Disclaimer: Disclaimed
Note: It may help if you listen to In and Out of Time by Colton Dixon when reading the first part of this. :D
Safe Haven: Chapter Sixteen
Chava's POV
Grabbing my mask from the attendant standing to the side, I make eye contact with the technical attendant and nod. From stage left I see the curtains opening and gasps throughout the audience. On the stage are multiple mats, a trampoline, four tiered-trapezes, aerial silks, and a seven meter tall platform. In all honesty, it kind of looks like a daredevil ring. The only difference between me and a daredevil is that I know how to do all of these things.
The opening piano chords of In And Out Of Time by Colton Dixon comes on over the loudspeaker. The fourth measure cues my entrance. A spotlight shines onto my ramp and accentuates my first spin and pointed feet. I pose in the spotlight and wait for the music. The piano fades out and there is silence for a split second. Then, an electric guitar, and a synthesizer take over. When this starts, I drop my pose and get ready to run. A drum set is added to the mix as I run a few steps, do a round-off, and go into three back-handsprings then a standing back flip.
A bass guitar is added in as I run and jump onto the trampoline, grabbing onto the first of the four trapezes. I flip, twirl, and swing from one to the other then drop to the floor gracefully and begin to leap, spin, and Plié my way in front of the aerial silks. When the song plays "But the past in haunting me," I grab onto the silks and pull myself up. The chorus starts as I am wrapping up my legs and getting ready for a fall. Before the fall, I pose and swing the silks a little. Waiting, I turn my face out to the audience for the first time in my performance.
Jaws are dropped and eyes are wide as I hear my cue and fall. Gasps go around the room as I catch myself about twenty centimeters above the ground, face down. I wince as the silk catches my legs wrong. I fall down on my hands and somersault out of the predicament and stand to do more Pirouettes, Arabesques, and some Ronds de jambe en l'air. When the chorus turns instrumental, I run to the trampoline and jump up doing standing backflips to standing frontflips to back-handsprings to aerial cartwheels.
When the second verse comes on, I switch to the trapeze and hoist myself up, one after the other, till I get to the top. There I flip, spin, and stand on my tiptoes doing ballet Attitudes. From the last trapeze, I leap to the silks and pull myself up as the chorus starts and ends again, leading to instrumentals. I reach the tops of the silks when the second run of the bridge ends. (I posed every once and awhile, wrapping my feet up and falling backwards then pulling myself back up.) Right next to my feet is the seven meter tall platform. I leap graceful on to it and do more spins and leaps on the meter wide platform.
I hear the seven note piano solo and get ready to jump. The chorus starts and I fly off of the platform, flipping and tumbling down towards the ground. Gasps and cries echo throughout the room as I near the ground. At the last second, I reach both my hands out and wrap the silks around my wrists. I flip and let go, landing on my feet soundly as fog starts coming up from the ground.
I hop on the trampoline on last time and do more tumbling. The chorus fades and the bass guitar takes over. When the electric guitar comes back in, I bounce hard and do five backflips. When I land on the trampoline, a blanket of fog hides my escape. I limp out stage right and circle back around to my dressing room by the time the song ends.
My breath is ragged and my throat is dry. After ripping off my mask, I find some bottles of water waiting for me, greedily snatch one, and halfway chug it down. There is also some towels, wet and dry ones, waiting for me to use. I sit down and put a cold wet one on the back of my neck and wipe my face off with a dry one as I hear thunderous applause. My adrenaline rush is coming down and I feel pain shooting up my legs and arms and through my ribs and back. My head is starting to pound and I am seeing black spots in my vision.
Tears are running down my face as my door bursts open. Ima comes rushing in with Abby behind her. Ima bends down to my level and hugs me. I can feel her wet tears in my neck as she holds me.
"Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh!" Abby squeals. Ima pulls out of the hug and captures my face between her small hands. "That was AMAZING! HOW DID YOU DO ALL OF THAT!?" Her voice fades out as Ima looks at my tears and stares deeply into my eyes.
"What is wrong, tateleh?" She whispers softly so that only I can hear. More tears start gushing out of my eyes. Her thumb brushes some of them away.
"It hurts, Ima. It hurts really bad," I sob as she slowly pulls my head to her chest.
"Where does it hurt, honey?" Her body rumbles as she whispers to me again, trying not to clue to Aunt Abby that we aren't listening to her.
"Everywhere. But my legs are the worst." My voice comes out shaky and broke. I hold back a cry as pain shoots up my legs. Mum whispers sweet nothings in my ear as she calms me down. When I calm down a bit, she shifts a bit and hands me a Kleenex. Aunt Abby stops talking. I guess she realized we weren't listening. Then Mum starts talking.
"Abby. Can you go get Tony and Gibbs and tell them to come in over here;then can you and Tim go out to the car and get the compressor blanket for her legs, please?"
I hear a door open, boots rushing out of the room, and a door closing. Ima pulls away from me and slowly puts my feet in her lap. As I am wiping my eyes, I feel her hands softly untying my pointe shoes. As soon as my aching feet are free, she helps me take my tutu and tights off the slips my black long sleeve add on and purple ruffled dress on. By the time we are done we hear a soft knocking at the door. After Ima says come in, Grandpa Gibbs walks in with Poppi. Poppi rushes towards Ima and I and softly pulls me into a side hug.
"What's up, Avi?" The pet name brings a watery smile to my face.
"My legs hurt really bad." Another jolt of pain racks my body. I look down to see Mum trying to put on my leg braces. Her hand slips and hits my thigh. A cry of pain escapes my lips and tears start flowing down my face again. Squeezing my eyes shut, I feel small arms wrap around me and hear many apologies coming from my Mum. I feel Poppi leave my side, hear him sit down on the floor, and seeing him slowly beginning to put my braces on.
I grab for Ima's hand as pain shoots up my legs. Squeezing my eyes shut and death gripping her hand, I try to focus on her whispering.
"You did an amazing job! I am so proud of you!" I hiss as Poppi tightens my braces and a few more tears escape.
"Shh. Shh. It's okay. You'll be okay. It'll all be okay."
Poppi does the second one quicker and is tightening it when she finishes speaking. I let go of Mum's hand and slowly wipe away my tears. Looking up, I see Grandpa Gibbs standing behind my wheelchair and Poppi starting to pick me up. I am getting lifted out of my chair and placed in my wheelchair as Uncle Timmy and Aunt Abby walk in with a compressor blanket and my warm, fuzzy pair of purple slippers.
Funny. I thought I put those in my box. Huh. They must have just fallen out.
Aunt Abby puts on the fuzzy slippers while Ima takes the blanket from Uncle Timmy and carefully wraps the blanket around my legs. As the heaviness settles on my legs, a numbing pain goes through my body. I death-grip the closest thing to me, which happens to be Grandpa's hand. Quickly, I snatch my hand away and look up at him.
"I am sorry. I didn't mean to." He smiles sadly at me and takes my hand back in his.
"Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness."
I give him a funny look and it is replied with a soft, gravely chuckle. Shaking my head and shrugging my shoulders, I turn around to face Ima who has my makeup in her hands. After a quick touchup, Uncle Timmy opens the door and, with him, Aunt Abby, Ima, Poppi, and Grandpa behind me, we head out into the death ring that's called politics.
A.N. Hey guys! I am back! I am so sorry about not updating. I was on a mission trip four weeks ago. Then I had tech week for my musical the next week. Then I had six shows the next weekend. And then five more shows last weekend. Now, I am catching up on my sleep! Haha :D I hope you all liked this chapter! Luvs ya all!