Echo in Her Mind

Forty-One.

As they stood in line outside the theater, Bethany took it upon herself to familiarize the people around her. There were those of all ages, and she had no idea how she was going to manage to pull this one off in front of hundreds of people.

She had a lot of help form Ruben in the past, basically setting her up for the kill, mostly with his charm like he did with Harper, but could his charm possibly be great enough to get them anywhere close to his famous vessel? Bethany doubted it, greatly.

As much as she knew that they were supposed to complete the tasks discretely, Bethany wondered how much of an uproar she would cause if she had no other choice but to do it publicly? Such as, on stage, in front of all these people?

But then she remembered The Watcher's actions towards her when she killed Arthur Dobbs receptionist, and all thoughts of that escaped her. Bethany never wanted to experience such a thing again, and she imagined the next time around would be much worse.

"We are getting close," Ruben spoke quietly next to her.

The conversations happening around them all regarded the excitement for the show, and how great of an actress Darla was. When in Bethany's reality, she had no idea what the name of this play even was, nor what it was about, so she couldn't relate to any of the giddy chatter.

New York was definitely a strange place to her.

The line continued to move forward progressively, until Bethany and Ruben were next to enter the building. She was glad that they hadn't had to wait too long, as her thin dress and cardigan were not the warmest items to be outside in on such a cold day.

As soon as they entered inside, Bethany was engulfed with a warmth that heated her cheeks instantly. The main common room was packed shoulder to shoulder as all the guests began to head to their seats.

Bethany had to take deep breaths as she walked. She was agitated as other people continued to bump into her, and push past her, as if they were going to get anywhere faster. She rolled her eyes at the commotion, and considered this city to have the rudest inhabitants she had ever encountered.

Finally, they made it to the large auditorium where the show would be performed. She dreaded the next three hours, being stuck next to people she didn't know, and definitely didn't like.

"Our seats are over here," Ruben said to her, and guided her towards them.

Once they had sat down, Bethany's eyes traveled around the auditorium, silently wondering how she was going to pull this off. There were security guards lined up at every door available, and she imagined it would be same near Darla's dressing room.

She certainly couldn't do it during the show, or even before it had concluded. Too many questions would arise, and she doubted they would be able to make an escape before she would be found.

"Any ideas on how to pull this off?" Bethany whispered to Ruben next to her. His posture advised her that he was currently thinking the same thing as her.

"I was hoping you had something up your sleeve." He turned to her and grinned, but his eyes held a nervousness that made Bethany weary.

All the vessels up until this point had barely been a challenge, besides Harper, who put up a little more of a fight. So, she wasn't very surprised that The Watcher decided to put them through hell in order to obtain this next one. She just wished he hadn't.

Bethany was about to say something, when suddenly, the lights went dim, and the curtain on the stage opened. The show had begun, and she watched as the cast started to flood the stage. She couldn't focus on what they were saying, or doing, as she was running several different scenarios in her head on how to kill Darla.

It wasn't until she heard a voice, Darla's, apparently, that Bethany found her eyes coming into focus on the stage. The woman was older, maybe mid-forties, and she realized that she in fact had known who Darla was.

She had appeared in several movies that she had watched over the years, ones that had actually been able to hold her attention, even if she wasn't able to emotionally relate to it.

At that moment, Bethany remembered a scene from one of Darla's movies, and instantly an idea popped into her head. She knew how she was going to kill Darla. 

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A/N

Hey guys!

So i've decided that since all my chapters are so long, I'm going to go back and basically cut them all in half and separate them into different chapters! That way their easier to read! So from now on, I'll be posting more, but with shorter chapters! 

On another note, this story won an award for the Best Plot in The Stellar Award 2018 contest! 

I've put a lot of work into this story, so I'm very glad that it's starting to get recognized by other writers as well :)

Thank you all so much!

xo