Dark Matter Presents Human Monsters: a Horror Anthology by Sadie Hartmann

Author:Sadie Hartmann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Matter Magazine
Published: 2022-09-22T19:08:29+00:00

Victim 6

By Belicia Rhea

The casting call advertised the role as a breakout chance, maybe working alongside some A-listers. Silvia drove the four hundred or so miles up from Phoenix to audition at a dingy warehouse in the hell of Southern California. The money was terrible, but she could afford a motel for a little while. Besides, all of her actor friends lived in their cars in the city, and she’d never been afraid of sacrifice. Ever since she was a girl, she wanted to be a big name in Hollywood, and for that, she’d do anything.

Silvia took a deep breath and looked around the lobby of the warehouse. There was an old patterned carpet that looked like it had seen many decades, like maybe this place was once a pizzeria or an arcade, with a long past of spills and feet trudging across it, and even if it had been cleaned, who knows if they really vacuumed all that gunk up, if they used actual detergent or just smeared around the filth and pushed it to the corners of the baseboards. Everything looked like you could run your fingers along it and find grease. The yellow tint of the walls suggested the building had seen incidents of fire damage, or was once the smoking section of a Denny’s.

The girl at the front desk popped her gum while trying not to make it too obvious that she was texting. She barely looked up, waving Silvia towards the direction of the chairs, most of them already filled. Silvia signed in and stared at the packed room. She was nervous, almost enough to turn around and walk out, until a girl moved her purse onto her lap and motioned for Silvia to sit down, patting at the empty seat beside her.

“You here for auditions too? For the victim role?” the girl asked. “I’m Danielle.”

“Yes, thank you. I’m Silvia.” Silvia sat down, too shy to say much else.

Danielle had a commanding presence, one fit for the lead girl, but she was too young for the part, maybe eighteen, barely out of high school, maybe here because someone who knew someone wrote her name on a list.

Silvia looked around the room at the rest of the women waiting. They looked like they had it all together, like each of them would be a perfect face for a twenty-second, possibly even a five-minute role, and Silvia wondered how she could compete with them, how she could look as fascinating, trying to sell ordinary and unassuming—the look of a background victim, with the glitz of a star. She opened her compact mirror and checked her reflection, misted her makeup with a setting spray, and swiped another layer of mauve shimmer on her already glossed lips.

Danielle’s name was called first. She got up and smiled at Silvia. “Well, let’s see how this goes. I hope you get it.”

“You too,” Silvia said, and meant it.

Silvia was the second-to-last to audition. She could see the producers and assistant directors off to the side, nearly arguing, looking at headshots of some of the women.

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