How Could This Be Real?

45. Here I Am, In The Flesh

As soon as I woke up, I tried to Skype David but he didn't answer. I figured he must have still been on the plane or at the funeral so I went down to the lobby and met up with everyone to go to Minecon.

When we got to the convention center we signed in and got our schedules. I compared mine to everyone else's and I had at least one friend for each thing, except the interview. I was supposed to have done it with Squid but since he wasn't here, I had to do it on my own. I was surprised they hadn't asked Ash or someone else to do it with me instead. I mean, why would they want just me?

Backstage was really busy, techies were flying around everywhere, performing last minute tests and putting props in more convenient places. I was given a microphone and had a bit of difficulty putting it on since my hands were shaky with nerves.

Not two seconds after I'd put on the mic tape, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped and turned to see Stampy there. "How you holding up?" he asked with a reassuring smile.

I gulped, "Pretty good, just, nervous..."

"You'll do great, just take a few deep breaths and let the energy of the crowd flow through you." I was still jittery and he must have noticed because he continued, "You know, nervousness and excitement are the exact same sensation. Just one is thinking positively and the other is negatively. So all you have to do to get rid of your nerves is, think of something happy!"

Something happy... David immediately came to mind, but just as quickly it turned into sadness since he wasn't here. So instead I decided to think of the musical, when I was dancing around and singing my solo and not even caring about being on stage. That did make me feel a bit better and I nodded at him thankfully.

I was still afraid I'd muck up somehow though so I started warming up my voice. He joined in which made me feel a little less uncomfortable.

After a bit, Lydia came up to us and asked, "You ready?" I gave a nervous smile and she grinned. "Break a leg!" she said and walked away. Stampy followed her because his entrance was from the other side of the stage.

Before I knew it, the announcer's voice was saying, "Please, welcome to the stage, Lydia Winters!" She did her whole spiel and sooner rather than later, she was back. Dan and Sky went out and introduced a few things as well and my heart started pounding. We were next. They ran back and shot me a thumbs up.

The act we had come up with ran through my head and I was sure I would mess it up, but I had to at least try to do it well.

Stampy came out first and I waited for his cheers to die down before I stumbled onto the stage. No one clapped for me, they didn't know who I was yet. My role was to act lost so I was holding a map upside down and scratching my head.

"Excuse me miss, can I help you?" Stampy asked.

"Oh, could you? I'm afraid I'm hopelessly lost."

He grinned, "Wait, I know that voice! You're ElsieGurl!"

I nodded and the crowd surged with applause and whistling. I had to force down a smile because I had to stay in character. "You see, I was trying to get to this place, not sure if you've heard of it though. It's called the Anaheim Convention Center?"

He lifted an eyebrow, "Well, you've already found it."

"What do you mean? This isn't what I saw in the pictures."

"Well, that's because it's Minecon right now."

"Wait, seriously? Are you for real?"

He nodded and I let my face slowly stretch into an almost cartoonic grin and started jumping up and down and squealing. "No way! I've always wanted to come to Minecon! This is the best day ev-!" I looked out at the crowd and froze mid-jump. I could imagine the livestream camera zooming in on my stupid pose. "Am I on stage right now?" I asked through clenched teeth.