0016: Debt of Existence
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A police car.
Someone must be speeding up ahead. Maybe they will catch that loud motorcycle. Yes, what a hazard he is.
Everly slows to let the officer pass. He doesn’t.
“Why is he following me?”
Everly eases her car to the side of Wilshire Blvd. The Police cruiser trails behind her.
“Shoot.” Everly presses the brake. Her heart thuds. She CAN NOT get a ticket. A two hundred dollar ticket would cost her two eight-hour shifts at Hamburger Mary’s.
Everly slows Hayley’s car to a stop and looks up at the brightly lit Westwood Medical Building ahead of her. A giant movie poster with five actors looking in various directions glows on the side of the building.
They seem as if they are gazing out into the ocean.
What if her face was up there, expanded into thousands of feet for all to see? Everly’s heart vibrates at the thought. Would that be enough to make her parents proud? To settle the debt of her existence?
Everly imagines them staring up at her, their jaws agape, their eyes finally clear of the perpetual dissatisfaction they reserve only for her. She knows why they look at her like that. And she deserves it. But if she could win the love of everyone in the world, then maybe her parents would have to follow suit.
On top of the billboard, white letters proclaim, “From the Producers of RISING FALL.” What does a producer do?
A soft knuckle raps at her window.
Someone must be speeding up ahead. Maybe they will catch that loud motorcycle. Yes, what a hazard he is.
Everly slows to let the officer pass. He doesn’t.
“Why is he following me?”
Everly eases her car to the side of Wilshire Blvd. The Police cruiser trails behind her.
“Shoot.” Everly presses the brake. Her heart thuds. She CAN NOT get a ticket. A two hundred dollar ticket would cost her two eight-hour shifts at Hamburger Mary’s.
Everly slows Hayley’s car to a stop and looks up at the brightly lit Westwood Medical Building ahead of her. A giant movie poster with five actors looking in various directions glows on the side of the building.
They seem as if they are gazing out into the ocean.
What if her face was up there, expanded into thousands of feet for all to see? Everly’s heart vibrates at the thought. Would that be enough to make her parents proud? To settle the debt of her existence?
Everly imagines them staring up at her, their jaws agape, their eyes finally clear of the perpetual dissatisfaction they reserve only for her. She knows why they look at her like that. And she deserves it. But if she could win the love of everyone in the world, then maybe her parents would have to follow suit.
On top of the billboard, white letters proclaim, “From the Producers of RISING FALL.” What does a producer do?
A soft knuckle raps at her window.