Annie Delaney, a self-described "B minus celebrity," is pressured into appearing on a reality show with other "somewhat famous" people. To her dismay, she finds herself both deeply annoyed by and slightly enthralled with her filming partner, Christi...
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My driver, Andrew, took my two bags from me and placed them in the trunk of my hired car. "Thank you," I muttered graciously as he propped the door of the backseat open for me.
It had been an exhausting past twenty-four hours: the restless flights from Los Angeles to New York City to London followed by a whimsical but long train ride through the English countryside to the quaint, beautiful village of Ravenglass. I wish I had more time to spend at this inn in Ravenglass, but it was time for me to start this obnoxious reality show adventure that I still couldn't figure out why I was joining. I wasn't struggling for work, even though I wasn't landing leading roles. I usually fell into the trope of funny girl sidekick, but there were a lot of those roles out there for me. And they paid the bills.
I was the type of famous that caused people to stare at me in public because they recognized me from somewhere — they just didn't know exactly from where.
The driver was taking me to a mystery location to meet my fellow cast members, and I felt anxiety build in the pit of my stomach. I was good at acting like an extrovert in front of the cameras, but I was horrible at working the crowd in real life.
I knew the premise of the show was to spend time in haunted locations with "celebrity" strangers, but I also knew the hidden agenda was drama. It always was. This wasn't an escape from Hollywood, which was the thing I really wanted.
I didn't believe in ghosts, so the supernatural wasn't a concern of mine — people were.
The drive was short. Too short. The castle we pulled up to was large with sprawling gardens that had turned brown in the November gloom. I wasn't surprised by the castle. I had a feeling it was coming when the basis of the show was ghosts.
"Welcome to Muncaster Castle, Miss Delaney," Andrew said politely as the car came to a stop in front of a set of steps.
He got out of the car and came around to my side of the vehicle and helped me step out. "Would you like me to carry your bags and escort you inside?" he asked.
I smiled softly at him. "I should be okay. Thank you, though."
He handed my carry-on to me which I threw over my shoulder while grasping the handle to my rolling piece of luggage. I said my goodbyes to Andrew before awkwardly carrying my luggage up the steps, through the front gardens, and through what I assumed were the front doors of the castle. I hope Andrew didn't stay to ensure I got in safely. I definitely struggled with my bags and probably looked ridiculous trudging up the steps.
Once through the doors, a woman in a black dress greeted me. "Hello, Annie. We've been waiting on you." Of course. I was always the last one to the party.
She led me through the grand entry and through a dark hallway. We then turned left into a large, warmly lit room. "Our final participant, Annie Delaney, has arrived, so I think we're ready to establish the ground rules," the woman announced as we entered the room. "Annie, you can set your bags down and take a seat next to Christian," she said, pointing at the only empty seat at a table set for twelve.
Everyone at the table looked up at me, and I smiled awkwardly back at them. Why was I so bad at this?
There were a few people at the front of the room and a camera crew of five people settled into the back. "Great. We're starting already," I sarcastically thought to myself.
A bit more settled in my seat, I took time to really look around the table, and my eyes immediately fell on someone I didn't expect to be here. He was looking at me with surprised, uncomfortable eyes, but they turned away from me when he realized I was looking into them.
Of course he's here. Why didn't I expect it? It's Hollywood, after all. Predictable. Isn't he too famous for this type of bullshit, though?
"Let's talk about the rules, have some dinner, and get to know one another, shall we?" the woman who greeted me, who I realized never told me her name, continued.
I was getting ready to text Hannah and unleash a deluge of complaints before the mystery woman stopped me, "First rule: You can only use your mobile phones during designated daily time slots."
