Hollywood Crimes

Two

7:oo, 26th January

Hollywood, Los Angeles,

Television City Studios

The cab parked outside a great building. The sign towering above me read "Television City Studios". I threw some money at the driver, enchanted by the captivating pull of the building. "Keep the change," I muttered, edging closer. As the cab sped off, I opened the grand doors. The noise levels were deafening as people rushed here and there preparing for the show. A woman grabbed my wrist and dragged me over to a chair. "My name's Sue, honey. I'll be doing your make up." She explained in a thick New Jersey accent. She pulled my hair in various directions, and managed to make it curled. She then threw make up at my face. Colours of all sorts decorated me as she then took me to a wardrobe. "Wear this," she instructed grabbing a coral green dress and shoving it in my hands. I got dressed and inspected myself in a mirror with sparkling lights framing it. I looked different...but if that's what it took for me to be a star, then I would be willing to do it everyday. I approached Sue as she started packing away her make up. "That's beautiful, honey, absolutely gorgeous." she mumbled, not even bothering to look at me. "It's 7:29! Get her to the stage." Somebody yelled as I was shoved in various directions. Within seconds I was standing on the very stage where MindBlown was filmed. Some members of the audience pointed at me and whispered. "Wow, her dress is extraordinary," I heard one woman whispering. I smiled and stood behind the podium, watching the cameraman count down from 5...4...3...2.."Hello, and welcome to your favourite show...MindBlown!"

Glenn's voiced boomed throughout the studio. "My name is Glenn Halliday, and this," he paused as the camera turned to face a blonde woman with cold blue eyes in a red dress. "...is our lovely assistant Shannon!" Shannon waved at the camera, a false smile plastered on her face. "Hi, Glenn! I can't wait to start playing!" she laughed. I rolled my eyes at how false she was. I quickly grinned as the camera faced me.

"And please, give a warm welcome to our second contestant...Mara Miller!" Glenn said as he pointed to me. The audience erupted into applause and wild cheering. I waved confidently at the camera and then at the audience. "Shannon, please reveal the scores our other contestant, Evander Black earned yesterday!" Glenn said as the noise died down. A screen behind Shannon came to life with a jingle playing in the background. Evander scored 195 points in the puzzles and 10 bonus points, making a total of 205 points. Because today was the first round, the score I had to achieve was 200 points. "Now, onto the questions..." Glenn began. The screen behind Shannon changed once again. There was a row of four green boxes along the top, each with the number 95 in them. In the next row of four there were similar yellow boxes with the number 100. In the final row, there were four red boxes each with the number 125 in them. "As you can see, each box has a number in it. The number represents the points awarded for solving the puzzle. If a puzzle is solved without any clues, 15 bonus points will be awarded. If a clue is used, 5 bonus points are taken away. If two clues are used, 10 bonus points are taken away. If all the clues are used, then no bonus points will be awarded. The puzzles behind the green squares are the easiest, the ones behind the yellow squares are slightly more difficult, and the red are the hardest. Now lets play!" Glenn exclaimed after explaining the rules.

I felt everyone's eyes piercing through me, waiting for me to choose a puzzle. My hand rested on the controller with which I could select a puzzle and solve it. Whatever I did was shown on the screen behind Shannon. I selected the first puzzle on the first row. I wanted to start with something easy; I didn't want to make a fool of myself on the first question. The audience watched on in anticipation as I read the question. "The Dance Floor" was the title. There was an array of squares coloured red, blue, green and yellow. The rules were to get across to the square with the star on it, and had to get there by going from square to square. However, the path had to be made from a sequence of all four colours. I started with a green square, and from there, I got myself to the end. The audience once again busied itself with thundering applause. "Well done, Mara!" cheered Glenn. I turned to face the screen, as the blank spaces by my name changed and showed numbers. I had scored 95 points for solving the puzzle, and 15 bonus points for not using any clues. Overall, I now had 110 points and needed at least 90 more to get through to the next round. The screen returned once again to the grid of squares. Now that I had passed an easy puzzle, I was prepared to do something harder. I selected a yellow square this time.

The audience once again burst into applause. "The Tilt Puzzle". I had to slide a green tile into a green slot of the same shape by sliding it along. But, sliding it would mean sliding the tile until it hit the closest barrier in that direction. I attempted to get it into the slot several times, all resulting in failure. After a mental debate, I resolved to using one of the clues. "The first four moves are; Left, Up, Right and Down." I did as the clues instructed and found myself close to the slot. A few moves later, I had completed the task. I sighed with relief as the scoreboard flashed onto the screen. I had scored 100 points for the puzzle, 10 bonus points, and altogether, I had scored 110 points for this question. This meant that in addition to the 110 points I had secured for the first question, and the 110 I had scored this time, I had 220 points. Not only had I gotten through the round...I had beaten Evander's score! The crowd realised this no sooner than I did, and clapped louder than they had before. "Congratulations! You are now in the lead!" Glenn put emphasis on the "r" and resembled a pirate. He clapped along, a twinkle in his eyes. The cameraman turned so the camera was once again focussing on me. I waved as the cameraman began counting down again. "5...4...3...2... and that's a wrap!" The first show was over, and I had succeeded. I had achieved more than I originally thought I would. I walked back behind the stage and to the dressing room again. I got changed into my old clothes again and left the dress with Sue as she congratulated me. As I walked backed towards the door, Glenn caught up with me. "Hey, wait!" I turned to face him. "Let me buy you a drink. To celebrate." Although I wasn't one for drinking, I agreed.