Last Dance

Chapter One

    The theatre was full. Every seat in the house filled by strangers, dressed in their best. I was never nervous. I’ve been on the stage since I was six years old. My mom worked 3 jobs to put me through dance class, and here I am standing backstage of the New York City Center Theatre, peeking through the curtain. The chatter of some of the most wealthy people in the country bouncing off the walls.

    Sometimes I pretend that a stranger in the audience is actually there to cheer me on. I wish it wasn’t a stranger. My mom would’ve been proud.

    “Lilliana, are you ready?” I feel a hand on my shoulder and I know it belongs to Joe. She knows it’s easy to get emotional before a performance. I blink away the tears that threaten to spill over. I smile to myself and fiddle with the locket around my neck, knowing that the picture of her and a childlike image of myself are safe inside.

    I turn around and smile at Joe, whispering a small ‘yeah’. She looks absolutely stunning in the  white dress she wears. It’s simple and flows off  her small frame beautifully.

    “Yeah. I’m ready.” I smile at her. I follow her around the stage.

    Jason’s voice rings out as he introduces the name of his studio to the audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for taking the time of day to come to this performance. We have some of our most talented dancers here waiting to perform. I just want to thank you and tell you that seventy-five percent of the money spent on tickets tonight is going to a non profit charity organization started by Curtain Call Dance Studio. Now without further ado, I’d like to introduce  Lilliana and Joe.”

    We quickly head to our places on stage and the lights on the stage dim. The curtain slowly rises and I quickly pick someone in the audience to focus on. My eyes darted to young man a few rows back. He was staring at me, hard. His face had no expression. So I chose him. He was fairly attractive. He sat beside two men and on either side of them were two women in beautiful dresses. He seemed out of place. I decided he was here for me.

         The deep music played softly. I looked at Joe and she gave me a signature smirk. The one I've been getting from her since I was seventeen. Her face straightened and we begun.

       Our very over practiced routine was perfect. Our steps were in sync. The only difference, her makeup and costume was light, while mine was dark. Her costume matched her personality. She was always optimistic, always smiling and everyone around her smiled when they saw her.

    My costume matched everything about me. I always found the bad in everything. My life had sucked since I was a child. I had only two reasons to smile. I was one of the youngest dancer and I was fairly well known. Joe made sure of that, and if it wasn’t for her taking me in at sixteen, I don't know where I’d be.

  That girl saved my life, and that's why she's my reason number two. She's like my mom, my big sister, one of the best dance partners I've ever had and my best friend all wrapped into a little ball of sunshine.

  Our routine was going perfectly. The other dancers came out at the Perfect time and everything was right. As I turned around I looked back to the man in the audience. He was focused on me. I looked back at Joe and she was focused on her steps.

    The last few notes of the melody played and I looked at Joe. She looked at me and nodded. Time for the finale. I took off running towards her and took a literal leap of faith. As she crouched I jumped over her.

  I landed on my feet and something cracked. I could hear and feel it. I hit the ground in the shadows and layed there. I couldn't breathe. It felt like fire was shooting up my leg.

 The spotlight shut off as Joe finished, and everyone stood to clap and cheer. All I could hear was the ringing In my ears. The curtain lowered and I was starting to see red. My entire body was shaking.

The curtain hit the floor and the stage lights turned back on. I could hear a blur of noise over the ringing in my ear but everything was beginning to fade to black. I heard Joe scream out before I fell to a deep stage of unconsciousness.

     

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-K