She had played a polar bear.
Atlas Vance stared at Samantha Quinn for several seconds, genuinely wondering what kind of acting career led someone to confidently present that as their biggest credit.
“Besides the polar bear, have you played anything else?” he finally asked, unable to hide the disbelief in his voice.
Samantha rested her chin on one hand and thought carefully.
“Oh, right.
I also played an alien in Fortress Earth.” Samantha’s expression brightened as though she had finally remembered something impressive.
Atlas fell silent again, suddenly understanding why her résumé had not included many character names.
After a long moment, Atlas slowly said, “Miss Quinn, I actually have a very important role available, and I think you’re perfectly suited for it.” Samantha immediately became interested and leaned forward.
“More important than the female lead?”
“Very important,” Atlas replied seriously.
“She introduces the beginning of the entire story, and the character fits you surprisingly well.” Samantha’s interest increased at once.
“All right, what kind of role is it?”
“She’s a high-school student named Tomoko Oishi, Reiko Asakawa’s niece.”
Samantha nodded thoughtfully.
“Does she have more screen time than Reiko?”
“A little less.”
“How much less?”
Atlas smiled.
“She dies at the beginning.”
Samantha’s smile froze.
“What?” She abruptly stood from the chair hard enough to knock it backward onto the floor.
Atlas remained calm and said, “I’m not trying to insult you.
Tomoko is extremely important to the opening, and at least this time your face will actually appear on camera.”
Samantha stopped.
After thinking about it, she reluctantly admitted that he had a point.
She bent down, picked up the chair, and sat again with considerably less enthusiasm.
Emily Brooks, who had been watching from the side, quickly stepped in.
“Director Vance, Samantha’s acting is actually considered pretty good in our class.
Why don’t you let her audition for Reiko first?” Atlas hesitated briefly before nodding because he had nothing to lose by seeing what Samantha could actually do.
He looked toward her.
“Fine.
Perform something here.
If I think you can handle Reiko Asakawa, I’ll give you serious consideration for the female lead.”
Samantha immediately recovered some confidence.
“All right.
What do you want me to perform?”
Although she looked down on Vance Studios and privately believed Ring would probably become another flop, Samantha had never actually received a proper role where audiences could clearly see her face.
If this strange little horror production offered her a female lead and a paycheck, she was willing to lower her standards temporarily.
At worst, she could collect the money and move on afterward.
Atlas pointed toward Sadako, who was still standing quietly behind the office door.
“She’s playing the ghost.
Show me how Reiko would react if she suddenly encountered something like her.”
Samantha turned toward where Atlas was pointing and immediately jumped slightly.
She had been inside the office for several minutes and somehow hadn’t noticed a woman standing motionless behind the door the entire time.
The realization alone made Sadako seem more unsettling than before.
Samantha walked toward her suspiciously and reached out to pat her shoulder.
“Hey, can you actually scare me a little?
If you just stand there, there’s nothing for me to react to.” Sadako slowly turned around.
The moment Samantha saw her face clearly, every hair on her body seemed to rise.
Sadako was undeniably beautiful, perhaps even more beautiful than Samantha herself, but something about her felt deeply wrong.
Her skin seemed unnaturally pale, her presence made the room feel colder, and Samantha suddenly experienced the irrational sensation that the woman in front of her wasn’t entirely alive.
She shivered without understanding why.
Sadako instinctively tried to activate her Death Gaze.
Nothing happened.
Atlas’s voice immediately entered her mind.
Sadako, use an illusion.
Scare her, but don’t kill her.
Sadako’s eyes changed slightly.
Samantha’s gaze became unfocused.
The office disappeared.
One moment she was standing beside Atlas’s desk, and the next she found herself alone inside a desolate forest beneath a dull gray sky.
Dead leaves covered the ground, cold air surrounded her, and several yards ahead stood an ancient stone well.
“What the hell?” Samantha looked around frantically.
“Where am I?”
No one answered.
Then a pair of pale hands slowly appeared over the rim of the well.
Samantha stopped breathing.
Long black hair followed.
A woman dressed in white began dragging herself upward.
