THE DIRECTOR
No one could have foreseen the lengths he would go to try and destroy her. She became an obsession of his, and while he pretended to be a fan, he secretly plotted acts of sabotage… all meticulously and deviously planned out to the minutest detail. While the camera was on her, he was backstage with all the props that he needed. She never saw it coming, and she never knew it was him.
He began by giving her a part in his upcoming film, a coveted role that caused envy amongst even the most sought after of actresses. They couldn’t understand why he chose her, a newcomer to the stage who he claimed to have been besotted with when he saw her in a laundry commercial. Beautiful, yes, blonde and sophisticated, but an unknown who they said could never carry a lead role. Girl next door type and perfect to take home to mother but too nice to make it in Hollywood … where the throat cutters and back stabbers were sure to make mincemeat of her before she would ever even have the chance to prove herself.
At first, everyone thought it was just nerves or she was just plain clumsy. A trained dancer, though, it was surprising that she was always slipping or tripping over something … but by the time she had picked herself up and looked back to see what it was, he had it removed by then and was running up to her with great concern. Production would be halted while he carried on and fussed over her injury, barking out orders for ice and pillows and immediate bed rest for his star. Then calls to her husband and a personal visit to her home to see how she was, along with two dozen of her favorite roses, chocolates and a handwritten note. The director’s pet, is what they called her in the beginning, and they began to resent her even more. Who was she to get all his attention?
Then it happened again … and again. One strange injury after another. Some were from falls she had, but others were from accidents that never made any sense. A dress that seemed to catch fire on its own and burns to her lower legs and feet. A near drowning after a rope snapped and she fell 100 feet into a freezing cold river in the dead of winter. A severe facial allergy from a new makeup and a humiliating rash, along with puffy eyes half closed and a swollen face. Then a bizarre attack by what they later figured out where robotic birds that attacked her head and clawed at her hair while they filmed the picnic scene.
After a while, some actually began to feel sorry for her while others started taking bets as to when the next catastrophe would occur. These were the ones that laughed the night he slipped something into her drink during a party on the set, and she did a strip tease in front of the producer right before she threw up in front of everyone else a few minutes later. Once again, another call to her husband who had to come pick her up. Half dressed and smelling of vomit, she was propped up in a chair and left there until he arrived to clean her up.
It wasn’t until the last scene of the film when the brakes failed on the car she was driving that the police were finally called in and a full investigation was ordered. One by one, they were all questioned and eventually cleared. No one would point the finger at the Director, even though many had figured out he was behind it all. Too afraid they would never work again, they chose to stay loyal … and to stay quiet.
Years later, after the Director was dead and buried and they were no longer afraid of what he could do to them, the truth began to come out. What they mistakenly thought was favoritism turned out to be just the opposite. He didn’t admire and adore her as they had all assumed. He hated her. Not just because she was beautiful, talented and nice but because the one the Director loved the most loved her. When he couldn’t have him for himself, he went after her instead.
Copyright © 2015 (Michelle Parsons, Getting Back on Your Path). All Rights Reserved.
