#FallWritingFrenzy 2022 Contest!

 

STAGE FRIGHT

                                        By Suzanne Cordatos    (198 words)

 

Half-dead leaves hung over weathered plywood walls. Paint created cacti and rocks from mere Styrofoam. Red lighting cast a western glow over the school’s on-stage desert.

              “Kudos to the tech crew.” I winked at my best friend, Nick, whose creativity inspired the fall musical transformation. “Nice tub, too.”

              “Thanks, Chloe. Perfect for the final number of Act I.”

Nick grinned, but I growled. “Emma can’t sing to save her life. I should be lead.”

After not getting the role, I had bowed out of the cast to manage odd jobs. Curtain. Props. Ticket sales. Yawn.

Hours later, the opening act went off without a hitch. By the square-dance number, Emma twirled arm-in-arm with each cast member, singing off-key, until she tumbled into the tub.

At laughter and rousing applause, I dropped the curtain. The stage darkened and House lights brightened.

During Intermission, nobody heard the backstage scuffle. On cue, I pulled the curtain open.

Cast, crew and audience gasped at bleached bones filling the tub in Emma’s place, the skeleton’s mouth wide open as if life had drained away with the final, off-key song.

The Biology teacher leaped onto the stage. “This is no prop . . .”