The Rehearsal

Chapter 2

The drive to the rehearsal at the theater felt like a long one. All the old stone buildings, clustered neighborhoods and tiny shops seemed non-existent. Everything seemed to go by at a snail's pace as Abbey sat in the back seat, daydreaming her life away. Her dreams were still about a bit of freedom. Freedom from this rehearsal and freedom from the life she lived. She looked at the ivory box, the one with her grandmother�s flute and picked it up. She once again read the inscription.
        "Diligo est Eternus."
        She studied the instrument, transfixed on the fading medieval style font. It was almost hypnotizing. The only thing that snapped her from its power was the sound of pattering against the window. The sky had turned from blue to gray in a matter of moments, and droplets of rain had begun to fall hard.
        "That's weird," her mother said from the front seat of the old green station wagon. �The sky was blue not to long ago."
        Soon enough, Abbey could see the top of the theater. It was a rather large and historic building, made to fit at least the entire town inside of it. It was then that she remembered going to its �City Landmark� ceremony the year before, and how the mayor could only talk about all the great shows that happened there and all the classic moments in its long lifetime. The thought had soon made her even more nervous than she was before she left, and she began to turn her attention elsewhere to get it off her mind.
        When they finally arrived, her mother parked the car. Abbey stepped out into a tiny puddle no less and followed her inside. She walked through the corridors and on to the back of the stage, where she waited for her turn. There were all kinds of people of all ages and backgrounds waiting for their time to shine, and all sorts of talents to exhibit.
        She recognized a few of these people, such as the mayor, who was greeting the contestants with his dark suit, ridiculous looking top hat, and �I�m the king of the world� sort of swagger. But she had no real relations with any of them, so she continued to keep her business to herself. During her wait, her mother schooled her on how to look, on being at her best in front of everyone, and just about anything else she could think of.
        Abbey, of course, was daydreaming through all of this. She didn't care about the talent show or about anything her mother told her at the moment. All she wanted was to get as far away from the stage as possible. Even with no one in the audience, she was pretty nervous. She could imagine everyone laughing, everyone booing. Then she heard what she had been dreading. The talent director put his lips to a large white megaphone, and said, �Abbey Winchester, please come to the stage. It�s time for your rehearsal!�
        Abbey felt suddenly tipsy, as the room had begun to spin. Holding her head, she thought it was nothing and immediately went up to get it over with. The bright stage lights seemed to burn her eyes as she stood out on the stage as she looked into the empty blue seats. The mayor and the talent director were the only ones sitting out there now. She looked to her mother, who stood behind the velvet curtain with a look of reassurance, then turned back to the task at hand.
        �This a little tune I wrote myself.� She said, her voice echoing into every corner of the forum. She then began to play that flute with all her heart and soul, a lovely tune filled with grace, sadness and beauty. She was trying to finish as quickly as possible in order to get away from her currently invisible audience, yet trying not to make it sound like it was rushed all the same. When she was done, she closed her eyes, imagining the reaction. Sweat moved down her brow, but then she felt a bit of relief as the other contestants clapped her on from behind the velvet curtain. Letting out a deep breath, she hurried off the stage.
        Unfortunately, the other contestants weren�t the audience she had to worry about, and while thinking of all the pressure she was under the room began to spin again, this time for what felt like an eternity. Something was wrong. Maybe she had become so nervous she was making herself sick, she didn't know and she didn't care. She just wanted it to stop. If it happened during the actual show, she would be in deep trouble. Seeing a table with bottled water and tiny snacks like different cheeses and ranch dressing dipped vegetables, she walked over and took a bottle, along with a plate of tiny carrots. Maybe she just needed something to drink and eat that would stop the feeling of dizziness Then again; maybe it would just make it all worse as well. In the end, it failed. The room seemed to only be spinning faster. Abbey needed some fresh air. She ran for the door, only to be stopped by her mother.
        "Abbey, where are you going?" She asked.
        Abbey was breathing heavily, as if her lungs where being pulled from her chest.
"Mom, I really have to get some air, please?"
        She walked on by her, watching as her mother looked up at the clock. "Alright, but don't go too far. Remember, the show!" She yelled as Abbey shut the door behind her.         The rain seemed to have stopped for now, but the ground was still littered with puddles. The entire area was rather vacant, with the bulky stone office buildings of the town blocking her view of the horizon, and only a large, almost cat-sized raven sharing the space with her in the tree across the parking lot. She thought nothing of it, although at the same time, she still kept thinking it was watching her. The cold eastern wind made Abbey feel a lot better and the dizziness that plagued her soon drifted away.
        She picked up the old flute case, which was at her side. The rain had begun to come down again by then, so she decided to make her way to the door behind her. She put down the case, grasped the handle and pulled. It didn't budge. She pulled and pulled, but the door was stuck. To make things worse, the rain was practically pouring. She banged her fists against it and yelled, hoping someone, anyone, would answer and open it for her. No replies came from the other side.
        The place seemed all but empty, which was odd. Someone had to have heard her. She turned to grab her flute case, as she decided to see if she could try another door, but it would only lead to worse troubles. The giant raven from across the street, the one that had its eye on her, suddenly swooped down and grabbed the handle of her flute case. She turned just as it took it and swooped into the air.
        "Great, today couldn't possibly get any worse!" She said as she began to give chase to the big black bird. It flew across the street and Abbey followed suite, dodging the traffic that suddenly appeared. She ran through the street carefully as she didn�t want to get run over. She needed the flute back, since the entire show was resting on her shoulders. The bird flew between two buildings Abbey had seen often but never paid much attention to, and down a dark alleyway.
        She continued to follow but her chase was soon stopped. A chain-link fence blocked her path. The raven perched itself on the top of it, as if it was playing with her. She could just see the annoying and rather sneering look in its eyes as it cocked its head this way and that. Angered, Abbey ran for it. Being a cunning bird, the raven took flight once again as soon as it saw a clearly undone Abbey running towards it. Behind the fence was a winding dirt road, which had been closed off for as long as Abbey could remember.
        Desperate, Abbey climbed the fence and hopped over to the other side. She landed hard, rolling onto the muddy path. She stumbled a little as she tried to pick herself up off the ground, her dress covered in dirt and grime and all sorts of things her mother would have certainly scolded her for in such a tense situation as this. She soon caught her balance and ran down the winding road. It seemed to go on forever, winding and winding until it came to a large forest. Abbey could easily see the raven sitting on a nearby tree branch. Carrying the ivory case and its black feathers made it stick out in what little remained of the colored leaves like a sore thumb. It spotted her as well and made its way deeper into the thick brush of the forest.
        "Oh, no you don't!" She muttered as she ran after it. There was no path now, so she had to jump over bushes, flowers and anything lying along the ground in order to follow the giant bird. She was so fixated on chasing it down, that she didn't realize the ground coming to a halt under her feet. Surprised, she tripped, rolling down the sloping hill that took its place. She was dazed, but all right. She slowly rose to her feet to find the raven standing on the ground.