N. Walters - Mark of the Bear

She reached out and flicked on the radio again. Even bad music was preferable than going down memory lane or worrying about the unknown future. She was too tired to think any longer and needed something to keep her awake.

Two miles down the road, she pulled into a service station long enough to fill up her gas tank and buy herself an extra-large black coffee loaded with sugar. She dug an energy bar out of her tote bag and ate it. She bought the bars in bulk and always had a few on her. In her business, you never knew when you were going to eat, so she always made sure she had something on hand to keep her energy up. The kick was exactly what the doctor ordered. She buckled her seatbelt and got back on the road.

Traffic grew thicker as she got closer to L.A. Her coffee was long gone and she was fighting a yawn every other minute. It was just past eight when she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex and shut off the car. Blessed silence surrounded her.

“Not yet.” She’d fall asleep in the car if she weren’t careful. Not only was that not smart, but she had a perfectly good futon a few steps away.

She opened the car door, dragged her tired body out and grabbed her duffle bag and her empty coffee cup. She didn’t leave garbage in Betsy. Ever.

Thankfully, she didn’t run into any of her neighbors on the way to her apartment. She liked them all just fine, but she was too tired to talk about her latest movie. They’d all want details later. They were a close-knit group from different walks of life, all ages and ethnic groups. Their common ground was the movies. They all worked or had worked in the industry in one capacity or another.

Kellsie fumbled with her keys until she found the right one. She unlocked her door and went inside, locking up behind her. She dumped her duffle bag on the floor and took a deep breath, enjoying the silence and the slight smell of the lemon balm and peppermint coming from the pots of herbs that lined the kitchen window. She was home.

She’d unpack later. Now all she wanted was to get into a prone position as fast as humanly possible. She kicked off her shoes, took the five steps necessary to bring her beside her futon and fell on it, burying her face in her pillow.

She really should undress. It would heat up later and she didn’t want to turn on the air conditioner unless she had to. The damn thing ate electricity and she was trying to keep her bills at a minimum. There were things she couldn’t skimp on, like her gym membership, but she cut corners where she could.

Mrs. Emery in 1B was a former hairdresser to the stars and cut Kellsie’s hair for her once a month. In return, Kellsie took her to do her grocery shopping twice a month. Lonny Grey up in 3C was a set carpenter and fixed anything that needed fixing for cheap. In return, she’d passed his name along on a couple of movies she’d done, getting him some work. All of them did what they could to make extra money and keep expenses low.

Kellsie rolled onto her back, unzipped her jeans and shoved them down her legs. Her T-shirt was next. When she was clad only in her bra and panties, she yanked the purple throw off the back of the futon to cover herself and snuggled down.

All the tension seeped from her body. She’d done a good job with the movie and it should lead to a few more roles. If nothing else, it would mean a decent paycheck. She turned onto her side and sighed. She’d go for a workout later and stop on the way home and get some groceries. Her fridge and cupboards were almost bare. She hadn’t bothered to shop before she’d left town. There hadn’t been any point.

And why wasn’t she already asleep?

“Damn.” Kellsie dragged the blanket half over her head and started counting sheep. She couldn’t get her brain to stop working and was almost too tired to sleep.

Determined, she counted the cute wooly creatures and concentrated on controlling her breathing. In and out. In and out. Slow and easy. The muscles in her neck and shoulders finally unclenched and her mind slowed its frantic pace. She was just drifting off when her cell phone rang. Moaning, she buried her face under her pillow and waited, praying whoever it was would figure out she wasn’t answering and hang up.

The noise stopped when the phone finally sent the caller to her message manager. She sighed and rolled over, savoring the blessed quiet. Then the phone rang again.

Kellsie swore and sat up knowing, whoever it was, the caller wasn’t going to give up easily. She dragged her fingers through her long hair and concentrated on standing. It wasn’t easy when she wanted to do nothing more than burrow under her thin blanket and sleep for eight straight hours.

Staggering across the room, she grabbed her duffle bag and dug into the front pocket to snag her phone. A quick glance at the call display told her it was her agent.

“This better be good.”

“It’s better than good, doll.”

“I was sleeping, Maury. I just go home from the shoot and I’m beyond exhausted.” She loved the man, but she was going to kill him if this wasn’t important.

“Sorry, doll, but you have to pack your bag again. I got you another role.”

It wasn’t his words so much as his tone that made her heart start pounding. “What is it?” Not that it mattered much. Work was work.

“Are you sitting down?”

Honestly, Maury could be such a drama queen at times. She could picture his gray hair standing on end because he’d run his fingers through it a dozen times. His eyes would be as bright as a child’s, but they were as shrewd as any Wall Street banker’s. He’d smile like a kid with a big secret. Maury was one of a kind. Usually, his idiosyncrasies made her laugh. At times like this, they drove her crazy.

“Tell me.” She perched on the edge of the futon.

“It’s the lead.”

Kellsie forgot to breathe. She hadn’t had a leading role in about five years. “Really?”

“Honest to God.” She could hear Maury munching in the background and knew he was popping sunflower seeds. He’d started eating them when he gave up smoking six years ago. “The producer called me himself. He’s a fan of The Slasher on Cemetery Road and wants you as his leading lady.”

“What’s the movie?”

Papers shuffled. “Ah, it’s called Hades’ Carnival . Basically it’s about a traveling carnival that’s run by the devil and his demons or minions or whatever the hell he calls them.” Maury chuckled at his own joke. “People visit the carnival. Weird shit happens. People die. Heroine has to survive somehow with the help of a mystical warrior.”

That was different. “When do I start?”

“Couple of days. They want you up in Washington State. It’s isolated. They’re shooting near the mountains or something. Why folks have to leave a perfectly good city is beyond me.”

Kellsie laughed. Maury figured unless there were at least several hundred thousand people surrounding him, a variety of restaurants, cell coverage and taxis, then a place wasn’t worth visiting. He was strictly a city man.

“I’ve got to get some sleep and take care of a few things today.” She mentally ran through her to-do list. She needed to stop by the bank and the drugstore to pick up a few items, especially if she was headed to an isolated movie set for a while. “How long is the shoot scheduled to last?”

“Four weeks. And, doll, that’s not the best of it.”

“What else is there?”

Maury named an amount of money that left her breathless.

“You’re shitting me?”

“Nope,” he replied. “They wanted you and were willing to pay for that to happen.”

Kellsie couldn’t believe her good luck. This role was the answer to her prayers. That kind of money would really go a long way toward her retirement fund. If the movie turned out well, it would hopefully generate a few more years of work for her too.