[Part 1] - [Part 2] - [Part 3] - [Part 4] – [Part 5] - [Final]
After the initial shock of the first night, things quickly settled down. A well-placed group of patrolmen wandering around the yard put most of us at ease – a reminder that this thing was still in full go-ahead mode. The white shirts that’d been hung outside the set as an ill omen were taken down and publicly burned.
Director Roy Hampton gladly announced the schedule for the first day of filming. We were originally going to film one of the near-end scenes by the shoreline, but they changed it at the last minute to a nearby cave. Seb wasn’t happy about it; he had to completely switch up the light setup he’d prepared. It’d be a few stressful hours for the both of us.
Seb had to improvise a natural light filter to better fit the texture of the cave, and I had to hunt for extension cables. We couldn’t keep a diesel generator in an enclosed space; we’d suffocate.
Seb and I finished packing an initial setup and were escorted off-site with the rest of the tech crew. It was gonna be a solo scene with Dawn, at a point in the movie where her character reluctantly accepts the influence of a timeless being into her corporeal form. The fall from grace; like Eve eating the forbidden apple.
There was a small convoy heading out, with music blasting from the front. It was a bumpy ride, where Seb and I had to ride in the back to keep the equipment from falling over. We couldn’t tie it all down.
About 35 minutes later, we were facing a small cave. We had to drag the equipment on foot the last 200 or so feet, but the location itself was pretty impressive. The entrance to the cave was this tall slit that went up at least 8 feet. I could tell why they’d switched to this place. Very cinematic.
We went inside to check the place out and start setting up. It was much more spacious than we’d anticipated. One single space in a sort of half-sphere shape, with a large pool of water in the middle. It was big enough for someone to swim around in. A group even. The cave itself was pretty rough though, it’d take some time setting up an even light. Seb nervously scratched his chin, like he wasn’t sure if we’d brought enough reflectors.
Director Roy and main lead Dawn arrived shortly thereafter, with an entourage of crew. Dawn was all fancied up in a blue summer dress and full makeup. She was practicing lines with one of her assistants. I couldn’t stop looking at her. I’m the first to admit, I probably stared. Seb, on the other hand, was focused on the work.
“They say this thing is deep as all hell,” he said. “There’s a hole in the center.”
“What?”
“The pool,” he said. “They say it’s deep.”
“Oh,” I nodded. “Sure.”
“Eyes on the prize,” Seb said, shaking his head. “We’re behind schedule.”
And we were. We barely managed to set up what we had for the initial shot where Dawn enters the cave. The second part, inside the cave, was still being worked on. The space was large enough for a crew of 12 to fit, but it was difficult to hear one another. Sounds just sort of bounced around.
Seeing that first scene being filmed though… that was magical. The snap of the clapperboard, the immediate silence. Everyone hunkered down into their roles. I kept an off-light centered on Dawn, while Seb continuously moved one of the cables out of shot. The camera rolled, and just as scripted, Dawn turned around at the last minute; a final hesitation. A resistance to corruption.
Then she turned back and headed inside. As Roy called out ‘cut’, a loud applause erupted from the crew. We were officially doing this.
We did a few more takes, trying out different angles, before settling on a dolly zoom shot; an homage to Hitchcock. Roy was obsessed with the guy, and he wanted it to show in the movie. We couldn’t blame him. It was a good influence to have.
As we finished up the first shot and headed inside, I was brimming with excitement. I’d been unsure if I would be able to contribute, but now that I was there and getting my hands dirty, it felt good. I felt like I could do it. I could start to see what Roy was doing, and how he thought. I was picking up the names of things. Just… getting better, overall.
Well inside the cave, Dawn was going to have a conversation with a deity whose voice would be added in post-production. As Roy explored the space and discussed the various angles, one thing became increasingly clear; we couldn’t all be in there at once. The space would be limited to the director, sound, the camera men, and Dawn. The rest of us had to wait outside.
Now, the mood outside was great. People were smoking and laughing. Some of the carriers were talking about bringing others up there later for a midnight swim. They were right; that place would be an amazing space to hang out. Very zen.
We were a few short minutes from lunch, so some of us had begun unpacking whatever we’d brought to eat. As noon rolled around, we could hear an audible gasp from inside the cave.
