Charlotte the Scarlett Harlott: by the Anchorite

Charlotte the Scarlett Harlott

by the Anchorite

Charlotte looked at her reflection. Blood leaked from multiple wounds, her dress was torn to shreds, and her left eye was a gory ruin. She smiled. Sweet success.

As Pale Cadaver's makeup artist she created the elaborate effects for the heavy metal band's live performances, specializing in buckets of blood and gory wounds. Not bad for a beauty school dropout, she thought, as she removed the latex-and-putty patch over her left eye.

She momentarily admired her handiwork at creating a gruesome, realistic-looking wound and then blinked open the eye that she had kept shut for hours. She wanted to remove all the fake blood and makeup before removing the torn dress, as she did not want to get any stains on it. She would return it to Millie, Pale Cadaver's wardrobe designer and her close partner in the band's elaborate visual spectacle. Millie would soon work her magic to sew the dress back into pristine shape, along with the thirty other dresses from Charlotte's coven sisters. These witches were really gals from Pale Cadaver's fan club invited to participate in the elaborate charade in exchange for a meet-and-greet with the band and backstage passes for next week's concert. Millie had her work cut out for her repairing the returned dresses, as the band's manager Mr. Marshall gently but firmly insisted on reducing the expenses from lost deposits on costumes.

Pale Cadaver's lead singer and chief songwriter "Spotted" Dick Crowley entered the dressing room. He asked,

"So Charlotte, how did our boy do?"

"Cadsworth had a ball re-enacting his origin story. Did you really write that yourself, Dick? The whole thing seems Hammer Horror to me, emphasis on the Ham."

"Spotted" Dick laughed.

"Come on now, I was a ten-year old boy when I created Cad. Cut me a break, will you? When you're a bored lad in primary school, what better friend is there than a murderous zombie? I still have the original sketches from my match class composition book, you know."

"English education at its finest. Does Cad know that our set pieces are staged?"

"If so, he hasn't let on. I started writing and drawing him back in school, but I never expected him to come to life. Only later on in life did I learn that those with exceptional creative ability can will their characters into existence. If I knew that, I'd have been a bit more careful and a lot more mature before bringing the Cadaverous Cad to life. Still, he's a great friend and a creative force for my music. That's why I made him the band mascot."

"In addition to staging productions of the stories that you wrote for him. It's a big part of your budget, but you can afford it Mr. Rock Star. Mr. Marshall says so."

"Ah yes, he's a great manager and the uncle I never had. He was a good sport about playing the RAF Lord Air Chief Marshall in the World War II production. It's in his name, after all. Lord Halliday was also good sport about playing his own father. Who knew that a member of Parliament was such a metal fan?"

"We're all full of surprises, Dick. He gladly did it since Parliament is in recess, and all he wanted was a 'Flensing Hour' t-shirt. Speaking of surprises, Millie and I managed to turn the recording studio's basement into a convincing medieval dungeon, but it wasn't easy because we're not set designers. Maybe you should hire someone full time."

"But you're both so good, what would we do without you two and Mr. Marshall manning the purse strings? Millie made an authentic World War II-era  RAF uniform from scratch. That's some talent. Do you suppose she could alter it to fit me? I could wear it when we perform 'Spitfire.'"

Charlotte laughed in response.

"I'll let her know. Glad to know you appreciate us, since I've worked for many bands and you've been by far been the best."

"What can I say? Cad keeps me grounded. That's why I don't mind spending on the shows for his benefit. He gets to act out his murderous fantasies, which by the way are the responsibility of my little boy's imagination, and in real life he acts like a perfect gentleman."

"He's quite harmless in real life. It's all about the dark, spooky heavy metal image. Since you're here Dick, I wanted to run some corpse paint ideas by you for the concert tour. I am thinking something along the lines of Japanese Kabuki meets Mexican Day of the Dead..."