Moonlight

 

Marian fingered the bag of dust in her purse. Today was the day, to say the least. Today, she thought, today will I end the trouble. Randall will still have Ann and they’ll get married, and James will realize what a fool he’s been and take Renee back. Jack shall have Jill, naught shall go ill, the man shall have his mare again, and all will be well…”

 

“Um, Marian?” She snapped out of her reverie and found herself facing Frank again.

 

“Oh…hey.”

 

“You’re talking to yourself again.”

 

“Oh. I didn’t realize that. Sorry.”

 

“No harm done.” Marian stood where she was as Frank bent his head down and shifted his backpack on his shoulders. Marian noticed how quiet Frank always seemed to be. Even though he annoyed her constantly, when he wasn’t doing so, he was really quiet and that must have contributed to how he could be so observant…

 

Am I really negative? she asked herself. Do I really not look at the bright side sometimes? Wait. What am I worried about all of this for? It’s just Frank saying these things because maybe I hurt him…oh…maybe I hurt him. Poor thing. Hold it now. Am I feeling sorry for him now?! Ok…what is up with this? This guy? This guy…who tells me how negative and pessimistic I AM, and he’s such a sour puss at times…what is going on here?!

 

“Ok…sit down…I know we’re not vegetables but…let us pray…”

 

“Ugh! Do the bad jokes NEVER end?!”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Marian adjusted her jeans. Stupid thing loved trying to fall off her hips…

 

She looked in her zipper pocket. The jeans were perfect so that she could open it, throw the dust and close it back up, and it allowed her to move just fine on the stage without dropping any of the dust.

 

“Ok…I think we’re ready to rock. Oh, Randall, Ann! Guys, cut that out! Ann, get over here! We have dress rehearsal right now! Oh my God…where is Renee?” Marian jumped off the stage and stormed around a little bit until she reached the doors that led out of the theater.

 

“Renee…get it through your head. I don’t CARE about what you want to tell me! Renee, we’re over. I DON’T love you. I never WILL love you, even if somebody made me fall back in love with you! I don’t care about you, God, what part of I don’t love you don’t you get?!”

 

“Oh, I get it, James. But I LOVE YOU. At any rate, that’s not what I wanted to tell you! You know, if you’d shut up and let other people talk, maybe you wouldn’t look like such a-”

 

“Just shut up, Renee! I think I hear Justin Timberlake calling you, why don’t you go all mushy on him? I have to find Ann.”

 

“So YOU can tell her how much YOU love her and care and how you don’t want her to run away to Washington with Randall?”

 

“Well yeah, I- WHAT?! She’s going to move away…with Randall?”

 

“Yeah…I overheard Ann talking to Marian yesterday. They’re running away together. I’m sorry James.”

 

“Don’t feel sorry for me! I’m not going to let that happen! She’s going to be mine. And nobody’s standing in the way! Not even Randall. He can’t feel the love I have for her.”

 

“Oh yeah? It wasn’t that long ago you were saying the same to me. How much you loved me and that you wanted to marry me. What happened, James? What did I do wrong? Did I offend you somehow? Did I EVER stop loving you in our relationship? Did I ever hate you? Do something to you that you didn’t deserve? Help me here, tell me what I did wrong! Why did you all of a sudden stop loving me? Didn’t you mean ANYTHING you said when you loved me?” James looked at her before he walked away.

 

“The key word there being, ‘loved’.”

 

Marian hung her head before walking back to the stage. Ann jumped up onstage as Randall watched her every move.

 

I wish I could have that, Marian thought. I wish I could have somebody who loves me so rich within his soul that, yes that’s right, no words could describe it. Ann has it with Randall, well, Renee HAD it with James, I definitely know Mahina and Jacy have it…but what of me? Nothing makes me really jealous of them, the ones in the relationships…just of what they have. I’m jealous of the relationships they have, not like I’m jealous Ann has Randall and so forth. I just want a man to love me the way my friends love each other…and the way I will love him. With every fiber of my being.

 

“Marian! Let’s get going!” Marian snapped out of it and jumped onstage. She waited for the lights to dim out before the song would start. She gulped as Randall sat in a chair on her right, right front of Ann’s position onstage, and James on her left, in front of where Renee’s stage position was. She closed her eyes as the drum beats began.

 

Never…no…never…no…never…no…

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

The feel of her arms moving the way only her soul knew how…was the most breath taking experience she’d ever felt.

 

Her world moved into a blur of colors as she spun and graced the stage. This was her world, her life. The one thing she could do indefinitely. The music seeped onto the stage and surrounded them. She could understand that people could drown in music- she, however, danced on, as if the music were the very air she was breathing, it was so natural to her. She only wished that this feeling…this absolute freedom…could be what she felt all the time. Feeling alive, from the deepest part of her soul to the edges of her body. Integrity was too weak a word to describe what kind of freedom she craved.

 

She could hear the music…it was time to stop getting lost in it. If she didn’t…she’d have to wait until the next full moon so that the full force of the power could overcome James. Next full moon wouldn’t allow her to do the spell- they were going to be too busy with graduation issues so she wouldn’t be seeing him around that much.

 

There’s no escaping love

Once the gentle breeze

Weaves it’s spell upon your heart

No matter what you think

It won’t be too long

Till you’re in my arms

 

Underneath the starlight

We’ll be lost in a rhythm so right

Feel it steal your heart tonight

 

She stood in position with Ann and Renee right behind her.

 

You can try to resist

Try to hide from my kiss

But you know

But you know that you

Can’t fight the moonlight

 

Marian turned around from her spin and began mouthing the words.

 

Deep in the dark

You’ll surrender your heart

But you know

But you know that you

Can’t fight the moonlight, no

You can’t fight it, no

 

Marian quickly opened the zipper and took an eighth of the dust from her pocket and held it tightly in her hands. The gray dust was so fine that even the ones in the front row couldn’t see it.

 

“No…matter what you do…”

 

Ann and Renee jumped behind her. They were supposed to be all in a straight line, but apparently, Renee missed her spot by too much and landed on Marian’s right, in Randall’s clear vision.

 

“The night is gonna get to you!” Marian tossed out the dust as hard as she could. Her eyes widened in horror as the dust not only affected James…Randall was rubbing his eyes! The dust spread to the doors of the auditorium, which was a good two hundred feet away from the stage. She realized she had been standing there doing nothing for a moment and then she caught up with her moves. She couldn’t suppress a wave of terror as she realized that Randall’s eyes were following Renee’s every move across the stage, to center left stage. Renee tried to ignore the fear from Randall’s admiring glances when she realized that the glances were also coming from in front of her…from James! Marian kept shaking her hips and gathering all her moves together as the guys moved to the stage, and worshipped every move Renee made.

 

Marian gulped as she realized the gray dust was still floating around in the auditorium. Right before the dust fell like fine snow all over the place, she noticed a pair of familiar eyes leaving the door, which was opened enough so he could see…

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Drew Wade]

I love it! Classic comedy of errors. yes yes yes the stage is indeed set. I also love how there's so much drama going on in the drama department.. beautiful.

the only faults i found in this otherwise perfect slice of storytelling were that you sometimes awkwardly phrased words. "Today, she thought, today will I end the trouble." like, I don't know, maybe, 'today I will end the trouble' would sound more natural. stuff like that.

otherwise, solid gold.