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A FEW MINUTES BEFORE
I jerk awake, my chest heaving, breath coming in shaky gasps, my ankle throbbing like it remembers the pain all over again, my throat burning, and for a split second I expect heat, flames, screams, chaos, but instead there's quiet darkness andthe soft weight of a blanket pressing me into the mattress.
The nightmare doesn't stop though, it just rewinds behind my eyes like a horror movie stuck on loop, my parents yelling, glass shattering, voices so loud they blur together, my coach barking orders, disappointment sharp and constant, telling me I'll never be good enough for the part, my ex-friends' faces twisted and smug, turning me into the villain of a story I never asked to be in.
And then there's my sister. Corinna. Cory. and her boyfriend, the only steady thing I had back then.
I press my face into the pillow, breathing fast, my heart slamming like it's trying to outrun the past, Years later and it still finds me, still drags me back whether I want it to or not.
Flashback. Five years ago. I'm on stage, performing, not for my parents this time but for thousands of people. Phones raised, professional cameras rolling, crew everywhere, journalists already writing headlines in their heads, and it doesn't even feel like a big deal even though it is. I've done this before, over and over, this is what I'm good at.
I start with a smile, easing into the routine I rehearsed until it lived in my bones, until my body could do it without thinking.
Then the smell hits me, gasoline, faint at first, easy to ignore, I tell myself it's nothing, just heat, nerves, the lights. So I keep dancing. But it gets heavier, thicker, crawling down my throat with every breath.
As I turn, my eyes catch on a group -a group I know too well. The people I used to call my closest friends, family but now- at the edge of the audience. They aren't just watching me, they're smiling, not wide or excited but knowing, like they have something planned or they kniw somethings gonna happen.
One of them leans in to whisper something, another checks their phone like they're waiting for a cue, and my stomach tightens because something about it is wrong, deeply wrong.
Then the stage ignites.
Fire roars up like it's been waiting, curtains going up in flames so do parts of the audience too. People scream, panic and run, chairs scrape and bodies collide. When I look again they're already gone, like they knew exactly when to move.
Everyone else runs out leaving me to fend for myself.
Smoke swallows the exits, thick and black and choking, I try to run but I can't see, my lungs seize, every breath burns, I scream for help until my voice cracks and disappears into the noise.
No one comes back, no police, no ambulance, just fire and rich people who don't look back.
I'm boxed in, breathing gets harder, my vision hazes, I know I've inhaled too much smoke, if I jump I break my legs and burn anyway and if I stay I burn standing, either way I'm burnt.
