× Los Angeles, California × New season. New goals. New problems. Translation: more workload and stress for them all year. To his dismay, it was just the reality for a busy man like him. He asked for it, though. Ever since he learned how cruel life could be for a piss-poor nobody, he'd been dreaming of having a moneymaking career like this. A decent livelihood. A real job that made people respect him for his work and commitment. "Suck it up and do your best. Do I need to remind you everyone's counting on you?" his uncle would say if he was in a chatty mood. Jenson let out a sigh and flumped down in his swivel chair, tuning out the voices he didn't need to listen to right now. He stared at the dark and empty cubicles outside the huge glass dividers. The workstations were designated for their staff—20 or so on this floor. Unlike him, they all lined up in front of the elevator once the clock struck five. He wished they didn't act like so, but, the management never really encouraged t
× New York City ×"Good morning.""Hi. I'm Kel. Sorry if I smell like a hospital hallway. Got off my shift and went straight here.""I'm Jessi. Or just 'Jess'. And I don't mind at all." Jessi finished applying some highlighter on Kel, the soft-spoken model sitting in front of her. She gave the model a smile to convince her that she didn't mind how Kel's dark hair and pale face smelled of rubbing alcohol. Both of the model's hands also smelled of hand sanitizer and some cleaning product. "At least you smell clean.""Been sleeping in the quarters for about a month now. Training requirements," Kel muttered as Jessi worked on her dark brown eyebrows now. Kel's dark lashes and rather thick brows were such contrast to her pale green eyes. They looked beautiful and striking at first glance. "That place reeks of bleach most of the day.""Quarters?" Jessi repeated in a mumble while flicking a smaller makeup brush. She would be using it for the model's eye shadow."Doctors' quarters," Kel replie
× "Make it eight months. Gonna start shooting the next season soon. Some locations will be outside city limits. I'll need a dependable supply." "That would be 496 doses at 75 dollars per vial of the W70B30, Mr. Roiz." Jenson switched his phone to speaker mode as he reclined in his swivel chair. His spine and joints were aching again, and his headache wasn't helping his mood, either. "Yeah. Sounds about right," he replied to the pharmacy assistant on the other line. It wasn't exactly the usual pharmacy in this side of town, but it catered to their medicinal needs even at ungodly hours, practically open 24/7. As far as he knew, most of the pharmacy's customers ordered products and their prescription meds via phone or online. He imagined putting "also a certified wolfsbane potion dealer" on their storefront would most likely drive potential customers away, instead of attracting more patrons. "The packages will be delivered tomorrow
× 1 new message from:Zach Boss "UM called. Done shooting S2's last episode. They need u guys on set 4am this Wed. Promo shoot" Today 1:27PM Jessi had to do a double-take before the last text message from her boss finally sank in. Her phone had been buzzing while she was cleaning her makeup brushes, and now that she was done drying them, she had a minute to spare before the models needed another retouch. Season two? Last episode? Was he talking about "Road to Valhalla"? The same TV show Zach was working for as the key makeup artist? Daniella from HR had told her about the Hollywood series, and about the steadily growing fanbase it was gaining after the successful pilot season. But Jessi hadn't had the time to do an in-depth research over the weekend. She just didn't expect that someone as rookie as her would get picked from the roster for a job that big. When she just kept staring
× No bloodstains on the pillows and sheets. No signs of struggle. No ligature marks on the young victim's neck or wrists. The girl didn't look older than 25. No surprise there. Darren didn't fancy older women. No pulse. Motionless. Dead. The girl was already dead. Perhaps for about an hour now. Her pallid skin wasn't cold to the touch yet. Jenson got up from the floor and looked away from the corpse on the fairly messy bed. The hotel room looked clean and orderly, but not too clean or suspiciously organized. Hastily, he took off the surgical glove and curbed the strong urge to swear out loud and kick the nightstand. Darren was watching his every move despite the dimness. Covered up by a dark robe, Darren stood against the wall with his hands on his head, clutching his tousled hair that partly hid his shadowed face and panic-stric
× "I hope you guys enjoyed your dinner and have a nice night." Jessi stirred awake from her nap when she heard the soft beep signaling the last part of another announcement from the pilot. Were they approaching the airport in Los Angeles?She blinked at the blurry beige shapes before her and glimpsed the time on her phone. 8:10PM. Nope. Few more hours to go. They'd been up in the air before six. Meaning: she had been napping for two hours straight. Good enough to recharge her. Refreshed and a little hungry, she sat up and muffled a yawn. It got rid of her airplane ears. Her left ear popped, relieving some pain. Her grogginess almost made her forget about her headache, but at least her skull no longer felt like it was going to split in half. She needed lots of rest tonight. Then she would have to buy some food for herself for the next couple of days. There was a small fridge in her new apartment but not much cooking utensils. She needed pots and pans, too. Mental note: do some sho
× 4:38AM × Formaldehyde. Water. Ten milligrams of wolfsbane. That should be enough. Jenson stood next to the door and made sure no one else would find the girl in here.He checked the big padlocks again. As utter silence filled the basement, he ran up the narrow stairs. He didn't have the right kind of embalming fluid for a deceased human body. For now he had to improvise. The situation called for it.Preserving the poor girl's corpse for at least half a day would give him more time to think. He needed to come up with the best plan of action. Darren was pretty much out of it. Shell-shocked. The idiot wouldn't be able to come up with a good plan to address their current conundrum. His current mental state might even cause another problem.But at least Darren sobered up enough to keep his piehole shut all night. "Pezzo di merda." Jenson sighed out loud as he trudged b
× Shooting was still weeks away, the bosses said.Her supervisor told her the first episodes of the show's next season would be shot outside of Hollywood, as originally planned by the showrunners. According to him, it would require some adjustment due to the location change, but Jessi could already feel the daily grind mentality kicking in as the day progressed. She had just met the entire cast of the famous TV series.They were funny, charismatic, fun to be around but also took their job seriously. The official photo shoot for the promotional materials and the cast interviews lasted only five and a half hours instead of eight hours, because the entire cast had been so adept and professional during the whole shoot. The photographers and the creative team did not have any trouble working with them at all.Except for her, because she had to take on the responsibilities of her co-w