Lights, Cameras, Maze Runner! (completed)

three (part one)

My phone rings from my bedroom, and with a mouthful of toothpaste, I run and grab it. "Hello?" I answer a little too loudly.

"Let me grab a towel to wipe the blood out of my eardrums," Wes greets sarcastically on the other line. "I'm gonna meet you out front to ride to set in about five minutes, good?"

"Yes. Sorry about my yelling, I'm brushing my teeth," I say, back in the bathroom and spitting out the toothpaste. "Wait! I told Kaya I would ride with her today!"

"No worries. Let me text her and invite her along to join us. Get ready for your first day on set!" With that, Wes hangs up the phone.

This should be pretty easy. My teeth are all brushed, my hair is braided and I'm wearing a pink tank top with a black pair of jean shorts and white sneakers. All I have to do is grab my wallet and go down to the parking lot.

On the way down to the front of the hotel, I grab a Clif bar from the lobby vending machine for breakfast. Outside, Wes waves me over to his blue Honda.

"Good morning, niece! Ready to go film a movie?" he asks as I get into the passenger side. Kaya sits in the backseat, tapping on her cell phone.

"Hey, Kaya!" I greet.

"Hey, Kels!"

Wes starts the engine and pulls out of the parking lot.

I turn to my uncle. "Yes, I'm very excited to film this movie. How far away is the set from here?"

"About five minutes. Now, let me go over some of the things you'll find on filming," Wes starts, driving and talking. "First, there's a Dunkin' Donuts across the street from the set. You'll probably get sent down to get drinks at least twice per day. Also, help out in makeup and costumes. I'll direct you as to where to help when. Again, you'll probably be running around finding people so they can report to makeup and costumes. Next, we have the snake wranglers. There are at least four wranglers on set every single day."

My jaw drops. "Wes! I'm deathly afraid of snakes!"

"I know, I know. But there are five kinds of poisonous snake on set and at least two kinds of poisonous spider, so these snake wranglers are taking in about thirty to forty snakes per week."

"I'm trying to find a snake and get close to it so I can inspect it, but I haven't found one. Unfortunately, the snake wranglers are good at their jobs," Kaya chimes in from the backseat.

I choose to ignore her. "Where do you film this movie? A zoo for snakes?"

Wes chuckles. "Louisiana, actually. Our set is literally a farm. This guy who owns a huge farm let us use his land as our set. It works pretty well, actually. It's more realistic on the screen."

"That sounds cool. What's it like filming on a farm?"

"Well, this farmer literally gave us a vast field. This field first had cows on it, but the farmer herded them off, so we began to build a set in the meadow. Did Kaya tell you about the actors you'll meet today?" Wes asks.

I turn back to Kaya. "Yeah, we briefly discussed them." She nods her head in agreement.

"We're here!" my uncle yells happily.

Wes pulls his car into a gravel driveway. We drive on the long driveway, passing a cottage house on the way. "The set is in the way back of the property," he informs me.

When we reach the field, it's like seeing a parking lot. About thirty cars are already parked on the perimeter of the set, and a wired fence surrounds the whole meadow. Trucks for essentials like costumes and makeup surround this fence.