A Dark and Stormy Night Ending

Not certain what might be on the other side, I opened the door cautiously.  A heavy weight pushed it back towards me and a disheveled woman tumbled onto the foyer.  She lay motionless as raindrops fell from her skin to the floor.

I quickly shut the door, lifted the unexpected visitor and placed her on the sofa.  Suddenly her eyes popped open.  She scanned the room and then focused on me.

“Mr. Phane, oh please, you’ve got to do something!”

“My dear, who are you?”

“My name is Sissy Parker.  You must know me.  I live in Alabama.  I’ve traveled all this distance because I am in big trouble and you started it all!”

“Well, now, how is that possible?” he questioned.  “I’ve never been to Alabama.”

“That doesn’t matter,” she sighed.  “My family and others think I am living a double life.  They have decided that you based one of the characters in your last book on me!  They find the similarities unmistakable and are making my life miserable.  They don’t want me in the public spotlight and I certainly don’t want to be there.  Your character “Melissa” is definitely me.  It’s like you have written my biography as part of your tale.  I don’t appreciate my dirty laundry airing in the public square.  You’ve got to do something!”

Phane studied Sissy.  She was the live portrait his prose painted of the impulsive, irascible Melissa.  “How can this be,” he pondered.

“Look, Mr. Phane, I need to exit your writing.  You need to end this nightmare so I figure you “kill me off” in your new book.  Then people will know that Melissa and I are not the same and she will be forgotten.

“And how do you think I should go about this?”

“Well, here’s my idea……..”

With Sissy’s suggestion invigorating his motivation to write, Phane completed his novel in record time.  His agent was excited.  He felt this was Phane’s best work!  He scheduled book signings around the country.  Life was good.

While appearing at a bookstore in Mobile, Alabama, a reporter approached Phane.  “Mr. Phane, what reaction do you have to Sissy Parker’s death?”

“Sissy is dead?”

“Yup, died exactly as you described in chapter twenty-three of your book.”