Club Scaretale (Part 4)

By the end of the night, Anette’s voice was hoarse and her hands were shaking badly. The final bows from her and the performers went by in a blur; the effect of the magic still buzzed in her mind and clouded her senses. 

When Anette walked backstage, she immediately became surrounded by the employees at Club Scaretale, all of them congratulating her on a job well done. Anette quickly came down from her rush and thanked them all and gave them her most sincere smile.

Suddenly, she felt how she was being lifted from the ground and into a crushing embrace. She recognized the bass player and giggled slightly.

“Marco, put me down right now! You are going to crush me to death!”

“Oh come on, this is my way of celebrating you! You were awesome tonight!” The man said and lowered Anette to the ground. She soon spotted the rest of the band and they proceeded to embrace her as well.

“Drinks all around!” Emppu, the guitarist exclaimed, and the band looked at him in utter disbelief.

“You know we are going to drink all of your paycheck away right?” Tuomas said and chuckled.

Emppu considered his words and shook his head.

“Nah, you guys cannot handle that much booze anyway. And besides, this is a celebration. Right, Anette?”

Anette considered their invitation, and though it was tempting, she could feel how the exhaustion seeped into her bones. It had been a long day and now all she wanted to do was sleeping. Therefore, with an apologetic smile, she declined the invitation, explaining that she was tired and needed to rest.

“Oh no, you are not avoiding it that easy, but we understand. Maybe another time then?”

Anette nodded and wished the guys a good night.   

Some other congratulations were washed over her before she could make her way to the dressing rooms. Each performer had their own one and on her way to her own, Anette passed by Emma’s. The door was ajar and she could see the lit candles and bouquets of flowers on the floor in the middle of the room.

Anette bit the inside of her cheek. Her thoughts had been about her departed friend all night. The thoughts swam in a sea of light and darkness, the good ones with the bad ones. Two nervous young women, seeking job as waitresses and bartenders. How ordinary their lives would have been if they never had applied for the job at Club Scaretale. But the both of them never liked to play it safe, they wanted adventure and always sought anything unpredictable. And now, that came back to bite them both.

Anette took one last look around the room before retiring to her own. Emma had always been messy, leaving clothes on the floor and on various kinds of furniture with her shoes scattered around the room. A sad smile grazed Anette’s red painted lips when she made her way down the corridor.

After changing her clothes, Anette made her way out of the building and started walking towards her apartment, already feeling how her eyelids started to close, not noticing the pair of eyes that were watching her.

The next couple of days passed by quickly, and Anette was barely hanging on. She became more comfortable in her role as Storyteller, gaining respect and admiration from both her coworkers and the club regulars.

She had gotten more confident in her magic abilities, but she had not yet made a move to pick up the quill and write her own stage shows. Anette always believed that she would screw things up by writing down her own effects, staining Emma’s immaculate ones.

Club Scaretale had gotten a new singer. Tarja, her name was. She had an operatic singing voice, which blew everyone away since everyone were used to Anette’s slightly more melodic one. For the last couple of days, Tarja and the guys in the house band had been writing songs and exploring Tarja’s vocal range. And today, they had requested a meeting with Anette where she would read the lyrics and try to come up with a mind-blowing stage show.

Anette grabbed the Storybook, a couple of papers, some pencils, and finally her quill.

There was a table set up in front of the stage where the band and the new singer were seated. Anette greeted all of them before sitting down, placing all of her writing necessities on the table.

“Wow, is that it?” Anette searched for Tarja’s eyes and found them resting on the Storybook.

“Yes, it is the one and only.”

Anette could feel Tarja’s bubbles of excitement from across the table, and was tossed back in time when she herself had been sitting across from Emma, with the guys by her side, to discuss the special effects they were going to incorporate in their show.

Shaking of the memory, Anette placed a paper in front of herself and grabbed a pen.

“Come on you guys, blow me away!”

And that was exactly what they did.

“Two bright, shining stars between the performer’s head and the ceiling. They twinkle and casts a light over the audience.”

This song would be Anette’s and the bands masterpiece, they could all feel it. The descriptions of the scenery’s easily came out of their mouths and ended up as text in Anette’s Storybook. They had some trouble with the other songs, but with this one, this one was different.

Anette’s hand travelled eagerly over the papers, writing everything that came to mind. But when she picked up the quill to write the final version in the book, she did so with great care, fully aware of the power these words held. And when the band prepared for their performance, she breathed in deeply to try to calm her nerves. Now there was no turning back.

The first lines of the song began and Anette focused on the words in the book.

“The audience will travel through the second star to the right, flying over fields and forests, villages and castles, mountains and valleys, and finally land in the castle of the Wishmaster. His golden crown resting on his head, a staff firmly placed in his hand. He leads you to a hall of mirrors where you can look over his subjects. The scenes that you see are not pleasant ones. Family turning against you, princesses locked in towers, tears of despair, men and women separated from the ones they love, beasts lurking behind every corner, and the villain towering over the hero and the heroine.”

Anette looked up at Tarja and saw the amazement in her green eyes. The air was filled with magic and the feeling send a shill down Anette’s spine.

“The mirrors switch and green smoke oozes from a black cauldron. From the smoke, a sorceress rises. Her irises turn to black before she engulfs herself in black smoke. A black dragon stands in her place, exhaling green flames. A knight in shining armor runs forward and pierces the dragon’s heart with his sword. A prince waking his sleeping love with True Love’s kiss. Talking and singing animals. A lamp and a genie that grants you three wishes. A mermaid and a sea hag, facing the waves. Lost boys on an island.

The mirrors shatter as the song comes to an end.”

Anette jumped in her seat when she heard the glass landing on the stage. She looked up and all eyes were on her. In the corner of her eye, she saw the owner of the club.

“I did it!” Anette thought as a smile broke out on her lips.

The band made their way towards her and suddenly she felt a pair of arms encircling her in a crushing embrace.

“That was so amazing! We have to rehearse some more songs, that was so cool!” Tarja was talking a mile a minute and Anette barely caught the words that came out of her mouth.

She saw how the Wishmaster tilted his hat and bowed slightly before he made his way to his office.

Anette felt light, like something had been lifted from her chest. She was now the official Storyteller and believed that brighter days were ahead of her.

Oh, how wrong she could be.

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A/N

So yay, Tarja appeared. I had some doubts about incorporate her in this story, but I couldn't resist. She is just too cute. And FantasMic, oh my goddess! One of my favorite songs.

Darker times ahead *dumh dumh dumh* 

I don't know how long I will make this fic. Maybe five or six more chapters? And is the length okay? Should the chapters be longer? Tell me what you think!