Jessie grinned a wide white smile as bouquets of flowers rained down upon the stage. Truthfully was forcing her grin because of the other standing ovations she got from the past few performances of the play. By this point the wild applause began to feel tedious but more attention was always a good thing. Jessie stood on the tip of the stage and waved to the audience. “I’ll get on Broadway in no time.” she thought.
After the crowd had exited the theatre Jessie waddled into the dressing room. She struggled to keep hold of the large colorful bouquets by squeezing them tightly against her squishy body. “Oh man, this was probably the best crowd yet!” Jessie exclaimed as she dumped the flowers onto the dressing counter. “I felt like they were going to bury me with bouquets.”
As she breathed a sigh of relief Jessie wiped her sweaty brow, smudging some of the makeup. She then took off her brunette wig, revealing the shiny orange rubber hood that covered her head. Maxine, one of the co-stars, was rubbing off the makeup on her face as she sat next to Jessie.
“I know, good word is spreading around town over this play. The critics love us.” said Maxine.
Jessie nodded in agreement as she opened a drawer in front of her and took out a remote. She pressed the button and immediately her plump fat body began to hiss and shrink. After a few seconds she had transformed back into her athletic lithe form.
“Letting off some steam eh?” joked Maxine.
“Hah, you could say that, this thing is boiling inside. Thank goodness they have good air conditioning in here.” Jessie said as she let her flowery dress slip off her body and reveal the skin-tight orange inflatable rubber suit that she was wearing. She then sat down and began to rub her makeup off.
“Hmm, Lina would have enjoyed this part if she had not left.”
Jessie did a subtle double-take when Maxine mentioned Lina’s name. “I wonder why she left? She had a good audition but she just vanished into thin-air. Some people say she was kidnapped by someone.” Maxine speculated as she finished rubbing the last of the makeup off her face.
“Hmmm, that could be true. I think she had some weird connections that got her in trouble.” Jessie turned around and faced Maxine.
“Really? Lina definitely didn’t see like the kind of girl to get tied up with the mob.” Maxine replied. “Maybe she got into an accident of some sort but nobody told us.”
“That’s it. An accident.” Jessie grinned a bit, thinking back on her devious deed from a few months ago. “I guess she just floated off.” She tried to suppress a snicker, barely succeeding.
“Hmmm, I thought she was great. You’re great too though Jessie, don’t think I’m raggin’ on you or anything.” Maxine then sighed and got up. “But things happen.” She put on her embroidered maroon robe and walked towards the changing room.
“By the way, you going to the cast party later Jessie? It’s happening at Robertson’s place.” said Maxine as she entered the changing closet.
“Probably, I could use some loosening up.’ replied Jessie. She grasped both sides of the hood on her head and tried to pull it off, but for some reason it wouldn’t budge.
“Huh? That’s peculiar.” Jessie said as she tugged again as she tried to get the hood loose from her head. It was no use; the hood was somehow stuck to her.
“What the hell!? Why won’t it come off!?” yelled Jessie as she began to tug frantically. She did a particularly hard tug that pulled the skin of her cheek and gave her a sharp bite of pain! “OW!” She yelped. “Goddamit! This thing must be glued on!
“You need some help Jessie?” Maxine said as she got out of the dressing room, wearing some jeans and a polo shirt. “Some prankster must have glued that thing somehow.”
“Who the hell would do that!?” Jessie growled. “Last time I checked I haven’t pissed anyone off around here.” As Jessie griped about her misfortune, Maxine positioned herself behind Jessie and put her hands on her shoulders. “There, there, relax, some nail polish remover should be able to get it off. There’s some in the cabinet over there.” Maxine then walked over to the cabinet and opened it up. Inside was a dark bottle, but instead it read “CHLOROFORM” in big bold letters on its label. She grabbed it, took a cloth handkerchief out of her jeans pocket, twisted the cap off the bottle, and soaked her handkerchief in the pungent chemical.
“Well, that should do the trick I supp… MMMPH!” Jessie murmured with surprised as she felt a damp cloth press itself into her nostrils. The fumes of the chloroform overwhelmed her and quickly she lost consciousness and crumpled to the floor as everything turned black.
Within a minute, Maxine managed to pick up the rubber suited blonde actress and carry her out the door. As she left the real Maxine on the other side of the room entered.
Blackness gradually turned into a dull blue glow as Jessie fluttered her eyelids open. As she lay down on the warm wooden floor she rubbed her head and stared up towards the ceiling.
“Wh.. Where am I?” She thought. After realizing that she was not in the theater anymore, Jessie struggled to get back on two feet and walk around. After a few stumbles she managed to dizzily zig zag about as she absorbed her surroundings with her eyes. “Okay, why am I in a… a sauna?” Jessie’s eyes widened as she realized that she was standing in the middle of what looked like a private sauna room. She then looked towards the door and saw a small square window. Outside a brunette walked into view.
“Maxine!?” yelled Jessie as she rubbed her eyes and glared at her captor. The imposter Maxine just grinned insidiously as she looked through the window. “Hi there Jessie, long time no see.” Jessie gasped as she realized that Maxine’s voice had changed. It sounded too familiar… “Wait! Your voice! It sounds like…” Right before Jessie could finish speaking Maxine grabbed the top of her head and pulled off her face. Underneath the rubber mask was Lina.
