Chapter 59 - Nadia

I finished the first song strong, expelling all the air from my lungs in the final note as the orchestra cut off sharply. The applause from the audience crashed over me, louder than anything I’d ever heard. With the spotlights on me I could only see darkness in the audience, but their sound was enough.
In other circumstances, I would have been elated. But now all I felt was fear.
My chest heaved as I caught my breath and waited for the musical cue. The orchestra was pausing for the applause to dim first, something that we didn’t practice in rehearsal, but was a welcome few seconds of break. Then they played a lighthearted melody of woodwind instruments, which was the cue for the backup dancers and Braden to leave the stage and for Dorian and I to begin our next scene.
There wasn’t much to it. I was arriving home from work so I could make dinner for my husband, who had been out all day at music auditions. Lighthearted dialogue between husband and wife that set up the premise of the show, ending with him snapping at me over an innocent question about how the auditions went, which would foreshadow their later issues.
By now, I’d practiced this scene enough times with Dorian at home to know that he could tell something was wrong with me. More than just my late arrival in the first song. But there was nothing either of us could do about it while being watched by a few thousand patrons, so we performed the scene and pretended nothing was wrong.
After that I had a solo song where Jane lamented the strain on her marriage, and how Marshall chasing his dream of becoming a country music star was adding a tremendous amount of emotional and financial stress on their life. It was an upbeat song from a character who was trying to stay positive while the cracks began to form.
And I absolutely crushed it.
When I was done, the applause crashed over me like rain washing away grime from a Manhattan street. The rush of adrenaline and joy I felt was better than any drug.
I’m doing it. It’s all paying off.
The next song was a solo from Braden, so as soon as the applause ended and the spotlight winked out I exited at center stage. Backstage, Atkins was standing with Carmina, a clipboard in his hand and nodding along as Braden spoke his lines in the next scene.
I rushed up to them. “Director. I need to talk to you…”
“Forget about it,” he said absently, eyes on the curtain. “You had a moment of stage fright, but holy shit you recovered perfectly. Nobody out there noticed, and your next song was fantastic.”
I pulled the note out of my pocket and shoved it at his chest. He accepted it, held it out, and read it silently. I read it over his shoulder:

You are an inadequate replacement for Tatiana, and if you perform in the show tonight you will suffer the same fate as she.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Atkins sighed.
Carmina glanced over inquisitively, so Atkins guided me away until we were in private. “When did you get this?”
“Right before I went out on stage. It’s the reason I missed my cue! What do we do?”
Atkins looked out on stage, where Braden was in the throes of his song. We had the rest of this song, and then a scene between Braden and Dorian, before I had to go back out. I could see the indecision in the director’s eyes.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “If I call the police, they’ll want to stop the show to investigate.”
“We can’t!” I blurted out. I knew I was in danger, but halting everything now seemed like a worse fate than falling through a trapdoor. “It’s going well. It’s sold out!”
“If this were a random note, I’d ignore it,” he said. “But we know the saboteur has made good on his promises. I hate risking your safety.”
“So what do we do?” I repeated. I was hoping he would find a magical solution where I simultaneously stayed safe, but got to finish the show. Now that I had a taste of the crowd’s applause, I couldn’t wait to please them with some of the larger songs later on.
“Let me work on it,” he finally said, pulling out his phone. “Focus on your singing and trust me. I’ll do everything I can do keep you safe.”
Braden finished his song to a smattering of applause, and then he launched into his dialogue scene with Dorian. Two neighbors meeting at the picket fence separating their yards, chatting about the day.
A stage hand appeared next to me with the props for the next scene: an apron for me to wear, and a plastic apple pie to carry out to the men. Jane was a model American wife if you ignored all the adultery.
“Focus on the show,” Atkins said as he put his phone to his ear. “I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Who are you calling?”
He walked away while talking into the receiver.
I turned back to the curtain, listening to Dorian’s voice. “Of course we don’t mind you joining us,” he was saying loudly for the benefit of the audience. “In fact, let me see if Jane’s done with dessert…”
I put on my fake smile and carried the pie back out onto the stage, an wondered if I was going to survive the night.