Your heart was racing.
Your head was pounding.
Thoughts raced through your head.
All the things that could go wrong, what if it did?!
What if this went wrong?
What if they hated it?
What if they laughed?
What if you repeated yourself?
What if you messed up a word, or phrase?
What if the had been here before?
What if they were expecting the same performance?
You had to stop. You took a deep breath, and started. "Welcome to a shadow play, the likes of which have never been seen!" You started. So far so good. "It follows the tale of a legendary warrior. And how those who bring light into the world, inevitably bring darkness to those they hold dear!" You heard a yell from behind you.
You turned your head. Behind you, the shadows were working exactly as they did when Macaque did his play in the series! You released a breath. Now you just had to finish the story.
---------(time skip)---------
You did better than you thought. But, you don't want to do that again!
Never again!
You put the lantern down. You looked at the lantern. How did it work? You had to examine it, to at least get an idea.
You picked up the lantern again and looked at it. You moved it on its side. You looked at it from the top, the sides, the bottom. No clues yet. You flipped it upside down and examined the bottom closer. A flash happened! You jumped. Where did the flash come from? The lantern started to float.
You backed away from the floating lantern. What was happening? The lantern flashed brightly. You covered your eyes. Everything went dark. You felt yourself floating, but couldn't see anything in the room. What happened? Where did the lantern go?
Little did you know you accidentally activated the lantern, and got pulled in.
- - - - - -
When Macaque returned, he called for you. Silence greeted him instead. "Y/n?" He called again. Still silence. "Oh, no. Y/n?! Y/n! Where are you?!" Macaque shadowed from room to room searching for you. He didn't want to loose you, you were his only friend.
Sure, you grew distant recently, and he didn't know why, but he still cared. He had to find you. There were way too many dangerous people that could have grabbed you and could be holding you hostage, to use against him. Okay, maybe that was exaggerated. But, if at least one of the two had you, you wouldn't be returning easily. If at all.
He entered the backstage. The lantern glinted. He looked at it closely, wondering if it was the culprit. Inside was a small F/c ball of light. Macaque sighed. He found you. No one snuck in and grabbed you. He approached the lantern and shattered it.
You fell on top of him. You looked around, wondering what the whack-a-mole happened. You heard someone chuckling. You didn't see anyone in the room. You looked down. There was Macaque, underneath you, laughing. You jumped off him. He stood up.
"Well, that's one way to surprise me!" He laughed. "Wha- What happened?" You asked. You were confused. "Well, somehow you activated the lanterns power and were pulled inside it." Macaque said, still chuckling. Your face went red in embarrassment.
Macaque laughed harder. "W- What's so funny?!" You asked, still embarrassed. "Y- Y- Y- Your face!" He barely got out. "It- looks- like a- t- t- tomato!!" Macaque collapsed on the ground in laughter. You flushed a deeper shade of red, embarrassed, ashamed, and angry, then ran away to your room.
You hid under the covers and screamed into the pillow! Then, started to cry. You were so embarrassed, and scared. Why did he laugh?! You were stuck in a lantern with no way out! If he hadn't found you, who knows how long you would have been stuck there! Yet, he had the audacity to laugh at your face!
The door creaked open. "Hey- you okay bud?" You heard Macaque say. You laid still, hoping he'd think you fell asleep. He sat on the end of the bed. "Sorry for laughing at you. It's just-" Macaque started. He sighed. "I- If- You-" he mumbled to himself. "Look, kid. I'm sorry for laughing at you. If it's of any comfort, when I found the lantern I accidentally got pulled inside it too."
He chuckled to himself. "I had to wait until the wind blew it off the rock I placed it on. And that only happened during a tornado! So imagine what my thoughts were when I got out!" You laughed quietly, imagining the scene. Macaque heard your chuckle, and continued "At first I was like 'Yes! I'm out!' then I was like 'What the-? Yikes!' I had to grab the lanterns pieces and run to the nearest ditch!"
You came out from under the covers, and started to laugh. Macaque decided to tell you more stories about some of his mistakes, mostly the funny ones. The two of you laughed at each one until it was time for his next performance.
(855 words)