The Chain

Prolouge

Brenda sat down looking in the mirror as she repeated the same sentence to herself over and over again. It was opening night of 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof' and after all the drama that came with being in the play so far, she was thankful she finally made it to opening night.

Suddenly, in her bag she saw a tiny box covered in wrapping paper out of the corner of her eye. Confused, she picked it up. 'Break a leg' it read on the front. "And I thought I was the only maniac who comes in two hours before curtain up." Rue Randolph entered the room. "How are you, darling?" He asked her before giving her a friendly peck on the check. "I feel ready." Brenda replied.

"Good, what's that? Did you get an opening night gift?" He questioned gesturing to the box in her hand. "I think so." Brenda responded. He told her to open it and she quickly unwrapped it. She opened the box and inside was some kind of necklace. "Oh, my, I haven't seen one of those in years." Randolph said. "That is a treasure."

"What is it?" Brenda wondered. Randolph looked up at her. "It's an old tradition of the theater. It's a Saint Genesius medal. He's considered the patron saint of actors. It protects the wearer against a bad performance by inspiring the actor to greatness... or so the story goes." He explained. "It's beautiful." She commented.

"I'd say it came from someone quite special." He said to her.

She flipped around the box and opened the paper on the back. 'Dylan' She read. "I'd say you were right."

Brenda slowly unpacked her things out of her suitcase. It felt strange being back home. Sad almost. She had a lot of fun this summer and learned a lot in London. But unfortunately, like all good things, the summer came to an end and now she was going to have to go back to her old, normal, complicated life.

She figured she shouldn't get all of her stuff settled in until the new house guest arrived. Valerie, the daughter of old family friends who now lived in Buffalo was coming to live with them for a while because of curtain circumstances and would be Brenda's new roommate for the time being.

Brenda and Valerie had been best friends until Valeries family moved to Buffalo a few months prior to the Walshes moving to California. They'd tried to keep in touch but they both eventually started living separate lives.

Brenda searched through her things trying to find her mint green sweater and suddenly stumbled upon the necklace Dylan gave her on the opening night of 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof'. She held it in her hands and sighed. He hadn't answered or returned any of her calls or letters in almost three weeks. She was worried about him. You always knew when there was something bothering Dylan because he would completely distance himself from everyone around him.

She closed the box the necklace was in and put it away in one of her dresser drawers. She'd already thought of going to his house but when she talked to Brandon, he said that Dylan hadn't been home. A wave of relief came over when she heard him say that. He wasn't ignoring her... he was just gone, though the relief she felt quickly dissipated. Where was he? A little part of her wished that she had never gone to London at all. Her and Dylan's relationship was new again and the two really never did well with long distance.

They'd had a lot of fun together the last week she was in California. Even when she left, they would talk on the phone for hours when they got a chance. It was like they were finally back to where they used to be. Now Brenda wasn't really sure where she stood.

"Senor McKay! Senor McKay!" A young boy hurried up to the disheveled looking young man who sat on the windy beach before relaying him a message in Spanish. "Tell him I'll get there when I get there." The man replied to the young boy and then sipped on his beer.

Dylan McKay had been hiding out in Baja for months after learning that the supposed 'family' he'd found in Kevin and Suzanne was all just a scam. The two of them spent months smiling in his face all while plotting this scheme. Dylan felt like an idiot. He knew he should've gone with his initial instincts, but when he got to know Erica everything changed. He genuinely cared for her.

Now there wasn't much Dylan did care about.
In fact, He'd never been more careless. He spent his days drinking himself into a stupor and his nights picking up one nighters. Without his money, he was nothing. That's the way he felt. He didn't see the point of trying to be somebody he knew he couldn't be anymore. So, driving down to Baja and picking up old habits was the only thing that made sense to him. It was hard to imagine going back to his old life now, but now he had to. The manager of the hotel he'd been staying at wasn't going to pick up his slack anymore. Summer was over. It was time to return to the real world.