The Masked Singer

[Chapter Forty Two]

Chapter Forty Two

The bad thing about having my dressing room so close to the stage is that I can hear the thousands of voices cheering out my name.

"Alex," I scream out, "I think I'm going to puke."

"Just breathe Sienna," he reassures me, but his soothing tone and breathing exercises still doesn't calm me.

"I am breathing," I snap.

When I walked into my dressing room after dinner, just about every spare inch of the room was covered with overly large bouquets of extravagant flowers. They make this small space smell amazing and it certainly gives it a colourful texture. The plain white walls were suffocatingly boring.

"Come on, let's try something else." Alex grabs me by the arm and pulls me up from my chair.

"Where are we going?" I demand, but he just shakes his head, dismissing my question.

"Just focus on your steady breathing and leave the navigation to me," he concludes. I want to continue to demand to know where we are going, but the sickening feeling swirling around in the pit of my stomach holds me back from saying another word.

Alex pulls me down empty halls, pass doors with no signs until we get to a bright red door with a sign that says, 'do not enter' firmly bolted to the door. Despite the warning, Alex unlocks it and pulls me inside of the dark room. I don't have time for my eyes to adjust to the change of light because we keep moving. My heart jumps into my throat from fear of running into the unknown.

I shield my eyes from the light Alex turns on. I squint my eyes and look between the cracks of my fingers. A tall stair case stands in front of us. Looking down at my shoes and then the stairs, I worry about how I'll be able to get up the stairs and keep pace with Alex.

"Hurry up now." He grabs my hand and pulls me behind him. As we move up each flight of stairs, the sound of my platforms hitting the metal steps echoes as our breathing gets heavier.

"Are we almost there?" My throat burns from dehydration.

"Two more flights," he shouts. I drop his hand as I come to a halt, brushing my arm across my forehead; I remove the sweaty build up before I continue to jog up the stairs. When I see the exit door, I get really excited about it. Fresh air hopefully.

Alex grabs the handle and juggles it a couple of times. When I think the door won't open, a shiny silver key drops into his hand. Alex slides the metal key into the door handle, and then in one swift fluent motion, the door open and a rush of cold air hits my face.

The roof top is a small open area that has one of the best views of the city. We're surrounded by large buildings and glowing lights in the distance. The rows of endless buildings might make someone feel trapped, but with the wind whipping through my hair, I feel free.

"This is somewhere I like to come before a show," he says.

"Do you feel better?" His arms wrap around my stomach as he pulls me close to his chest. I soak in the warmth radiating from his body.

"I feel a lot better. Thank you for bringing me here," I say. His arms squeeze around my middle as he kisses my cheek.

"I'm glad to hear it." He snuggles his face into the crook of my neck.

"Come on; let's get a better view of the city lights." He takes a step to the side and still maintains having one arm securely wrapped around my waist. We both walk over to the railing and look down at the street below us.

We aren't as high up as I thought we would be. Only four or five floors. Although this height sill makes the people on the street below look tiny. My attention is quickly drawn away from the scenery when his arm squeezes my body closer to his.