Grace

Chapter 7

"Oh." Grace gave Cassandra a deceptively sweet smile. "Congratulations."

"Hmm. I deserve it," Cassandra looked up at Daniel,smiling obsequiously. "Don't I?"

"Of course," Daniel said, staring at her fondly.

Grace looked between the two. This wasn't going as planned. She was supposed to make a perfect first impression on Daniel, dazzle him with her meticulously planned speech, and gain his favour in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, things hadn't turned out that way.

Grace had the urge to rip Cassandra from Daniel, but she didn't. Instead, she kept a neutral expression, trying hard not to give away her annoyance.

"I'm sorry, Daniel and I have to be off now," Cassandra said. Grace almost snickered at her attempt at being courteous. It was pathetic, to say the least. Her 'I'm sorry' had come out more as a sneer than anything.

"It's been a pleasure making your acquaintance," Daniel said, shaking her hand once more. _Now this is someone that understands courtesy._

"Same." Grace fought the disappointment from showing on her features. She nodded politely and watched them go, anger simmering in her veins.

Things hadn't gone as she'd envisioned, so she would have to come up with a foolproof plan that would get her the role in the new movie. She would be the female protagonist, no matter the cost.

Even if it involved stepping on someone almost as devious as she was.

*
_It was dark. Very dark. So dark that she could make out nothing but the unending darkness_. _So dark you could slice through the blackness with a knife in a quest to escape the dismal nothingness_.

_It was dark_. _And quiet_. _Eerily quiet_.

_"Hello?"_ _She mumbled, and the word dissolved in the eerie silence with little disturbance_/

_She reached out a hand in an attempt to know something about the place she was in_. _Was it a room?_ _Did it have walls_... _or bars?_ _Was it a passage?_ _A forest?_ _She reached as far as she could, but felt nothing_.

_She tried to move, but couldn't_. _Looking down at her feet_, she saw nothing, as expected_. _Nothing but blackness_. _She began to struggle, trying to move her legs, but couldn't_. _She was rooted to the spot_. _She groaned, fighting whatever was holding her down_. _All to no avail_. _Then she began to panic_. _She had to get out of this endless nothingness!_ _It didn't matter that she couldn't see anything,_ _she just wanted to leave that spot!_

"_Aaargh!!!" She fought, breathing heavily as she struggled against the force holding her down_. _"Let me go!"_

"_Let me go, please!"_

_She struggled again, tears of frustration cascading down her cheeks like a waterfall_.

"_Let me go!!!"_

Grace started from her sleep, heart thudding erratically in her chest. She strove to catch her breath, fatigued as if she had been involved in an actual struggle. Flipping on the bedside lamp, she jumped out of bed and ran out of the room, switching on as many lights as she could. She didn't want any sign of darkness. She didn't want to see a shred of black. She needed daylight, and fast!

Grace stood in the middle of her spacious living room, shivering in fear, eyes darting to and fro. _No darkness_. _No darkness_. _No darkness_.

Why did she have that nightmare? Why now? She'd had similar ones before, a long time ago. But now...

Darkness. She'd hated it as a child. And she hated it as an adult. She dreaded it more than ignorance itself- not being able to see or know of impending doom was frightening. She'd been afraid of the dark, and her siblings had played on that fear, jumping out of dark corners just to laugh at the sight of her quaking in fright.

Grace shook her head, fighting the urge to wallow in the horrors of the past. She didn't need a stroll down memory lane. Not now. Not ever. She wanted to forget it all.

Forever.

Grace hugged her knees to her chest and rocked to and fro on the tiled floor. She didn't want to think of what had roused her sleeping demons. She already knew.

Boredom.

Oh yes, boredom. In the past two weeks, she'd done nothing but sieve through her social media accounts, turn down invitations to attend some events, ignore most of her calls, and try to read- all in vain.

Grace sighed and picked herself up. She needed something to do. Something real and consuming. Something that would take her mind off her rousing demons.

She needed to act.

She'd had offers - lots, in fact. Ever since the première of Finding her way, more movie makers had taken interest in her but none had captured her attention. None, except one.

Gifted.

Unfortunately, they weren't begging her to star in their movie.

She needed this role. Badly. But how would she go about it? She'd been so determined and sure after she'd found out about Cassandra being the prospective lead actress, ut that was only because she'd felt antagonized. But there should be something she could do -without appearing desperate, of course. There should be some-

Grace gasped. Richard!

Despite his alcoholic habit, he had connections. He could help her, that is, if she played her cards right. She'd rescued him from being publicly embarrassed after downing too many a glass of wine. This was the time to reap what she'd sown.

Stifling a yawn, Grace headed towards her bedroom. She needed to sleep. She needed a clear head to plan how best to tackle Richard. She yawned again and collapsed on the bed.

She could hardly wait for morning.