Shape

Chapter 13: The Stage

When I woke up, I was surrounded by the sound of elegant music and whispering. I wasn't in the pit anymore, but laying on a carpeted floor. I sat up, confused and strangely dry for someone that was just drowning a moment ago. Instead of the dark and empty sinkhole, I was now in a boxed off platform-like area with a set of chairs looking downwards at something.
"Never been to an opera house before?" A familiar voice spoke from behind me, "Nolan? But how-" I was quickly silenced by the lights cutting off and the music getting slightly louder.
"Hurry and get in your seat, the performance is about to start" Nolan helped me up and hurried me to one of the chairs without explaining further.
"Performance.. Opera house.. What's going on!?" I looked over at Nolan, who seemed calm and unbothered about this. "Right, sorry, you're currently in a middle zone between the living and dead. Well your mind is, your body is still floating around in that pit." He was scarcely calm.
"My mind is.. But how's that even possible?" I inched my chair closer to his. "I'm right here-"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my reflection on a nearby beam, it was me but... different. I looked human, like I did before I was brought to the facility. I was so colorful and bright.
"Don't get used to it, you'll go back to normal when you leave." A spotlight over the stage below appeared as he said that. "Right on time" Nolan leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the stage.
I looked around outside of our box and discovered that there were multiple boxes just like ours around the massive room with rows of chairs lining the floor below us, I was most surprised at the fact that there were what looked like hundreds of people in the rows looking at the stage as well, making me ultimately decide to join them.
"Look Shape, these two are very talented dancers" Nolan gestured towards a duo walking onto the center of the stage, they both looked beautiful in the spotlight.
The pair was a man and a woman, both of them were dressed in fancy clothes and gave off a sparkling effect as they moved under the light. As they danced I noticed the soft sound of music playing in the background, giving the scene an extra sense of elegance. The pair danced together on the stage for what felt like hours, yet I couldn't look away at the sight of them so in sync and harmonized, I found myself jealous.
"So why am I here?" I finally got the question out, my eyes still set on the dancers.
Nolan looked at me for a moment, then back at the stage, "You mean here instead of dead?"
I nodded, "Yeah, shouldn't I be dead from the fall alone?"
Without turning away, Nolan lifted his arm up and pointed towards the stage, "Because of them."
I stared at him confused for a moment, then at the dancers. That's when it all clicked.
I got up from my seat, and started walking towards the exit of our boxed-in balcony. The dancers on the stage had caused everything; They were the reason I was here, why I existed. I had to reach them.
"Are you coming with me?" I looked back at Nolan, who was still in his seat watching the show go on.
"No. This is your mission, not mine." He responded without turning back to look at me, he knew what I wanted to do and had no plan on stopping me. So I left him to watch the show on his own.
I stepped out of the box and into a back hallway, there were small lamps lining the walls that gave off a dim light, and each step I took resulted in a soft thudding sound against the wooden floor. Not wanting to cause a disturbance, I slowly made my way to the end of the hall while trying to make as little noise as possible. The music from the stage echoed through the thin walls, this whole thing felt like a dream I was unable to wake up from, which I suppose was fitting given my situation. I looked at my hands, still a bit overwhelmed by how human they looked, the fact I didn't have horns anymore made this even more difficult to deal with since I had grown used to having them. When I reached the end of the hall, all that stood there was a simple old wooden door, much different than the shiny, metal door from before.
"Hello?" I gently knocked on the door, but was met with no answer.
I grabbed the worn out doorknob and slowly opened the door, the small creaking sound proved just how old and worn down the door was. I poked my head inside the room first, I was curious, but wanted to be more cautious than I was before. I had no idea what this place was like, or how the people inside it would react to a surprise guest. "Is anyone in here?" I opened the creaking door the rest of the way.
Still without a response, I took my first step into the room and instantly fell through the floor into yet another sinkholehole looking void. This one however, wasn't an endless pit like the last one. No. This one was filled with memories I thought I had lost mixed with recent ones, and the deeper I fell, the more recent they became. "Woah.." The word slowly escaped my mouth as I watched my memories flash by me.
Then I realized.
"Am I dying..? Is that why I'm seeing this?"
My expression slowly turned from amusement into fear as the memories caught up with the current time. The orphanage
The testing
Meeting the lower five
My talk with Mr. 2
Entering the sinkhole room..
I reached my arm out to the memory of me falling into the original sinkhole in a frantic attempt to stop myself. It was no use though, I had already fallen and ended up here. When I looked down I saw what looked like a pit of water similar to the real one my body was left in, but it was different. This one looked cleaner and had orbs of light floating around in it, it also looked more peaceful than the real one somehow. Accepting my fate once more, I fought against the intense air and flipped my body around so I could land on my back again, closed my eyes, and tried to calm myself for when I landed.