"And if you come this way, you'll see the room where Clara Barton made her first Red Cross flag." The tour guide's voice matched his dreary expression, the tour was tedious and repetitive. Brett Shoe however, wasn't going along for the mind-numbing tour. Deidre, his partner, they were part of something more entertaining, tricksters if you must, but what the group did not know is that they were about to experience an enthralling performance of Miss Deidra Rose.
The group turned the corner into a plain spacious room and the first few stopped so sharply that the rest bumped right into them, they automatically begin apologizing amongst themselves, however even over the mumbling echo's from the large gathering, their attention was drawn towards the corner of the room. Red. As the group foucus on what they were actually seeing, the blood spatters across the room followed to a woman's face, her face. Brett almost didn't recognize her. She was huddled in the corner of the room, the blood splotches around her yet not from her indicated that something else had lost it.
"Miss, are you okay?" The tour guide rushed himself to her but held himself with caution, his name was Fred and his acting skills could be improved upon, but begers can't be choosers, he had to do. He was scripted to ask the question with a shaky voice to indicate that there was something frightening to get the huddled group more worried. Instead, his tone sounded almost like he was having an awkward conversation with his mother.
"...pillars..." was the only word that came out clearly in Deidra's first line. The backs of her hands had the same bloodstains as on the walls. "The fucking caterpillars!" Her voice a little louder and clearer.
"I think you're in shock," said a somewhat-shakier voiced Fred. "What caterpillars? Where?"
Deidra's head swung to full view of the group. A collective gasp. Brett forced his gasp too to keep face with the others. from this safe distance, everyone could see her face that had actually been painted to give the idea that something had been biting, chewing and eating on the left side of her face. The side she had been hiding.
"And now, I seek my next victim!" The voice was low, gutteral, and seemed to come from everywhere. Surround sound, such useful machines. As the people in the room turned to look, animated caterpillars began to come from all corners of the room. A spine-chilling screech turned the entire group's attention back to Deidra.
"Not the FUCKING caterpillars again! Look! Look at me! Look at what they did to my face!?! Run for your lives, RUN! if you don't want this done to you." As if to punctuate her, a mass of caterpillars dropped from the ceiling onto the tour group.
They were energized from a low voltage taser, causing panic and the group scattered. Most ran for the door, only to discover that it was locked, the women screamed and men looked for something to smash, And a few in the group even began to stomp on the caterpillars on the floor. The pranksters, had already thought of that and had put a slimy green type goo into them so that when smashed, they would splatter all over the floor.
"Noooo.." The sound came from Brett. The first noise..other than the gasp, that he had made. A few of the group looked at him and were startled. In their confusion, Brett had donned the mask of a caterpillar. He appeared to be a grotesque half human, half caterpillar and he slowly stalked his way in Deidra's direction. At that exact point, a catchy melody began to pulsate from the walls, vibrating everyone to the bone.
Fred, in one last attempt to be a good tour guide, he took his cue to magically produce a key that would unlock the door. He always enjoyed the view of people unknowingly playing into the hands of this prankster group. He never liked having to leave Deidra in the capable hands of Brett. If it were up to him, he would like to be the one to 'sink his teeth into her flesh', as the pulsating music was commanding to do.
When Fred didn't move fast enough, Brett's attention turned towards him. "Just so we're clear here," Brett spoke low through the translucent ear piece, enough for only Fred to hear. "You agreed to be tour guide for $10 per person. We agreed to pay you if you cooperate. And if you don't, we will be putting your name in the list of people to be pranked, so if you want to be able to sleep soundly, i would cooperate. So, which is it going to be?" His tone was a dominating challenge with a double meaning that Fred knew all too well.
He knew when he was beaten. He had heard rumors that Brett and Deidra were actually lovers. Either way he was jealous, he wished and hoped for the day that Brett made a mistake and he could be the hero to step in. "Yeah, I heard what you said," Fred firmly shrugged his shoulders when he noticed Brett hadn't moved. He turned to the disorientated group and bellowed, "Everybody, let's move! I doubt you want to be attacked by these creatures! These fucking caterpillars." Fred stared kicking at the little blobs out of frustration and for performance. He took one last look in Deidra's direction and then he herded the group out the door.
Brett and Deidra waited several minutes until the song stopped. A pause, and then a haunting violin solo that grew into a duet and then a trio. Deidra cocked her head to the side.
"What is this?"
"The Wilder Sun by Jon Hopkins, ah, i must say i love his work." He closes his eyes to really embrace the music. He opens them to see her eyes, bright and full, but he could see her indifference.
"I know you're an upbeat type but I promise you, there is an upbeat to this, but I wanted a melody that would show the quiet strength." Brett had removed his mask and was walking towards his girl, her kneeling position still unchanged, she fidgets.