I was being cursed.

Her staff spun in a slanted circle, whirling above the heads of everyone around us. Her eyes glaring down at all the colorful, winged people cowering in pure horror. Dirt covered creatures skipped wrathfully around their villainous, horned master, as she slammed her staff down against the stage, causing a booming noise of great magnitude to echo throughout the large, open theater. The highly decorated male and female trembled as the women in black let out a vicious cackle, as she stormed into the shadowy curtains, with the raggedy, dirt covered creatures following. Three more of the winged, brightly colored girls had faces with immense worry upon them, as if they were unsure what to do or what happened.

From the across the colossal, my arms were covered in small bumps as I watched this scene go on. I was scared of what was to come next, unsure what this was, or why I was there. I stood frozen to the floor, mostly hidden by the small cave near the large double doors. Unseen by those on stage and off, hidden from the world, something I had recently adapted too.

Excuse me?" A tenor voice asked as they tapped on my shoulder. My mind when into flight mode as I jumped, making a small screech along with it.

"I am so sorry. Are you Ok? Oh, I'm so stupid. Bad Liam. Bad Liam. You're just tech. You should never scare a lead." He looked away from me, his shaggy blonde hair curtained his face, as he placed his large hands over his head while shaming himself.

With my arms tensely pressed against my torso, I briskly scanned him over. He was tall, taller than most boys I had seen. He could easily be considered lanky, he was definitely not the bulkiest. He was wearing a pair of plain blue jeans, that looked like the skin tight ones I had come accustomed too, but because of his thin stature, they looked larger. He's upper body was clothed by a grey, light hoodie, one of the everyday kind, not exactly meant to keep you warm.

"What are you doing?" He asked skeptically.

"Um. Well."

I was caught. My eyes widened as I instantly scanned left and right looking for something, anything to save me, but there was nothing. Gradually my palms became moist, making them glow with all their might. This was extremely uncomfortable, yet, not as uncomfortable as the stare he was giving me, it made me want to melt right there on the spot. I had the urge to release all the negative emotions upon my bottom lip, but I knew that wouldn't be possible, thanks to my trembling. I so desperately yearned to say anything, speak, I was sadly unable to, because of the monstrous bulge in my throat, which prohibited me to do so.

Suddenly his eyes widened, with the look of realization. "You need to get on stage."

I was pulled from my state panic. "Wait-"

He stopped dead in his tracks. "You coming?"

"Um."

My eyes were pasted to the ground. A look of understanding blanketed his face, he carefully reached out, his long fingers barely touching mine. Steadily, I raised my eyes to where his hand was, pausing my movement, I let my eyes shift to the stage. I slammed my eyes shut, refusing to let any light in or out and definitely making sure I couldn't look at him.

Weakly, I muttered, "I can't." I was such a coward.

He didn't say anything, there was just silence between us, so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. Then, he spoke.

"I forgive you." He spoke softly, his tone was warm, comforting.

For the oddest reason, it made me feel better, but why?

"We need to get you ready." The boy exclaimed, his eyebrows raising.

Without any notice, he gripped my hand and yanked me out the double doors, dragging me down the hallway I had learned was named "F".

The hallway was long compared to the others. At the end was two sets of metal and glass doors, between them was a pad of sharp, angry, gray carpet. The first four decades in feet was large and open, with shiny, metal, wall boxes covering the right side. After that, the hallway narrowed and the wall boxes disappeared. To the left, classrooms, loud, large classrooms. The first one you'd encounter was where people sang the strangest of songs, while standing on stairs and holding stacks of paper for no reason at all. The next, was were stringy, brown boxes, making squeaky, high pitched noises, as large black sticks slid back and forth across them, all while staring at a black space. The final classroom was the most diverse, large gold things to small black things were found here, the one thing they really had in common was that you blew into them, with the exception of the objects that they hit, again all while staring at black space.

We were nearing the end of the hallway, his long legs moving faster than mine, making it hard for me to keep up. My arm was in minor pain and discomfort due to the pulling of the limbs. Without saying anything, he came to a halt. Not prepared, my body went flying into his.

Not letting go of my arm, I remained somewhat standing.

"We don't have time for this." He muttered under his breath. "Come on."

Pulling me straight up on my feet, he opened the ugly yellow door which lead us into the third room and it was a mess. Papers scatter across the carpet, the noise makers push into every nook and cranny there was. To make matters worse, the rehearsal had dominated the area, tables and chairs for the face color and powder covered most of the enormous room. The view from the doors was mostly been blocked because of large racks of bright clothing, each one piece more colorful than the last.

