"Backstage"

A little descriptive piece I wrote for class; enjoy :)

Backstage

You close your eyes as you feel your stomach tighten. It is caused partly by your tight, itchy costume but mostly from nerves. Your brain is working overtime, and all your senses are hyperaware. You take a deep breath in and the fragrant but sickly-sweet scents of perfume and hairspray filter into your nose, stinging your sinuses. You hear a bottle spray to your left and get a full, fresh blast of the smell. You exhale through your mouth, and when you close it again you taste your chalky lipstick. Your mind immediately jumps to the fear that all your makeup needs to be checked and re-done, but you breathe in and out again, pushing away all your irrational worries and focusing on the task at hand. From what seems like a distant land, you can hear the audience chattering—adults laughing, children asking questions, and babies crying, all blending into white noise. There are people all around you, too, but they are whispering and humming under their breath. Then, suddenly, a hush falls as someone begins speaking in a booming voice. Their words echo around your head, going into both ears multiple times each. Then they are finished, and applause erupts, a sound not unlike thunder or rain on a tin roof. As it dies out, a soft piano melody begins playing, and a flute soon joins in as well. You open your eyes, and notice all the familiar faces around you doing the same, visible only by a dim blue light coming from in front of you. Some are smiling, some frowning in concentration, but all are shaking from head to toe with nervous excitement. You take another deep breath, inhale and exhale, grounding yourself to the floor with your snug-fitting shoes but holding your head high. You tell yourself you are prepared. You are ready.

"Mistakes" (Reverse Narrative Story)

In English Comp. 1 we were challenged to write a reverse narrative (a story told in backwards chronological order). Some people found it easier to first plan out their story from beginning to end, the opposite of how it was finally written, but my technique was to write a short paragraph (a single event) and then try to think of what could have possibly caused that event. Then I would write a paragraph for that previous event and continue with the same process. This was a type of writing I had never tried before, and I loved it! Enjoy :)

Mistakes (by Sarah McLaughlin)

A girl knocks on a door she hasn’t touched in two years. A man opens it, and he immediately embraces her. She cries, her tears staining his shoulder. She is home. She is happy.

A man had broken her heart. He told her it wasn’t her fault, that he still loved her, that it was just something he needed to do. She didn’t respond. He stared, watching her run—far, far away, until her body was just a faint speck of dust in the distance.

A woman had shouted at him. She yelled, cursing him and his life and his choices. Why had he dropped out of college? Why was he living with a girl he barely knew? What about his little brother? Her voice hit him like shards of ice, attacking every area she knew was weakest. She was only satisfied when he finally flinched and bowed his head. She couldn’t bare to make the same mistake twice.

A child had come home from school in tears. He rushed into his mother’s arms, screaming that he didn’t want to go anymore. His brother didn’t have to, so why should he?

A tall boy had pushed him. His best friend. The boy backed away, calling him a freak, telling him he wasn’t normal. He didn’t mean any of it.

A man had disciplined him. He taught him not to think, not to have opinions, not to fall in love, to just follow the rules and never question them. He taught him who he was supposed to be and who he could never, ever turn into. He couldn’t bare to make the same mistake twice.

A girl had abandoned him. At eighteen, she ran away from her father, and nothing could stop her. There was a man she loved, but her father disapproved of, and she chose one over another. He stared, watching her run—far, far away, until her body was just a faint speck of dust in the distance.

He only began crying after she was gone.