The Final Act

Three Days Until Opening Night

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. At least, that was what was supposed to be painted on the backdrop, along with stormy skies and lightning forking down beyond the silhouettes of trees. They were behind schedule, though, and opening night was in just three days.

“Dab a blob of orange there, and highlight with some yellow. It’ll be fine from a distance,” Lily declared, standing back to admire their work. “Phew, I thought that sky would never get finished. I must have gone through three pots of gray paint already!”

“Well, it just needs a few highlights here and there. We’ll finish that bit tomorrow. It’s 9pm, the janitor will kick us out any minute.” Christian replied, giving the candle a final flick of white along the top edge. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do.

After all, it was just a high school production of The Crucible. Not Broadway or anything.

***

Two Days Until Opening Night

The next morning Miss. Henderson stood on the stage, frowning.

“Who added bats to this backdrop?” She asked crossly. “The whole point of the play is that there are no witches, only hysterical humans. Bats aren’t a part of my vision, people!”

Lily gawped at the scenery. “I hadn’t even finished the sky last night, Miss,” she said in confusion. “Now it’s all shaded properly! I swear I didn’t add any bats, though.”

Christian nodded in agreement. “I was with her all night. She didn’t have time to mess about like that.”

“Well, I guess since we’re running late they’ll have to stay put. But no more surprises – this isn’t art class, you can’t just change things without asking me first.” She jumped down into the auditorium to speak with Ashley and Nevaeh about the courtroom scene.

Christian went back to shading in the logs across the front of the cabin, adding black wavy lines to give a wood grain effect. He was so engrossed that he barely noticed the actors on the stage around him, until Ashley trod on his hand.

“Ouch! Watch where you’re going!” He yelped, sucking his fingers.

Ashley tossed her head, her perfectly mussy beach waves falling in a cloud around her heart shaped face. “Honestly, I can’t believe I’m supposed to perform with all this chaos around the place!” She said indignantly, flouncing off to complain to the teacher about him.

“Drama kids, am I right?” Lily nudged him, rolling her eyes. “She didn’t even apologize! It’s like they think all the scenery and props just magic themselves into existence.”

She was working on a large cardboard fireplace for the interior scenes. Christian thought about telling her flames burn red to yellow, not the other way around, but he stopped himself. Most likely no one else would notice, and she was almost done.

They broke for lunch, heading to the cafeteria for a lackluster tuna sandwich and apple slices. There was a band rehearsal in the auditorium in the afternoon, so they attended their regular classes until 3pm.

Lily walked in, sidestepping past a guy carrying a massive tuba. She skipped up the stage stairs, admiring their work as she approached. Somehow the whole thing was really coming together – Christian had worked magic on the texture, the cabin really looked 3D.

“I didn’t know you were painting the door open,” She commented as he stepped up behind her.

“I haven’t got to the door yet, I was only half way along the front wall. I guess Miss. Henderson kept working on it while we were in science.”

“Well, it looks great – you can even see the shadow of someone spilling out onto the front porch. And… are those fingers?” She peered closer, noticing a hand curving around the wooden door, wickedly long nails digging in to the surface.

“I sure hope it was Miss. Henderson,” Christian grimaced. “She said nothing overly witchy… those look like witch fingernails to me.”

Lily agreed. The whole thing was starting to give her the creeps. Up in the top corner a yellow moon had appeared behind the clouds, just a sliver. It lit up the top edges in a way that seemed suddenly too realistic. She didn’t remember painting a moon, it wasn’t in the concept sketch. Still, it looked good, even the acting kids were admiring it as they came over to do a final readthrough.

***

One Day till Opening Night

The stage crew worked on props all day Thursday, in the art room. Lily was sewing a poppet, while Christian and Lucas went over the checklist, making sure everything was finished up. It was boring, carting boxes of books and cushions, lamps and bibles back and forth to the auditorium. They dragged a chest of drawers up the steps and into the wings, then collapsed center stage to share a coke.

Lucas studied the cabin scenery. “I didn’t know you guys were painting people, you know that’s my favourite part,” He said grouchily.

“What? There’s no people in that scene, only in the courtroom backdrop. You know that.”

“Well what’s that then, nerdboy?”

Christian looked up. The cabin door was thrown wide open now, the flickering candlelight casting shadows on the porch floor. Sure enough, a few steps away, at the edge of the forest, a silhouette of a person had appeared.

“Someone keeps messing with us,” he announced angrily. “They keep changing things when we aren’t around to get us in trouble with Miss. Henderson. Now I’ll have to paint over it again, I’ll be here till 9pm again. Assholes.”

“Well, it must be someone taking art,” Lucas said. “It’s good, better than I could do. You can almost make out the face, even though it’s turned to the side. I wonder who its supposed to be? Look at those crazy long fingernails!”

“Lily’s not going to like this…”

“Not going to like what?” She walked out of the wings, her arms full of white aprons.

“The new changes in the cabin scene,” Lucas told her. “It wasn’t you, was it?”

She moved closer. “You know I can’t paint figures.”

“Well someone can. I wish I knew why. If they wanted to get involved, lord knows we could have used the help.”

***

Dress Rehearsal

Miss Henderson was flipping out.

“Where’s Ashley? How am I meant to run a dress rehearsal without my Abigail?”

Nevaeh looked upset. “She wasn’t at homeroom this morning, and she’s not answering my texts.”

“It’s not like Ashley to be so irresponsible.” Miss Henderson rummaged around backstage, as though expecting Ashley to appear from under a pile of pilgrim hats. “She’s not in the art room, is she? Her costume’s gone, too.”

Everyone scurried off to go look for her, everyone except Christian. He stood in the middle of the stage, staring at the scenery.

The moon was no longer visible, the sky darker without it’s pale yellow glow. The figure was gone now too, trees covering the space where it had stood. And the door to the cabin was almost closed again, just a few inches open, spilling light on the front porch. Two red smeary lines travelled up the steps, stopping at the front door. A pair of feet poked out of the narrow gap, feet wearing silver buckled boots.

Christian ran his finger over the lines. The paint was still wet, his fingers covered in crimson. It smelled like copper.

***

Opening Night

The curtains opened to the clapping of 400 dutiful parents and students. Nevaeh entered from stage left, unable to completely hide the smug look on her face. She hadn’t expected to play the lead, Ashley always got the starring roles. This would look great on her college applications.

Miss. Henderson stood in the wings, ready to feed lines if the cast stumbled. She looked exhausted – she’d been out most of the night before, with the search teams, looking for Ashley. She’d wanted to cancel the show, but the Principal talked her out of it.

“We can hand out missing posters to the audience,” He cajoled. “We’ve already sold all the tickets, we need that money. You know how tight funding is for the arts.”

So the show must go on, even without its star performer. And honestly, Nevaeh was every bit as good as Ashley had been. Maybe better, she didn’t ham it up so much or hog the limelight.

Christian waited for the first scene to end, ready to switch out the backdrops for the interior scene as soon as the curtains dropped. He nodded to Lily on the other side of the stage, fiddling nervously with the noose for the final scene.

The audience clapped, and the red velvet curtains fell across the front of the stage. Lily hurried over to the painted backdrop.

And gasped.

There was Ashley, frozen within the window of the cabin. Blood dripped from four long scratches across her forehead. Her face was a mask of terror, mouth opened wide in a silent scream, hands clawing at the window frame.

The candle blew out, the girl’s face disappearing from the painted cabin.

At the back of the auditorium, someone began to laugh. A cackling, raspy, throaty sound. Lily turned slowly, afraid of who - or what - she would see.

The auditorium lights flickered, then went out.

The End