I was standing in front of a crowd. Everyone sat in rows, some of them were up above on the balconies. I've already seen this so many times, Why am I not used to it?
I look off to the side, and I catch a glimpse of Skylar with arms crossed, smiling. He was beaming, proud of me. The melody echoed all around the theater, and I turned back around my counterpart. He held his hand out to me, bending down on his one knee, he looked as he would fall into despair at any moment. I took a deep breath, smiled, and made my over to him.
As I sang my lines, I pulled him up towards me. His arms wrapped around me, as if he really loved me. With our faces only centimeters apart, we were still singing loud and clear for everyone to hear. My ears were ringing, but I kept singing with no pause. I was smiling, but I felt nothing. The choreography was complex yet so simple, I could hear the hushed whispers and coos from the audience.
"I wish I knew what that kind of love felt like."
"I love the way he looks at her, like she's his whole world"
"how can she sing and dance so effortlessly?"
This was the theater. A new life on the same side as the law.
Returning to my dressing room, I was greeted with my vanity filled with flowers. Most from colleagues who used to play roles in the musical, but there was always one that stood out. I looked at the one bouquet and picked it up. I plucked the calling card that was left in it. I flipped it around, just to make sure it was really his handiwork. I don't know why I doubt it. I think it's still weird to not be with him anymore, I guess. I was amazed Sly could still manage to sneak his bouquet with his calling card and not have the police on high alert whenever I have a show. I brought the bouquet and card with me as I stepped over to the garbage can.
The card read: "Wonderful as always. See you soon."
I rolled my eyes. That was probably the last thing I wanted to hear from him. I think it's been a good two years since I've seen him in person. I tossed the card into the trash, wondering if he could come to my shows why not make himself apparent. There was still an ache in my chest. It's hard to let go of someone you cared for so dearly since childhood. I didn't want to blame myself but I did. When I was about to toss the flowers out too, I heard someone at the door.
"It's always his that you throw out, but why?" I turned to look, and it was Skylar leaning against the frame. He peeked down the hall, to make sure no one else was able to hear us, and he stepped into the room closing the door behind him.
"It's therapeutic," it was, but for the first couple months.
"It doesn't seem that way from the look on your face," Skylar said pinching my cheek, and I swatted his hand away. I glared at him and he just snickered. He was trying to lighten up the mood for a bit. We talked about the show, comments from the audience as they left, my schedule for the next week. The musical's Europe tour was on it's last couple shows. After it all, Skylar told me we'd get back to recording the soundtrack. I slumped into the chair in front of the vanity, taking it all in and still holding the flowers. I looked back down at them. There were chrysanthemums, daisies, carnations, and daffodils. It was so bright, it seemed funny to imagine Sly trying to sneak them in from the shadows.
"Should I have left you with them?" that question broke my heart. I looked over at Skylar, and he looked a bit remorseful.
"And never see you again? Are you really asking me this, Skylar?" I reached over to his hand. "If I didn't audition like you asked me to, I wouldn't have seen you ever again."
The audition I was talking about took place a little less than two years ago. Not long after the Clockwerk affair. After months of searching for my brother, he finally started answering my calls from a burner phone. I opted for it over using email as per Bentley's suggestion.
"You want me to do what?" I was a bit confused about the offer he had given me within the first five minutes of us finally talking.
"I'm going to need you to meet me at a theatre. But first I'll have someone meet with you to give you new clothes. An international criminal will drag too much attention."
"But for what reason exactly?"
"You'll audition for the lead role in a brand new musical."
It went silent, as I was trying to piece everything together. My brother who hasn't spoken to me in 16 years is now a successful manager for a well known company, and now he wants his sister, who is well associated with master thievers, to audition for and hopefully play the part of the lead female role in a new musical. It felt like a milk puzzle; I didn't know how to put it together and it didn't make any sense. Why would it all play out like this.
"Listen, I know it sounds weird to meet me again with this, but just trust me. We'll lose earnings if we don't have someone from our studio to audition. With a new face, I'm sure the money will skyrocket."
"Skylar, my career involves stealing that money. You want to trust me?"
"Yeah, you're my sister. Who else do I have?"
I sighed, because he said everything I've felt ever since he left. Who else did I have? I had the gang, but I was all he had besides his stable life. Was he alone knowing that he left his sister? Did he regret it?
"Why did you leave then?"
"To set up a life for us. You think I'd let you go down the way mom and dad did?"
"I've already dealt with all that, no thanks to you!" I spat, immediately regretting it. I had let down the phone from my ear for second, to get my bearings. I paced around and peaked out my door, to see if I had drawn any attention to our conversation. I closed the door behind me before returning to our conversation.
"Listen, Marie. I'm sorry I left you in the dark for too long, but you, Sly, Bentley, and Murray had already made names for yourself when I thought about calling you back. If I could've taken you with me I would've. Living in the orphanage was probably a lot better than hiding in alleyways anyways." I kept listening.
"You don't have to audition, it's fine. I guess it would be difficult to change so quickly from a life a crime to a life on the side of the law. I get it. I just thought it'd be nice to finally give you some security."
"Can I still see my brother?" I thought about his offer a bit more. "We can meet and I'll consider it, okay?"
I felt like I could see his face light up when he immediately agreed and starting thinking of places to go. I remember asking him to still bring the disguise, and both of us laughing about who knows what else we started talking about. I missed his voice, but I couldn't wait to finally see him again.
Clearly, I still went for the audition. I thinking returning to tell the gang was the hardest part.
I was lost in thought, remembering what happened the night I was packing to leave. It felt kind of nostalgic. Then out of nowhere Skylar took the flowers from my hand.
"If that's how you feel, that's fine, but I'm not going to let you keep throwing away these flowers." He got up and made his way to the door, pulling it open.
"Skylar, they're flowers. They'll look pretty, wilt, then die."
"Then I guess I'll just have to water them regularly. I'll let you clean up and then we can go back to the hotel. Meet you outside in 15 minutes."
I watched as he left, my flowers in hand. I didn't get the point of it. What were going to do with the rest of the flowers then. When he turned a corner, I closed the door and I sighed. I stood in front of the vanity again, pulling out the bobby pins from my hair, plucking off the fake eyelashes, pulling out the mic cord from underneath my costume. I hung my costume back up, put on my own clothes, and pulled out my phone. I added the events I had scheduled for me next week onto my calendar. It was a bit scary to use it at first, as I never had one when I was living with the gang.
"A show in Versailles and a conference in Paris? I guess I'm going back a lot sooner than I thought," I murmured to myself. It seemed inevitable when the musical was taking on its first Europe tour. France seemed to be the last stop. Just a couple more shows left to do in Italy and we can head back home.
"Short" intro to no. 2 -Mirai Akemi