Tilted Stage

Dripping down over her skin, the droplets felt cold with the morning sun looming overhead. Her light auburn hair blended with her soft skin, making her feel almost invisible. The distant roar of the crowd made her eyes sparkle with color. She wondered if any of them even knew her name.

The announcer smiled at her, waving with his hand to convince her to take that first step out of the crowd. Her smile spread across her face was forced. A gesture she knew the audience would love either love or hate. However, they decided her face would be plastered on every screen between there and the wastelands.

The crowd cheered as she stood on the stage. A camera shined at her, capturing her dark blue dress, which glowed under the lights. She remembered to keep her hands folded over her chest like the designer told her moments before.

Twirling around to show off her dress to the audience, her smile faded away. She knew the cameras would not see the depressed frown across her face. Keeping the appearance of her expression genuine for the audience to absorb, like she knew they would. She finished her twirl with her dress rustling a foot away her feet.

“So,” the announcer tried to make her cough up the story of the year, “we all want to know.”

A nervous grin across her face made the audience whisper. Anticipation for the announcer to ask the question gave her enough time to come up with a story. She had little to no time as the words came flowing out his mouth.

“How did it feel,” the announcer paused to make the audience lean to the edge of their seats, “when that final cannon shot off?”

“Well,” thinking of what to say fast. She placed her hand onto her wrist. A nervous tick she thought was beaten out of her over the years. She jerked her head slightly, towards the announcer, “it was a relief.”

A video began to play on the wall behind her. Her eye caught a glimpse of her fellow gamers, who competed with her. Each one of them was unique in their own little ways.

Her smile faded at the site she saw flashing on the screen behind her. Bunches of the ground the size of boulders lifted towards the sky, as a figure stood in the middle of a tornado of water. The boulders slammed into the figure, stopping the tornado and causing a flood over the land down below.

She looked away from the screen before the crushed remains of the figure were shown to the audience. The crowd smiled and cheered, unaware of what a horrific sight they were seeing.

“And,” her voices quivered with fear, “I would do it again.”

She smiled at the camera to get the audience's attention. Her chin rose up high with confidence and her light blue eyes mesmerized the crowd. A sparkle of her lie was revealed by the drop of sweat rolling down her forehead. However, her smile kept the audience from receiving her lies. She wondered if the other competitors would have said the same thing.

“Well there you have it, folks,” the announcer smiled his fake daunting grin, “from the girl who shattered all of our worlds.”

She stared out at the audience with her lips pressed close and her eyes wide open. Her gaze on the top of their heads, hoping her smile was flawless. But there she saw him, sitting in the darkened part of the crowd.

A smile lingered on his face, as he clapped sarcastically with the audience. No one noticed him, but her. And she knew why he was clapping so quietly.

Her eyes looked back at the announcer's face before she stood up to her feet. She twirled around one last time, making her dress rustle around. The white underlayer drifted over the stage, slightly grazing her light cyan high heels underneath.

Walking off of the stage made her head feel less clouded. She scampered into the back of the stage where no one could see her, passing a familiar face, a woman dressed in a black gown and a white jacket loosely covering her shoulders. The smile on the woman’s face reminded the girl of her own. The two exchanged a simple nod, like a greeting.

As quietly as the woman passed her, the girl knew more about her than her own self. The way she walked was elegant and the way she waved to the audience made ever the girl’s heart flutter. She used to admire her. However, the girl was not as naive as she was then. Now she knew everything she thought was perfect about a contenders life was a masquerade for the world to eat. And for them to forget about their problems, however big or small they were.

A Little Something

Hi, so this little short story was written by me, almost a month ago. I thought about sharing this with a few people and wasn't sure if Vocal was the right place. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the story and thank you for taking your time to read it.