lift me up

"So the pain begins as the music fades. I'm left here with more than I can take."

Molly swayed rhythmically to the sound of silence. The power of the song that had just ended simply blocked out the thunderous applause surrounding her. Her eyes were barely closed and moist from a river of tears. She may have stood there forever in that trance if her partner hadn't jarred her back to reality. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the front of the stage.

Molly opened her eyes reluctantly, and all her senses returned. People were clapping, many were standing, some even crying. So she tried desperately to hold herself together and curtsied towards each side of the auditorium before walking briskly off stage. At the safety of her semi-private vanity, Molly finally felt safe enough to think about what had just happened.

She had done that dance a million times during rehearsals. The lead in a ballet, something she never expected to get at 17 years old. Molly fought hard for that piece and even harder to keep it. The choreographer told her repeatedly throughout rehearsal that something wasn't quite there.

But something happened that night. Molly wasn't sure what it was exactly, but suddenly it all clicked. This ballet was a tragedy, about the rise and then fall of love. So there she was, in the final act, when the music hit her like a whirlwind. So sad and so desperate, absent of hope. The movements were like second nature to her now so she never flubbed as images of her own life began to fill her head.

Hers was a life without love as well. It seemed as if her life story picked up right where this ballet ended. She was the lonely girl, absent of feeling, going through the motions of life. Or she was before this night. Molly opened her eyes to look in the vanity and felt that she could see the visible change in her. A sadness where there once was just a void.