Can You Hear the Stars Calling?

Lost

As I rounded the corner of the glowing main road to a more serene, hushed city street, my footsteps as my only companion walking the cracked sidewalk, I looked around at my surroundings. I'd left behind the drunk, boisterous crowds to navigate my way through the empty streets, but that might have been a mistake.

Every road in this city looked the same to my fresh country eyes. Tall, crumbling apartment buildings to my left and right full of people going about their lives. Cooking, sleeping, loving. On the outside, you could never tell. The rugged landscape a maze of never ending city skyline keeping me trapped in one place no matter how much I walked.

I cursed myself for forgetting to recharge my phone during the late hours at school. With the spring play coming up, hours for rehearsal were extended to make final preparations and make sure everyone had their part down perfectly.

I'd never done any plays in my life, but this one was more fun than I thought. I really did enjoy taking the time to become someone else and lose myself in the role.

Alice in Wonderland. Our Alice was a perfect fit. A nice and quiet girl, but one who exploded with energy when she hit the stage. Sometimes with people, you can tell why they were put on this Earth. You could tell that she was born to be an actress. To bring joy to other people through the art of becoming someone else entirely.

I looked around at the buildings around me. Maybe if I just went straight, I would hit something familiar soon.

When I auditioned, I had no idea what part to expect. Too amateur to play Alice, too quiet for the Queen of Hearts, and not expressive enough for the Mad Hatter.

I expected some side character role. What I didn't expect; however, was to be matched with the Cheshire Cat. It did make sense, I suppose. I was short, at only 4"8, my voice was deeper than most girls', and with my inexperience, I only had to appear for a few minutes each at a time with the adapted script we had.

They'd pin my shoulder-length inky hair into a bun, slap a bald cap on, and cover my body in fur. I offered to get my hair cut, but they said, "That's not really how theatre works, Lynette." And they laughed it off. I laughed with them.

Makeup was tricky. Using it wasn't exactly scary per-say, but when the extent you have with with it is mascara and blush for a middle school dance of 30 students, you're going to be nervous. In the end, it didn't matter. Stage crew helped me draw on Cheshire's signature smile and I wore golden contacts to cover my green eyes. 

Rubbing my now sore eyes, I looked above me. It was gloomy all day, and now the clouds covered the moon. It was so dark. I walked a little faster, but suddenly a rustling in an adjacent alley stopped me.

"What did we tell you about hanging out around here old hag?" Voices floated out of the alley.

I ducked to the side of the building and looked in. There were two men standing over a cowering, frail old woman. Behind them, a slightly open door spilled out light and loud, upbeat music. I should leave. I should high-tail it out of here and run back to the main road.

"You know we hate it when we come outside for a smoke to enjoy ourselves and see you sagging alone out here!" A slapping sound echoed off the walls as one man hit the woman and she slogged to the ground. Anger rose in me.

Without thinking, I dug through my backpack. There had to be something in here to help. Something. Anything!

My scissors! Grabbing them, I stepped out of hiding. Using all the courage I could muster, I screamed, "Leave her alone!" The scissors waited in my hands now pointed at the men.

The two men turned while the woman stayed at the ground.

Now that they were facing me, I could see the men better. I almost gasped in shock. These didn't look like criminals. Both of them were young, no older than 25 and they both were very well put together. One even had on a business suit. Both had slicked back short dark hair and cleanly shaved faces. The other man standing closer to the woman without a suit had a dark blue button up shirt and black pants. They looked like they were late for their 7 o'clock meeting with the mayor.

Not good. What did I just do?

"What," the man in the blue shirt said stepping forward "did you just say to us?"