Hai doods! Sorry for the major delay, I've been looking for gaming laptops for the past week. My Dad and I came to an agreement that if I get gift cards for a laptop for Christmas, then I can buy my own gaming laptop! I'm so excited since I'm almost halfway there to the $700 one I'm looking at!
Logan's POV
Everybody in my family knew that Violeta was going to turn into an infected. The major question was when. Violeta is my cousin who's my age. She was born a month before me and she's not... here. If that makes any sense.
Violeta used to be sane. She used to have a sparkle in her green eyes and her brown hair used to be tame. Her skin used to never have any blemishes except beauty marks and she was graceful. Her mother was my father's younger sister, meaning we were very close as children. Before everything went downhill.
The infected started showing up after a disease called The Lye Disease spread. If you were infected by the disease earlier on, you became infected. The disease became more of a pass-along disease, where being bitten meant you got it. My aunt and uncle were over with Violeta, Giovanni, and Iris; they were my cousins and best friends. Victoria and John were born a month before and I was playing with Violeta and Iris.
Our parents got into a major fight since my grandfather was infected with the disease and made my grandmother into an Infected. My aunt and uncle argued with my parents that my parents didn't care for my grandparents and they didn't protect them. My parents were speechless; you could never protect anyone from a highly contagious disease. So after a long argument, my aunt and uncle told our family that they were leaving the town boundaries.
My father, the newly-named mayor after my grandfather's death, tried stopping them by saying that the disease is still contagious and people can get infected easily. But my aunt and uncle didn't listen. They took Violeta, Iris, and Gio into the woods and built a house there.
We never heard from them for a year before I heard in town that people were attacked by Infected and there were two survivors. A young girl and an older boy. The rest of the family were turned into Infected and roam the woods. The girl went insane since she witnessed her mother's death and the boy admitted her into the mental hospital in town. He lived in town for a year before getting admitted into the mental hospital as well from the hallucinations he received.
They were Violeta and Gio. Iris was infected. I never visited my cousins since I was too scared to face them after that time. So the years passed and they remained behind the walls of the mental hospital. And last month, I received word that Gio ran into the woods and never returned. Violeta just escaped last week and she was found. Violeta and Gio were found as Infected. They were shot on the spot earlier this morning and a messenger brought the news to my family.
But I never knew that. I'm in the dance room teaching the dance routine I have with Victoria to Noah. Victoria and I are teaching her and we reached the end.
"Can we start from the beginning?" Victoria asks me. I nod and she runs across the large room towards the stereo with her phone attached.
I'm just saying now that this song brings back really good memories from two years ago. My best friend and I made a music video to this and when we recently watched it, we noticed how much we changed. It was a cop and robber chase video throughout my house and honestly, I really miss making music videos with her. We haven't made any music videos really.
"Begin." I say as I go into the middle room. I begin in a middle split with my hand blocking my face. Noah is on the left of me and Victoria is on the right. Victoria begins the music. I stay in my split as Victoria stops it. "Why did you stop the music?" I ask her.
"I have a better idea." She says and runs into the storage room. I get out of my split and Noah comes over.
"How can you do a middle split that easily?" She asks me.
"I've been doing dance routines with Victoria ever since I was 8. I've been getting better with my flexibility over the years." I explain as Victoria runs out with three feather fans.
"Instead of using what would be fan movements with our hands, use these." She explains and runs over to the stereo. Noah and I get back into our spots and I put the fan against my face instead of my hand. Victoria begins the music.
They walk out together as I see in the large mirrors in front of us. Their fans make shapes and dance in the air as they make even, long steps towards the center. I begin waving my fan around as well in front of my eyes where I would normally wiggle my fingers. Once they reach center, they stop. Then they turn towards me while angling themselves towards me. (Sorry for all of the author's notes, but I heard the word angling too much today since tomorrow's my winter chorus concert and today was the final rehearsal. My teacher kept yelling that we needed to angle towards the center and her perfectionist-attitude kicked in with we weren't perfect.)
