Behind the Curtain FlashFiction Contest

Well, I finally sat down to scribble out some thoughts for Anna Meade's Behind the Curtain FF Contest.  Needless to say, I think I may have creeped myself out.  Here goes!


Fade to Black

   She was once the hottest light in the theater district.  The brightest star.  Now, age was beginning to show through the cracks in her makeup.  The mask was beginning to wear off.  To dance, to sing, had been her life’s dream.  A dream which was now fading, the bright colors of opening night giving way to the greyness of a deserted theatre after the play is closed.  Discarded snacks and leftover playbills littered the otherwise empty corners.

   She stared at her image in the mirror, turning her head this way and that, endeavoring to find the youthful beauty that had once been so naturally conjured in her face.  She had been able to imitate it long after the youth had flown, until yesterday.  A new star was rising to light the stage that had been hers for so long.  It was rightfully hers, and she’d been told to step aside like some pathetic chorus girl.

   She sat at her table in the dressing room one last time, memorizing its appearance.  A tear tracked through the stage makeup and landed on the vanity.  She lifted the object she’d been turning over and over in her hands, finding her reflection in the knife’s blade as well.  She gave her reflection in the mirror a sad smile before letting the pain consume her.  Red, everywhere.  Colors faded into greyness.  Fade to black.