“You! H… How did you survive!?” Jessie shivered with shock as she locked eyes with the nemesis she thought long gone.
“I know, you thought I just floated away in that ridiculous suit. You probably hoped I would have died of exposure to the elements, or just died of starvation up there. Fortunately I floated into the radar stream of an Air National Guard tracking station. After a pair of scrambled fighter jets found me they managed to call in some assistance and pluck me out of the sky.”
“Impossible!” Jessie said, reluctant to believe Lina’s story.
“Well, since it is after 9-11, they have been a bit more concerned about security, lucky for me.” Lina cracked her knuckles and grinned at her good luck. “And you know what? I could have told them that it was you who stuck me in that awful suit so that you could have your big break.” Lina’s grin suddenly morphed into a vengeful scowl. “For the two days I was up there I thought to myself: ‘If I do manage to survive this shit, I’ll find a way to get revenge.’ So instead I just said it was an malfunction with the suit.”
Jessie then grabbed the sides of her hood again and tried to pull it off. It still would not budge. “Please girl, you’re just going to tear that pretty blonde scalp off if you keep that up.” Lina began to grin again as she placed her hand over the dial of the sauna. She twisted it slightly to let some steam and heat in.
“What the!? Lina, stop this right now! What the hell are you trying to do!?” Jessie ran up to the door and stared right into Lina’s eyes.
“I’m gonna’ put the heat on you… Some major heat.” Lina smiled evilly as she turned the knob a few more degrees clockwise to increase the temperature. Immediately Jessie began to knock on the door and window simultaneously as she began to sweat from the increasing heat and humidity. The interior of the sauna began to take on a dull haze due to the steam.
“Look, I’m sorry I played that trick on you Lina. Just let me out of here and we can make amends meet, right?” she yelled as she began to beg for forgiveness from Lina. In response she just shook her head and chuckled. “You think you can just get away by making a feeble appeal? You’ll probably find a way to double-cross me once I let you go.” Lina then proceeded to turn the knob again, putting the sauna’s heat and steam output at half-power. “I want to make you feel how I did when you tried to kill me you fucking viper!”
Jessie’s face was now drenched with sweat. She felt slimy and slippery underneath her rubber suit. As she panted under the heavy and pervasive heat of the Sauna, she struggled to muster more strength to pound at the door and scream.
“Oh and right now the sauna is closed. We’re the only ones here. Don’t expect anyone to find you until tomorrow morning.” Lina put her right hand up to her mouth and yawned while at the same time her other hand turned the heat control knob to full blast.
Quickly the already uncomfortable heat became unbearable for Jessie. Sweat began to dribble off her face and coat her slick skin-tight suit giving her a liquid sheen. This made her heart race and persuaded her to beat against the door even harder than before. She could only muster this gusto for a minute or two before the suffocating heat began to slow her down. At this point Jessie focused on just concentrating on the door with increasingly weaker strikes.
After another five minutes Jessie just stopped.
Outside, Lina walked about the hall whistling a little ditty while Jessie did her futile banging upon the door. When she heard Jessie stop, Lina skipped playfully up towards the door and peeked in. She saw Jessie standing in the middle of the sauna panting and heaving. She coughed a few times and spat. Her concentration was beginning to break up as the heat in the room made her lose composure. Gradually she looked up and tried to stare Lina in the eyes.
“I… I…” she murmured.
“Yes?” Lina playfully replied.
“I’ll, never hurt you… Again… Please… I want… I… got to get out…” Jessie began to feel delirious, but at the same time she fought to keep herself intelligible as she made another plead to get out in front of Lina.
Immediately, Lina took out a small digital camera and snapped a photo of Jessie. She let a huge grin spread across her face. “Boy don’t you look great. But you know what? This part of my revenge isn’t complete. I’ve got some poetic justice save up for you…” Lina took out a remote from her pants pocket. Jessie’s eyes widened slowly but in shock as she realized what her adversary was planning to do.
Then Lina pressed the button on the remote and a loud hissing began to emit from the suit in unison with the hissing of the steam that had clouded the room. Within a few seconds the suit Jessie wore ballooned into the round bloated humanoid shape that she had when she was on stage. She blushed with embarrassment and fright as she stood there in a zombie-like trance. At the same time Lina took another picture and giggled with glee.
“How does it feel to be the balloon now?” she squealed with delight at Jessie’s new predicament. “The heat in the room will make your suit expand, and at the same time it’ll make things a lot hotter!” Lina clapped with villainous joy as she watched Jessie grimace with anger.
Even though the suit had stopped inflating the immense heat in the sauna was causing it to expand, just as Lina said. Jessie looked lazily down as she saw the round horizon of her suit’s ball-like abdomen grow larger and larger. It stretched and groaned as the heated air particles made her grow bigger. But by this point Jessie did not seem to mind anymore. She felt her eyelids grow heavy and her brain began to blank out. Now the whole room in font of her just looked like one even white haze. Right before she fainted and fell down on her air mattress-like backside, she saw a faint dark figure appear for a second before it disappeared again. As she looked up towards the ceiling she could not figure out if it was indeed ‘up’ that she was looking at. But that thought left her mind once the white haze gradually turn grey and fade into black.