December
I was still in shock. I knew I shouldn't have come, but I had come anyway. Going to see Phantom with friends had not been the best of ideas at all. It wasn't that I didn't like the play, which was very good. It was that it brought back too many memories for me. Erik had been my best friend and I still had trouble dealing with his death. I still don't know why I allowed my self to be talked into going that night.
Everyone around me was getting ready to make their way out. I was afraid to move because I knew something was going to happen if I did. I wanted to release the anger I had inside in one great explosion. But I knew that no one would survive that and my key purpose was to protect people, not kill them. So I trapped the feelings inside me and hoped no one bothered me anytime soon. Otherwise some of it might get out.
"Are you all right, Sac?" asked someone. I had my eyes closed and didn't see who.
I shook my head hoping they would go away.
"Let's go outside and get some fresh air," suggested someone else. A guy this time so it must have been Dominique's husband.
"You look a little pale," said the first person.
I opened my eyes to see a concerned-looking Dominique bending over me, her husband behind her. She had no idea. I tightened down harder on leaky emotions.
"Is she all right?" asked Carmen.
"I think so. She just needs some time."
Indeed I did. Now if they'd only give it to me.
"Can you stand up, Sac?" asked Veronica.
I nodded, wishing they would leave me alone before I lost control. And I was going to lose control. It was only a matter of time.
"Then let's go outside."
I could stand. I wasn't so sure about walking. Dominique helped me up and we headed out. The night air was cool and damp, as it is wont to be in San Francisco in the winter. The contrast between the inside of the theatre and out was enough of a shock to push me precariously close to losing control. I quickly turned my attention inward to keep from losing the battle I fought against my self. In doing so I became semi-oblivious to everything going on around me. I was vaguely aware of stumbling over something and someone catching me at one point.
When I resurfaced I noted my surroundings had changed. I was now leaning against a wall in an ally way. There were other people there as well. I surmised that my friends had decided to go to the stage entrance and wait for the actors to emerge. I could have cared less at the moment. I could feel my already tenuous hold on my control slipping, and there was nothing else I could to stop the slide, except pray.
"Do you want to go home, Sac?" Veronica asked me. "We can take you if you want."
I shook my head. I knew how much she wanted to talk to the actors and I didn't want to impose on their hospitality.
Just then, the door opened and several people came out. I guessed that they were actors because the crowd waiting outside basically mobbed them, asking for autographs and so on. One or two had to be techies because no one bothered them. One of the techies noticed me and walked over.
"Are you okay?" she asked, "You look a little pale."
"I'm okay," I managed to get out.
"Why don't you come inside and sit down. I'll get you something to drink."
I shook my head. I didn't want my friends to be worried about me any more than they were.
"Do you have a ride home?"
I nodded and pointed to Dominique.
"Are you sure you don't want to sit down?" she asked again. I shook my head. "Come and sit down you'll feel better. I'll tell your friend." She didn't give me much choice by ushering me into the building. She found a chair not far from the door and sat me down in it. Then she left to find tell Dominique where I was.
"Hey, munchkin," said a voice in my head.
"Hi, Duncan," I said back. Knowing Anakin, he had told Duncan, and now Duncan was going to lay into me because I knew better than to do what I had done.
"Got your self in a spot, didn't you?" he asked. "All right. Here's what you're going to do."
"I'm listening." Well he didn't sound too mad.
"You're going to channel all of that energy out, yes, out, through your Pyrotechnic power and into the sea around that big ice cube in the south. I know, technically you're not supposed to do that, but do it this time. Drake says he doesn't want to put you back together again until you get rid of all that extra energy."
"This is going to hurt."
"I know, munchkin, but see if you can."
I did just what he had told me to do. It worked. I managed to get rid of almost all of the energy there was only a little bit left, but I ended up with a killer headache. I preferred that to the loss of control. "Thanks, Duncan!" I whispered.
"Not at all, munchkin."
