It was a cold, misty morning as Claire Marten walked up the steps of her cramped Peckham apartment building. She walked down the dark hallway, dimly lit with a small, naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling. As she turned the key in the lock of Apartment 104, she heard the faint sound of the television playing. She opened the door and saw her twin brother, Jason, slumped over on the couch with a bottle of orange Svedka by his side and a Full House re-run on in the background.

“Jesus Jason! I’m out for 15 minutes and you manage to pass out drunk! I should have never taken you out of that place!”

Confused, Jason smiled a drunken smile, “Claire, Claire it’s fine I’m not even that drunk, look” He began to rise, but unsteadily fell back onto the couch.

“Jason, please just go clean yourself up. I don’t need this right now, I have an audition tomorrow” Claire said.

“Oh an audition, how many of those have you had now? 1,000, 5,000? I’ve lost count.” Jason smiled a sly smile.

“FUCK YOU JASON! AT LEAST I’M NOT DRINKING MYSELF TO DEATH! NOW GET THE FUCK OFF MY COUCH”, Claire screamed.

Jason ran to the bathroom. A bird began to chirp as Claire began to make a sandwich. She began to sing to herself as she made it. A song from the play she was auditioning for the next day, The Sound of Music. She was auditioning for Maria, the lead.  She really hoped that she got this one. She had been contemplating quitting theater all together because it seemed like all of the parts she auditioned for went to other actors. Claire finished up making her sandwich and walked over to the table. As she sat down, she took out her phone and opened Instagram. Scrolling, she came across her old friend, Anna. Anna was posing in front of the large, Fox 21 studios sign in Los Angeles. She had recently been cast as the lead in a new drama on FX. As Claire stared at this picture, a look of disgust and rage engulfed her face. She quickly slammed her phone down and sauntered off to her bedroom.

The next morning, Claire woke to the sound of traffic, and pigeons chirping. It was 7:00 and time to get ready. She put on her sleekest black dress and sneakers. She packed a pair of heels in her purse, and quietly walked out the door, closing it slowly so as to not wake Jason. When Claire arrived at Peckham Theatre, she smiled to herself. “Today is the day,” She thought. The theater was relatively small, with a ticket booth at the front and theater in the back. Eight grey chairs were lined up facing a simple white door. Four women and three men were sitting. Some seemed nervous, twiddling their thumbs or playing with their hair. Some were reading lines to themselves, and one woman was hunched over a novel. She was a young woman, with long blond hair and glasses. As Claire approached the eighth seat, the woman looked up and smiled. Claire realized just how pretty she was, with an upturned nose and defined cheekbones.

“Is this seat taken?”, Claire asked.

“No of course not, please sit. I’m Mary”.

“Hi, I’m Claire, are you auditioning?”, Claire asked.

“Yep, It’s my first time auditioning here I’m a little nervous”.

“You’ll be fine! Are you auditioning for Maria?”, Claire asked.

“Yep! I thought if I’m going to audition why not audition for the lead?” Mary laughed.

Claire smiled. “Hey, after we audition do you want to go out for drinks? I haven’t been out in ages”, Claire asked.

“Sure that sounds like fun!

“MARY REYNOLDS!” a voice yelled from inside the audition room.

“Oh shit, that’s me! I’ll meet you in the lobby after the auditions”. Mary ran inside the audition room. Claire smiled to herself and thought about this naive young woman, who would never land this role.

After her audition, Claire stepped out of the room and saw Mary reading her book. Mary looked up and smiled at Claire. Claire gave her a quick smile.

“Are you ready?”, Claire asked.

“Yep!”. The two women began to walk towards the entrance. They walked in silence down the sidewalk towards O’Malley’s Irish pub. They found a small high top table and sat down.

“So you are clearly not British, where are you from? Claire asked.

“New Orleans, Louisiana. It’s in the U.S.” Mary looked down. “Sometimes I miss it there. It’s been hard transitioning to living here. Maybe that’s why I act. It helps to relieve some of the pain.” Mary began to chuckle. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I guess I just needed to tell somebody.” Mary said.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of pain are you talking about?” Claire asked.

“Well, I never knew my birth parents. I grew up in foster care and only got out five years ago. I saved enough money to get to London and now I act”.

For just a split second, Claire felt sorry for this young woman who clearly had been broken down by the hardships of life. That feeling quickly left her, once she remembered just who Mary had auditioned for.

“Well let’s drink to new beginnings in London” Claire finally said. “Waiter, we will have two shots of your finest vodka!”.

Mary and Claire drank and talked for two hours until they were both feeling the effects of the alcohol and walked out.

