As I moved in high spirits as though my soul was going to erupt from my body. I felt the cold stares of the glass statues surrounding me on that stage. Suddenly I felt the cold run down my spine. Their eyes were trying to say something but it was too late for me. All I could do in that moment was flashback to weeks before the event. When I thought fortune shone on me.
“Nona, you need to be careful out there. I'm telling you that you've got to look out for yourself more and stay safe”. I looked into my mother's concerned eyes. She was genuinely worried about me. Her eyes held as much sorrow as they did the pain. She wasn't the happiest woman alive. The years of mourning my father had left her almost a shadow of herself. She didn't have him to love and so I had become her new obsession.
“Mother! Dad is gone and he's not coming back. Stop worrying about me and start taking care of yourself more. Have you looked into the mirror lately? Start living again mom”. My mother withdrew as the words poured uncensored out of my mouth. I regretted it immediately. A well of tears formed and softened the creases beside her eyes.
“I cannot bear to lose you too. Haven't you been reading the news. All the girls that have been abducted across the country are dancers. All eleven of them”. She quickly wiped her tears and backed me.
“Fine mother. I'll be more careful. I've got to go. I have rehearsals and I'm going to be late. I'm sorry”. I kissed the back of her head softly and ran out the door.
Dancing was the only thing I knew how to do. Whenever I danced, it was like all my worries erupted into flames. Nothing except the floor and I in it mattered. It was my happy place and it reminded me so much of the love I shared with my father.
He taught me how to dance. He was a lover of art. He would read books to me. My favorite book was the ‘12 ladies dancing’. It was about a wizard who wanted to dance so bad but he couldn't. So he tamed the spirits of the 12 best dancers in the village. He then used their spirits to become the best dancer of his time.
Myth had it that he lived on and would renew his dancing spirit every century. I didn't realize how much I had been smiling until a stranger smiled back at me while crossing the street to the dance theatre. That was the magic of my father's memory. It uplifted my spirit.
“You are late Nona. You need to take this seriously. This performance is the ultimate. It is life itself, quintessence and the last of it's kind! This must never happen again”. Mr. Loft gave me a stern warning. His eyes fell all over me like daggers. He was our theatre director and a very crude man. Dance was like his religion and like a ticket to heaven, he was devoted to perfection.
Very quickly, I took my place with the other dancers by joining the formation. The music began again and I felt at ease. Released from Mr. loft’s stares.
“This season's performance will be history set in stone. The world has seen nothing like it”. He continued speaking as he strode around us checking each dancer. “At the end of this rehearsal, I will select the closing act. The one that gets the opportunity to dance amid my collection - the greatest honor you can ever have. So dance your hearts out ladies. I said dance!”. His pitch went higher as his body gestures intensified.
Mr.loft had an amazing collection of life-size dancing glass statues. Their poses seemed incredibly real and captivating. He took pride in owning them and their numbers seemed to increase by the day.
“Nona!” he announced at the end of our rehearsals. I was supposed to be overjoyed but I had a certain reservation that I couldn't comprehend. The other dancers congratulated me.
Many days of rehearsing had passed and the D-Day had come. I was very nervous to take on that stage, especially for the last act. I was going to be the only dancer on stage. Alone with the statues.
The first and second acts passed quickly and my moment came. The curtains opened while the soft beats announced my entranced.
The glass statues, eleven of them were arranged in a circle with only an opening enough for me to penetrate. I felt all eyes on me as I emerged so graceful. So effortlessly, I moved in, between, and around the glasses. I felt like a goddess dancing within her tribe while they uplifted her spirit. There was nowhere in the world I would rather be.
As I moved in high spirits as though my soul was going to erupt from my body. I felt the cold stares of the glass statues surrounding me on that stage. Suddenly I felt the cold run down my spine. Their eyes were trying to say something but it was too late for me. All I could do in that moment was flashback to weeks before the event. When I thought fortune shone on me.
I locked eyes with Mr. Loft. There was something else in his eyes other than fulfillment. Something sinister. He brandished a small stick that looked like a wand at me.
My body started to move on its own accord. In the final moments of the performance, like a trance, I aligned with the eleven glass statues in the circle. I felt my blood cold and my body stiffened. I couldn't move a muscle in my body. I had turned stone cold and my entire body glass.
“The 12 ladies dancing” Mr loft announced as the performance ended. His laughter, more sinister than ever before. The audience wowed, marveled and clapped nonstop. They thought they had been given ‘the show of the century’.
Then I thought about my father- his smile, dance, and laughter. His memory ignited something inside of me and suddenly, there was a shattering sound. I had released myself and like a contagion spreading like wildfire, glass after glass, a cacophony filled the air.
Indeed 12 dancing ladies emerged from the glass. We danced together in harmony as though we had rehearsed it. The audience was once again enchanted and Mr.loft mysteriously disappeared from the crowd. Our performance made news all over the country. Fortune it was after all.