Suddenly

🌸All I Needed🌸

With the lack of sleep I'd experienced the past few days I'd ended up sleeping through the day and the night without being awoken. It was just barely past dawn when I woke up and I was shaky and starving from lack of nutrition. I got up and changed out of my dressing gown into a nice dress and left the opera house and decided to get the fresh air and breakfast. The cafe I'd gone to with Meg was open and I chose to grab a coffee and a croissant. It wasn't much of a breakfast but I'd never been one to be fond of breakfast in the first place. After I finished I headed back to get ready for the big day, my first performance. I'd worry about going home after this, I atleast wanted some sort of story to tell when I returned home and with my luck some poster or paper somewhere would have to have my name on it if I participated. I collected my things and headed back to the opera house to practice for the big performance. I went straight to my dressing room to change and rushed backstage to practice as much as possible. I hummed my music quietly as I danced to save my voice after what I put it through the night before, I'd performed in numerous school performances in front of friends and family but the thought of dancing in front of hundreds of strangers all watching me closely scared the living hell out of me. I twirled and pliéd around the room as fellow dancers started filling the room and dancing around me. At least an hour passed before Madame Giry came in to collect us and bring us out to the stage. My ballet tutu was one of the most intricate and beautiful costumes I'd ever seen let alone worn. It was like many I'd seen in museums when we would go as a class, almost all the costumes burned with the opera house and any surviving artifacts weren't kept up and fell apart through the years so I'd never really seen what they'd worn but wearing it on my own body changed everything. It felt so professional and even though I was merely a chorus girl I felt like a princess. The girls around me wore white tutus with draping pink fabric and pink roses while I was in a fully pink tutu with puffed sleeves and roses in my hair. We all collected behind the curtain as it slowly raised. The whole experience was a blur, I could barely process it enough to remember what was happening but to the best of my knowledge I perfected every move. I kept replaying every note and reminder that the masked man had ingrained in my brain the night before. "Don't close your throat, drop your jaw, open more, more!, don't surpass your vibrato, let it shimmer, hold that note longer, take a breath here so you are ready for the cadenza at the end." It was all I could think of and I tried not to think about the thousands of eyes burning into my soul. Watching my every move looking for any mistake I could make. Carlotta barged back on stage singing like a dying cat with class. I waltzed off stage and watched from the sidelines. I could feel the butterflies slowly leaving my stomach but I still felt mild fear for how I actually performed. Any knowledge I'll have of my performance with lack of cameras and modern technology I have to rely on word of mouth. Meg pulled me away to help me change out of my ballet tutu and into a practical evening dress for the rest of the night. "Thank you Meg I really don't know what I'd do without a friend like you." I said smiling as I looked at her from the mirror. "It's my pleasure, you were heavenly tonight." She said as she tightened my corset. "Really I blacked out the entire performance if I'm being honest." I said with a little laugh. "It wouldn't surprise me if your small part was more complicated than Carlotta's entire performance and you did beautifully." She said lowering the skirt over my head. "Aw, thank you." I said, turning to give her a quick smile. "Hurry we must make it back out there before Carlotta is finished." Meg said as I slipped into my shoes. "They always expect the dancers out front to greet the guests before the leads come out." Meg said, guiding me to the foyer. We waited around as the doors opened and guests slowly started flooding the foyer. I can't count the number of people who came to greet me and congratulate me on the performance. I never expected them to be so nice and considerate. As the foyer slowly started emptying I headed back to my dressing room to get changed and rest after the long night. There was a note and rose waiting on my vanity with a small flyer next to it. I picked up the flyer, it was a drawing of me dancing in the beautiful pink tutu, flowers surrounded me and the title of the opera was in bold letters above me. Below was all I'd needed, "Starring Promising Chorus Girl Madame Antoinette Johanna Maria Bryce." I was in shock. I set down the flyer and picked up the note. It was mostly congratulating me on the performance, how I'd shined more than any other performer that night. But hidden near the end of the note read "Enjoy the flyer they were passed to nearly every person who walked through these doors. I made sure it was clear who the true star was." I looked back down at the flyer and examined it. "That's it!" I said quietly under my breath. "That's all I needed...that's all I wanted, proof!" I said I said grabbing the flyer. "I...I can go home now!" I said grabbing the flyer and stuffing it in my leather satchel as well as the mask, the rose, and the note. I stopped in my tracks as I was about to leave the dressing room. I turned to face the mirror. "I suppose I should thank him, he made this possible." I said removing my hand from the knob and turning. The mirror was slightly ajar so I slid it open slowly the rest of the way. "Here we go again." I said sarcastically as I stepped into the dark hallway.