HeartBLOOD

Chapter twenty-six

Alec took one final glance on his outfit- this was their first dress rehearsal and the costume felt weird- he had the feeling it was a bit small, the waistband of the black poofy shorts that were part of his costume painfully cut into his hips. When moving his arms, he was afraid his shirt might rip in the back. With a sigh he put on his flats and ran his hand through his hair- he hoped the costume's fabric would soften when worn in, otherwise he might have to ask for a new costume, which would be rather unfortunate as the performance was coming closer and he actually enjoyed the costume. Despite the inconveniences, he thought black and red looked good on him- the well known rush of energy and nervousness rushed through his veins as he realized this was what he was going to wear on stage. Somehow he felt like his performance was always worlds better in costume than in training gear- it gave him that finishing touch of performance precision, the little bit of stress and excitement that made him forget everything apart from the stage, the performance and the lights.

"Damn, Roberts!", he joked as he walked out of his changeroom, meeting Maia. In his opinion, the sugar plum fairy costume was by far the prettiest costume in the entire ballet. So he very well understood why she wanted to be the sugar plum fairy that badly- apart from the solos, simply the costume was reason enough to want it. She wore a lilac corset-like top with was embroidered with sparkly silver strings, forming a unique pattern of flowers and leaves. The stiff skirt had the same color, but in addition had a bunch of white rhinestones added onto the fabric. The entire purple-theme of the tutu and the jewelry perfectly matched her dark complexion and the silver complimented her dark hair. "You like what you see?", she asked with a chuckle wich upon Alec nodded. "You don't look too bad yourself.", she added and fixed his hair, "Though the pants are a bit tight, aren't they? They seem to be cutting into your stomach." "Yeah, if I lose circulation we know why.", he laughed and they both started to move towards the stage. The way between the change rooms and the stage was way longer than they first thought when exploring the old area with Valentine. "Do you smell that?", Maia asked and scrunched her nose. "It smells terrible in here.", Alec chuckled and kept on walking. "No, I am for real- it smells different." "It's maybe a bit stuffier, but apart from that I don't smell anything.", Alec replied and Maia shrugged, following him down the corridor. "God, they really built a whole network here.", Maia sighed in annoyance as she had already put on her pointe shoes, "Any chance we're walking in the wrong direction?" "There's only one direction.", Alec replied, "Though now I feel like I smell it too- it smells burnt, doesn't it?" "It does!", Maia exclaimed- she was not liking this. "No need to panic.", Alec calmed her down, "Camille is already rehearsing on stage, it's probably just the smell of the old stage lights. That's when they, all of a sudden heard a loud explosive sound coming from where the stage was. Immediately, the burnt smell intensified. "Alec?", Maia asked, her voice thin with fear. "Oh my god-", he gasped as he felt Maia's hand squeeze his, "Am I hallucinating or is that smoke?" "What do we do?!", she panicked. "There's only one way out- through the stage room, through NYABM, out of the main entrance.", Alec stuttered. "That's where the smoke is coming from!"; Maia shrieked in horror. "Meaning it will get here as well! God, nobody will find us here! We need to hurry, hoping the fire hasn't spread through the entire room so we can still get out! Run!", Alec shouted and started running, pulling Maia behind him. He vaguely remembered people in TV shows covering their faces with fabric in order to shield themselves from the smoke, but none of them had anything on them usable for that- their costumes were useless. The smoke thickened the closer they got to the main room. He just prayed nobody else got lost in the labyrinth of hallways back here. "Do you see the end of the tunnel?", Maia panted. "I see nothing but smoke.", Alec exclaimed before he doubled over as a series of coughs shook his entire body. "Come on, we need to get out of here!", Maia panicked and pulled him by his hand. Stumbling, he tried to keep up but every breath got heavier, leaving him gasping for air. In the distance he could see a wall of flames, licking the ceiling. "Come on, we've got to get through there before the ceiling collapses!", Alec yelled and gained some speed. As they got closer he saw the stage was up in flames, the fire illuminating the room with its warm, flickering light. "Do you see an exit?", he coughed, scanning the room for the door they entered through half an hour ago but the room was dark and filled with smoke which was starting to make his eyes burn. "Let's try it over there!", Maia yelled and hurried towards the only wall one could still see. Now, without the light, the room felt huge. "Maia, we can't be running around here like trapped chicken! We need a plan!", Alec panted. "I have no idea where the damn exit is!", Maia gasped, coughing heavily, "I don't see anything!" "Me neither.", Alec panicked before doubling over due to coughs again. When he was a child, he had asthma- for a decade he has not had any problems with it, but apparently the smoke triggered something it shouldn't have. "I'll examine that wall, you see what's in the back!", Maia commanded and walked away from him. Both had completely lost orientation inside of the room, splitting apart might be their only chance. Concentrating mainly on what he feel, Alec started examining the hot wood, hoping to burn himself on a piece of metal, indicating he had found the doorknob. Out of nowhere, he heard a loud bang and whirled around just in time to see the wooden paneling of the wall Maia was looking at collapsing and shattering all over the floor, followed by the most excruciating scream he had ever heard.