“Ah!” Samantha stumbled backward and fell onto the ground.
“Who are you?!”
Sadako climbed completely from the well.
Then she began approaching.
One slow step at a time.
Samantha desperately pushed herself backward with both hands, but the forest behind her seemed endless.
“Stay away from me!”
Sadako continued forward.
Her hair shifted.
A single eye appeared through the darkness.
Too much white surrounded the pupil, giving the gaze something unmistakably inhuman.
“AAAAAH!
GHOST!
HELP ME!”
Back in the office, Emily stared in complete admiration as Samantha collapsed onto the floor and frantically crawled backward.
The terror on her face was so convincing that Emily couldn’t imagine how her classmate was producing it.
“Wow…
Samantha’s acting is incredible.”
Atlas watched Samantha scream for another moment before deciding Sadako had gone far enough.
He mentally ordered her to stop the illusion, then stepped forward and helped Samantha from the floor.
“Hey.
You okay?”
Samantha’s cloudy eyes gradually cleared.
The forest vanished.
The old well disappeared.
She was back inside Atlas’s office.
Samantha looked around in terror.
“There was a ghost!
There was actually a ghost!”
Atlas smiled innocently.
“What ghost?
Did you get too deep into the performance?”
Samantha slowly looked toward Sadako.
Sadako stared back.
A violent shiver ran through Samantha’s body.
“What kind of cursed production is this?” she shouted.
“Even if you begged me to act in this movie, I wouldn’t do it!”
She grabbed her designer bag and sunglasses from the table and immediately headed for the door.
Emily hurried forward and tried to stop her.
“Samantha, what’s wrong?
Weren’t you just acting?”
Samantha angrily shoved Emily’s hand away.
“What kind of garbage crew did you bring me to?
If I hadn’t been desperate for work lately, I never would’ve come to this place!”
“Samantha…”
“Don’t call me that like we’re close.”
Emily froze.
Samantha’s expression turned cold.
“Honestly, I never considered you a real friend.”
Emily stared at her.
“You were useful, that’s all,” Samantha continued.
“One of several people I kept around because I thought you might become useful someday.”
Her eyes moved over Emily dismissively.
“Now it looks like even that was a waste of time.”
Emily’s face slowly lost its color.
Samantha angrily pulled open the office door, but before leaving she stopped and looked back.
“Emily, since we were classmates, I’ll give you one warning.”
She glanced toward Sadako.
“This crew isn’t clean.”
Samantha tightened her grip on her bag.
“If you have any sense, get out while you still can.”
Then she walked away and slammed the door behind her.
Emily remained standing in the office with her head lowered.
She had genuinely believed Samantha was one of her closest friends, so discovering that the other woman had only treated her as a potentially useful connection hurt far more than the insults themselves.
Atlas looked at her dejected expression and sighed.
“Emily, don’t take it too hard,” he said.
“At least now you know how she really saw you.
Finding that out now is better than learning it years later.”
Emily slowly looked up.
“Director Vance, I’ll keep looking for another actress for Reiko.”
She turned toward the door.
Atlas reached out and caught her sleeve.
“No need.”
Emily stopped.
“You can play Reiko.”
She looked back at him in surprise, although part of her had already suspected what he might say.
Before Samantha’s words, Emily probably would have immediately refused because she had spent years believing she lacked the talent to carry a major role.
Now those cruel remarks remained lodged in her mind, and for the first time she felt a powerful desire to prove that she wasn’t worthless.
She wasn’t Samantha’s useless pawn.
She wasn’t anyone’s pawn.
Emily tightened her hands and looked directly at Atlas.
“Director Vance, I’ll cherish the opportunity.”
Atlas saw the determination in her eyes and nodded with satisfaction.
Emily was Japanese-American, so her background and features already made her a natural fit for Reiko Asakawa, even though her delicate, youthful face made her look somewhat younger than the nearly thirty-year-old character Atlas envisioned.
That problem could be handled easily enough through hairstyle, wardrobe, and professional makeup.
The important thing was that Emily finally wanted the role.
And Atlas intended to see what she could do with it.