Free Sky Tongues by Gina Ranalli Page B

the second and third season of the show, I did another movie, this time lending my voice to an animated feature. It was a cute movie about a silly family of raccoons conquering the elements, hunters, trappers and an evil bear who shares their forest. I played the eldest child raccoon, a moody teenager who enjoys head-banging, boy bands and tormenting her younger siblings. It was a fun and easy job and it didn’t take much time to do, so I had most of my vacation free to pursue other things, including a six-week run in the LA stage production of Much Ado About Nothing. I was paid next to nothing but the play received great reviews and I experienced a renewal of my original love, the theater.
   It was a good break, but I was also happy to go back to working on the show when the time came.

49

   One night I came home to find a note had been slipped under my front door.
   I didn’t think much of it, not because it happened often—it didn’t—but because I was dead tired and only wanted to hit the sack. I tossed it on my kitchen table with all the other mail and promptly forgot about until I had a day off and was able to actually sit down and go through all the junk.
    My usual custom for reading mail is to grab a beer from the fridge and carry the whole bunch of it up to my office and examine it piece by piece, either at my desk or while seated comfortably on the couch I had up there for script reading sessions.
   This day was no exception. I carried the mail upstairs with a beer and flopped myself down onto the sofa to read. It was all the usual crap, mostly junk, a few fan letters from people who had somehow managed to get my home address and then the unmarked envelope I’d found a few nights prior.
   Curious, letter opener in hand, I split the envelope and pulled out a single sheet of paper, neatly folded into three sections. When I unfolded the paper, I saw what appeared to be blood smeared all over it and the words, We’ll be together soon , also written in blood.
   “Fuck!” I dropped the paper, wanting it away from me.
   Lavinia had warned me that something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. I just hadn’t paid much attention, figuring I wasn’t the type to attract a stalker. Even after Lucia had had a problem with one, I still hadn’t seriously considered it a possibility for myself.
   I rose from the sofa and went to the phone, pressing the speed dial button for the security company that we were all given to call just in case something like this very thing were to occur. The man I spoke to was very nice, didn’t seem even the slightest bit alarmed and managed to ease my mind with only a few words. He said he’d come and take a look at the letter himself and he would arrive in about ten minutes.
   Comforted, I tried not to think about it and drank my beer while surfing the net and listening for the doorbell. I’d actually managed to forget about it by reading one of the shows fan sites and when the ring came twenty minutes later, I was surprised.
   Then I remembered and hurried downstairs with both the envelope and the letter to show the security guy. He examined each carefully, still seemed unperturbed but told me he’d send a guard over to watch my house every few hours or so, just as a precaution.
   “Is that really necessary?” I asked. “It seems like it would draw more attention than dissuade it.”
    “He’ll be very inconspicuous, ma’am. Not to worry.”
   I knew that in these kinds of circumstances it was best to just step back and let people do their jobs. I said ok and thanked him, sent him on his way with the foul letter and forgot all about it.

50

   About a week later, I was in my trailer when the same security guy knocked, accompanied by another more official looking security guy.
   “Unfortunately, we suspect the person who sent you the letter has been sending mail to the studio for quite some