AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I reach the foyer, my shoes echo against the marble floor in the cavernous hall, and I retrace the path Alek and I took earlier. I tiptoe toward the dressing rooms, keeping my back to the wall, and when I reach the door to the stage, I press my ear against it to listen.
But this door was made to block out noise, and nothing can be heard.
A prickly feeling crawls up the back of my neck, like my body is warning me to turn around and go back. That I’m not going to like what’s on the other side of that door.
But I won’t run away anymore.
I wrap my fingers around the door handle and pause. Using as little force as possible, I begin to pull it toward me, but the door is heavy and groans. I tense up as icy adrenaline pumps through my veins, and I stop.
The gap is only wide enough to slide a pencil through, but now that the door is no longer sealed, sounds drift through the opening.
Moans of pain. Sobbing.
But no one is offering a word of reassurance or calling for help. Something isn’t right.
Once again, I pull on the door, just enough to allow myself to slip through. It groans in protest, so I ease it closed softly behind me.
The wings are dark, so it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust as I step onto the backstage. Black curtains block my view of the auditorium from where I’m standing.
Students, still in their Andarusian folk costumes, stand cowering in a group against the wall in the wings. They’re hunched low to the ground, and a dozen pairs of wide, frightened eyes land on me in the dark. A few of them hold their fingers to their mouths.
Stay quiet.
The danger is still present. My heart is in my throat.
I search the group for Alek, but his face is not among them. He had to have come back this way, so where did he go?
However, Dmitry is here, and when our eyes meet, he slowly points toward center stage. He knows who I’m looking for.
I step in that direction, and he shakes his head as he mouths, “No, no, no.”
But I creep forward until I see a figure standing in the middle of the stage, his hands raised in the air in surrender.
Alek.
No one is shooting at him despite having a clear shot. No one speaks. It’s just silent. Still.
I’ve walked into a moment suspended in time.
We remain like this for what feels like an eternity, just waiting. Although what we’re waiting for is unclear to me.
Finally, someone in the audience speaks out. His deep voice is laced with authority as he delivers an announcement in German. Moments later, six men storm the stage, some wearing the uniform of the President’s Guard, while others are in street clothes. However, they all carry rifles with them. They form a circle around Alek.
“No!”
The shout comes from me, making the students backstage jump. Dmitry makes a neck-slicing motion with his hand to tell me to stop, but I ignore him and charge forward onto the stage.
Alek turns, and when our eyes meet, his jaw ticks. “Damn it, Willow, go back!” His voice is a harsh whisper, but it carries across the auditorium.
One of them approaches me, holding his arms out like a human fence. He says something to me in German, but his message is clear: Do not interfere.
A loud ripping sound echoes across the stage. One of the bad guys is holding Alek’s ripped vest in his hand while another pats Alek down to search for weapons.
I try to shove past the guard. “Alek? What’s going on?”
The guard grabs my wrists and forces them behind my back, holding me in place.
“Let her go!” Alek snarls, and he wrestles against his captors as they grab his arms. “She isn’t part of the deal.”
