The Killing Bind

Chapter 23: Death

3 years ago,

18-year-old Andrew Miller was in his honey wagon. He was sweating heavily even with the air conditioning on. The hot and humid temperature at Washington didn't make it any easier either.

He was at Washington for a role in a movie directed by William Finch, an L.A born star in the movie industry. He and his twin brother, Jack Miller had auditioned for it as well. In the end, it was Andrew who had gotten the role. He had not talked with Jack after he heard that he had gotten the role. He had called his brother on the phone a few times, but he didn't answer. At this point, he had no idea where his brother was.

Andrew heard a knock on the door of his honey wagon. He quickly put away a book he was holding, fixed up his hair, and sprayed deodorant on himself. He opened the door and behind it was his stylist, whom he had met the day he arrived in Washington. Her name was Ellie Rijkard. He had learned that she was half Dutch and half American. She looked about to be in her early 40's.

He smiled as he invited her in. She entered and asked him to take a seat on the make-up chair. He did as he was asked. She began taking out brushes, pencils, and all sorts of powders and sprays he had never seen before from a huge suitcase. He hadn't noticed the suitcase when she came in.

Andrew sat still on the chair and waited for her start. He was very nervous as this was his first actual acting job for the big screen. He had done plays for high school and acted in a commercial once, but that didn't go too well. He kept thinking about ways he could mess up and all the things he should avoid doing and all the things that could go wrong.

"Relax, don't be so stiff." Ellie said. She must have felt he was being too stiff and rigid on the chair.

"Uh huh." Andrew replied nervously.

Ellie began cleaning his face with a wet tissue. She then proceeded to apply things on his face, he had no idea of. He didn't focus on what she was putting and sat still allowing her to do her job.

It had taken more time that he had actually anticipated to put on the makeup. He counted it up to almost three hours. When he had asked her does it usually take that much time to put on makeup for a movie, she had simply laughed and said, "It takes more than this sometimes."

After Ellie left, he was back alone in the honey wagon. He sat down on the same chair after grabbing a bottle of water from the cooler to drink. Ellie had informed him that the costume designer would be here soon to confirm the colours and size of the costume for the movie.

He drank the whole bottle of water and got up from the chair to put the now empty bottle in the garbage bin. As he was returning to his initial position, he heard something outside. He stood still at a single spot, hoping to hear it more clearly. It was the sound of a liquid. It felt like it was being splashed on to the truck. He opened the curtain and his eyes went wide to what he was seeing.

Andrew Miller's throat went dry almost instantly and he started to sweat more than he already was. He ran towards the door and tried to open it. It was not opening. Something was blocking it from opening from the outside. He started panicking and clutched his head and dropped on to the ground. He got up and went to the window again. He tore the curtain and opened the window. He cursed as the window got stuck, he pushed it harder and found out that it only opens halfway. He checked for the person in the hood once more. There he was. Holding a pocket lighter in his left hand. Looking at the honey wagon. Andrew couldn't see the man's face, but his physique was very similar to his own. Andrew could smell the petroleum. Tears started flowing out of his eyes and he started to shout. He saw a fire extinguisher in a far corner, he ran towards it and tore it from the wall where it was mounted. He went towards the window and tried to lift the heavy metal extinguisher towards the level of his shoulder. That's when he saw it, the man dropped the pocket lighter on to the ground where there was splotch of petroleum connecting to the honey wagon. Andrew Miller's honey wagon caught on fire. He was going to die.