‘Sorry?’ Kelly said. There were sparks of pain at her temples. ‘What makes you so special that the rest of us have to wait while you go back and finish your shopping? Why is your time more valuable than mine?’
‘Calm down, missy. I was only gone a few minutes.’
Kelly felt her heart pounding as though it were trying to escape. ‘Ever heard of the self-checkout? You forget something, you go back after you’ve paid for your first lot. Then the rest of us don’t have to wait on you. It’s called common courtesy.’
The man sniggered and looked at Kelly’s trolley. ‘Hope you’ve got tampons in there.’
Kelly’s hands shook. Pain thundered at the back of her skull. She opened the egg carton the man had placed on the conveyor belt and took an egg in each hand.
‘You like eggs, motherfucker?’ She threw the eggs in a looping arc at his chest.
His eyes opened wide, startled, but he responded quickly, positioning himself to catch the eggs against his body.
Kelly threw two more at him.
‘What are you doing, you crazy bitch?!’ he roared as he danced from side to side to catch the curving missiles.
Then Kelly lunged and slammed her palms against his hands. The pressure knocked him backwards, but he held his ground as all four eggs cracked against his chest and the yolk ran down his shirt and onto his shoes.
Kelly watched in triumph. The sound of her racing heart pounded in her ears. Her hands continued to shake and the trembling ran up her arms and into her shoulders and down her spine. Her whole body shuddered and a sudden terror choked her throat.
She sprinted through the supermarket and out into the car park. She unlocked her car’s doors, gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles and started the engine.
Kelly drove three blocks before the tears that filled her eyes made it impossible to see. She sat there, still gripping the wheel, sobbing silently. Her chest heaved, her shoulders shook and her head ached with the power of a thousand screams.
‘Fuck,’ she whispered. ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’
Chapter Three
‘Shooting now …’
Finn’s mind emptied of his own life.
‘Clear the sets …’
Only his character’s thoughts were real now.
‘Roll sound … quiet, please … and action.’
Finn became Sonny Lord. ‘What did you think I was going to do, Rebecca?’ he said. ‘Act like you didn’t cheat on me?’ He felt the acid reflux of betrayal. ‘Act like you didn’t take every good thing we had and destroy it?’ His spirit ached with the emptiness of loss.
Monica, who played Rebecca, began to cry. ‘Please, Sonny,’ she said. ‘Please don’t throw it all away because of one mistake.’
Finn felt Sonny’s outrage. Tears stung his eyes and his hands started to shake. ‘I will never, ever forgive you for this.’ A tear ran down his cheek. ‘You’ve left me alone in the world. Without you, I have nobody.’
‘Cut!’ the director yelled. ‘That was brilliant, Finn.’ He applauded and the crew followed suit.
Finn’s head was buzzing. He wiped the tears from his face.
Monica placed a hand on his chest and smiled. ‘Nice work.’
‘Thank you,’ Finn said, breathing out long and hard. He stumbled off the set and opened the dam gates that let his own life flood back into his heart and mind.
‘She must have been special.’
Finn spun around to see Monica had followed him. ‘Who?’
‘Whoever broke your heart hard enough to bring out that scene.’
