Hope Falls Season 2 - Eagle Valley (4 page)

FLASH! WE SEE AN AREAL SHOT OF A COAST. IT IS MOST LIKELY ANOTHER PART OF
CALIFORNIA
, PERHAPS SANFRANSISCO. THERE IS WHITE SAND AND EVEN WHITER PAVEMENT. THE CITY SEEMS TO SHINE LIKE A BRIGHT STAR SURROUNDED BY ALL THE GOLDEN SAND.
 
PALM TREES WAVE IN THE DISTANCE AND THAN WE SEE

FLASH!
 
A MAN STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. SMALLER PALM TREES LINE THE SIDES OF
A CITY STREET
. THE TOWN LOOKS BEAUTIFUL ON EITHER SIDE, IT'S SIDEWALKS MADE FROM VARNISHED STONES AND WHAT LOOKED LIKE ACTUAL BOARDWALK STREETS. THE MAN HAS HIS HAND RAISED TO US, HOLDING OUT HIS HAND TO US.
  
HE HAS BLACK HAIR BUT IT IS WHITE AT THE EDGES. HIS EYES ARE JUST AS DARK.

"I won't hurt you, Sophie." The man says.

FLASH! Sophie struggled against the dream as it continued to play out before her. It was like a lover, a memory that returned from a not so distant past….

Chapter Seven

The night was still young outside, but dark enough to cause shadows through out the house. Tonight, the shadows were darkest in Sophie's room. The wind whispered softly as if it were telling secrets.

Sophie struggled against the dream as it continued to play out before her. It was like a lover, a memory that returned from a not so distant past….

FLASH! A MAN STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. SMALLER PALM TREES LINE THE SIDES OF
A CITY STREET
. THE TOWN LOOKS BEAUTIFUL ON EITHER SIDE, IT'S SIDEWALKS MADE FROM VARNISHED STONES AND WHAT LOOKED LIKE ACTUAL BOARDWALK STREETS. THE MAN HAS HIS HAND RAISED TO US, HOLDING OUT HIS HAND TO US.

HE HAS BLACK HAIR BUT IT IS WHITE AT THE EDGES. HIS EYES ARE JUST AS DARK.

“I won't hurt you, Sophie." The man says.

“What do you want from me?" Sophie asked. She was astounded to find herself here, in this white place, amongst all this hot, blinding stone.

“You must return, Sophie. You are needed here."

Sophie looked down at her feet. They were bare. The stone was hard underneath them. "What do you want with me?"

“You are needed here." The man said. He smiled. "You are needed in Dragon's Cove…"

FLASH! Sophie awoke in her bedroom.

The trees were tapping against the windowpane and their shadows danced on the floor. She got out of the large four poster bed and went to the windows, lay her head against the glass. They felt cool against her head.

She had been dreaming again.

Ever since her return to
Eagle
Valley
, she had been dreaming. It had taken her three months since her return to
Eagle
Valley
and she had just found them; it had taken her that long. She felt tired and hallowed out, as if she no longer had any heat inside her. Strangely, the cold of the windows was a comfort.

The last thing she remembered was that conversation between Susan and Cleo and the next morning, she had flown to New York to finish up a three week stint as Anna, a woman claiming be Sammie's twin on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. It had been a lovely job and she had bonded with Deidre Hall and Ali Sweeney. It had been every actresses dream job.

She remembered the day that everything changed for her, that she suddenly felt an intense need for something. And suddenly, she remembered Susan and Derrick. And Miriam. It all came rushing back in one intense flash; all of a sudden, she remembered. And she knew what she had to do.

She had to find them.

Sophie didn't know why she had waited so long, what had held her back. She started looking. She didn't know where to find them. She searched when she wasn't working, trying to find traces of them and snippets of information that could be gleamed from listening well.

She had tracked them, tried to hunt them down. In the process, she learned a few vital skills. She became the hunter and they became the prey. It was a simple game, really. She didn't know why she hadn't thought of it before.

She would wait until they least suspected it.

And than they would be the ones with the shocked faces.

* * *

There was a glow still on Susan's face when she entered the kitchen.

Slowly, without turning on a light, she went about making a small pot of coffee. Her heart was racing and there was no way she was going to sleep anyway. She figured she'd start the day off on the right foot.

She was startled when she heard a voice behind her. "I hope you're planning on sharing that coffee."

Susan winced and turned. Her mother was sitting nestled in the shadows of the kitchen. A small, red ember glowed in front of her and moved as she bent her arm down and flicked ash into the tray in front of her.

Susan put a hand to her throat. "Mother! You scared me half to death!"

“Oh, darling girl, I'm sorry." Though from the sound of her voice, she sounded amused. "Come, sit with me. We haven't had the chance to talk about a few things, you and I."

“Mother, why are you smoking?"