As I stood in marvel at the room, the boy, who I believe is named Liam, was hastily making his way through the outfits, not retreating until he found the correct one.

"Put this on." He commanded, shoving a plain dress into my face. "Change. . . there." Placing his large hands on my back, he propelled me forward, near a thin door with the sign labeled, "Dressing Room, leads only." Not opening the door like a true gentleman, he left me, alone and confused.

Placing my hand on the long, silver doorknob, I gently pushed it downward, until I heard the faintest click, a trick I had just recently learned. With a small amount I force, I lightly pressed the door inward. No amount of light came from the room, it was pitch black. To make matters worse, butcher paper covered the small, glass windows, making it even harder to see. Taking a step in, light automatically filled my vision, giving me a better look of what was inside.

It was simple dressing room, mostly had the look of just thrown together last minute. All the noise makers were pushed to the sides of the room, a cheap flimsy mirror sat near the pair of desks, which were used as a makeshift table. It wasn't the fanciest of things, but it was better than changing in public.

I was just about to take off my shirt, when I heard a knock at the door.

"H-Hello." I asked softly.

"Naomi? Are you wearing your under clothes?" Liam questioned, sounding slightly embarrassed to ask.

"My. My what?" I quietly and cautiously asked.

"Your under clothes. You wear them under your costume."

"Um." I felt like a total idiot for asking this, "Where. Are they?"

"In the plastic bag with your name on it."

"When you're done putting on your under clothes come out. I need to mic you." He explained.

"Oh. Ok."

It didn't take me long to find the bag he was talking about. My clothing was hidden away in the middle of the pile of plastic, Walmart bag, all stuffed into one corner. My hands gripped the smooth plastic, while I dug my nails into the knot, the one thing stopping me from my goal. The knot was holding strong, refusing to let me prevail and no matter how hard I tried, I wasn't able to get a good hook on it. That's when I decide to try a different route. Clenching the sides of the bag, I pulled in opposite directions with all my might. It was much easier to do than I thought, how much did Walmart sell these bags for, because they were not good quality at all.

Inside the bag, were a pair of really short and tight black shorts, with a matching shirt with string like sleeves. Along with flesh colored, see through pants and another pair of the black, flat shoes.

Pulling off my lacy shirt, and form fitting jeans, I stood there for a moment and tried to figure out what to put on first. Using my best judgement, I threw on the shorts and the shirt, then the flesh colored pants. This was not even close to correct, maybe I need to work on my judgement. Taking another stab at the process, I put on the pants first. They had a weird feeling against my legs, I was not familiar with this material, it was stretchy and blended in well with my skin, though it rubbed against my legs, making me want to take it off immediately. With that noted, I put on the shorts and the shirt, this felt right. Slipping on the shoes, I walked out the door.

"Finally. You're done." Liam sighed, as he spun me around with ease.

Taking a long white belt, he placed his arms around my sides, causing me to freeze up. Holding one hand on my waist, he took the other and pulled it across my body, velcroing it on to me. Then he turned back to one of the tables and grabbed a small, black box. Taking the box, he placed it into a small pouch at the back of the thick belt. With that, he strung a long cord from the box up by my face, hold it steady by my lips, less than an inch away.

"Hold this." He he flatly said, gesturing to the cord.

While I place my index finger on the cord to keep it stable, he turned his head towards his jeans, pulling out a bumpy, clear tape roll from his pocket. Tearing off a piece, he held the cord down with two fingers, placing the tape between them, then pressing lightly to make sure it stayed.

"Ok. Turn your head to the left as far as you can go."

Following his orders, I moved my head and held it there. He tore off another piece of tape and suck it to the middle of my neck.

"You can look forward now."

With one last piece in his hand, he stuck it behind my ear.

"You're free to go."

I scurried back into the dressing room, stopping to look at the dress he handed me, I sighed, and slipped it on. The fabric was very soft and felt good against my skin, unlike my under clothes. Turning towards the cheap mirror, I was able to get a good look at myself. The dress was made up out of three parts, the top was a white, airy shirt, that went down a little past my elbows. The next piece was a black corset like design, but definitely smaller. The final piece was a heavy brown skirt that stopped at my knees, that every time I moved, it had a flowy effect to it. Slipping on the black flat shoes, I turned and exited the room.

"Naomi, you're finally done. Your hair looks fine. But we need to get you to makeup." Liam recited, making me feel rushed.

Dragging me over to one of the many chairs, I was able to get a better glance at the makeup women. She was a tall blonde, with her hair pulled up into a ponytail and her T-shirt was covered in makeup stains. She was busy looking down at a rectangular box in her hand, making it hard for me to get a good glimpse of her face.

