This was sabotage

"Em?" Ashton backed away from her, a look of confusion painted on his face, "What's going on?" 

"Wait, I can explain," Emmaline reached out to him but he took yet another step back from her. 

Tears brimmed, threatening to overflow as she stretched her hands out, unable to chase him in the huge gown that she was wearing. 

Her long dark hair tumbled past her shoulders, exposing who she really was.

Now, his confusion morphed into comprehension and then into disgust and then worse, hurt. 

"You lied to me?" He asked, the look of anger he had never directed to her finally appearing on his face, "You lied the whole time?"

"No, I mean, yes," Emmaline struggled to find the words. She couldn't let it happen like this, she couldn't hurt him like this. 

Ashton was shaking his head now, turning away from her.

She tried to go after him and tripped over the hem of her gown, the heels making her ankles wobble. 

"Please, listen, you don't understa-" She cut herself off when he held up a hand.

"I think I understand enough," He told her coldly and with that, walked away from her, never once looking back. 

"Ashton!" She stumbled over the gown one more time and, unable to catch herself, she fell to the ground. 

The tears finally came and the knowledge that it was her fault that Ashton was so upset hurt more than her hands and body from the fall. 

With a gasping sob, Emmaline woke up. 

Panting, her emotions reeling from the vivid nightmare, she blinked unseeingly in the dark room. 

She could still see Ashton's face in her mind's eye. 

She could still feel the horrible, desperate urge to take it all back, to make it okay. 

Patting her face, she found it damp with tears that she had cried in her sleep. 

Closing her eyes, she took a deep, calming breath. 

In the way she centered herself before stepping into a role, she gathered herself and focused. 

What on earth was that? She asked herself. 

Ashton was a client. 

Not even a friend. 

Why was she feeling so guilty about lying to him? Or worried about how he would react if he found out the truth? 

Scrubbing her face with her hands, she took another deep breath. 

It was impossible to go back to sleep now. The emotions that the dream had wrung from her had left her jittery and on edge. 

Swinging her legs out of bed, she resolved that a mug of warm milk would do the trick and chase away the last of all the silly thoughts in her head. 

She was sipping her milk and warming her hands on the cup when she heard her mother's room door open. 

Her mother looked wan despite sleeping most of the day, but she had more colour in her cheeks than her days in hospital and that was encouraging for Emmaline. 

Sera smiled softly when she saw her daughter and then laughed when Emmaline started heating up a mug of warm milk for her as well. 

"I used to do that for you," Her mother teased. 

Emmaline smiled at the memories of easier times and laughter around the table. 

"So now I should do it for you," She responded, pressing the cup into her mother's hands and pulling out a chair for her. 

There was a small silence as they both sipped the creamy beverage. 

Try as she might, Emmaline still couldn't shake her dream. 

As if reading her mind, her mother tilted her head. 

"What's wrong, hon?" Sera asked gently. 

Emmaline stared into her cup as if it could provide her with the answers. 

"If," She started, "Completely hypothetically, there was a misunderstanding with someone and by the time I could clear it up, it was too late… And now, telling them or having them find out would mean that they're really angry and they may never speak to me again…"

She trailed off miserably. 

Why was she so hung up on the fact that Ashton may never want to have anything to do with her again?

She was worried about money for her mother's surgery, that was all.

Wasn't it? 

"It's never too late," Sera's blue eyes were bright in the dim kitchen, "If you think it's the right thing to do, it's never too late to do it."

"What if," Emmaline swallowed, "The misunderstanding worked out in my favour and telling them the truth now would make things really difficult for me?"

And telling them the truth would make saving you so much more difficult, she added in her head. 

"Oh, hon," Sera abandoned her cup and got up, sweeping towards Emmaline with all the grace she had been famous for twenty years ago. 

She enveloped Emmaline in a tight hug, with more strength than her bony body seemed capable of. 

Pressed against her mother like this, Emmaline felt like a child again. 

Small and able to take shelter in her mother's arms. 

