Evelyn Parker’s house had a finished basement that she had converted into a private screening room and a small gym.
After leading Mark Anderson downstairs, she pointed toward the projection equipment and asked, “You know how to use everything?” Mark nodded immediately and stepped forward before she could offer to help, because with the system he didn’t actually need to connect anything at all.
The screening room used a high-end home theater system that was more than good enough for a private viewing, even if it wasn’t professional studio equipment.
Mark secretly transferred the movie through the system with a thought, but for the sake of appearances, he connected a portable drive and pretended to adjust the playback settings manually.
Evelyn sat on the large couch in the middle of the room, opened a bottle of water from the small refrigerator near the coffee table, and watched him quietly.
“All done.” Mark returned to the seating area, picked up the remote, and switched the projector to the correct input before handing it to her with an exaggerated smile.
“Ms. Parker, please enjoy the groundbreaking masterpiece that’s going to save your twenty-four million dollars.” Evelyn gave him a flat look, took the remote without replying, and settled back against the couch.
Using the dim projector light, Mark glanced around and quickly noticed there was nowhere else to sit.
The couch was large enough for two people, so he naturally walked toward the open side, only for Evelyn to turn immediately and ask, “What are you doing?” Mark shrugged.
“Looking for somewhere to sit. Unless you expect your director to spend the entire movie on the floor.”
“The carpet is clean,” Evelyn replied without sympathy, then added that there was another couch upstairs if he preferred to wait in the living room.
Mark almost laughed, because leaving now was completely out of the question; she was the first audience member in this world to watch his finished Jaws, and her reaction would directly influence how much Silverline spent on promotion.
He needed to observe her response, but he also refused to sit on the floor like a punished child.
Mark looked around until he noticed a small cabinet in the corner and immediately walked toward it.
He grabbed both sides and started dragging it toward the screen, only to discover a power cord running from the back into the wall.
“What are you doing now?” Evelyn asked suspiciously, and Mark calmly replied, “Making myself a chair,” while reaching for the plug.
“That’s my refrigerator.” Evelyn stared at him in disbelief before finally closing her eyes and sighing.
“Stop touching things and sit here.” She reluctantly shifted toward one side of the couch, leaving enough space for him, and Mark immediately abandoned the refrigerator and sat beside her with a satisfied smile.
“That’s more reasonable.” Mark pressed experimentally against the cushion and nodded.
“This couch is ridiculously comfortable.
How much did it cost?” Evelyn turned her head slowly and said, “If you say one more unnecessary word, you’re leaving.”
“Fine.
Movie.” He turned toward the screen, then casually added, “Just don’t get scared.” Evelyn snorted and shifted as far toward her side of the couch as possible.
“I’ve been on African safaris close enough to lions that I could hear them breathing. I think I’ll survive watching a fish.”
Mark smiled but didn’t argue.
Evelyn pressed play, and the room immediately went dark as a low underwater sound rolled through the speakers.
Her shoulders twitched slightly before she realized it came from the movie, and the screen gradually revealed the ocean floor as the camera glided through the water like something unseen hunting beneath the surface.
The sound was disturbingly realistic.
Water seemed to move around the room rather than simply coming from speakers, with tiny shifts in direction and distance creating the illusion that the entire basement had somehow sunk beneath the ocean.
Evelyn frowned and wondered when her home theater had become capable of producing anything this convincing.
Then she remembered Mark mentioning an experimental sound-processing technique.
Curious, she glanced sideways and saw him staring intently at the screen, completely different from the shameless, joking man who constantly asked her for money.
Whenever he talked about filmmaking or watched his own work, that carefree personality disappeared and was replaced by the same focused passion that had convinced her to invest in him in the first place.
Unfortunately, that passion had already cost her nearly twenty-four million dollars once.
Evelyn shook her head and turned back to the movie.
The story opened on a nighttime beach gathering on Amity Island, where Chrissie Watkins caught the attention of Tom Cassidy before the two wandered away from the others.
Chrissie ran toward the ocean and entered the water while the intoxicated Cassidy stumbled after her, only to collapse on the beach before he could follow.
Soon she was swimming alone beneath the moonlight, surrounded by calm black water.
Nothing happened at first, but Evelyn suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
She stared at the dark screen, convinced for no logical reason that something dangerous was somewhere beneath Chrissie.
The camera shifted underwater and looked upward toward her silhouette while the deep current noise and threatening score slowly intensified.
Evelyn’s hands tightened around the armrest.
She couldn’t see a shark, yet she could almost feel one hiding somewhere behind the camera, watching the swimmer and waiting for the right moment.
The underwater perspective moved closer toward Chrissie’s legs, then abruptly returned to the surface.
She floated peacefully in the dark water, unaware of anything beneath her, and Evelyn leaned forward without realizing it.
“Get out of the water,” she muttered under her breath.
Mark heard her but remained silent.
Chrissie suddenly jerked downward.
Evelyn gasped as the young woman’s expression changed from confusion to panic.
Something unseen dragged her violently through the water, and her screams echoed around the screening room with such clarity that Evelyn instinctively gripped the couch harder.
“Careful!” she blurted out.
Chrissie struggled toward a buoy, only to be pulled away again as the dark ocean churned around her.
The system’s hidden Instinctive Perception enhancement made the unseen predator feel terrifyingly close, and Evelyn’s breathing became faster as she watched the woman desperately fight against something the camera refused to reveal.
Then Chrissie disappeared beneath the water.
The ocean suddenly became quiet.
That silence was somehow worse.
Evelyn stared at the dark surface, waiting for something to emerge, and when another faint underwater sound moved through the speakers, she flinched hard and instinctively threw one hand sideways.
Instead of hitting the couch, her fingers were caught by a warm hand.
Evelyn froze and turned.
Mark was looking at her with an amused smile.
“Relax. It’s just a movie,” he said softly, still holding her hand.
Then his expression became unexpectedly gentle as he added, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
Under normal circumstances, Evelyn would have immediately pulled her hand away and told him exactly what she thought of that line.
But with her heart still racing from the attack sequence, the warmth of his hand unexpectedly made the fear fade a little.
For once, she didn’t move away.
(End of Chapter 12)