CHAPTER FOUR
1110 Words
THE SECOND TAKE
Sometimes, the most dangerous moments are the quiet ones.
The moments before the action or when everyone thinks the cameras aren't watching.
“Reset!”
The assistant director’s voice echoed across Stage 7.
Crew members moved quietly.
Lights shifted.
Camera operators adjusted their lenses.
Someone handed me a bottle of water but my mind was on what Director Alex said yesterday.
“You're still holding back because you're afraid of the truth.”
How could someone who had barely spoken with me read something hidden inside my mind?
“Drink,” Claire Dowan handed me a bottle of water. “You look pale and nervous.”
“I'm fine,” I said quickly.
She raised an eyebrow.
“First day nerves?”
“Something like that.”
She smiled knowingly.
“Don't worry, everyone survives their first day.”
Everyone!
That word echoed strangely in my head.
I stepped onto the set again but something felt quite different almost unsettling.
Across the room, Director Alex stood behind the monitor watching everything as always.
Olivia leaned toward him.
“Do you really need another take?” she asked quietly.
“The last one was strong.”
His eyes remained fixed on the screen.
“Strong isn't enough.”
“What are you looking for?”
He paused then quietly said.
“The truth.”
I watched him quietly from across the set.
Something about the way he carried himself made everyone slightly nervous.
Not because he yelled.
Not because he was rude.
But because he was intense.
Like someone constantly solving a puzzle that no one else could see.
“Quiet on set!” the assistant director, Olivia Chen shouted.
The studio fell silent again.
“Rolling!”
“Sound!”
“Camera!”
“Action!”
The scene began again and Daniel Rhodes stepped forward with his character's anger filling the room.
“You lied to me!”
The script flowed naturally between us.
“You never ask the right questions,” I replied.
The tension in the scene grew stronger, more intense and emotional.
But halfway through the scene, something strange happened.
I heard someone whisper.
Not from the actors or crew but from somewhere behind the wall.
I lost my concentration for half a second.
Director Alex noticed immediately.
“Cut.”
The room froze.
“What happened?”
“I thought I heard something,” I said.
The crew exchanged confused looks.
Olivia shook her head.
“Everyone was quiet.”
Director Alex came and asked me;
“Where did the sound come from?”
I pointed towards the wall side and a production assistant confirmed nothing was there but Director Alex didn't seem convinced then he turned back to the crew.
“We are taking ten minutes.”
Everyone felt relaxed again.
Actors and crew members stretched.
Someone started adjusting the lighting.
I stepped away from the scene trying to calm the strange feeling in my chest maybe it was just nerves but when I reached the hallway behind the set, I noticed something strange.
A door half open.
I was certain the door had been closed earlier but curiosity pulled me closer.
Inside the room, the lights were dim, rows of old movie equipment filled the space, storage boxes, old props, camera stands.
But something caught my attention, a large corkboard mounted on the wall covered with photographs.
I stepped closer and my breath caught in my throat.
The photos were all of actresses.
Different women.
Different ages.
Different movies.
But they all had one thing in common, they had all worked with Director Alex.
At the center of the board was a photograph circled in red.
A woman with dark hair and bright eyes.
Her name was written beneath the picture.
Emily Wilson.
The words below her name made my stomach twist.
“LAST SEEN… THREE YEARS AGO.”
“Interesting, isn't it?”
“You just complained of hearing voices and you are suddenly here?”
The voice behind me nearly made me jump.
I turned quickly and saw Director Alex who stood in the doorway with an unreadable expression.
“I didn't mean to snoop,” I said quickly, “I was just trying to catch my breath when I met the door half opened,” I added quickly.
“You weren't snooping but curious,” he stepped inside the room.
His eyes moved toward the board and back to me.
“Most people are.”
“Who is she?” I asked quietly.
He studied the photograph.
“That's Emily Wilson from one of my uncompleted movies because she disappeared.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“Disappeared?”
“Three years ago during filming and no one ever found her.”
I thought about the text message again.
“The last actress didn't listen either.”
“Why are these photos here?” I asked.
He didn't answer immediately instead, he looked back at the corkboard studying the faces carefully.
“Because someone needs to remember them,” he finally said.
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
His eyes met mine again…
And for the first time…
I saw something different in his expression.
Not coldness. Not control.
Fear.
“Hollywood has a way of forgetting people especially when their disappearance becomes inconvenient.”
The words sent a chill down my spine.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
He stepped closer.
Not threatening, just serious.
“You're the lead actress now.”
My heart pounded.
“And?”
“And that makes you important to the story.”
“What story?”
He hesitated just long enough to make the silence feel more dangerous.
Then the assistant director’s voice echoed down the hallway.
“Director! We're ready to resume!”
Director Alex looked back toward the set the at me again.
“We'll talk later, we need to leave,” he said.
He turned and walked away leaving me alone in the dim storage room standing in front of a board filled with missing actresses.
My phone buzzed again.
Another message from the unknown number.
Then the text read:
“Now, you know.”
A second message appeared immediately.
“You're already too deep in the story, there is no turning back, and you can't run from this.”
My pulse raced because suddenly… the movie didn't feel like fiction anymore.
It felt real.
Something far more dangerous.
Something that had already destroyed lives before mine.
And somehow…
I had just become the newest character in the story.
A story no one in Hollywood wanted told.
A story hidden quietly…
Behind Closed Sets.
- Writer
