Creative Writing III
Sep. 26th, 2005 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
laleiaA Third Exercise in Creative Writing
Note: Emmeline is based on 0011 of eLouai's etc.
The prima ballerina checked herself in the mirror one more time before readying herself to leave the house. Practice began in fifteen minutes and-
Whump.
Before the poor girl knew what had hit her, she was sprawled on the floor, dead.
There was much fuss about the mysterious murder of Sofia Kerenov, but for now, her death concerns us not except that it caused a problem for her ballet corps. Her death and her understudy's mysterious accident (that resulted in nothing more than a broken leg) meant they needed a new prima ballerina to perform the part in less than three weeks at a very important, impossible-to-cancel, once-in-a-lifetime locale.
So when Shiphrah, one of the far more minor ballerinas, mentioned in passing that her distant cousin was coming into town, was a ballerina ("Inspired me to go into ballet, really."), and had been understudy for this very part in this very ballet before ... Well, the director almost thought it was too good to be true.
Almost
Emmeline was a godsend, or so thought most of the corps. She quite and polite and competent, and if her blue eyes were somewhat cold and her blonde hair somewhat temperamental, nobody cared much. (Except for the hairdresser, who bemoaned Emmeline's misbehaving hair at least thrice a day.) If Emmeline did not stay after practice to discuss the latest gossip, if she did not spend much time with anyone besides her radically different cousin, nobody noticed. She was, after all, only temporary until Marta got back on her feet (which, including the practice she would need, would take two months or so).
On opening night, as Emmeline stretched in her dark red costume, nobody noticed her slip three needles into her short, puffed sleeves. None noticed her reach into that sleeve with a swift, practiced motion, to retrieve those needles as she posed onstage.
And none noticed that while she was poised to dance, she was also poised to kill.
Note: Emmeline is based on 0011 of eLouai's etc.
The prima ballerina checked herself in the mirror one more time before readying herself to leave the house. Practice began in fifteen minutes and-
Whump.
Before the poor girl knew what had hit her, she was sprawled on the floor, dead.
There was much fuss about the mysterious murder of Sofia Kerenov, but for now, her death concerns us not except that it caused a problem for her ballet corps. Her death and her understudy's mysterious accident (that resulted in nothing more than a broken leg) meant they needed a new prima ballerina to perform the part in less than three weeks at a very important, impossible-to-cancel, once-in-a-lifetime locale.
So when Shiphrah, one of the far more minor ballerinas, mentioned in passing that her distant cousin was coming into town, was a ballerina ("Inspired me to go into ballet, really."), and had been understudy for this very part in this very ballet before ... Well, the director almost thought it was too good to be true.
Almost
Emmeline was a godsend, or so thought most of the corps. She quite and polite and competent, and if her blue eyes were somewhat cold and her blonde hair somewhat temperamental, nobody cared much. (Except for the hairdresser, who bemoaned Emmeline's misbehaving hair at least thrice a day.) If Emmeline did not stay after practice to discuss the latest gossip, if she did not spend much time with anyone besides her radically different cousin, nobody noticed. She was, after all, only temporary until Marta got back on her feet (which, including the practice she would need, would take two months or so).
On opening night, as Emmeline stretched in her dark red costume, nobody noticed her slip three needles into her short, puffed sleeves. None noticed her reach into that sleeve with a swift, practiced motion, to retrieve those needles as she posed onstage.
And none noticed that while she was poised to dance, she was also poised to kill.
