Serial Vlogger: Part Fifty-Five

A horror novel in tiny slices

Marissa, AnnaLee, Ricky, Mini, and Tom sat on the stage in their assigned spots. Vince had taken a seat in the studio audience, which was still empty except for a couple of people related to the show. This was getting real. So real. Marissa looked around her, wanting to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. She, Marissa, pulled from obscurity, to sit with the biggest stars of the mukbang community. To WORK with the biggest stars of the mukbang community. Would her head ever stop spinning as she looked from Ricky to Mini and Tom? Her stomach growled, but not from hunger. From the excitement that thrilled her from head to toe. In fact, she was so excited, she wondered if she would be able to eat at all.

What if she froze? What if she couldn’t do anything because she was beyond excited? Would they stop taping and kick her out?

Was it possible to be fired from a mukbang show because she was too freaked out to eat?

Marissa took a few breaths. Deep breaths. Relax. Don’t fall off your chair.

Luigi appeared before them one more time. She wondered if he could tell how freaked out she was, and how she becoming more freaked out by the moment.

Luigi walked over to her and took her hand.
“You okay, Marissa?” he asked her. Marissa nodded eagerly.

“You look nervous. Take some deep breaths.” Marissa nodded again and took another deep breath. “Nothing to be nervous of, Marissa. Just do what you always do; you’re a great performer.”

Marissa took another deep breath, and slowly, her nerves settled down. Luigi released her hand.

“Good girl. It’s no different than the other shows. Just a bigger set, a nicer set, that is!” Luigi winked. “And you have some famous co-stars, plus a studio audience. Just focus on what you need to do, and everything will be fine. I have faith in you.”

“Thank you, sir,” Marissa whispered, surprised that she could barely speak.

“Great.”

Luigi examined each of the actors, pacing around their chairs, checking their look, their angles, the wiring of the mics. A smile crossed his face. He stood before them and clapped his hands together enthusiastically.

“Okay, team! I’m so very glad you are all here. We’re going to make an amazing piece for the A Slice of Life family.”

“Of course it’s amazing, I’m here!” Riki called out. The others chuckled.

“Fabulous!” Luigi said. He turned to wave at the crew. “It looks good now.”

The lights were snapped on. The entire set glowed white. The actors dressed in smart white pantsuits and fancy hair, with glitter on their eyes, and rhinestone jewelry sparkling and catching the light.

Luigi checked the cameras one last time and then nodded at the PAs.

“It looks good,” he said. “You can let them in now.”

The PAs went to the doors and opened them.

The studio audience filtered in, excitedly chattering to each other.

Ricky pouted.

“Don’t they usually let in the audience first, and then we come out and dazzle them with excitement?” he asked.

“I guess not this time,” Tom said.

Marissa watched the audience file in with even more butterflies in her stomach. She hoped she didn’t puke before it all began. She was giddy with excitement. She didn’t really know what to expect. It sounded like the others had been told what to expect, but she hadn’t been. Or maybe she just had too many expectations.

“Newbie in the dark,” she figured.

The audience was a variety of people, and all of them were adults. No little kids or even teenagers that she could see. There were people of all sizes; super skinny, super fat, some in wheelchairs and walkers. A nice slice of life.

Ricky and AnnaLee spent a lot of the time talking at the audience, trying to chat them up, joke them up. Some of the audience truly seemed starstruck.

“Can I get your autograph?” a lady called from the crowd.

“You can get autographs after the show,” one of the PAs told them, trying to draw out time as the room filled up. “Right now, they are in their starting positions for the show, so we don’t want to disturb the camera/sound work that’s been done. To get more technical, the actors have all been micd and that takes a lot of time. We have them measured for the camera distance and have organized the booms and such. So, right now, we all want you to sit back, relax, and have an amazing time!”

The studio doors slammed shut after the last guest.

There was the sound of locks being turned.

Then all the lights blinked out.

My Little Book of Horror Theatre Poetry has been nominated for an Elgin Award!

My publisher is re-publishing the book to show the nomination sticker! I’m so thrilled and excited to be nominated!

And in other exciting news, the anthology Future Weird was announced this morning, and it’s ready for pre-orders. My story is about robot ballerinas!