Ballet, Part 2

[part 2]

The girl entered the room with her usual attitude. She confidently ignored Charlotte's tone, and answered with a simple "Hey Charlotte" as if she'd done nothing strange. She looked stunning, as usual. Her designer clothes would have looked amazing on anyone, but there was something about this girl, about how she walked around that radiated beauty and confidence from all around her. "Is Amelia here?" She asked. "A-are you sure it's a good idea?" Charlotte replied, implicitly answering her question. Ava and Amelia had had a big fight a few months earlier, which had ultimately resulted in her storming out of the school as the others laughed at her. She barely hid her disgust as she said "I'll take it as a yes, then" and proceeded to walk towards the main hall. As she saw her entering the corridor that led to the actual gym, Charlotte found herself powerless in front of the angry younger woman. As she looked at her from behind, she couldn't help but admire how beautiful she looked. Even as angry as she was, she kept a certain sense of grace. Charlotte eyed her from head to toe, and noticed something sticking out her back pocket that looked like a sci fi gun straight out a cheesy low budget movie.  For a second, she feared for her safety and the well being of the other girls, but then realized that there was just no way that a girl like that could bring a gun to settle her arguments, and anyway that thing just could not be real. 

As she saw the blonde close the door behind her, she listened intently, trying to hear what would be the reactions of the group when they saw who had just entered. She heard the voices of the practicing girls turn into a louder mess of mostly laughs, and she was sure she could hear Amelia's angry voice at some point. To her surprise, the girls went silent all of a sudden. "What the hell?" She thought to herself. Naturally curious, she walked closer to the door, and tried to eavesdrop. Nothing. She waited for a bit, unsure on what to do. What could have Ava said that was so solemn to shut up a whole class of hysterical young girls?

She played with her phone for about a minutes, but in the end curiosity took over. She stood up, opened the door and walked through the corridor that led to the main hall. An eerie silence reigned through the whole facility. It was a saturday, so the school was completely empty save for the advanced class who needed to practice for the recital. Charlotte reached the door, took her shoes off and put them together with the others on the shoe rack just outside the hall. Before opening the door, she tried to listen one more time, and could still hear no noise but the sound of a pair of shoes clacking on the hardwood floor. It must've been Ava. No other girl would dare keep her shoes on on the main hall floor. But then, where was everyone else? A cold chill ran through her spine. Rationally, she knew there was nothing that Ava could have done to all those people, not in that small amount of time and especially not without making virtually any noise. Then why was she so cautious around the room? She took all her courage, and slowly opened the small door, trying to make as little sound as possible.

What she saw in front of her was inexplicable. Ava was standing on the opposite side of the hall, her back turned towards her. Luckily, there were no mirrors in that part of the hall, so she hadn't seen or heard her yet. She seemed very intent in scanning the floor, and had something in her hand that looked like small dolls or something like that. Charlotte was too far to understand what it could be. But the weirdest thing was the fact so many dancing uniforms were scattered all around the floor, as if the people wearing them had suddently vanished. Charlotte hesitated, but in the end decided to walk in the room, still trying to be as silent as she could. Just when she set foot on the floor, she spotted the thing that had been hanging out Ava's pocked minutes earlier on a small table close to her. It definitely looked like a gun, although very strange. She instictively grabbed it, not really knowing why she would do something like that, and tried to get closer to Ava and see what she was holding in her hands. Strangely enough, those things seemed to move on their own. 

Charlotte practically jumped in fear when she heard "It's useless to hide! I'll find every one of you!". Ava was laughing  in pure joy. For a second, Charlotte thought she was talking to her, but then realized she had not spotted her yet. So who the hell was she talking to? She took another step forward, which made the floor creak under her weight. Having heard the noise behind her, Ava turned and gasped when she saw Charlotte with her makeshift gun in her hand. Charlotte was ready to say sorry, but then a detail caught her eye. Those "things" that Ava was holding in her hands looked too much like actual people. And one of them even had Mia's distinctive tattoo on her left arm. Most of all, even if it seemed completely irrational, they seemed to be screaming for help in her direction now that they were suddently aware of her presence there. Caught by surprise, and having instictively noticed Ava's distress when she'd seen the gun in her hand, Charlotte pointed the thing at the woman, and squeezed the trigger. It had been pure instinct. If it had been a toy like she thought, nothing would have happened. But fear and confusion had actually helped her do what she needed to save her life. She just didn't know it yet.

Charlotte would never forget what happened immediately after: Ava just wasn't there anymore. The scared woman saw the expensive clothes fall on top of each other and the girl wearing them had literally disappeared. "Oh my god!" she screamed out loud, letting the gun fall on the floor. "What have i done?". So that was Ava's plan? She had wanted to get rid of the girls who had humiliated her months before? Charlotte was glad she was on this side of the trigger, but at the same time she was horrified by the fact that a woman she had known for years was a straight up murderer. She was on the verge of running away, when a detail flashed before her eyes: the dolls in Ava's hands. She had no way of knowing what had actually happened, and yet, she decided to investigate. She approached the pile of clothes left by the angry woman, to check if there was anything left. Just as she was by the clothes, she stepped on something, but it was so small that even though she was barefooted her brain barely registered it. She used her left hand to move Ava's clothes around, and gasped in surprise when she saw an angry, naked, mouse sized woman emerge from them.