At first, we didn’t think much of it. I finished my lunch-banana, and the others dug into their various sandwiches. Then, someone calling. We couldn’t hear what he said first, but it sounded urgent. We all quieted down, only to hear it again.
“Call an ambulance!”
Moments later, another voice.
“No! No ambulance! Just get the fuck out! Get back!”
“She’s bleeding!” said a third voice.
“She’s not moving!” said fourth.
“Oh my God, what’s wrong with her neck?!” said another.
We dropped everything. One of the camera men came stumbling out and threw up, one of his assistants tagged along to pat him on the back. But one voice was louder than the others; the director. And he was clear about two things.
That everyone needed to get the fuck out.
And that there would be no ambulance.
Everyone filtered out of the cave, one by one. Everyone but the director, and Dawn. We all just stood there, holding our breaths. It was obvious that something’d happened; some kind of accident. We all looked at one another, back and forth, waiting for someone to break the silence. As it turned out, it would be the director himself who did.
Roy came out with his hands up, as if trying to calm us down. He had this big smile on his face as he waved his assistant over.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” he said. “Dawn is just a bit shaken. She’ll be on her feet in a bit. Take a long lunch and we’ll get back to it at, let’s say… 2 pm.”
I was rolling up a cable, standing a little closer than the director had anticipated. I could overhear a bit of what he was whispering to his assistant. Little words not meant for me.
Something about fetching his notebook. Not the blue one – the black one.
Then, to get a guard posted at the cave.
And finally, to fetch one of the makeup assistants. The brown-haired one.
We weren’t convinced, but there was little we could do. One of the crew who’d seen what happened said she slipped and smacked her head on one of the rocks as she stepped into the pool. Someone else said she’d started speaking gibberish. Apparently, the line she was reading was supposed to be some sort of forgotten God-language. It was straight from the source material.
We all went our separate ways, taking a long lunch, but some of us still weren’t convinced. Two of the women from makeup and costume called the local sheriff. After all, Roy had said not to call an ambulance – he hadn’t said anything about not calling the police.
By the time our two-hour lunch was up, there was a squad car parked on the dirt road leading up to the cave. Roy’s assistant was being interviewed. There was something about the way he talked that made it sound like he was stalling.
We all stood in a half-circle, listening in. They were making small talk about the movie, asking about what’d happened, and wanted to see if Dawn was alright. The assistant was eager to answer. A little bit too eager perhaps.
A couple of minutes later, the director stepped out; and with him, was Dawn.
She looked a bit shaken. She’d covered part of her face with a towel, and she was drenched in water. She excused herself to the officers. They asked a few control questions to see if she was ‘all there’, and she had no trouble answering them. Things like her middle name, where she was born, that sort of stuff.
But I don’t think anyone else was thinking what I was thinking. They hadn’t heard what I’d heard.
Looking at her, like I’d done all morning, I could tell one thing for certain.
That wasn’t Dawn.
They had a similar look, and they sounded the same, but the hair was a bit longer, and she was a bit shorter. If I hadn’t overheard the director asking for the makeup assistant, I wouldn’t have thought of it, but that wasn’t Dawn. It was the woman from makeup. But how the hell could she look and sound like Dawn that well? If it was all acting, she should’ve been the one in front of the camera to begin with.
The sheriff and deputy excused themselves, wished us the best of luck, and headed out. Roy decided to postpone the next shooting a couple of hours so Dawn could dry off and get her makeup redone.
Looking at the crowd, I could tell there were others who had questions. Maybe they didn’t know exactly what was off, but we were all getting worried.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
Later that day, we finished the shot in the cave. We packed up the equipment and called it an early day. The camera crew stayed a bit late just to get some environment shots, and the sound guys got some background noise. Seb and I headed back with one of the equipment vans. I sat next to Seb in the back, bouncing up and down as the suspension held on for dear life.
“You seen that black book he carries?” I asked. “You know what’s up with that?”
“I think it’s the original,” nodded Seb. “Like, a copy of the original book. The Rask book. He refers to it all the time.”
Seb looked ahead, watching the driver fiddle with the radio. Knowing we weren’t actively being listened to, Seb quieted down.
“We got a lot of wiggle room when it comes to scenes and casting, but every line of dialogue is straight from that book.”
“Even the crazy God-babble shit?”
“Especially that.”