That was when the techie came back in with my friends. They seemed concerned and asked if I was okay again.
"I wouldn't mind some Tylenol," I said.
"I have some," said a man who was walking past just then. "Headache?" he asked me.
"A real killer," I smiled back. I swallowed the Tylenol dry. Because of my fast metabolism it started working in a few minutes. "Thanks."
"Here," said the techie. She handed me a glass of water. I drank it down slowly and waited for the Tylenol to work. The Tech left after a moment. She had been on her way out anyway. The young man stayed and talked to my friends. My headache was just approaching the point where I could think coherently again when my communicator beeped at me.
"Cell phone?" asked the man.
"Yeah. Excuse me a moment."
He nodded.
"Sac here," I said activating the communicator.
"Sac where are you?" demanded the voice on the other end.
"In San Francisco. Why, Daphne?"
"We have a show tomorrow Sac why aren't you here?" she demanded.
"I went to a show. What's wrong with that?"
"Sac," she whined.
"Daph I promised I'd be there and I will. Is Sebastian there?"
"I don't think so. He and Elizabeth went out. Why?"
"Do you know if he got those plans I asked for?"
"Lizy mentioned something about them this morning, but I don't know."
"All right have him call me when he gets back. I'll be up."
"What do you need them for any way?"
"I need to know what I can ship and what we have to rebuild to fit the theatre."
"Oh. I didn't know we were shipping anything. Isn't that going to get expensive?"
"Leave that to me. I'm going out to Paris this week to get a look at the theatre any way, but it would be nice to have those plans."
"I'll tell him."
"Thanks. Daph, it's 3 in the morning. You get some sleep and stop worrying everything will go smoothly."
"I'll try. Bye, Sac."
"Bye." I closed the communicator. "Sorry about that. First time stage manager and she has the opening night jitters. And we close tomorrow."
"She sounds pretty young," said the man.
"She's old enough. She doesn't like the assistant TD though, and that causes problems for me."
"I imagine it does. I'm Hal," the man introduced him self.
"Sacree, though most people just call me Sac." I shook his hand.
"Your friends were just telling me that I seem to have made a rather large impression on you tonight."
"Your performance was excellent. But it is the story itself that made the impression. My best friend's life was very much like that."
"I'm sorry."
I nodded.
"So you're doing a show in Paris?"
"Week after next, yes. It ends tomorrow after a two month run and then after that we move the whole thing to France for another month."
"The Esrak?" asked Dominique.
"Yes."
"Wait. You're going to France?" asked Veronica. "When you said Pairs, I thought you meant Paris, Ca or some where else in the US."
"It's a mostly expense-paid trip. There were some scouts for a theatre over there who attended one of our performances and liked what they saw. So they invited us to come out there and perform at their expense."
"Wow!" said Carmen.
"It's good for the theatre and all, but I have to do all this running around to make sure things run smoothly. I'm not going to get much sleep in the next few weeks. Our producer/director is supposed to take it easy so I got stuck with all the planning because I have a private plane."
"How long do you have to rehearse?" asked Hal.
"A week, and that includes building anything we can't ship. That's why we started the run here."
"Good idea."
Just then my communicator beeped again. "Excuse me a moment, please?" They nodded. "Sac here."
"Sac? Daphne said you wanted to know if I had the plans?"
"Yeah."
"I do. I'll leave them on the couch for you. Pick them up any time. Are you going to Paris tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I'm going after the show. I'll be over in the morning to help set up and everything."
"Get some sleep, Sac. You haven't been getting much lately."
"I, of all people, know that best," I said.
"Bye." He hung up.
I put my communicator away and smiled at my audience. "Sorry about that. It's the trials of moving so quickly."
"You get quite a bit of use out of that phone," said Hal.
"Yeah, but sometimes I wish I didn't."
He laughed. "I know what you mean."
"I really should get going," I said finally. We all said our good byes and I finally got out of there after promising to write about my trip.
Chapter 2