Theatre

As Peg looked around the building she noticed something different. The usually clean stage was dirty, holes in the wood. The curtains were moth-eaten and faded. And all the carpets and chairs surrounding the stage of the once beautiful and glorious theatre were... gone.
"I don't believe it," she whispered. "How could this have happened?"
"Why don't you go and find out?" a voice behind her said in her ear.
"But I don't know how!" Peg cried, the pain of seeing all of her wonderful memories destroyed taking over her.
"Come, follow me, Peg," the man stepped in front of her and produced a hand out of his coat.
"Oliver... I'm scared..."
"There's nothing to be afriad of, Peg. I'm here for you."
So Peg took Oliver's hand and they set off to go backstage.

***

"Woah, I didn't think that it would still be there!" Peg shouted as she ran towards the small box on the other side of her old dressing room.
As she cradled it in her arms, Oliver stepped slowly up behind her and touched her shoulder.
"We need to finish it. Open it up.." he trailed off as her saw tears slowly falling down her cherry red cheeks.
Peg curled up in a ball, her short black hair falling over her face and covering her deep blue eyes, and opened it carefully. Music erupted out of the small, blue box as Oliver glimpsed the small ballerina twirling around and around. As he knelt down next to her, he ran his long, slender fingers through his tousled brown hair. Peg shivered as Oliver leaned in close to her body and wrapped his arms around her.
"I told you that you were safe. And you know that I never lie," he whispered reassuringly.
She closed her eyes tightly and mumbled something unintelligible, thinking hard about the memorys, trying to cast them away.
"I'm not going back to..." Peg trailed off, averting her eyes towards the other side of the dressing room. A scream erupted through the weak and crippled walls. Peg stopped her violent sobbing and turned her head as she slowly began to stand up, still clutching the music box to her chest. Oliver jumped away, startled by her movement. Once he had recovered, Oliver stood up and offered a helping hand to Peg as she crawled to the cracked wooden door on the other side of the room.
"Thanks," she mumbled as she took his arm and pulled herself up.
He placed his hand on her shoulder and gently guided Peg to the door. When they reached it, she just stood there, stunned.
"Go on, you know you're going to have to do it sometime. The screams won't go away without someone to help them," Oliver said.
"I know, I know. But why can't you do it? Instead of me."
"You know why, Peg. Now go, before it's too late."
So she placed her hand on the golden doorknob and just as she was about to turn it, a knock came from the other side. Exactly where the scream had came from.

***

The door burst open, slamming against Peg's nose and crushing her against the wall. Oliver rushed to her aid, pushing the door closed and prising her away from the wall. A fresh scream came and passed them as a small child ran through the doorway and lay crumpled next to the music box that had fallen from Peg's grasp when she was pushed aside.
"Are you ok?" Oliver asked her as he checked her nose, to make sure that it wasn't broken.

Signed: Sigger!