Dancing with the Devil ✔️

15

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D A N C I N G
WITH     THE
D   E   V   I   L 
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Directing the younger girls onto the stage for their opening dance, I took a deep breath and watched from the wings, praying that even without their head pieces, they would exhibit the same killer performance that they had in the rehearsal.

The deafening applause at the end of their dance was music to my ears and I congratulated them all as they skipped off the stage.

The next act was performed by Liam and his incredible voice poured out into the auditorium. The other singers were almost as good and I marveled once again at the talented kids in our school.

The following performances were met with just as much enthusiasm from the audience. Then peering out into the crowd, I spotted my parents and my brother, Matt sitting near the front row. I assumed that my mom hadn't been able to get the head pieces, but as it turned out, the girls managed to get through their dance regardless, so I was very grateful for that. Although I still felt bad over their obvious disappointment at not being able to wear the sparkling addition to their costumes.

Finally, it was our turn and my stomach churned with anxiety and nerves. As we raced out onto the stage to form our positions before the curtain went up, Sara turned to me and said, "Break a leg, Julia!"

"What?" I frowned.

"That's for good luck," she smirked and then faced the audience whose applause was deafening once again.

We lunged into our routine, with Sara in the front row, doing the somersaults that she was so good at and as usual, her precision and timing were excellent. The applause erupted again and with a flick of her long pony tail, she executed a very tricky interchange with Alex and then moved to the back.

Alex attacked his moves with his usual gusto and sharp, expressive movements which made him the stand out hip hop dancer that he was. I felt a rush of pride at being a part of such a cool routine but just as I moved to the front position, I felt my leg give way under me.

It was a completely involuntary reaction and one I was powerless to prevent. I was supposed to kneel down and support the weight of one of the smaller girls on my bent knee but unfortunately it was the leg that I had injured that morning.

There was no way I could bear her weight and the sharp pain caused my knee to drop just as Abbie pressed down on it to raise herself into the air. With a gasp from the audience, she went tumbling to the ground. Bright red with embarrassment, she glared at me in horror and all I could do was help her up and try to resume the timing and movements of the routine going on around us.

Fortunately, Abbie had no trouble getting back into rhythm, but I just seemed to lose my place and was not able to recover. As if in slow motion, I felt myself limping around the stage after the others and then looking down, I realized that blood was oozing from my leg and onto the floor.

I tried to ignore it and focus on the moves that I knew so well, but I was simply unable to get it together. Gratefully, Millie took over my spot and I moved once again to the back row, trying to camouflage myself amongst the others.

The scene around me was almost surreal and I felt as though I were a spectator watching the event unfold from afar. The swirling, twisting and turning of the dancers in front of me, along with the steady thumping beat of the latest hip hop song that everyone knew so well, all seemed to mesh together into a whirlpool of crazy colors and sounds.

Then, feeling a slight nudge in my lower back, I was pushed towards the front of the stage. An instant flash of recall had me leaping into the air. Everyone still considered this moment the highlight of our routine. It was the grand finale and my chance to relinquish my status as actually being a decent dancer and choreographer.

Flinging my arms and legs forward, I came down onto the stage, one foot at a time. Then reminiscent of that morning's episode in the school driveway, rather than gripping onto the stage in a final dramatic stomp, my foot slid forward and just kept on going until my whole body landed horizontally on the floor with a loud bang. In a blur of dizziness, I sat up and looked around to see that I had slipped on a pool of blood. Blood that had oozed from the gash in my knee and onto the stage.

At that very moment, I was overcome with a sudden rush of nausea and unable to stop the sudden convulsion, I vomited all over the stage.

Too terrified to open my eyes, I wished I could turn back the clock. Back to the day of our dress rehearsal when everything had gone so smoothly. My final leap had been the high point of the day, where even Miss Sheldon and also Alex our expert hip hop dancer, had congratulated me on my performance.

I dared to glance fearfully out into the audience. Everyone appeared aghast and I could see the shocked expressions of my mom and dad. Then, realizing I was surrounded by worried faces peering down at me, everything suddenly went black.