Forgotten

All thought left and was replaced by irrational fear. Angela gripped the bar leading up to the stage with a death hold until her fingers went numb. She attempted to breathe normally- she focused all her attention to the air she felt going in and out of her lungs. She felt it whisper through her nostrils. She vividly felt the bead of sweat that ran along her hairline and past the front of her ear, tickling her. She took a step. Needles trickled up her leg from her foot as she placed it on the ground. She smiled at the step though she was holding her breath again. She stopped choking the bar and watched bemused as she felt the blood return to her fingertips, warming them. They were shaking viciously. Taking another deep breath and looking up from her feet, she started walking more easily up the stairs. She stumbled right at the edge of the curtain. Her anxiety fighting to cloud her reason, she jumped back as if electrified, hoping that nobody saw. She was holding her breath, again. She shook her head and waved her hands as if warding off mosquitoes. She straightened herself, threw her head back, relaxed her arms, and stepped daintily onto the stage.

She observed her own face on a large screen, with gentle music playing. Oh, she loved this song...

The speaker ceased speaking. For a split second, all was swimming in murderous silence that pounded in everyone’s ears and made Angela’s brain feel like it was swelling out of her eyes. A white sheet of terror clouded her eyes. In that split second, she saw someone she recognized as her mom, sitting in the front row with gentle waterfalls running from her eyes. Her mom looked like she had been crying for hours. Her mother’s eyes pivoted until they met her own. Her face blanched as if she had died. Her mom’s eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she started falling to the ground when chaotic confusion broke. Dizzied by the sudden movement, Angela felt herself being pulled back stage by her shoulders. She was turned to face someone that looked vaguely familiar to her mom, but centuries older.

“Angela! You need to be dead!”