A collection of short stories

Nerves of Porcelain

     Sweaty palms. Fraying hair. Clotted throat. Standing there. Don't move. Pre performance nerves crawl all over me, feeling almost like a fly used this opportunity to land on me, thinking I was a statue.

     I back away, into the shadows of the spotlight, anxiously waiting for my song to be called. I want to go up so bad, just to get it over with, but at the same time I want it to take a millennium before I'm called.

     My eyes focus in on the present performance. A girl next to a boy, moving their mouths presumably making heavenly sounds, but I can't tell. The longer I look at them the harder they become to see, I'm not sure anymore of their gender, but I'm sure they're there because of their hauntingly critical shadows.

     I look down at my hands, hoping to find something, anything, that will actually register in my head. To no avail I'm left looking at speckles of beige that look like a bokeh photograph.

     I'm snapped out of my trance by the touch of my duet partner saying, "hey. You ready?"

     I look at her with terror flooding my eyes, and a tremble in lip replying, "yeah. Just nervous."

     "It's ok. You're gonna do great. Just look straight into the stage light if you get nervous, you won't be able to see anyone that way," she says chuckling into my ear.

     Got it. Look into the light. "Thanks," I reply shyly, feeling slightly better, but still as nervous as ever.

     When the boy and the girl ahead of us finish their song, they step off towards my direction, locking eyes with me and mouthing, "good luck."

     It's time to step up. 

     I take my position in front of the right hand microphone. I see the light* refracting onto the floor bellow me, and without touching a thing except for the hem of my flowing sweater, I look up into the light as the intro to the song starts up.

______

*"I see the light" haha get it? ... cause that's the song I sang at the dessert theater... I'll go home. 😂

This piece, while not entirely true, was definitely a bit more true than some of the other pieces I've written, so I guess you could call it realistic fiction or whatevah', but I hope you liked it, let me know, I'm all for constructive criticism. 

**Also sorry for the shít photo, its a screenshot from a video my dad took😂**