“Why not?" Cleo said with a smile.

“You know it's not good for you."

“Yet you indulge as well?" Cleo said with a smile.

“What did you want to talk about?" Susan said, reaching for a cigarette.

“A few things."

“I have something to tell you too." Susan said.

“Oh, yes? What is that?"

“Derrick and I are getting married!" Susan whispered.

The silence in the kitchen was deafening. The clock on the wall tick tocked for exactly ninety-eight seconds. "I see." Cleo said.

“Mother, are you not happy for us?" Susan said. "Don't tell me you're gonna rain on my parade here."

“Do you really think it's wise?"

“Wise? How can love not be wise?"

“But we're in hiding, you could draw attention to yourself." Cleo began. "And than there's Sophie returning, and what about Miriam?"

Susan looked at Cleo with a steely glare. "How dare you bring her in to this."

“She is already involved."

“On the happiest day of my life, you bring her in to this. You have no right."

“I have just as much right as you."

Susan stood and approached her mother who still sat, smoking her cigarette. "This is the happiest day of my life. I will not let you ruin it for me."

“Oh, darling girl." Cleo said, "I am not trying to ruin it for you. I am merely trying to point out the practicalities. What is the point of doing otherwise? You know that something is coming, just as well as I do."

“I don't want to talk about that."

“Than what will you talk about?" Cleo asked. "Before, when you came in here, I wanted to talk to you about your father, about what happened. But you won't want to talk about that will you?

Chapter Eight

"Why would you want to talk about my father? Why now?" Susan said. She went to the fridge, pulled out a large jug filled with an orange liquid.

“I thought you were having coffee." Cleo said.

“I changed my mind." Susan said.

“It's two o'clock in the morning Susan. You can't drink booze now."

“Mai Tai's are healthy for you." Susan said vaguely, pouring a glass.

“Healthy for you?" Cleo replied with a soft smile.

“Yeah." Susan felt her mother's eyes on the back of her head. She took out another glass and poured another one full to the brim. She brought them back to the table and sat them down in front of them. Susan sat down and the clinked glasses. "Cheers." Susan said.

“Cheers." Cleo replied and they both sipped their drinks.

The kitchen was quiet for a moment. Silence filled the air; but instead of causing discomfort, both women knew that something was about to happen. Something was about to change.

“So…" Susan said after a little while. "You said you'd tell me what happened. With my father." She looked away for a second. "With you. You said something about it before, I remember."

FLASH! "Oh, darling girl, I've done some terrible things. I've done some horrible things. I couldn't live with myself, I just couldn't. We were so poor and you see you wanted a job on the television for so long. I cant' tell you what it was like, we never told you..."

FLASH!

"Mom, what are you saying?" Susan studied her mother intently. "
Hope
Falls
was a snuff film studio." She narrowed her eyes at her mother. "What are you telling me?"

Cleo was silent for a moment. "I never thought I would have to tell you this." Cleo said. "But we were so poor, darling girl. So we did something that no parent should ever do to their child. When you were seventeen, and you got that first job on All My Children?"

Susan nodded. She had remembered the time with fondness. "I loved it; my first job. It was like a dream come true."

“That's precisely what it seemed like to me. A dream. We never told you but your contract included a clause, much like Miriam's."

“But Miriam's contract was a Lifetime Contract. I was just working for Passions, Mother. I was just an actress." She looked at her mother, her eyes colder than they had been in a while. She did not want to hear what she was about to be told.

She knew in her gut what her mother was about to say.

“Yes, but you were a Contract Actress. You were contracted out to different shows, remember? Your father and I were your agents, remember Darling?"

“Yes." Susan said coldly. "I remember."

“Well, your contract was owned by Hope Falls Studios." Cleo said softly.

Chapter Nine

"What the hell do you mean, my contract was owned by
Hope
Falls
?"

Cleo looked down at the kitchen table, her hands clutching her Mai Tai. "I never knew how to tell you…it was so hard, you see. We were paying for your acting classes and your education. We had to find a way to do it, to…" A tear slid down Cleo's cheek and she clutched a hand to her mouth. She took a deep steadying breath and continued.

"…We had to find a way to do it, to survive. Every penny we had was going into your education. You wanted to be an actress so badly, Susan; I remember that day you told me you wanted to do that; we were watching a movie on television and you said you wanted to do that."

Susan looked at her mother as if she were a different person, someone she didn't know. Who was this woman? Her mother was cold and distant; her mother was different. All her life, her mother had been different. Sensed things. It had set them apart; Susan never believed in what she couldn't see. Right now, her mother was hurting. "What happened, Mother?"

"We were at an audition. You were eighteen. Your father and I were approached by Howard Kowalski."

At the sound of his name, Susan felt a chill go up her spine. "That man had nothing to do with me until Miriam."