Story 1: Stage Fright
Simon had always had terrible stage fright, whether it was talking to a crowd of people or singing a solo in choir, Simon did not usually enjoy it. Which was too bad, really, since that night he had to sing a solo in their choir performance.
It seemed like the dark-skinned boy could not stand still. Bright lights flashed on the dark-cloaked choir boys' faces. Simon fiddled with his own, trying his best to avoid the gazes of the performance-hungry audience, dreading his solo. There was an eerie, almost awkward silence that seemed to stretch out forever. Someone coughed in the back. Simon thrust a nervous glance behind him to see another choir boy, Roger, glaring at the crowd. Finally the music started to play, catching Simon off-guard and almost causing him to jump three feet into the air.
The choir began to sing, well, all except Simon, who was glancing around. He didn't realize anyone had actually started until he met Jack's furious gaze. Simon, startled that he didn't notice people had actually started singing, hastily began to sing his part. Eventually his voice started to sound like its normal self instead of a jumpy mess of words and sounds. The rhythmic music seemed to almost calm him, as it did the rest of the audience. For most of the song, Simon felt as relaxed as possible in front of an audience, and all seemed to go well. That was, at least, until the end. As the song was going into its last verse, Simon thought he felt his tongue get gradually more prodigious in size. He soon shook it off, assuming it was nothing. But the feeling of his tongue growing too big for his mouth persisted, as if it didn't want to leave Simon alone. And before he knew it, it was time for his solo. He gulped, feeling tiny beads of sweat form on his face. Oh well, here it goes... he took a deep breath and tried to ignore the swelling of his tongue as it started to take up more and more space in his mouth.
"Wise men say, 'Only fools rush in.' But I can't help falling in love with you," Well, Simon thought, this isn't going as poorly as I expected.
"Shall I stay, would it be a sin, if I can't help falling in love with you?" Jack's jealous stare caught Simon's eye and he shrunk away, as if he could hide himself and his increasing-in-size-tongue amongst the other black cloaks. Out of nowhere he felt something trickling down from his nose. Blood? The crowd gasped. Suddenly Simon found he couldn't move his tongue. It had swollen to twice its regular size and he started to feel dizzy.
"Like a river flows surely to the sea darling so it goes some things are meant to be." Simon barely managed to croak the next lyrics. The room started to stretch out around him. The lights became tiny suns in the sky that broke out into beams. He was vaguely aware of the music being turned off. The surprised heads of the choirboys began to expand. All of a sudden the ground opened up beneath him and he collapsed in a heap on the floor and everything went black.