Seb lit up a cigarette and passed it to me. I took it, contemplating in silence.
Later that night, the crew that were sleeping on-site had another get-together. We were all a bit weary from the other night, but spirits were relatively high. Most of the people who’d been scared shitless had left the set altogether, so those who remained were those who gave too few fucks to be bothered. I wasn’t really in a party mood, still not knowing what to make of what’d happened, but I figured I could at least check out the cave; see if I could spot anything out of place. The others just wanted a reason to get their drink on.
There were 12 of us crammed into two very small cars. We rolled all the way back to the cave, armed with flashlights, a portable 8-track player, and plenty of drinks. People were singing all the way there, and I’m the first to admit, it was hard not to get in the mood.
As we got back to the cave, we noticed something peculiar. One of the security guards from the set was stationed there, reading a magazine. As we approached, he perked up, and shone a light on us.
“No entry,” he said. “Y’all can go party somewhere else.”
“Come on, man,” someone protested. “It’s been a rough day.”
“Why can’t we go in?” another one asked.
The guard just shook his head.
“Director’s orders. Gotta keep it clean for reshoots.”
I stepped up, carefully. Taking a deep breath and releasing the stress from my shoulders, I put on my bravest smile. Now I was even more curious.
“Look, are you going to sit here all night?” I asked. “If we’re reshooting here, we gotta put all the lights back up anyway. It’ll be a mess no matter what we do. So what’s the harm in letting us kick back a little?”
He looked me up and down, not sure what to make of it.
“We won’t throw any trash around,” I continued. “And you can stick around, if you want.”
He looked back at the rest of the group, letting his flashlight pan over them, one by one.
“Y’all got beer?”
Minutes later, we were all back inside the cave. Music blasting from the 8-track. It wasn’t as good as the one that’d been smashed by the white shirts, but it did the trick. We had to settle for country music though; the man with the Kiss tapes had left.
While the others stripped into their birthday suits and plunged into the pool inside the cave, I took some time to check for any traces of what’d happened. Any signs of blood, or… anything, really. It didn’t take long for me to realize there was nothing of interest around.
I sat down by the 8-track player and cranked up the volume. The guard had stripped down too, joining the others in the pool. I wasn’t feeling it. Not yet, at least. Apparently the water was warmer than anticipated, and the flashlights made the ripples reflect off the rough cave surface. Every laugh echoed. Every ticklish squeak. All of it.
As I was about to switch cassettes on the 8-track, I noticed the laughter slowly dying down. I looked up, only to see the twelve other people just standing there, in the middle of the pool. They’d stopped laughing, talking, and playing. Instead, they stared at one another in what seemed like disbelief. It was such an eerie sight; a dozen people, as naked as the day God made them, their minds going blank in unison.
One of the camera assistants looked down at his hands, then up at the others.
“What… what happened?” he asked.
They were all looking down at their hands, and the water. One of them looked straight at me.
“Did I get the line right?” she asked. “Do… are we rolling?”
“It was dark,” someone said. “I’ve been in the dark.”
“Yes, dark,” another chimed in. “But… who are you? Why were you there?”
Finally, the security guard rose out of water, brushing his hair out of his eyes as he joined the crowd.
“I’m Dawn,” he said.
“No, I’m Dawn,” another said.
They were looking back at one another, one by one, all saying the same thing. All using the same tone of voice, the same accent, the same body language.
“I’m Dawn.”
For all intents and purposes, and to the best of their knowledge, they all seemed to think the same thing; that they were all, each and every one of them, Dawn Andersen.
They tried convincing one another. They were comparing childhood memories, their social security number, favorite songs and food. Intimate secrets about everything from their sex life to the name they would give their firstborn child.
As the questions piled on, and the answers got louder, I could tell they were getting agitated. I got up and tried talking to them, but it was useless. They were all convinced that they, alone, were the real Dawn.
Then, someone threw a punch. Someone was getting choked. It happened so fast that I didn’t even realize what was happening; they were going to kill each other.
I have this vivid memory of looking back at Wynona, an assistant sound technician, as she started beating Chuck Halcomb with a rock. All the while screaming, in the same accent as the rest of them that her name was Dawn Andersen.
I tried breaking it up, but it was escalating all over. I was pushing two people apart when someone grabbed me from behind, dragging me down into the pool of water. I flopped down belly first.