"GUYS!" Victoria says, looking at her phone.
"What?" Noah asks her.
"I just got an alert. Local mental patients shot after found as Infected. Names are Violeta and Giovanni." She says. Gio and Violeta are dead?
"They died?" I ask her, my voice cracking. Memories of playing with Violeta as children flash through my mind. We used to play House and with dolls. It was the best.
"I'm so sorry." Noah says. I hug her as tears begin forming. I haven't talking to Violeta in a while, but hearing of my cousin's death is too much.
"We still have the performance tonight." I say.
"We can reschedule." Victoria says. I shake my head and I dry my tears.
"After the show, we can tell them about them." I say as we practice the routine once more. Noah leaves after we hand her the costume for tonight and Victoria goes to get the theater ready. The entire town usually comes to our performances since we are really flexible and entertaining. Everyone gets a really nice invitation and everything.
I go up to my room where I have photo albums of Violeta and me. I get the most recent one out, one from over 10 years ago. It shows pictures of a cheeky faced girl that's known as myself and a girl that looks like her except her eyes are different. We are holding up new dolls and have big smiles on our face that show how genuinely happy we are that we got these gifts. We're still in nightgowns and our dolls are dressed in beautiful dresses with their hair done to look pretty. I remember how every girl in town had one doll and Violeta told me about them, so we asked for them.
Another is a black and white photo of us in sundresses on the swings in the backyard we shared. My father and her parents shared the manor since we had enough space to have two large families. We're holding hands as we lightly swing. We aren't wearing any shoes and our dresses are of what look like sunflowers and fruit. My hair is down while she has braid. We are looking at each other with small smiles on our tiny faces.
The final one I look at before closing the book is of our little hideout in the basement. Nobody goes down there. Not since my aunt and uncle left. That's where all of the children played and my tent is still intact down there. It was made of old couch cushions. The couch was going to get thrown away, but we took the pillows off before it could be discarded. We made a really large tent out of it and moved a little DVD player there to watch movies and brought down food. It was one of the last memories I have of her. Watching Finding Nemo under the unstable roof of the pillow.
Someone knocks on my door. I slam the book shut in fear as my heart stops racing. I hate when sudden noises interrupt silence. I get a heart attack every time. I put the book back on the shelf.
"Come in." I say as I get out my costume. Mitch opens the door, surprising me.
"Hey." He says as he looks around. "Jordan told me to come up. People are arriving by the neighborhood. How many people usually come?" He asks me.
"The entire town. I would go now; seats are taken quickly." I say. He nods.
"Don't be nervous and break a leg." He says and leaves. I take out the outfit Victoria designed. She physically made it with my help and my mother's help.
It's a royal blue fitted tank top with attached black shorts that end at the thigh. The shirt has sequins everywhere and the neckline has a black fuzzy scarf attached. For shoes, we wear these things called 'Shoe-socks'. Victoria bought these in town. They look like shoes, but they're made for dancing and flexible people. They look like Converse.
After getting dressed in my costume and putting my hair up into a pretty bun ( search?q=wedding+buns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=QeufUqCHN8nksAS344LoCA&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=725#q=wedding+buns+brown+hair&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=QS_2vHD9cPu2lM%3A%3B0AcB73aWEcq3tM%3Bhttp%253A%252F% .com%252Ft4%252F7%252F9%252F0%252F790283% %3Bhttp%253A%252F% %252Fmedia%252F790283%252Fhair%3B467%3B700) and I put on makeup. Someone knocks on my door and barges in. Noah.
"Come on. Victoria says everybody's here. I'm nervous." Noah says as we leave my room.
"Don't be. I remember my first performance. It was when I was 11. The entire town came then and I was extremely nervous. But once I got on stage, my nerves left me. You can't see anyone from the lights, so imagine you're back in the dance studio in front of the mirror. If it helps, look at the back. The front row usually has people you know the most and they make you laugh." I tell her. She smiles as we reach the backstage entrance. Victoria notices our arrival.