"Harmony, we need makeup on her and quick. She goes on in ten." He called out to the blonde.

Her head jerked up from the box, revealing her face, one I instantly recognized. She was the girl from lunch and math. Harmony, I liked the name, definitely fits her.

Leading me over to the the tall stool nearest to her, Liam left go of my hand and then left without another word. Looking over at Harmony in hopes of telling me what to do, I realized that she was too busy going through her makeup bag, to tell me, so I was stuck fending for myself. Trying to just some good judgement, I took a seat on the beat up gray stool.

"Ok. We don't have time to add foundation or do some contouring. So we will have to do the basics."

I understood one word she said and that was Ok. Watching her intently, I noticed the charm bracelet on her wrist, from the few times I seen her, I realized that she always wore it, like she never took it off. Paying more attention to her hands, I watched as she pulled out a pink powder and a large brush.

"Look at me, not my hands." She bluntly said.

I quickly placed my head forward so that I was facing her. She took the large brush to my cheeks and started to apply the pink powder to my face. The bristles from the brush tickled my cheeks, making me smile uncontrollably. After a few seconds of that, she pulled out a large palette of different colored powders.

"Close your eyes."

Doing as told, I shut my eyes, focusing on the darkness. I could feel the familiar bristles touching me, but this time there wasn't as many, which lead me to believe that this brush was smaller. Soon I felt the soft bristles leave my face, only to be replaced with a cool liquid, that was running down, right above my eyelid.

"Don't move your eye lids. Stay still." She commanded.

I heeded her every word, making sure not to disobey. After making some touch ups to my eyelids, she moved onto my eyelashes. Taking a bottle of black goop from her bag, she twisted the cap off and pulled out a small, curved brush from inside the tube.

"Look up."

As I did, she moved the brush in an upward motion until my lashes were completely covered in the black coating. The last step to this process we went through was the smooth, red butter she put on my lips.

"Open wide."

"Now dab your lips together."

"Smile."

"Now look at me with a straight face."

"Open wide again."

I was growing tired of this, but there was no way I would ever tell her I felt this way.

"Done."

Grabbing a smaller version of the cheap mirror in her hand, she held it up to my face to reveal what she had done. I looked. . . wow. This girl was a miracle worker, I could see why the Voot had her do all the makeup.

"Two minutes til your on!" Liam barked, you could see his nerves were getting the best of him.

Harmony pulled the mirror from me, I let out a small whimper. Her eyes darted from Liam to me, with a stare I didn't want to challenge. Releasing a sigh of defeat, I slid off the stool slowly, making sure my feet touched the floor before moving any faster.

"Hurry!" Liam cried, acting as if his life was on the line. Reaching from my arm, he hauled me out the doors and directly across the hallway. I was ready for him to throw open the door and push me in forcefully, but he didn't. Instead he stopped and handed me a long, dull blue cloth.

"Put this on." He commanded while checking his watch for the third time. I didn't move a muscle.

"Do I have to do it?" He huffed. I wasn't sure how to respond to that so I didn't.

"Here." My eyes widened, each one laced with fear, his tone of voice strung. He must have noticed the terror hiding in my eyes because his tone soften.

"Put your arms out." He gave me a half smile, before raising his eyebrows and slightly jerking his head towards my arms. Taking in a deep breath, I placed my arms out at an angle. Slipping behind me, he bundled up the cloth and placed it behind my back, wrapping it once around each of my arms.

"There." This time he gave me a full smile, his shaggy blonde hair blanketed his face. His shark teeth were sneaking out, just enough to show themselves off.

"Thanks." I said simply.

We stood there for a few moments and then.

"You're on in a minute!" He pronounced as a look of realization washed over his face.

Bending down, Liam snagged a small, round basket from the ground, which was right next to a set of metal wall boxes.

"Here. You'll need this."

My eyes return to the comfort of the white tile, "Thanks." I mutter bashfully.

"Right through there. " He did another one of those head jerk towards the door. "But you already know that." He half smiled, a faint huff escaped his lips.

I returned the half smile and took the few paces to the metal door. Gripping the slick handle, I pushed it downward. The door opened to reveal an inky alleyway, full of shadows. Just I was about to make my journey into the unknown, when he stopped me by resting his hand on my shoulder.

"Break a leg."

He wanted me to get hurt? "I will." I faintly whispered in reply.

And with that I entered.  

Wow, this was a fast update. I'm really happy I could get this done so fast and that I only have one more important character to introduce. So please comment and vote. I will respond. . . hopefully:) Constructive criticism is always welcome. 

_Touch