Now, I’m not sure what exactly I saw under the surface. There was a hole leading further down, just like Seb had said. And somewhere down there, I could see someone. Someone still. Someone tied up with a spare cable and lodged deep into an underwater crevice.
I could feel something in that water. Something tugging at the back of my mind, ever so slightly. A voice whispering from across a great distance, asking me, then telling me, that I wasn’t alone. That there was someone out there who wanted to be with me. They needed a place to stay.
I didn’t listen. Had it been minutes earlier, I might’ve.
Nowadays, decades later, I still have that image in my head. Perfect hair bobbing up and down with the shifting of the pool. A person turned problem, brushed under the carpet. But at that time, I convinced myself that I was looking at nothing. That I heard nothing. I couldn’t bring myself to imagine the worst. Not then, not there.
There was blood in the water.
Screams, attacks got more ruthless. Some of them wrestled or threw rocks. Most of them tried to drown one another.
“Say it!” one of the hairdressers demanded. “Fucking say it! Say that I’m Dawn!”
She got clocked in the back of the head and collapsed face first into the shallow end of the pool.
There was this guy, Michael. He was one of our drivers. One of the calmest, friendliest people on set. I hadn’t even seen him without his oversized glasses before. He could be a bit long-winded because of his stammer.
Now he was standing next to me, panting like an animal, and grabbing my arm.
“You… you can’t be Dawn,” he wheezed. “No one can. He said I was. I listened, and you didn’t.”
“Mike, you can’t-“
As soon as I mentioned his name, I realized I’d made a mistake. He shrieked and tried to bend my arm; an effort to break it. I managed to get a kick his leg in, causing him to fall forward. In the split second where his grip faltered, I recoiled. I hurried out of the pool, heading straight for the exit.
There were threats all around me. These familiar faces turned feral, all looking to take me down in this mad free-for-all. Stiff fingers grabbing at my hair. Rocks whizzing past my ear. Desperate cries. I had no choice but to run.
I got out, but I hadn’t been smart about it. It was hard being smart when I could barely think a cohesive thought. The moment I sucked in the night air, I realized they were coming after me.
Not all of them, but at least three.
“I-I… I’d never run!” one of them laughed. “You’re not the real me! Y-you… you’re a fucking fraud!”
The keys to the cars were in the discarded clothes inside the cave. All I could do was run straight into the birch forest and hope for the best. I could barely think straight, and the oppressive dark didn’t help. A harsh wind cut through the leaves, leaving the sweat on my brow cold as ice.
They were hot on my trail, running without abandon over every sharp rock and branch, and straight through the underbrush. If I were to have any chance of outpacing them, I had to stop thinking, and just go for it.
I almost sprained my ankle stumbling over a log. In that quiet heartbeat where I struggled to regain my balance, I could hear them. Their agitation had reached the point where they weren’t just angry; they were reduced to making noises. Sobbing, retching, and grunting like animals. Their minds unraveling.
At some point, I realized I had no idea where I was. It was the middle of the birch woods, and I could still hear them skulking about. I just couldn’t see them. The canopy was blocking what little moonlight was up there. I hid behind a boulder; trying to make myself small. From there, I listened.
“It’s dark,” one of them mumbled. “Deep… deep inside. It’s dark. It shouldn’t be. Why… why is it dark?”
“I-I can’t… I can’t let… can’t… can’t let… let… let…”
“I’m the real one. The really real one. You… you have to believe, I-I…”
They spread out. Two of them started fighting, but the third one was heading my way. A woman in her late 30’s. I think she was in the props department. She’d found this sharp piece of granite that she held like a knife. Even at a distance, and with little light, I could see that she clung to that rock hard enough to cut into her fingers.
“Please,” she wheezed, “Please let… let me be it. Let it be me. I-I… I can’t just let… can’t let…”
I closed my eyes, held my breath, and hoped she’d just pass me by. I counted the seconds, feeling the sting of salty sweat in my eyes.
Slowly, I peeked an eye open.
She was right there, looking down at me.
For a hot second, I thought we were good. She looked hesitant. Still, I could hear the blood dripping from her grip of the stone; tapping against the leaves in the underbrush.
But like an animal, something set her off. Could’ve been the blink of an eye, a split impulse… anything. But she threw herself at me; her hands bloodied and frantic. Her nails digging into my skin, her teeth snapping at me like a hungry dog.
