Theatre Is A Lie ~ Joshua Burrage

Chapter 2

Ami woke with a start, sweat drenching her body. Memories of Erric flooded her head and she had to hold back her tears. As she registered the surroundings of her bedroom, she glanced at the alarm clock next to her bed. She had 15 minutes until she had to get up so she picked up her phone, flipping through her Instagram. She scrolled through the countless pictures of her friends, glad they were having fun, but scowling every time she saw the words "theatre" or "musical." Since that day that haunted Ami's dreams, Ami never listened to musicals or went to see any stage productions, especially if they had to do with Clem. Unluckily for her, she worked in the oh so grand New York City. After the event, she moved up to NYC and started working at a bakery. It was a great place to get away from her past experiences with Clem and Erric back in Texas but not a very good place to get away from musical theatre. She did move with Rachel though, both sharing an apartment. Rachel was also aged out of Clem and began working at a coffee shop not to far from the bakery that Ami worked at.

"Ami! Let's start heading out soon!" She heard Rachel on the other side of her bedroom door. She got up, quickly brushing her teeth and changing into a white button up shirt with skinny jeans and some rainbow suspenders. She grabbed her glasses and popped out the thick lenses, popping them into some special rainbow frames. Typically a lot of people would assume Ami was a lesbian considering the rainbows and her pixie cut but she just thoroughly enjoyed dressing a little out of the box. Plus short hair was way easier to care for.

She grabbed her mini Spiderman backpack, stuffing her wallet and her keys in it for safe keeping. She grabbed her phone, sliding it into its special Chewbacca case. If you couldn't tell, Ami was very nerdy.

As she and Rachel walked out the door, Rachel began fidgeting with her hands. Ami noticed this but chose to ignore it, walking along the pavement with her room mate. "So, Ami... I know you really don't like theatre anymore but-" Ami abruptly stopped, tears welling in her eyes but Rachel continued, stopping with her, "-but do you still have that DVD with our audition tapes on it?"

Ami nodded, "Yeah, what's up?" She was relieved it didn't have to do with her. Rachel smiled, noticing her friend had relaxed a bit, "Well you know how Newsies is supposed to be going on tour soon and they're opening auditions in a few days? I wanted to send in my audition tape to see if maybe I can get casted."

Ami smiled, "It's nice to see you returning to your roots. I'll give it to you when we get back home."

When Ami reached the bakery, she started opening up and bringing the cupcakes, baked earlier by the other employee before they left for their vacation, out of the fridge. She began frosting them, stuck in her own little world. Due to it being morning, there were rarely any customers so she began making some cookie dough after setting out the frosted cupcakes. As she put them in the oven and started working on some lemon tarts, a boy came running in, hiding behind a table. Ami stared at him, an eyebrow raised in slight judgement. He looked pretty young and quite cute, but that didn't help the fact he was acting like a five year old.

"Excuse me, kid, what are you doing?" The boy turned, his curly blonde hair very messy, as he responded "I need somewhere to hide! I'm running from a brunette and a redhead!"  She laughed, "Ah, I see!"

She placed her whisk down, opening the door to get behind the counter, "Come here!" The boy hesitantly stepped behind the counter. Ami led him into a corner out of sight from the storefront. "You stay here and enjoy this. It's on the house," she handed him a cupcake. The boy smiled, "Thanks, Ms..." he squinted to see her name tag, "Ms. Saratoga!"

She smiled, "Just call me Ami." Suddenly two boys came running into the store, causing the boy to squeak and shove the cupcake in his mouth to shut himself up. "Can I help you two?" One was a brunette and one was a redhead and, due to the rush, Ami assumed these were the boys the boy behind the counter was talking about. The brunette's eyes went wide and he smiled, "Uhm... well... w-we're looking for a blonde curly haired boy? About yay high?"

The red head chuckled, elbowing his friend, "Aw, what's wrong, Joshie? Why are you stuttering? You got a crush?"

This comment made Ami's cheeks tint pink and "Joshie's" face go beet red. Ami cleared her throat, brushing the embarrassment off, "Well I haven't seen this "curly haired blonde" so unless you're buying something I have to kindly request you to leave."

Suddenly the red heads eyes lit up, "Wait a minute! You're Ami Saratoga, right?"

Ami narrowed her eyes, "Um... yes? Are you a stalker or something?"

The red head smiled widely, "Hi! Nice to meet you, I'm Sky Flaherty. I actually know your friend Rachel Smith, the one who works at the coffee shop nearby?"

Ami smiled, "Yeah she's my room mate. How do you know me though?" Sky chuckled, "Well she came over to my apartment one evening with some CDs. She showed me your last show before you moved up here from Texas. I had never seen The Music Man but you played Zaneeta very well!"

Ami's smile faltered as Sky continued, "You've heard that Newsies auditions for tour are opening soon, yeah? You should audition or send in a tape!"

Ami sighed, "I'm... no longer participating in theatre. I had some issues that last show and I don't think performing is for me."

The brunette smiled, "Well maybe you should think about it? Me, Sky, and our friend Ben are auditioning for the tour."

Suddenly the curly haired blonde popped out from behind the counter, frosting smeared across his cheek, "Yeah! We could all, ya know, sing and dance together! Wait oh shit I'm still running from Josh."

Josh ignored him, "Pretty please consider it," Ami thought for a moment, her heart aching about how she gave up her dream, "I don't know... I don't think theatre is ever going to be the same for me."

The trio frowned, disappointed that their newfound friend, in a matter of seconds, didn't agree with their idea. Ami smiled sadly, "I just... don't have a good history with theatre anymore."

Josh nodded sadly, Ben stared down at his feet,  but Sky seemed to be contemplating something. "Was it the boy who played Tommy?" Ami froze, staring at Sky, "What?"

Sky stared at her blankly, "It was him. The boy who played Tommy. I could tell you didn't like him in that recording, your smile was convincing, but I could tell it was forced and you looked like you were ready to punch him. His name was... Erric right?"

Ami's eyes welled up at his name, flashbacks of the constant abuse during Clem's run of The Music Man. The knife he would always threaten her with, the gun hidden in the top of his closet, full of ammo that he had pulled out when she tried to fight back. She didn't realise it, but she had fallen to her knees, hyperventilating. Ben was rubbing circles on her back, trying to calm her down while Josh and Sky tried to gain her attention, both having jumped over the counter.

She struggled, but managed to look up at Josh, he began asking her questions, things such as "what's 1+2" so that she could shakily hold up her fingers with an answer. Eventually she calmed down, but was still sobbing. Josh pulled her into a hug, Ami sobbing into his chest. Sky frowned, "So it was him..."

The trio led the girl to one of the tables in the storefront, Ben encouraging her to elaborate on what exactly Erric had done to make her hate theatre so much. Ami sniffled, "He and I were going steady, and it was pretty great. During the last day of tech week for our production of Music Man, I went around to the back of the theatre where he was supposed to be unloading our last minute props. I found him kissing an ensemble member and he threatened me with weaponry if I tried to leave him."

Josh stood up abruptly, making Ami jump, "Where is this little boy and where can I find him." He stared ahead with a poker face, hands on hips like a super hero.

Sky rolled his eyes, "You're so scrawny someone could squish you like a bug, don't even try to play hero, dude."

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