Behind the Scenes
Gone
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Daniel watched Eva’s retreating
form for a second before jumping up and going after her. “Eva, wait!” he yelled
at her from the stage. She paused and looked up at him. “Don’t try Daniel.
There isn’t anything you can say. I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
With that she turned and left the auditorium.
Everyone sitting in the seats
Daniel turned to address them, “Well, sorry about that; you never know what is
going to happen next in theatre,” he said with a nervous laugh. “So, uh, Grant
if you would go wake Chloë please, we will get
started.” Grant quickly walked backstage and emerged with a very mused looking
“Thanks Grant. All right everyone, welcome to
the first night of rehearsal. I hope all of you will enjoy working on this
production and get to know some pretty interesting characters, both in and
outside of the play.” His last comment received the obligatory chuckle. “So, to
start off I would like all of you to come up here and sit in a circle in the
stage.” Everyone slowly made their way on stage and sat down.
is not going to do well today. God, I hope they work this out soon. I can’t
lose her. “All right, I want all of you to tell everyone their name, their
character, and why they got involved; I’ll start. My name is Daniel and I’ve
been involved in theatre for six years now. I, as I am sure you know already,
am the director. All right Spencer, why don’t you go next?”
“My name is Spencer. I play Clarice
production. I have always been in the audience and I decided to go for it. I
love to have a good time and look forward to doing this.”
Grant had taken the seat right beside her.
“I’m Grant, I am Jean DeLouis. I have been an actor
for a year now. I hope to get into the business but if not I can always be a
rich playboy,” he said with a grin. “And this enchanting creature beside me is
She plays my secret lover and passion in my life Madeleine.”
Chloë
play the maid, Madeleine. I have been in theatre since Daniel talked me into it
four years ago. It is addictive; I cant live without
it now. Theatre is how I met the love of my life, Eva.” She put her head back
on Grant’s shoulder a bit back tears.
Gwen patted her back sympathetically and
licked her lips before addressing everyone. “Hi, I’m Gwendolyn but everyone
calls me Gwen. I am Madame DeLouis. The last
production was my first show. I really enjoyed it. I decided to try acting
since I am too chicken to try to become a model. I thought being on stage would
help to build my confidence.”
“My name is Ian; I play Detective
I thought this would be a good idea to get to know people in this town.”
“My name is
heard theatre was a great place to pick up chick so here I am.”
James snorted at
gorgeous guy. Anyway my name is James and I am the
dance major and any form of stage presentation excites me. I just finished my
school’s fall concert and shame on all of you who didn’t go.”
“Thank you everyone. Get to know each other;
you will be spending quite a bit of time together. These people around you are
your family for the next two months, live with it. With that out of the way,
why don’t we read through the script?”
**************************
A few hours later Daniel was gathering up all
of the stray papers left on the stage. Bugger, Tyler left his script. That
boy is going to cause problems. He sighed, rehearsal has gone with few
mishaps but it could have been better. That spark was just not there for some
people anymore. He shrugged on his coat and went to get Chloë
from backstage. She had retreated to the couch as soon as rehearsal was over.
Daniel was really concerned about her; he knew she would retreat into her own
little world. He had seen her do this before it meant trouble and depression.
She didn’t need this with the play starting and finals next week.
“Honey, wake up. It’s time to go home.” He
shook her gently. She turned over and sat up. He held up her coat and she
slipped into it. “Here put these on,” he said holding out her gloves and scarf.
“It has gotten really cold out there since you came.” She obeyed and followed
him outside to his car.
He unlocked her door and walked around to
unlock his. The first few minutes passed in absolute silence.
with
nodded mutely. He decided to let her brood; it would be better if he didn’t try
to get her to open up so soon.
Daniel pulled up in front of a small
storefront. All of the lights were off in the flat above. “She probably went to
bed early hon. Don’t worry.” She nodded and thanked
him for the ride. “Hey listen if you ever need me…”
“I know.
I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
their apartment. It was eerily quiet;
her bag down on the coach and threw her coat on top of it. Ginger, their fluffy
tabby cat purred at her feet. Chloë picked her up and
padded into the bedroom, expecting to see her lover’s sleeping form nestled
safely in bed. Tears slid silently down her cheeks as she realized Eva was
gone.