We wrestled back and forth for what felt like forever. I didn’t want to hurt her. I tried to tell her to stop, to step back, to listen… but she wouldn’t. Maybe she couldn’t.
I felt the stab of that granite shard against my rib, and something just took over in me. I don’t wanna go into detail, but I fought back as hard as I could. I had to defend myself, and to do that, I couldn’t hold back.
None of us really wanted that fight, but we still had to do it.
And when she finally stopped moving, I started walking. I didn’t care. I couldn’t allow myself to.
I ended up by the main road leading out of Chatter Blinds. I tried to wave down a passing car, but they just kept going. Two others passed shortly after. One even slowed down, looked at me, and then passed.
But one of them finally stopped. The squad car from earlier; the sheriff and the deputy.
I was taken in and looked over. Most wounds were superficial cuts and bruises. I had splotches of blood on my clothes, but it wasn’t mine. I didn’t say that though.
I told them there were people who needed help. I tried to explain that there’d been a fight, but I had a hard time wrapping my head around what’d exactly happened, and how.
“I… I think they were on drugs,” I lied.
It was the best explanation I could come up with. I just… I didn’t know where to even start. And this one they’d definitely believe without a second thought.
That night resulted in six people being committed to a nearby hospital. Four others were reported missing; one of which was the woman I’d been attacked by. The final two were in good enough condition to be taken in for interrogation.
Of course, they had nothing to say. And come morning, they had no memory of what’d happened.
They weren’t Dawn. They never had been. How could they be?
No one was pressing charges, and no one had a good explanation. They didn’t find any drugs, and we hadn’t even had that much to drink. To an outsider, it was just weird. But at that point, our entire set seemed cursed to the people of Chatter Blinds. We were the strange outsiders, coming there to upset their order.
Still, four people were missing. They were never found.
By early morning, I was released. I was ready to go home. I’d had enough of that madness, and no pay in the world was enough to compensate for whatever bullshit was happening behind the scenes. I put on a fresh set of clothes and had my bags packed and ready to go. I was waiting for Seb to wake up, and I’d ask him to take me to the closest train station, or bus station, or whatever came first.
But as I sat there, watching the sun rise, another face came wandering across the lot.
Dawn. Or whoever was posing as her.
She wandered up to me and smiled. She didn’t say anything, and neither did I. She took a flower out of her hair; a tiny blue sunflower, and handed it to me.
“I had a dream about you last night,” she smiled. “But it wasn’t a very good one.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“You look like you had a rough night,” she frowned. “Just like in my dream.”
“Sure.”
I wasn’t interested. I just wanted to go home. But she leaned down and looked me in the eyes.
“You beat me with a rock,” she said, her face deadpan. “It hurt.”
“I didn’t.”
“You didn’t?”
“I didn’t.”
She shook her head. She got up and grinned at me. The kind of menacing grin that told a story in and of itself.
“I’m telling,” she smiled. “And you’ll be in trouble.”
I shook my head and said nothing. But as she walked away, there was this icy cold panic in my chest. I got up, and tried to find the right words. I could see where she was heading; straight for the director’s trailer. I raised my hand towards her, but before I could say anything, she just grinned back at me.
“It’s okay,” she said. “Just make the movie. It’s important.”
She wandered away, her blue sundress swaying in the softening wind.
I don’t know how long I slept. A few hours, maybe, just leaning against the outer mess hall wall. It wasn’t until Seb tapped me with his muddy boot that I woke up. Despite my fresh set of clothes, he could see that I wasn’t okay.
“You need something?” he asked, squinting from the morning sun.
I considered it. I could still get on a train and just go. I could. But there was something that told me I’d regret it, if Dawn Andersen had something to say about it. She knew. Somehow, she knew.
I shook my head, trying to collect my thoughts.
“Maybe,” I sighed. “I dunno.”
“Well, until you figure it out, we got work to do,” he continued. “Everyone’s on extra cleaning duty for the next set.”
“Great,” I sighed. “Just great.”
I stayed down, rolling the little blue sunflower between my fingers. Seb took a moment to look me over. He must’ve realized I wasn’t telling the whole story, and offered me a hand.
“Come on, buddy,” he smiled. “Let’s make a movie.”