But her mother's body felt fragile like a bird's. It was her job now to shelter her mother. 

She would do anything she had to. 

But Sera leaned down to look at Emmaline in the eyes. 

"Even if things are really difficult, I know you. You're a Spelt, just like me. We're fighters," Sera smiled with a fire burning in her eyes. 

It gave Emmaline hope. 

Her mother was willing to fight and so was she. 

"So, even if telling the truth makes things harder for you, I know you can get through it," Sera smoothed a strand of inky hair behind Emmaline's ear, "I just know that telling the truth will make it easier on your heart."

Emmaline opened her mouth to protest. 

She would take all the stress for her mother's health to improve. 

But Sera fixed Emmaline with a steady look. 

"We're Spelts," She repeated, "We may not have things easy but we do them right. We don't make things easier for ourselves at the expense of others. It's the one brave thing we can do in a world like this."

Emmaline closed her mouth. 

Of course. 

She knew this. 

She had watched her mother struggle to do the right thing even when ill. 

If her mother found out how she managed to get the money for her surgery, she wouldn't be happy at all. 

It wasn't right. 

Emmaline had known this all along and she had tried so hard to pretend it didn't matter. 

She straightened and nodded, "You're right, momma, as always."

Sera laughed, like bells chiming, "Not always. But what I've learnt, I'll share."

Emmaline hugged her mother harder. 

Even without Ashton's money, she would find a way to save her mother's life. 

***

"Places in fifteen, everyone!" Producer Penhas barked over the megaphone.

Everyone was helter skelter because the outdoor shoot was a last minute addition to the schedule. 

It had been planned for next month, but the venue suddenly freed up and so, filming was in a rather deserted field today. 

Emmaline shivered slightly, still in her dressing gown. 

The wardrobe was late and only the actors in the first scene were dressed already. 

Emmaline's was the second scene so she actually was running late to prepare, but she couldn't without her clothes! 

Glancing around at the huge field and the giant trees with their branches swaying in the wind, it was hard to be anxious when the scenery was so gorgeous. 

Today was fairly straightforward, she only had one scene to do. 

"Spelt, your wardrobe is over there, get changed," Someone told her, gesturing to the makeshift dressing room further away. 

Emmaline looked at where they were pointing and sighed internally. It was the crappy dressing screen at the very end of their set up. 

Waving thanks to the crew member, she trudged over to it, wondering if the flimsy screen provided any real coverage. 

Thankfully, shooting for the first scene had started and not many people were around. 

She tried to adjust the folding screen for maximum coverage but there was only so much she could do. 

At the end of the day, it was still a pathetic screen in the middle of a huge field with a teeny gap facing the forested area. 

Be professional, she told herself. 

A hanger with the blue top and black bottoms she was to wear for this scene was already hooked over the top of the screen. 

A breeze came through the gap in the screen and she tried to suppress another shiver. 

No point dilly dallying, she had to be ready anytime now. 

Throwing her robe over the top of the screen, she started to put the costume on and gasped. 

Whatever the wardrobe department had put together for her, she was pretty sure it wasn't meant to be falling apart in her hands!

She examined the clothes and there were dozens of tiny cuts made through the fabric so that it wasn't obvious when bunched up. 

But the moment she tried to put it on, the clothes began to disintegrate! 

It was a disaster. 

She couldn't wear this! There was practically nothing to wear. 

Reaching for the robe she had draped over the screen, she froze in horror. 

The blood in her veins turned to ice.

Her robe was gone. 

If she had any doubt before, it was erased now. 

This was sabotage. 

The clothes couldn't even be put on, she was stuck in her undergarments in the middle of the wilderness and she needed to be ready for a scene in ten minutes. 

"Em?" A familiar voice called.

Emmaline felt a bolt of sheer panic strike her. 

A man's silhouette appeared on the side of the screen, "Em, it's me."

There was nothing Emmaline could do but watch as Ashton Wright rounded the side of the screen and came into view.