Break a leg
(3-5-2010)
Break a leg. Why did she ever say that? The words fell off of her tongue like a gypsy’s curse. Liz Sherman never wasted a kind word in my direction. Mere moments before I’m about to go out on stage, she dropped those tiny daggers. It was just to fuck me up. How dare she? On opening night. What a poor loser! Being understudy never sat well. My eyes must have registered a look of complete shock as I glanced back at her. Those pearly whites gleaming brighter than ever behind the widest fake smile I’ve ever seen. Looking back as I headed out on stage, the prom queen cheering me on. Liz couldn’t take me out herself. She had to put someone up to the challenge. That’s where the creepy old stagehand came in. Making my way across the stage I find my first mark. Across from the quarterback lead and in between the cheerleader co-star. My blue ‘x’. Beneath the pink and blue tinted spots. Center stage. Stupid bitch. Clapping and waving behind stage right. Decoy in the wings. Distraction from my cue. While a shady stagehand controlled my fate. The entire production booby trapped to keep my performance from being completed. Any misstep would mean my end. If I would have stayed five minutes in my first mark a sandbag would have taken me out. The entire stage was in an uproar after it fell. My move to a rear position meant having to dodge shifting scenery. My undoing was missing my final mark. Two steps backwards. If only I’d moved sooner, I would have been fine. One step too late from freedom. Open trap door. Down through the floor. Wedged between the stage and scenery. Right leg broken in three places. Break a leg? I did.
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