Stuck for Ideas

Stuck for Words

Stuck for Structure

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She stared at the words on the screen, her hand frozen in mid- air over the keyboard. He had written "Mary Ann" - her real name, not her cyber ID "MX25." She felt the panic hit her. How did he know? How much did he know?

She started as a warm tongue licked the back of her hand. Turning off the laptop, she patted the poodle's head. "Poor Frisk, past your dinner time, huh?"

She lay awake in the dark, staring at the ceiling. I am darned lucky, she thought. A sprawling mansion in Beverly Hills, three box office hits in a row with her in the lead. If the gossip was to be believed, she would make it to the Oscar list this year. With atleast a good ten years ahead before her looks faded , what else could a gorgeous twenty-something actress want in life? Nothing, except an end to the loneliness.

She didn't want to date the industry types - they were all too shallow. In any case, she saw too much of them at work. After "The Blonde Shell" hit the theatres, she couldn't even walk to the neighborhood bar for a drink without being mobbed. The sheer loneliness drove her to the chat rooms late at night. Forty days. Forty days since she crossed paths with the man who had the arrogance to use the screen name "God". Since then he had dogged her in every chat room and now.... No, she thought, he cannot reach me. I won't let him.

Bleary with lack of sleep,she poured herself a cup of coffee and picked up the Los Angeles Times lying on the porch. "Real Estate Prices in LA Touch the Skies" the headlines screamed. So what's new? she thought and tossed the paper aside. I'll take the day off today, she thought, cheering up all of a sudden.

She turned on her laptop to email Eric, her secretary, to cancel all appointments for the day. Of course he would be mad at her, she thought with a grin, recalling Eric's melancholy face.An explosion of red roses greeted her with the words " Hello Mary Ann". What the heck! hey, I am not even connected to the web - Is it a virus attack again? She stared at the screen with rising dismay. She was about to turn off the machine when the words appeared, "Don't panic, my dear. I wanted you to have the flowers. My apologies for the lost sleep."

"What do you want me to do?" she whispered to the empty room.
"Do my will," flashed the reply on the screen.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" she screamed.
"Relax, my love. Open your front door. You'll find a bouquet on your porch with a card. It will tell you what to do."
She ran blindly to the porch. There was a huge basket of red roses in a corner. With trembling hands, she opened the card. It read," Meet me today at Rodeo in Sunset Boulevard at six this evening . Ask the maitre d' to seat you in the corner table facing the pool."

Shall I go? I am a fool to even think of doing this, she berated herself as she took a last look in the mirror.She wore a black Versace gown that fell in folds at her feet. Small diamond earrings glistening through the reddish gold of her shoulder-length hair set off the classic lines of her face. Off-screen, she detested make-up and wore very little. Just a dash of mauve lipstick. Go girl, she told herself smugly.

Her hands were cold as ice as she took her place at the cosy candle-lit table set for two. Maybe he won't turn up after all, she thought and felt vaguely disappointed.

"You have no right to look so ravishing", the deep masculine voice whispered in her ear. She turned to stare into the dark depths of his startlingly blue eyes.

That was ten days ago. Her hands softly caressed his dishevelled blond hair as he slept on. The wedding had been a quiet affair attended by just their close family and friends at the small St Mary's church in her hometown.There were no flashbulbs and no papparazzi around. All the press got was a two-line press release from Eric. "I never thought you could go crazy over a shrink", Emily, her sister, had remarked at the reception.
"Dreaming? About me?" he asked with that incredibly boyish grin of his.
"You should know. After all you are a shrink who calls himself 'God'", she teased.
"I do", he murmured against her lips.