OptionalFiction

Tina feels her hands getting sweaty. She is standing behind Keith who now enters onto the stage with his puppet. The audience cheers him on loudly. It must be 200 people out there. Tina's stomach turns at that thought. Mr. Whitten had pressured her into signing up for the talent show. Tina had said no, Mr. Whitten had said yes, she had said yes. And now here she is. Next in line. With just her juggling balls. Tina is sweating so much that she drops one of them. As she quickly bows down to pick it back up she feels a sense of vertigo come over her. She feels disoriented and nauseous. “You're up next.” As if she doesn't know that already. “Are you alright? You look a bit pale.” Tina feels the sandwiches coming back up. She gulps them back down again before they can reach her mouth, but she can feel that this wasn't the last of them. “Here, do you need a bin?” The stagehand passes her a large garbage bin. “No, thanks I'm—” That's as far as Tina gets before throwing up. “Oh dear, food poisoning?” “Uh-huh,” she nods, knowing full well that it's just her nerves. She spits into the bin again. When she lifts her head out of it she hears the moderator on stage call her name and the audience start clapping. “I can't. I can't go out there!” she begs. The moderator looks over expectantly. The stagehand motions widely while mouthing something. When the moderator understands they start stalling for time. “Take a sip.” The stagehand offers Tina a bottle of water. “Are you sure you can't go out there?” he asks as she takes a few gulps. “No, I really can't.” The stage hand motions to the moderator again who announces the next act. Tina sits down on a chair. “Maybe you should get some fresh air?” Tina nods and gets up. She leaves through the back. Standing outside she takes a deep breath.