"There you guys are!" She says as she shoves my fan in front of my face. The silver feather. She hands Noah a silver feather and runs through the back passageway behind the back curtain to the other side. She shuts the curtain and Jordan goes on stage.
"Hello everybody!" He begins his boisterous entrance. I go into the middle of the stage and they check props. Finally, we're ready.
"Should I do a split?" I ask Victoria.
"Please put your hands together for... Victoria, Logan, and Noah!" Jordan announces as Victoria nods. I do a middle split as Victoria opens the curtain. The audience quiets down as I mentally count down from 5, while my eyes close. It helps me focus more. The music begins as I reach 1.
Victoria and Noah give me the second of spotlight before coming out in their long, graceful strides. They reach the center and angle towards me. Then I open my eyes. They put their fans in front of my face and wave them around. Victoria and Noah run off to the side and get the big, white feathers we originally had planned out for the dance and prance back in gracefully. They leap together at one point and each put the large feath in front of me. I slowly rise as Noah hands me the mini silver feathers we started using. I push my way through the feathers and I do a graceful turn after "Why were they open?"
Victoria and Noah move forward as I move back until we're in a straight line. We crouch at the same moment and come back up as they wave the white feathers and I wave the silver ones. The chorus begins and together, Noah and I lift Victoria up into the air by her feet until she's completely standing up. The audience cheers as Victoria stands there.
"Throw my head on a blade for ya." Bruno Mars sings as Victoria lifts her leg up. The audience is roaring with applause. Noah releases her other foot and walks backstage. I hold her calf now as she puts her foot behind her head and then suddenly does a scorpion. The audience quiets down now. Noah runs out and helps Victoria down as I do a floor-heel stretch. Noah runs off stage again gracefully as Victoria comes up to me and holds my calf. She lifts herself off the ground and does a handstand while holding onto my leg. She bends her leg so her heel touches her knee and stays like that for a second. The audience begins cheering again.
"I would go through all this pain." Bruno Mars sings. Victoria gets down and Noah comes back out. We balance Victoria on our arms as she makes fake guns with her fingers. She puts them up to our head and pretends to shoot us. She falls forward as Noah and I fall to the side like we just got shot. From there, we do two backrolls then prop up on one knee. I grab Victoria's discarded white feather ands she grabs my silver feathers. I hide myself in the feather and Victoria does her gymnastics routine. Finally, for the finale, Noah and I throw the feathers backstage and I hold Victoria up by her foot while Noah does a back flip into a split. We end it with Noah and I doing heel stretches while we carefully keep Victoria in the air as she does a heel stretch. The end of the song plays and the audience roars with applause. I help Victoria down as Jordan hands me the microphone. Victoria must have told him about my message.
"Hello everybody. I know that we usually don't say anything after shows, but if you heard recently, two Infected were shot earlier this morning. They were my cousins. They were my closest cousins too and they went through a lot at a young age. Violeta was age 4, or the same age as me before her family left, and Giovanni was 9. They went insane after an Infected attack and-" I don't finish because a scream rings out. The lights go on immediately to find an Infected attacking one of the women. People scream and run for the emergency exit. All except Mitch and Jerome.
"DON'T DO IT MITCH!" Jerome is shouting over the chaos. But Mitch runs over to the Infected and the Infected stops attacking before biting Mitch. Mitch doesn't show any emotion before snarling loudly and attacking the woman with the Infected. Jerome runs over and stops Mitch. He pulls Mitch out the emergency exit as guards shoot down the Infected.
Is Mitch hiding something?
Whoa. Just whoa. Major chapter here.
AND... BTW, I know all dem gymnastics moves since I was a gymnast until I was 8 and stuff. I ain't flexible though. But my friend is a gymnast and she shows me new moves a lot so I know them. But don't ask me to cartwheel since I'm terrible at them.
~LilKinny
