Drawing Blood

Chapter Thirty-four

It would have been at that precise moment during our little play, that the audience would have gasped; for they had not seen what was coming. Neither had I, for that matter. I suspect they would have been shocked by Luke's announcement; and I imagine they would have found themselves sitting on the edge of their seats, as I would go on to do.

Such a tremendous twist it was, I had no doubt they would be talking about it for the foreseeable future. They would try and wrap their heads around what they had heard; go home later that evening, tell their significant other what they had witnessed; discuss it at work the next day with their colleagues while standing around the water cooler; possibly even at lunch whilst they ate their sandwiches. My complicated story, spilled out for all to see, so pitiful in their eyes, would then turn into the topic of conversation at dinner. I would become the subject of gossip, my name used as a warning of how not to be so naive; my stupidity, a laughing matter. Wasn't it awful she got it so wrong; they would exclaim. How did she not see that coming?

They would be right to think that of me, of course. How had I not seen it coming?

I had not been given the new script.

The new script would have been rewritten overnight, I guess; and had not landed on my mat as it would have done for my fellow actors. They would have time to rehearse their new lines without me, possibly even tread the boards before I did; share ideas, make changes. I, however, would not be so fortunate. It was now my turn to become inadequate, fumble my cues, seem bewildered, and make mistakes. It would be me who was labelled the bad actress, lost in the fabric of some screenwriters mind, a terrible performer.

I would be written about in those barely-there columns in trashy newspapers, by those critics who scribbled their notes on bits of paper, torn from the back of a large notebook. I would be an outcast, agentless, and no-one would want to work with me. I would grow old, have faded looks, and end up taking roles nobody wanted; and all the while wondering what would have happened, if I had just known what to do. It was a terrible thing, yes. And in different times, I would have crumbled. But I would try and do what all good actors did in that situation. I would improvise, think on my feet, use the props around me, and conjure my own lines out of the air; even if I could only manage three little words. "You're a cure?"

Luke nodded.

I had not liked my voice, in that moment. It had sounded high and false. It was not as calm as I would have wanted, not as blasé as I would have hoped. He had disclosed something significant; and I would have been happy, had I not had the uneasy feeling that there was bad news to follow. There was an importance in that instance which I hadn't acknowledged, a break in the tale, a Second Act which would bring everything out into the open; before the climax and curtain call, when we would all take our bows.

He was taking me in a different direction. And without realising it, I had reached a crossroads on that particular road I had travelled. What Luke had done that day, was to take my hand and walk another path with me; a path that wasn't necessarily any better, but one which would end up with my purpose being fulfilled. What he had done, was given me an ally. "I've got every right to be nervous," I replied; when asked me not to look so afraid. "Is this why you asked me to come here?"

"I would have thought it was fairly obvious why I asked you to come here."

He rubbed his chin at that point, with one of those giant hands of his. He was considering what to say next, I suppose. It was entirely possible that he was thinking of the best way to approach me, to gain my trust. From his point of view, I imagine I was one of those wild animals he had studied during his adventures to exotic places. Perhaps he had noticed that I had moved away from him slightly, shuffled along the bench as discreetly as I could. Perhaps, it had affected him more than he cared to admit.