Outstanding Stories » Night Time

“Night Time” is one of the outstanding stories (sub-junior) of the second biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Mahie Panjwani, Jefferson Elementary School, Westfield New Jersey, USA.

Night Time

Hi, my name is Alex Thomson. I moved here from New York, which is an awesome city. I went to “YOUNG ACTORS Drama school”! It was the best school ever. Sadly the school shut down, and I refused to go to any other school in New York. Then we were forced to move. My dad’s business shut down and we had to move here in California. So here I am at “Tesla Academy”.

Well, today is orientation at Tesla Academy High School. I don’t like science much, so going to a science school was perfect, simply perfect. I will be biking to school every day. I could not stand going to school here. Then Melody, my new friend, found me and she forced me to go to the annoying orientation. We walked into Tesla Academy and went straight to the auditorium. Melody blabbed about how great the school was, I couldn’t blame her she was Ms. Science. When we finally reached the auditorium, the orientation had already started. So, we slipped into our seats.

To tell the truth, I fell asleep. I woke up after a drum played the last note of the band’s song. “Now as I was saying” the principal said “the drama club...” I sat up instantly I was wide awake now!! After the orientation, I immediately went to sign up. I got the last spot “YES” I screamed and practically bounced down the hall. I reached my bike in thirty seconds. Melody was standing at our bikes and she shot me a look. “I LOVE this school, it’s the best school in the world,” she looked at me skeptically. “I’m serious,” I said, “They have a drama club,” I practically screamed.

She smiled at me and we rode home. I blabbed the entire way home about the school and how I never doubted it. Melody just smiled. I woke up bright and early and slumped down the stairs made breakfast and got ready. When I went outside, I saw Melody waiting for me. I hurried on my bike and went to school. Melody and I didn’t say much but she did say our schedules were different.

My last period was drama and I was not about to fall asleep in it even though the rest of my science classes were so boring. The teacher Mr. Adams talked about plays, characters, skits, and other drama stuff. I listened and answered questions. Finally! This was something I understood. Everything was going fine until on December 1st, Mr. Adams said “Class, this year we are trying something new. We will be doing a Christmas play in front of the whole school!!!”

A certain fear bubbled inside me and I trembled deep within. I forced a smile and asked weakly, “When are auditions?” Mr. Adams had a smile playing on his lips. “Remember those fake auditions that we had a few weeks ago for fun, well those…”

“You said those were FAKE AUDITIONS! I yelled, “THEY WERE REAL, WEREN’T THEY?” “Yes, they were.” replied Mr. Adams. “However, on a positive note, the play we are doing is going to be produced by your kids, so the only question that remains is who would like to be the director?” Everyone’s hands pointed at me. I looked around to see if anyone else also wanted to be director. Seeing that none else wanted this job, and I was already going to be the main character as per the results of the “fake auditions”, I nervously agreed to take on the directing.

After weeks and weeks of practice, everyone had finally memorized their lines and remembered their actions, so I felt that maybe it was time to show Mr. Adams our efforts. Our play was titled Night-Time, a Christmas Story, and it was about three young witches who wanted to celebrate Christmas with the humans. After doing one last dress rehearsal, we invited Mr. Adams to watch us perform in the auditorium. The curtains opened and we began.

Since I was not just the main character but also the director, I had spent most of my time ensuring that everyone knew their lines. I also had memorized my own lines at home. I had always enjoyed watching performances and getting into character had come naturally to me so, preparing for the main part was something that I had done without any hesitation.

The narrator, Emily introduced the story and the play began smoothly. Everyone remembered their lines and as, the director, I was nervous because I felt responsible for everyone’s performance. However, Eliza the main character, that was me, was turning out to be an enjoyable part and the two hours went by smoothly. I realized we were done only when I heard Mr. Adams applauding for us loudly.

We continued to practice and work on the props, scenery, costumes etc. and as director, I had been so busy overseeing ever bit of it, that it was easy for me to push away the thoughts and memories of the hesitation that I had felt on the day our performance for Mr. Adams. Being the director I was exhausted every day but I enjoyed every bit of it. Weeks rolled by and before I knew, it was December 23rd, the date of the performance.

The cast and crew met backstage for one last meeting for after everyone would be getting ready for the curtain call. Mr. Adams congratulated all of us for our hard work and said that he believed that we were as good Broadway performers! “Break a leg class”, he said as he walked towards the light board to do one last check. I too went to get ready and closed my eyes to try and get into the character of Eliza! Dressed in my costume and with my hair and makeup on, I thought I could take a quick peek through the curtains. This was my first actual performance on stage and the audience was going to be more than just friends and family. Almost the whole school bought tickets.

As I peered through the curtains, I was shocked to see that there were almost no empty seats. I could not even see my parents because of the huge crowd that was already seated. My eyes grew wide and the nagging hesitation grew into a feeling of fear that I had never known before. What was I doing here? I asked myself. I wasn’t ready for this, I had to go and find Mr. Adams and tell him that I could not go out there in front of all these people. I turned around and almost bumped into Mr. Adams who had come to peek through the curtains as well. I opened my mouth but no words came out, my eyes were wide with fear and Mr. Adams gently took me aside to the green room.

“What is it Alex?” Mr. Adams asked softly. I almost started to cry. “Mr. Adams, I can’t do this. I cannot go out in front of so many people and act. I have never performed for such a large crowd.” “Why didn’t you say something before? You have been so good at directing everyone, that I always assumed that you been on stage many times! You were great even at the dress rehearsal,” said Mr. Adams. “I am sorry,” I replied. “I have acted in small skits in my old school and done a few performances for friend and family, but I have never had the opportunity to do something at this scale. I was so focused on being the director, that I was able to completely ignore my own fear!”

Mr. Adams said nothing for a few moments and I thought he was really upset with me. After all I felt like a cheat, pretending to be something I was not. Tears had just started to roll down my cheeks when Mr. Adams spoke again. “Alex, as a director you must know that this play represents the hard work of your cast and crew. Everyone has spent so many weeks preparing for this day, even you have given so much of yourself getting everything ready for this Christmas play. So, you could choose to be selfish and run away from it all. Of course, that would ruin everything for all your classmates or you could choose to overcome your fear and rise to the occasion. I have come to know if the girl who would give everything to make this evening a success. The curtains were called and I knew what I had to. I wiped my eyes, fixed my makeup and went out and became Eliza once more.

The play was a huge success, and everyone told us that we had done an amazing job. Mr. Adams, true to form, partied with us at the cast and crew party and everyone had a blast. As the evening was winding down, I saw Mr. Adams, walk towards me and I knew I needed to say something. Mr. Adams, I said, I really want to thank you for helping me realize that everything is not about just me. Mr. Adams smiled at me and said “Alex, I think you are a great actor and director, but today you proved that you are a dependable person too. You realized that many people depended on you and rose to that occasion. Theatre is not just about the stories and acting, it’s a great way to experience life lessons too.”

As I closed my eyes and went to bed that night, I knew that I would wake up a new and a better Alex tomorrow.