tim would definitely suspect me. Then who knows what would happen from there.

-

Tim looked at Ashley and took out his knife.

"You know too much." "And?" Ashley asked. "I'll just report you guys to the authorities and let them deal with you."

Tim almost laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of that statement. She didn't know, but Ashley was displaying a whole lot of naivete there. He had to hold his tongue.

He pushed her against the wall and covered her mouth. Ashley struggled a bit from right next to him.

"Let me go!" she said from the covered mouth. Tim could feel her mouth opening like in a preparation to bite. He had to strike. Tim stuck the knife in Ashley's neck and pushed it to the right. The cut that the knife started was growing larger with every push. Ashley's lower neck was becoming drenched in blood as was the knife.

Tim soon pushed the knife. The knife then did its work. Ashley's head toppled to the ground. The body followed soon after. Tim looked behind him for anything that would store heads. Nothing. He moved to the closet door, being careful to use only his left hand. Tim had to be smart. If too many fingerprints got around, then the police would find more evidence against him. Regardless of how they had operated, he knew this well.

The closet door held nothing but large black trashbags. He took one of them out. Tim walked over to the body and stuffed it in the bag. The head followed in there too. He then took the two flaps of the trashcan and tied it up tight. Time was not on their side. A dead human body could remain unscented for a day. Anything more than that and the body had a chance to emit odors. That wasn't on his plan now. Even though the limitations of this job were grand, Tim loved the idea of killing people. It was ingrained in his wellbeing since almost birth.

He had remembered his first killing. It was back in middle school. Tim had had a girl over his house that he particularly didn't care for. He had liked the idea of teasing her and upsetting her just so that she would get upset. The best part? Since Tim held a clean record [and was a jock for most of his stay], he was able to get away with bloody murder. This was no exception. He had taken the girl to his own bedroom. She had complained of being sleepy, so he let her lie down on his bed. Within a couple of seconds, she was sleep. Tim gathered a nearby pillow and held it over her face until she had stopped breathing. Within 15 minutes, that deed was done. He then looked at the dead girl and snickered.

This bloodstained mind of his wasn't going to let him up anytime soon, he thought. But he had to move now. Tim walked out of the house. The other three looked at him. Kathy's gaze was on the bag. He noticed.

"You," he said. "Tell nobody of this. Is that understood?"

"Yes," Kathy said. Bzzzt! The vibration came from his pants.

Tim dumped the bag on the steps and picked up his cellphone.

"Hello?"

"What's going on?" Taj asked. "I called the girl's house several times and she didn't answer. You're not stashing out on me, are you?"

"No," Tim said. "We got her into the fold. She's with us."

"Good," Taj said. "You keep an eye on her and make damn sure that she doesn't snitch. Understand this?"

"Yeah," Tim said. "Give her the phone."

-

Kathy kept staring at the bag. She didn't want to know what was inside of it. But her brain kicked in.

"Answer the phone," Tim said.

Kathy looked at the shaven man. He had a cellphone in his hand. Kathy gingerly picked it up, but not before getting a long look at Tim's bloodied hand and the knife in it.

She shuddered and held the phone up to her ear. "I'm here," Kathy said.

"Good," Taj said. "Stay in the house. You're not allowed to talk to anybody. Wait for me. I will be over your house. I will call you before I come. Take nothing with you except your phone. And even then, it must be modified."

"I understand," Kathy said. "But what's gonna happen now?"

"I'll determine that," Taj said. "You stay in the house like I told you. Give the phone back to Tim."

Kathy took the phone from her ear and gave it back to him. She walked back in the house and shut the door. Kathy whirled around and saw something that caught her eye. Blood was scattered amongst the wall right next to the steps and on the floor below. In that moment, she figured it out. Ashley was dead.

Kathy and Ashley weren't that close. The latter was always on the sound system. Kathy preferred hanging with Taj during rehearsal breaks. But when the situation had came down to it, Kathy was fine at handling the boards. Ashley had taught her everything that she had known from there. Now it was just Kathy. She kept gazing at the blood that was left of her former teacher. The full ramifications of her move suddenly hit her.

It was a switch. Ashley had wandered into a situation that she had no business getting into. But then again, the latter was always nosy. Ashley had always gotten all the information of the incoming performers and their desired levels before anyone else had done so. At the end of rehearsals and programs, they would always be surprised at how Ashley had operated so effortlessly. In return, she was always modest.

"Hey, I just did what I had to do," Ashley would say. "Nothing more, nothing less."

Ashley was always excited to get to work. In contrast, Kathy wasn't too thrilled at being second banana to an overachiever. But she soon got over that at one large performance. Due to the sheer amount of performers involved, Kathy and Ashley had to run two separate sound systems at the same performance. The two of them soon found their groove and Kathy found herself asking Ashley questions during the intermission. In response, the latter answered everything and even gave her some tips. Despite the working relationship, the two of them didn't hang out when the theater was closed.

But how was this going to turn out? Kathy thought. She really didn't want to work with that theater, but it was the only job that was open in town. She was essentially a lame duck now.