Faded

Chapter 1

Alexis' P.O.V

Taking deep breaths, I unsuccessfully tried to calm my pounding heart. This was normal for me, a pre-show ritual if you wanted to call it. Some people could easily calm themselves down by different methods, listening to music or eating an entire jar of nutella ( believe me I've seen it ) . Not me though.  The panic attacks never went away until i started singing, then I just faded away.

Anyway, I decided to listen to some music to calm my nerves but before I could get that far, someone knocked on the door  of my dressing room. I immediately stood up straighter, my muscles tense and stiff. I looked in the mirror in front of me , smoothed my black dress and pasted on the cold, icy, dismissive smile I reserved for everyone and anyone who dared to speak to me. I was fairly tall, 5ft 5 with light, almond brown coloured hair and expressive grey eyes which usually remained shuttered with an icy mask. Never letting anyone peer into the havoc inside of me. Never letting anyone get close to me. I would not be making the same mistake twice.

Rat-a-tat

As the knock sounded again, I quickly made my way towards the door and opened it. Outside stood a petrified freshman whom, they no doubt bribed to come fetch me. Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I gave a dismissive sniff and glided past him, leaving him flabbergasted.

"Oh finally, there you are!"

I turned around at the sound of my music teacher's voice. A real smile made its way to my face. My music teacher,       Mr. Hasting, was the only one who ever understood my obsession with music. He was a kind, old man with warm, brown eyes which were slways filled with love and concern for me. Despite my many attempts, I could not keep him at a distance and he always treated me like his own child.

" Are you ready?" Mr.Hastings asked.
" Absolutely, " I replied with hesitation in my voice.

A knowing smile made its way onto his face. As he opened his mouth to no doubt reassure me of my abilities, a loud screeching sound was heard from the speakers above the hallway. Then an announcement came on.

"2 minutes left, I repeat, 2 minutes left. Thank you for your consideration. "

I shot a quick smile towards Mr.Hastings and made my way towards the stage, which was obscured from the crowd by large, draping, red curtains. I made my way towards the grand piano in the middle of the stage, ignoring the whispers surrounding me. As I settled onto the seat/bench, I shook my head, making my hair fall all around my face, hiding it from the audience. I preferred to stay in my own private cocoon when playing music. As the curtains started to fall apart, I took a deep breath and only one thought was present in my mind,

Showtime.

Axel's P.O.V.

" Seriously? " I muttered incoherently under my breath as I slumped in my chair and studied the massive stage in front of me . I shot a quick scowl towards my best friend's brother, Jacob, sitting next to me as he repeatedly jumped excitedly in his seat, ever so impatient to see his girlfriend, Lilah, perform. I wondered again for the hundredth time how he had been able to convince me to join him in watching a stupid school show.

Oh yeahhhhh

I had been bored out of my mind, he had been nervous as fuck though, Lord knows why since he clearly wasn't the one about to dance in front of 350 people ( yes, I counted.  That's how bored I had been), his girlfriend was and I had nothing better to do, plus Jacob had an extra ticktet.

Well, I had been fully prepared to go to sleep when the lights suddenly dimmed and the saddest, most melodical tunes I had ever heard in my entire life started playing. My eyes flew open on their own accord  and I sat upright. As I looked towards the stage, I saw this girl, I couldn't see her face as her hair hid most of it. Her fingers were moving over piano keys, her skin a haunting white, and deep, raw sounds were emitting from the paino. The kind of sounds that make you want to bawl your eyes out, in fact, in my peripherel vision I could see a few people already sniffing, snot dripping down their noses ( ugh ) . If you thought this was bad, then it got a hell of a lot worse when she started singing ' Hello' by Adele. She had an amazing, unique voice. It was raw and gritty but smooth and melodically sad. When Sarah sang, you imagined angels but when this girl sang, you recalled every sin you had ever comitted and felt like deep shudders were wracking your body. In fact i could feel a few tears escaping my own eyes. But when she lifted her head, I felt a straight punch to my gut. She was marvellous. She wasn't any Victoria Secret model but the emotion in her eyes was real, the pain in her voice was real and with the spotlight centered on her, she didn't look any less than an angel, oh wait, scratch that, she looked more like a black devil but she was magnificent and she was real. I knew then in my heart that I
had got to know this girl. In five years, no one had affected me the way she had in only a few minutes. Suddenly,  I was very glad I had come to this school show.

Author's Note

Hi, I hope you all
enjoyed that. This is my first story and I'm super proud of myself for taking this leap. Please do let me know if you like it or not, thank you.

P.s. who's Sarah?????😉😉