Epilogue- Jenny Melnick

Author's Note: Hey guys! I tried to fill in Nat's life since she left Alaska, but sorry if I missed any loose ends or forgot anyone. I'm also not really sure how the filming industry works, so I tried to be vague and I hope I didn't write anything too unrealistic. If you pay attention you may notice a familiar face... Thanks for a great semester, hope you all have a good summer!

EPILOGUE

“Action!” she yelled. It was their final take of the movie. Not the film she had been working on before, but a new one. She had left the film about her brother in Alaska, where it belonged. It was midday, the sun was hot, and Nat was starting to sweat. She was still getting used to the Georgia heat, thick and wet in the summertime. She wiped the sweat off of her brow and leaned forward, watching the action unfold.

She was working on a film that was based on a best-selling book from a few years before. It was what she would have called garbage during her college years, featuring a supernatural love triangle between three teenagers set in a dystopian America. While it certainly was no Citizen Kane, it paid well and she got to practice doing what she loved. It was turning out exactly the way Nat wanted it; on time, under budget, and without any catastrophes.

She looked over to see Eugene holding the sound mic. Built up with muscle now, he would never dare let it swing into the frame or hit someone on the head. She was shocked when he originally called her. She had given him her card when he took her to the airport, and told him to call if he ever needed anything. They hadn’t talked for almost a year when he finally did.

“Hello?” She said, recognizing the Unalaska area code.

“Nat, hi. It’s Eugene.” She had just left lunch with her mother, something they started doing weekly.

“Eugene! It’s so good to hear from you, how is Unalaska?” Truth was, Nat didn’t really care about how Unalaska, or all of Alaska, for that matter, was doing. She felt betrayed by the land. After all that had happened to her brother there, she had tried to feature it, make it beautiful. But it just came back to ruin the rest of everything.

“It’s good, it’s good, everyone is fine. Listen, I was wondering if you know of any opportunities to work on a set, like I did with you here? Are you still filming?”

“I am still filming,” she lied. Truthfully, she had not been filming. She decided to take some time off, and she spent a year getting back on track after everything that happened. She had been living with her parents, which was surprisingly okay, and it took some time to find a new apartment and deal with the emotional baggage following her around, but she was actively looking for a job. “Although I’m kind of in between jobs right now, I’m sorry.” She heard Eugene sigh on the other end. “But the first I hear of anything I will call you first.” She didn’t know it then, but two days after this conversation she would be offered to work on a film with a small independent company, which would be her first stepping-stone to where she was now. She would tell them yes, as long as Eugene could come to. They would agree.

They had been working together ever since. He was always her one condition whenever she negotiated a new job, and since it wasn’t a job with a lot of glamour attached to it, typically nobody cared.

They weren’t intimate; Nat had always thought of him in a more brotherly fashion. Now that they were so close, she really felt like they were related. She liked to think that she gained another brother instead of replacing Phillip. In any case, she started dating Peter a year after her and Eugene became a team.

Peter was everything Jack wasn’t. She had only seen him once since he visited her in the hospital, and it was by accident in the grocery store. She started to think he was avoiding her, since she would never see him at the club both of their parents frequented so often, but she preferred it that way. Eugene once told her that Peter reminded him of Cody, and Nat said she thought so too. Susan once told her she thought that Peter was a mix of the best parts of Jack and Cody. He would sweep her off her feet with big, romantic gestures like Jack had, but he was still down to earth and sensitive, like Cody. He was able to pick up on her moods and feelings, unlike so many other men she had dated. He genuinely cared for her, and took steps to show her that.

Susan was taking a few years off from work. She had done a few projects when they went back to California, but then had gotten married and gotten pregnant. They still kept in touch and whenever Nat would go home for holidays they would make a point to visit. She always made sure to send the kids birthday presents. They called her “Aunt Nat.”

As she surveyed the rest of the cast and crew on the set, she focused on the lead actor. He was a rookie, this was his first ever film. Nat remembered her first open casting call. She had been determined to hire one of the characters from these auditions, but the first round made her seriously question that. She hadn’t known the rest of the executives very long, and was being careful not to step on anyone’s toes. They did not want anything to do with these “amateurs,” as they called them. They had been sitting all day in a poorly air-conditioned room drinking warm sweet tea, and everyone’s patience had been running low. An average looking man came in, smelling faintly like old friend chicken. Nat was surprised when he started acting, she thought he had some real potential, but the other directors cut him off and sent him away after a polite amount of time.

“Not that guy,” one of them said, throwing his resume in the garbage can next to him. “He was in a terrible movie a few years back, I don’t want that getting brought up again and attached to us.” Nat disagreed, but kept quiet, not wanting to start a fight when there was probably another average looking man about to walk through the door. She was very happy with the boy they had gotten to play the lead role anyway. He wasn’t very smart, but he was easygoing and was good at his job.

She looked around at the scenery. They were filming on a farm a few hours outside of Atlanta. She liked it out here, the people were friendly, the food was good, and somehow the sky seemed bluer. She liked the flatness of the land, compared to the rocky terrain in Alaska. The actors were nearing the end of their scene. She surveyed the rest of the crew, feeling proud for what she had helped put together.

The actors finished their last lines. “Is anyone sitting here?” “No, go ahead.”

“Cut!” she yelled. Everyone rushed to hug one another, crying and shouting. She had left her favorite scene to shoot last, where the two stars first see each other. She always liked to end each project by filming the beginning, because she knew nothing really ever ended.