Masqueraded Identities

Chapter Twenty Five

Opening night. Here it was. This was it.

Time to convince everyone I was a psychopath who drowned her own child.

Everyone backstage is running around frantically, trying desperately to put the finishing touches on their makeup, take one last sip of water, and make sure their lines are memorized perfectly. It was the typical stressful, exciting rush before a show.

I had everything ready, and I was sitting quietly in a corner by myself. My pre-show habit was to sit all by myself and look quite sad. In all reality, I was just zoning out and doing my best to focus on anything that would distract me from the pre-show jitters and excitement. Excitement led to nervousness, which meant to mistakes. So, I guess I did kind of make myself depressed, but not because anything was actually wrong. Just because I wanted my performance to be as perfect as it could be, you know?

Mark comes over, and smiles at me. I give a small smile back. I still don't feel like talking to him. I know I should have ended it by that point, but it was a matter of finding the best chance to do so.

“Hey,” he said, sitting next to me. He grabbed my hand. I let him hold it, but I didn't hold back. His hand, which had once felt warm and comforting, felt cold and foreign to me. He noticed this, and sighed.

“Hey,” I replied back, rubbing my tongue across my teeth.

“You excited?”

“Of course.”

He sighed in frustration. “Why do you never talk to me, anymore?”

I shrugged. “Nothing to talk about.”

“You seem to have plenty to say to Tay and Ryan,” he snapped, standing up.

“What does Ryan have to do with anything?!” I exclaimed, standing up, too.

“You can talk to him at lunch, and walk with him in the halls, but you can't do those things with your own boyfriend?”

“I do those things with you!”

“The past two weeks you haven't. Every time that cunt comes near you, your whole face lights up. Are you cheating on me?”

“Ironic how you call him the cunt given your behavior in this relationship,” I say icily, my jaw clenching.

The next thing I know, a hand is crossing my face. The hand leaves as soon as it came across my face, but it still burns and hurts. I look at Mark with absolute horror, and he glares at me, and storms off. I look around. No one saw that.

I shake my head in disbelief, and retreat back to my corner, fighting so hard to fight the tears and prevent the smudging of the five pounds of stage make-up on my face. This is unbelievable. I have to break it off now. I refuse to date a woman abuser. I absolutely refuse.

I'm just about to go find Mark, when the cast is called for their opening pep talk. We all stand in a circle, have the pep talk, and cheer. The show starts in ten minutes.

During the pre-show time, people are allowed to buy flowers for the cast members, as well as intermission.

One boy, Leroy, gets some flowers from his girlfriend. The cast cheers and hollers, embarrassing the crap out of him. But he looks happy and touched, and that's what counts. Another girl, Annie, gets some flowers from her parents. There's one last bouquet to hand out, but the show is starting, and that's that.

The first act goes by super quickly, and intermission goes by just as fast. The second act goes phenomenal, and during curtain call, everyone is standing and cheering and hollering. I can't stop smiling, and I feel absolutely alive.