His Adopted Brother Turned To Be A Girl !

21 Falling

The shooting of the movie continued with the plot being Jasper gradually falling in love with Elizabeth.

Today, Acton wanted them to shoot a scene where Elizabeth was going to rescue Jasper after he locked and trapped himself in her house which required some aerial movements which Laraine was excited for.  

“Laurence, are you ready?”

Hearing Acton’s inquiry, Laurence put the script aside, made a gesture of OK to him and walked in front of the green screen back drop. The staff gathered around her, some fixing her makeup and others helped her hang the wire and harness. Together, they lifted her up. Laraine felt a jolt run through her; she had always enjoyed roller coasters and other wild rides but the thought of being in the air with the solid ground below her made her giddy with fear and adrenaline. She decided to wiggle around to ensure the harness was tight enough.

As soon as she moved around a bit, Laraine felt her harness sliding down, slightly. The fear intensified and she was sure she had a petrified expression on her face.    

Seeing Laraine’s stupefied expression, Acton thought maybe she was afraid of being lifted high, just like those actors who had just started working in the entertainment industry. Thus, he quickly comforted her, “Laurence, don’t be nervous. You just need to do a few simple actions and you’ll be down in a jiffy!”

Just when Acton stopped talking, Laraine felt the harness tug and come loose. Even though she was only about twenty feet in the air, Laraine felt like she was falling from a skyscraper. The world rushed by in a blur and she knew the pain was coming. It went by fast, yet slow, almost suspended. Then impact. Laraine felt her the bone in her arm move within her body as she collided with the ground. The mattress did little to break her fall. Then, everything became black as the air pushed against her face. Laraine closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

The room was absolute pandemonium as Laraine’s petite body fell to the ground. Several crew members rushed to catch her, but they were too late. She had fallen and hit the ground lying on her broken arm like a rag doll.

Acton tried to remain calm but the sweat droplets on his forehead gave it away. Even though he had encountered his stars getting hurt on the set before, no director liked to see them get hurt like this where it could be the fault of his equipment. Acton did not even want to think of Andrew, he shuddered to think what the brother’s response would be.

 “Quick! Call an ambulance!” Acton shouted urgently trying to calm everyone down.

The ambulance arrived within five minutes and Laraine had woken up by that time. However, her face was frowning due to the pain in her broken arm. Others were surprised to see her relatively quiet, only whimpering in pain when the paramedics manipulated her arm. She was carefully transferred on a gurney and wheeled out and taken to the hospital.

Laraine tried to be brave even though the pain in her arm was intensifying every second. Her head was pounding and slightly bleeding. The paramedics around her were trying to help her, but Laraine thought they were only making the pain in her head worse. As she was wheeled out, Laraine tried to smile and wave to the worried crew members who were watching her with pity and fear.   

Acton walked over and inspected the harness. Why had it broken? He only ensured the best equipment was used on his sets to avoid accidents like this and of course litigation.

He frowned when he saw Laurence’s phone at the side of the room along with the rest of her things. Taking the opportunity, Acton briskly dialed Andrew in a hurry from Laurence’s phone. It was better to get this over with now than later in case he found out from another source or worse, from social media! 

Andrew, who was having a meeting at the moment, scowled when he saw Laurence was calling him. Did she not know he had an important meeting today?! He thought he could leave the room to talk but his employees were talking about the latest operation plan of the company. On second thought, he rejected the call and put his phone back in his pocket, poker-faced.

Acton did not know what to do, saying to himself in a hurry, “Why isn’t he answering?” he called Andrew a few times again, but still no one answered. He was at a loss; just at that moment, he received a call from someone named ‘Hale.’ 

Acton quickly answered but before he could say anything, he heard someone speak, “Laurence, what do you want to eat tonight?”

Acton replied, “This is not Laurence. This is Acton Moore, her director. She had an accident today and is injured. She has been taken to Hopkins Hospital.”

“Oh God! Is she alright!?” Hale asked. Despite Hale not liking Laurence previously, she was starting to get a soft spot for the adopted child of the Jones family ever since she had started to aid her in the kitchen. Hale felt sorry for her at times since Laurence did not have a family of her own and tried to be kind to her. And now when things were finally starting to go Laurence’s way, this happens!  

“Yes, she was awake when she left for the hospital. I believe she only has a broken arm,” Acton replied praying that was the extent to her injuries. “I can’t reach Andrew. Can you please let him know to come to the hospital?”

Hearing this, Hale was stunned for a moment, but agreed and hung up.  If something happened to Laurence in the past, Andrew would not have taken it seriously. But recently, everyone could see Andrew’s attitude towards Laurence had transformed, so she dare not neglect it.

Hale first called Andrew’s secretary and told her to immediately transfer the phone to Andrew’s line. However, she informed her he was in an important meeting. Hale did not know what was worse – interrupting Andrew’s meeting or delaying letting him know Laurence was hurt and in the hospital.  

After hanging up the phone, the secretary walked into the conference room with trepidation. She hated to interrupt the meeting, but this was dire news. As soon as she walked into the door, the meeting paused, and all occupants turned to look at her. She could tell by Andrew’s frown that she would be talked to about this later. Ignoring the stares, she confidently strode in towards Andrew and whispered this news to Andrew.