Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee(94)

It’s clear she’s trying to step up and take the lead more in this show because she knows she won’t have me around to help her. I can tell she wants me to know everything will be okay without me.

I can also feel her heart breaking, and it’s breaking my heart too.

Her endings, including this one, haven’t always come with new beginnings.

???

“Anyway, Ryan, thanks for writing! Obviously, I’ll miss Rayne too. But her new blood bank internship is too good to pass up!” Delia says.

“Well, that does it for letters for this week,” I say wistfully. “I wanna thank you all so much for—”

Arliss pops up his hand with Frankenstein holding one more letter. “Hold your horses! You got one more!”

“What? Frankenstein, you’re normally so eager to finish up mail corner!” Delia says.

Arliss turns Frankenstein and hands the letter—a real letter, not a printed-off email—to me. “Yep. Well, I guess today’s special.”

I take the letter hesitantly, nervous about what Arliss has cooked up. I read the first few lines to see what I’m getting into. As I read, I put a shaking hand over my lips.

“Don’t keep us in suspense, Rayne!” Delia says.

“Um.” I shake my head. “Sorry, Delilah. Okay. I—Okay.” I clear my throat and begin reading in an unsteady voice.

Hello, Delilah and Rayne, My name is Jacob Waters. I live in Topeka, Kansas, and I’m a fan of your show. When I was in high school, I had a best friend named Erica. We used to love to watch cheesy horror movies together. We would make jokes about them and pretend to be scared. We both went away to separate colleges, but ended up returning to our hometown. When she was diagnosed with cervical cancer she developed after contracting HPV, I would bring my laptop to the hospital and we would watch movies. It hurt her to laugh, and she had a hard time staying awake through them toward the end. She died a couple of years ago. She was only twenty-eight. I miss her every day.

One Saturday night a few months back, when I was randomly flipping through channels, I happened upon your show, and it immediately transported me to hanging out with Erica. The goofy jokes. The way you two obviously love each other’s company. The movies that are too funny to be scary. Your show felt to me like what it would have looked like if someone had filmed me and Erica. It made me feel loved and safe. It was a bright, warm fire, the way Erica was to me in— I start to lose it entirely. My voice cracks and fails me. I look over at Delia, and tears are coursing down her face. I offer the letter to her.

“Don’t look at me,” she chokes out, cry-laughing. She wipes her nose with the back of her hand.

I clear my throat and take a deep breath. “Whew. Okay. All right. I’m going to try to get through this. Sorry, everyone. I guess there’s no chance of another take, is there, Frankenstein?”

“Good enough for access,” Arliss says.

“Of course that’s what you’d say. Here goes nothing.” I start reading again.

…the way Erica was to me in my coldest, darkest midnights. I had a hard time in high school. There were a lot of times when I felt like I wanted to stop living. There were times when I wanted to give up. There were times when my light went dim. Erica was there for me then, and I tried to be a comfort to her during her most painful days.

Randomly finding your show on public access reminded me that there are small troves of beauty and moments of human connection in the most unexpected places. So I watch your show with Erica’s spirit by my side. I know she’d have loved you two also.

You don’t know me, and I doubt we’ll ever meet. But know that I’m your friend, and I’ve loved pretending like you’re mine as I remember one who’s gone. You have given me a great gift with this show, and I’ll always be grateful.

Your fan and friend,





Jacob Waters PS: I don’t care that you call your puppet Frankenstein. I think it’s fine.

There’s a long silence when I finish. A silence that you can hear. The kind of silence you rarely see on normal TV because it’s way too long and awkward. Good enough for public access, though.

Delia sighs. “Well.”

“Wow, right,” I say.

“Yeah, that was…a really great letter.”

“Yes, it was. Thank you, Jacob. Truly. This means more to me than you’ll ever know.” I hold the paper in my lap and turn. “Frankenstein?”

Arliss pops up Frankenstein. “Sorry for making you wait so long to hear your letter, Jacob. Frankenstein saved it for a special occasion.”

“You purposely made us cry, Frankenstein,” I say. “You’re grounded.” I leave a beat for Arliss to put in some sad slide-whistle sound effect or a rim shot. “No, I don’t mean we’re putting you back in the ground, Frankenstein.”

Arliss doesn’t say anything but makes Frankenstein pat my shoulder. I pull him in to me and hug him hard, until he squirms and goes, “All right, enough already.”

???

“Well, manticores and woman-ticores, banshees and ban-hees, that’ll do it for this week’s show,” Delia says.

“Lemme say something real quick, Delilah.”

“Go for it, Rayne.”

“I wanna say thank you to all of you who’ve supported and watched our show, who’ve taken the time to write such nice letters.” I’m starting to slip. My composure is crumbling like a muffin being squeezed in a fist. “Being on TV has been my dream since I was little, so doing this show has legitimately been a dream come true. Thank you.” I manage to finish relatively intact.