Illusion

1

A lot had gone on that year, a lot had gone on that lifetime. Dealing with illness and a dysfunctional family could carry a weight nobody understood, at least from my experience. But this year, oh I thought this year was going to be my year. There were days where my past overcame me like ocean waves. Visions of my drunken father and every vile word that came from his mouth. None of them ever had a purpose other than to break me down. The scars that are hard to hide. With an illness like mine, surgery was unavoidable. But despite all of that. Despite everything that tried to bring me down. Despite every obstacle. I knew this was gonna be my year.

I walked into the theatre of my high school. A place I had made my home over the years. I knew every nook and cranny of that stage. Christmas break didn't last long this year, or so it seemed. New Years had passed and I walked into that theatre carrying my blank slate ego along with every other student in my school. I put my things down and carried myself to my usual seat; front row of the auditorium. I had my usual smile on my face, as always. They always knew me for that. Chase, the girl who never stopped smiling.

As the bell rang the last of the group made their way into the theatre including our director. She always was excited for fresh faces and a fresh show. Everyone was, really. Our class was large, but primarily female. The whole "theatre geek" stamp didn't attract many males, especially in the football worshipping south.

"I have a show I want to do.." My director hesitated after this sentence. Naturally this made all of us nervous. "...we have almost enough people to do it. We would need to try and recruit some guys." She laughed along with the rest of us. My director also taught English classes, for mandatory reasons, but theatre was her one true love. "After I get a look at some of my English classes I may can bribe some of the guys with extra points. I know the south doesn't offer the best actors in a high school setting, but it's worth a try." She stated as she passed out copies of the script to everyone. "Please read over these tonight and tell me what you think about them. If we can get the cast, I honestly think it's a great choice."

She always took our opinions into consideration. It was a very unique quality in a director but it made the group feel more like a family. It helped us all strive for a common goal. For the rest of the class we talked amongst ourselves. I was the president that year, I carried a lot of authority in the group, along with my director truly respecting my judgment and opinions. After all, I was on my way to majoring in theatre at a university as soon as I graduated. As I flipped through the pages of the script I fell in love. As soon as the director saw the look on my face, she knew she had to find people to fill in those male rolls. What she didn't expect was how easy that challenge would be.