“Thanks for an amazing time. It’s really nice to hang out with somebody after so long” Mary said.

“Of course, see you tomorrow”. Claire turned and walked towards a taxi stand down the road. She hopped in the taxi and drove off towards her apartment building.

The wind was howling that night, and as Claire looked out the window of the taxi, a small black cat was walking on the sidewalk. This made Claire uncomfortable for a reason she could not comprehend, and she quickly turned her head away. Later that night she and Jason were watching a film on the television.

“How did the audition go?” Jason asked.

“It went fine. Except there was this other girl who was trying out for the same role” Claire responded.

“Ohh competition…  you are not used to that, are you?” Jason said.

“If she gets this part and I don’t I will seriously kill her,” Claire said. Jason chuckled at this.

“Wow that’ll show her,” He said.

“I’m serious, I would bring her here and I would strangle her. I mean she already thinks we’re friends. How hard would it be” Claire said?

“Ok, Claire you’re kinda scaring me. You’re not serious are you? Jason asked.

“No of course not, I’m not a murderer. Claire suddenly got up and started to walk towards her bedroom. “I’m going to bed, Jase. Good night” she said.

The next morning, Claire woke up, got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee. As she drank her coffee she looked out the window at the small apartment courtyard. She noticed that the cedar tree that was planted in there looked like it was dying. The branches were losing bark and some were even falling off. Claire finished her coffee and walked to the sink. As she went to put her cup in the dishwasher, she noticed that the coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup made a sort of oval shape, almost resembling a coffin. Claire paid this no mind and went back to her bedroom to get dressed. As she was putting her clothes on, she smiled as she noticed the small rose that she had planted on her windowsill was beginning to bloom. Claire finished getting dressed, and walked out the door, closing it quietly as to not wake up Jason.

When she arrived at Peckham theatre she noticed that everybody was crowded around someone. She couldn’t make out who it was. As she walked closer she noticed that everyone was saying various forms of “congratulations”. Suddenly, Claire saw who they were saying it to Mary.

“What’s going on?” Claire asked the girl next to her.

“Mary got the lead! It’s amazing because she hasn’t even really acted before. We are all so happy for her” the girl responded.

Claire went pale. She couldn't believe it. She rushed to the bathroom,  opened the farthest stall from the door, and screamed as loud as she could into her shirt. After she was done, she knew what she had to do.

“Mary congratulations! I’m so happy for you. Hey, I’m having a few people over tonight to celebrate the play, I was wondering if you wanted to stop by?” Claire asked.

“Of course! Thank you! What time should I be over?”.

“How about 6, my address is 344 Peckham Hill Street?” Claire responded.

“Perfect. It’s so nice to have a friend like you in such an unfamiliar place” Mary said.

“It is, isn’t it” Claire said, with a forced smile.

Later that night, Claire heard a knock at her door. She checked her watch, which read at six o’clock. Right on time, she thought. Earlier that day, Claire had bought tickets to a futbol game for Jason and his friend, so he was out of the house. Claire opened the door.

“Hi! I brought you a bottle of wine. Thanks so much for hosting this” Mary said.

“Of course come in” Claire responded.

“Am I the first one here?” Mary asked.

“I’m afraid you are. Everybody should be here shortly, sit down let me get you a drink” Claire responded. She retrieved a Guinness from the fridge and handed it to Mary.

“I have to run to the bathroom I will be right back”. Claire said.

As Claire walked into her room, she noticed that the rose she was growing was now in full bloom. She then went into her closet and picked up a leather belt. As she left her room, she put the belt in her coat pocket.

“Sorry about that” Claire said as she approached Mary.

“It’s totally fi-”.

Suddenly Claire had the belt around Mary’s neck.

“Claire, I, I can’t breeeeth”, Mary struggled to say.

“Good” Claire responded.

“Why are you doing this?” Mary asked

“Because you come into that theater and try and take my role. I have been doing this my whole life, and you come here and you have barely even acted before. I’m just done losing these roles” Claire responded

“I’m sorry. Really, I am” Please don’t do this” Mary said.

Mary was clawing at Claire’s face, using the last amounts of strength to try and break free from her attacker. However, Claire firmly held the belt around Mary’s neck until she started to feel the life seep out of her. Claire loosened the belt and Mary flopped onto the couch: dead. Claire got up and took the bottle of wine that Mary had brought. She poured herself a cup and looked at Mary’s lifeless body on the couch. She walked over to the window and peered out. She saw the dying cedar tree and something else caught her eye. It was a small black cat perched on one of the lower branches. The cat looked up, saw her and scurried away. A large smile encompassed Mary’s face, and she turned away to go practice her lines for the lead.