Page 46 of Mafia Scars

Chapter 10

Amelia

* * *

I could hear the music.

Tchaikovsky. It was the intro to Swan Lake.

I waited backstage for my cue to go on. Waiting but also enjoying the melodious sounds of this masterpiece.

It was one of my favorites.

One that I’d dreamt of dancing to from the first moment I knew what ballet was.

It was the first piece I’d danced to when I was five and my ballet teacher noted how talented I was. I did everything right.

She’d be so proud of me today.

This was the show that mattered. A representative from Julliard would be here at the school, sitting in the front row, assessing.

I’d never made any mistakes when I danced. Never, ever because I never thought about what I was doing. My body just knew what to do. Show me the routine once, and it would be embedded in my muscle memory.

Any thoughts would be on providing that finesse. Smiling, laughing sometimes, making sure my audience could feel the moves I felt as I executed them.

Here it was… the cue.

It was a b sharp and a clash of a cymbal.

I moved doing a glissade and stood on my toes. Arms out, showing off the beauty of my dress. For I was the Swan Princess. The star of the show.

The crowd went wild.

But there, right in the row behind the scouts, were my parents.

The two of them looked so proud of me. Mom was already crying.God in heaven. And Dad, he looked so proud I could see his eyes beaming with it from here.

My body moved as it should, dancing to the music. A pirouette into a leap and then an arabesque.

As I danced, everything came alive, the music, the people, the atmosphere. It was electrifying. Then…

Something happened.

Everything faded to black, taking everyone with it. Where did everyone go?

The music stopped, and I straightened, standing still and waiting. Suddenly, there was a gun in my hands.

Confusion filled me. How did I get here?

“Hey, Detective, get that guy,” someone yelled at me. I didn’t know who said it or where the sound came from.

I’m a cop, but I was just dancing. Julliard. My parents. Why was I a cop?

I backed away into the nothingness of faded black.

Light pierced my eyes, and before I knew it, I was standing in the cemetery under the weeping willow that hung over my mother’s grave.

I remembered she died.