when you were my father

ballerinas

I try follow Isla down the street and towards our town, before long everyone else outruns me and I'm just struggling to keep up. My leg is a terrible inconvenience and it's like nobody even wants to help.

She heads into the town and after we've been chasing her for at least 15 straight minutes, I find everyone. Standing outside the old performing arts building where I used to take ballet and theatre when I was like six.

My younger sister just stands there in front of the doors. Staring it with such intensity, like she's concentrating on something or someone inside. But the windows are fogged up, so I don't know what she's looking for.

"I...Isla," I pant, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Why...why did you run so far?"

"Here," The possessed-seeming Isla is back. "Here is where we should be."

"What?" I ask, Micah, Brian and Valentina standing around me. The three of them almost make me laugh, their stances are almost identical. Arm's crossed and leaning to their right hip.

"What's going on?" Micah cries, out of breath and confused like all of us.

"I don't know." I tell him, there's no other answer. "Isla? What are you doing?"

Instead of answering, she just runs right inside the building. The doors swing behind her, I catch a glimpse of the places interior. It's dark, with dim lighting but I can't really see anything.

I try to chase after her, dropping my crutches and limping as fast as I can to keep up with her. But she's an energetic six year old, while I'm an injured thirteen year old. She's way faster.

Inside it's old looking and the decor is well out-dated. I stumble around, unable to find Isla for a moment. I catch something moving to my left, so I follow it.

I find myself in the performance hall and it's not at all empty like the rest of the building. On stage are 5 women, all dressed in tutus, leotards, tights and pointe ballet shoes. They stand there. unmoving. Their arms and legs seem stiff, like Barbie dolls. Faces stuck in a deadpan expression, serious and hurting.

Isla stands in front of the stage, staring at the women. Her eyes paint a fearful picture. She seems fascinated. "Get. Out." My little sister simply orders me, turning her head to look me straight in the eye. "GET. OUT." She cries, attracting the other three's attention and they run in.

"Isla, what's wrong?" I call to her, concerned on a new level. "What are you doing?"

"Get! OUT!" She screams at the top of her lungs.

I don't. Micah, Valentina and Brian all come to stand with me. Isla slowly turns back around to look at the figures on stage. "I warned you..."

On stage the ballerina's start to move. Their arms formerly hung like limp robots, faces painted with cheap smiles. But now they're beginning to dance around the illuminated stage. It's silent, but they still manage to dance gracefully. Step by step, moving in synchronism and smiling their creepy smiles. It's terrifying, yet I can't tell you exactly why. I notice their feet and how they're moving suddenly. The shoes are more and more stained with red. Red, sticky blood. The shoes are more and more stained. It inches up their bodies, second by second. In the next two mesmerizing minutes their whole bodies are entirely drenched in the blood.

I just stand here, unsure what to do or say. The dancers continue their movements, like the don't even notice we're here.

But they do. One lady looks out to the audience, breaking character and frowning at what she sees. She looks at Micah, Brian and Valentina but when she finds me she holds her gaze. Staring at my eyes, my stomach sinks into a terrible feeling.

"Why, hello," She grins, talking in a high, sweet and airy voice. "What are you young children doing here?" She asks in a way where she genuinely does not care.

"We're just leaving..." I tell her, backing away as slowly as I can.

"Why would you do that?" She asks, her voice just as airy as before, but deep at the same time. "The dance has just begun,"

"I continue to back away with my brother, new friend and Valentina all behind me, doing the same. But Isla walks up to the lady. "Why hello little girl, how are you?"

Isla shakes. She seems really scared, which confuses me since she is the one who went up to see the lady in the first place. "No," Is all she manages to muster, her voice shaky and quiet.

"What's that? You said no? We didn't even ask you a yes or no question, sweetheart." I recognize her face, it's very familiar and fresh. Behind me I see that Brian recognizes it too and that helps me realize why I recognize it.

"Mom?" Brian calls. The lady seems to nearly break her neck directing her attention to him.

"Brian?!" She screams, realizing her son's here. Almost breaking this creepy persona she seems to be putting on, his call to her seems to make her almost human-like. But it quickly eneds, she's soon back to the way she was before. "So you want to dance," She announces. Turning her head back to Isla. "Come on,"

Isla disappears for a moment and soon appears next to the women on stage, posed like them. Dressed and looking different. She seems to be costumed like a mini version of them, even matching with blood covering her three foot body. It drenches her whole outfit and all of her hair. Her face is sketched relaxed and creepy like theirs, but her eyes show great fear.

Music starts to play ever so lightly and the room gets darker and darker. Soon it's pitch black. The lights flicker on, just pointing at the large stage. A dance begins, Isla in the center. Playing the lead. Everyone holds real knives, swinging them around with every plie and leap.

Chop.

Chop.

Chop.

This is by far the worst thing I've ever seen. Eventually only two are left on stage. Isla and Brian's mom. The others lay presumably dead, chopped into ragged pieces on the stage.

The last woman, Brian's mom, gets closer and closer to Isla, who this far has just been dodging every movement and swing at her. My little sister holds her arms close together, knowing there's nothing she can do to escape from it.

Snap.

The lady falls to the ground, just inches away from killing my sister. I limp my way to the stage, just trying to get to Isla.

"Isla! Are you okay?" I grab her and she sobs into my arms. "It's okay, it's okay,"

Blood starts gathering on my shirt, but I don't mind. I've been wearing this same outfit for the two days and it's awfully dirty anyway. Might as well have red liquid all over it. The stage is covered in blood and it's sticky.

"Hate to break up this little moment, but we should probably get out of here. Who knows how long she'll be down like that, maybe she can easily wake up." Micah says, popping up behind me.

"I wouldn't worry about that," Valentina tells him, approaching us as well.

"Why do you say that?" Brian asks, coming over. His eyes so large they look like they might just bulge out.

"She's dead," She replies firmly. Brian doubles back and falls backwards down the stairs of the stage.

"What do you mean she's dead? How did she die?" I question, wondering what this stranger older girl is saying.

"Listen, all you need to know is that this human is never going to stand up again." She says in an urgent, leader tone. Something tells me she has a lot of dark secrets hidden deep within her soul.

Brian's crumbling to the floor in a puddle of sadness and disbelief. I don't know how to comfort him, it's so sad to look at. "Alright, well even if she is dead, we should go home. This is getting to crazy." I announce for everyone to hear, unsure what else to say.

"Right, well everyone, come on." Micah says, trying to hurry us outside. He's scared, I can tell, even if he doesn't want to admit it. I don't know how you wouldn't be scared.