Smoke

47: Preparations

I waited quietly, sitting beside Danny as the theater teacher talked.

"Let's make this a good one, okay?" He said, looking at all of us. The actors went to go put on their costumes. I looked over at Oliver before he left, hoping to make eye contact, but he was busy pulling on his costume and talking to his friends.

He reminded me so much of last year, of how I had friends before. A year ago, I was barely aware I would even have powers. I had a completely normal life, but now all of that was gone. I missed it; I missed having friends I could hang out with, I missed going to a regular school, I missed never using these powers. And, even though I had to, I didn't want to use the smoke.

Too much could happen when I used the smoke. I was too nervous, too unprepared. I could feel it inside of me, curling and pulling up. There might not be enough smoke before the fire comes up. I might burn myself again. It was hot in my stomach, and I tried to breathe normally.

I looked away from Oliver and his friends, and my eyes met Danny's.
"Are- are you ready?" He asked me, and I shrugged.
"We'll see." I responded, too nervous to talk more. Really, I wasn't, but I couldn't do anything now. I could feel the heat of the fire inside my stomach, feeling the smoke rush up to my mouth. Even though this was just our test-run, I was anxious and nervous.

We were dismissed into our groups, and tech crew walked together to the auditorium.
"Everyone go to the- the sound booth." Danny said, pointing to the back of the auditorium. "Just wait in there for me." He said, nodding to all of us, and we turned to go. "Except for you, Ellie. And Cecil." Danny finished, and I looked back at Danny, hearing everyone else walking to the sound booth. Danny led us to the stage. To the side of the stage there was a ladder. It was thin and tall, and Danny approached it.

"Cecil, wait down here. Ellie, come with me." He said. I watched as they climbed the ladder all the way up to the catwalk where the lights are held. I heard their voices faintly, saw a few flashes of light from Ellie's palms, more talking, and then Danny came back down.

"Okay, uh," He led me to a spot where I was offstage but right by the point of being seen. "Just start getting a theatrical smoke. Only enough for, uh, a haze to make that beam effect on the lights. Ellie will help you out." He was holding a walkie-talkie to his mouth, and we looked up at Ellie up there in the catwalk. She looked back, holding her own walkie-talkie to hear.

She nodded, smiling. "Then, when it's time, get some low-lying smoke going." Danny said. I tried to make the words stick in my mind. It took me a second, but then I nodded, understanding,

"Just like you practiced." Danny said, holding out another walkie-talkie for me. I took it, and tested it. "If anything goes wrong, you- you can talk to Ellie or I." He nodded, our eyes caught. My heart was fast, my stomach was turning. I could feel the smoke inside of me.
"Alright." I said, hearing the quietness in my voice.

"Go ahead and get started. You know what to do." He smiled at me and turned away. I watched him walk to the sound booth in the back of the auditorium, feeling my heart beating fast.

I finally pulled my eyes away from him and towards the stage. Taking a shaky inhale, then closing my eyes, I breathed out and released the smoke. I felt it pull out of me, and combined with how light I already felt, just getting rid of all of this built-up smoke inside of me felt calming. Even with me heart beating fast, with the feeling of the fire in me burning in my stomach, I was relaxing.

"Can you test?" I asked Ellie though the walkie-talkie, and she shone a light a few seconds later.

"That's good. Keep it like that." Danny said, his voice scratchy and staticky through the wallow talkie.

"Alright." I replied, feeling light. The people were going to start coming in at any minute, I thought, and my stomach twinged. I looked around me. Actors were with me off stage, adjusting their costumes, going over lines, adjusting mics. Set and prop crew was also with me, holding and laying out the props for the show. Roses, swords... It all brought me back to last year. I couldn't see Oliver through all of the people and objects, and I turned back, trying to distract myself with finding Ellie up in the cat-walk.

"Okay. Ellie, Cecil," it was staticky when he talked, and he paused. I looked to the sound booth in the back of the auditorium, and saw Danny with the rest of the Tech Crew. I could hear the white noise behind his voice. "People are going to be coming in. Don't test anymore, just- just hang out." He said.

"Alright." I said.
Ellie followed with an "okay." Her voice was light and quiet, but that thought went from my mind as soon as I saw people walking in. I felt the nervousness in my stomach grow. We were starting soon.