Page 7 of Dance Omega Dance

My heart pounded hard against my ribcage, like it wanted out. My limbs trembled, blood thrumming in my ears as I took my position center stage. Everything about this moment felt too big. Toomuch.And this was only my rehearsal.

The music began and soft piano notes threaded through the tension. I lifted my arms. My first step was off. Just slightly, but enough to jar me.

A second step flowed too late.

My heel wobbled, my balance slipped, and my body jolted to a halt, as if refusing to move forward. I stood there, frozen in the spotlight like prey. The music played on. Time fractured. For a split second, I thought about fleeing. Again.

The silence was deafening. Then—breathe.I forced one in. Deep and steady. My lungs expanded with it; my muscles unlocked. I closed my eyes and moved.

Like breaking the surface of cold water, my body surged forward into the dance. I surrendered to the music, to the pain of who I used to be. The past fell away as my movements sharpened, flowed, and exploded with life.

I was dancing again.

Reallydancing.

Not hiding. Not surviving.Living.

My arms carved through the air like wings. My legs extended with power, grace, and fury. Every pain, torment, and memory blurred from my mind as I spun, leapt, and reached with everything I had. For the first time in three years, I feltfree.

The music coiled around my feet, vibrating through the worn floorboards, up my legs, into my core. And then the vibration changed. Deepened. The cello's low notes stuttered as the first tremor rolled through the theater like a wave of water.

And then... the world cracked.

The stage lurched beneath me, a living thing trying to shed me from its back. Above, the lighting rig swayed, shadows whipping across the stage like angry spirits.

A low rumble rolled through the stage beneath my feet. At first, I thought it was a trick of nerves or adrenaline. But the tremble grew.

I faltered mid-pirouette, my ankle wobbling against the sudden shift. Backstage, someone screamed as a light crashed to the floor. Voices echoed through the theater, a ripple of whispers against the backdrop of Tchaikovsky. Something was wrong.

The tremor turned into a roar.

I stumbled mid-pirouette, arms flailing for balance as the floor beneath meheaved.The ground rippled. Wooden planks groaned and splintered apart like they were being pulled down into hell. The spotlight shattered above me with a pop, glass raining down like ice.

"Earthquake!" someone yelled, the word echoing through the theater as the initial shock gave way to understanding.

I froze, caught between training and instinct. The red velvet curtain swayed like a drunk, its heavy folds rippling with unnatural motion.

The next jolt hurled me backward. My ballet shoes scrabbled for grip on the slick stage, soles squealing against the polished wood. The world tilted. Moonlight and trees blurred into a painted chaos, and then the backdrop gave way with a harsh rip. Canvas tore beneath my fingers as I crashed through it, branches vanishing into shreds of fabric. I hit something solid; the force jarring the breath from my lungs. Pain knifed through my shoulder, both white-hot and breath-stealing. I gasped; the sound swallowed by the roar in my ears.

Before I could right myself, a sickening crack echoed through the space, wood splintering, metal screeching against metal. The sound was wrong, so fundamentally wrong that my bodyresponded before my mind could process what was happening. I curled into myself as a portion of the lighting grid wrenched free from the ceiling, crashing down in a tangle of cables and shattered bulbs a few feet from where I lay.

Glass exploded above with a shriek, raining over me. Tiny shards bit into my arms, and my neck, like tiny, burning pinpricks that bloomed with blood. I covered my head with my arms, breath hitching as the sting spread like fire across my skin.

Maddie’s voice, distant and yelling my name, both urgent and panicked, was swallowed by the groaning bones of the building. The theater continued to thrash and convulse, throwing me sideways. Each seismic wave seemed larger than the last. Somewhere nearby, water hissed from a broken pipe, mixing with the acrid smell of electrical burns.

I needed to move. To find an exit. To escape before—

Darkness opened under me.

For one heartbeat, I was weightless.

Then the world collapsed.

Chapter Four

Coming too, I found that the world had disappeared under an avalanche of sound and pressure. Something massive... part of the stage set, perhaps, or a section of the ceiling had come down with crushing force, pinning my leg beneath a jumble of wood and plaster. A sharp burst of pain tore through me, searing-hot and blinding, like lightning ripping down my spine. My body crumpled on impact; the air punched from my lungs in a silent scream. I clawed at the floor, lungs spasming, dust curling into my mouth and nose. The gritty taste coated my tongue as I gulped at the thick, chalk-laced air, each breath scraping to be free.

Silence. For one terrifying second, the world just... stopped. No sound. No feeling. Like my brain had hit some kind of emergency switch and shut everything down.

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