The Play Rite. Chapter one

This is the first part of a much longer book that I am currently in the prosses of writing.

I hope you like it.

The air was cold and sharp. Everyone was waiting, watching. Who would be chosen? Not even the wind made a sound. At last the wise man opened his mouth. The crowd leaned in, ready to be called. The wise man spoke, ‘Josefine of Alton and Alfred Stone of Alton.’

Josefine froze. Her name was just called. She would have to play the lead in the most important play of the last ten years. She was poor, she was an orphan, and she was a nobody. This was so wrong. She wished that she could refuse, but the gods had chosen her. She had to do it. Josefine pushed through the crowd and got up on stage next to the wise man. On his other side stood a you man. He was obviously more important than herself.

The boy named Alfred looked at her. His chocolate-brown eyes seemed to see every inch of her, even though they never moved off her face. She found herself hating him for that. She wasn’t really sure why.

Alfred heard his name and time slowed. He seemed to see everything in slow-motion. All he could hear was his slow heartbeat. There was a young girl trying to make her way through the crowd. She was a pretty, young thing. She looked like one of the mountain folk rather than one of the flatland folk. He wondered why she lived here. Only once he got up on stage did he realize that that young girl would likely end up having to play his lover in the show. Really, she couldn’t be as young as she looked, could she? His mouth went dry. The only thing separating them now was the wise man. He moved aside and clasped both of their inward-facing hands together. Alfred started to recite the sacred vow. The crowd followed his lead.

SPACECRAFT.

Severus could hear the humming of the hover-bed underneath him. The hum that had usually sounded to him like a peaceful, lullaby-type music was now driving insane. He was awake. He was awake and now he would never get to sleep. It was not the hovering that kept him awake, it was the singing. Or rather it was the question as to who was singing. He had never heard anyone singing on the ship before. Once, he had visited a planet with his mother, he could not remember which, and they had gone to a street fair. There was a woman singing and dancing and banging a tambourine against her hand. It was wonderful. Severus still remembered how much his mother had loved music. There had been no music on the ship since his mother’s death. Partly because his father hated music. He could not understand how someone could dislike something so beautiful. Lifting his head from the pillow, he listened closely to the singing. It was in a language that he did not recognize. The ship jerked and Severus fell off of his bed. The floor was hard. Harder, it seemed, than usual. He froze. Did whoever was singing just say his name? He heard it again, quieter this time. He had to find the singer. It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. Standing slowly up, he saw Simius, his star-pup, staring at him with a curious look o his face. Simius started to wag his tail, ‘Alright Simius, fine, you can come.’ With that Simius’s tail started to wag uncontrollably as he jumped onto his master’s shoulder and then head. There Simius sat, awaiting an adventure. ‘We need to find the singing Simius.’  Simius opened his mouth and a red laser-like  line began to appear in the direction of the singing, but then, almost as quickly as it had appeared, faded. He couldn’t understand it. Simius’s star-light had always worked for them before… well, exept for the one time that they had tried to find a star. Could this be a star? Could stars sing? No, if they did, the scientists would have already done something. Why wasn't it working? He looked at Simius. He would ask someone about it in the morning. The star-light had been shining that way.

As he neared the captain’s quarters, he stopped. Right in front of him, on the other side of the window, in space, was something. A small person? No. the creature was strange. It had a small, elf-like figure with big, blue eyes, no noticeable nose, and a mouth that seemed to go around his whole head. It held itself to the window with its webbed fingers and it spoke to him, ‘Come with me.’ The voice was frightening and yet… he noticed that Simius had left. Severus put his hand to the window and… 

LOVE AND A TRACTOR.

She watched Simone’s muscles flex as the big metal beast turned toward the setting sun. His hair, which had previously been tied back, had fallen down his neck and, as it was hit by the sun, turned the most beautiful hazel she had ever seen. She did not mind having to walk beside the tractor. There was a better view from down there. Simone looked down from the tractor, ‘Don’t you want to come up?’ Simone waved his hand as if to prove to her the beauty of the sunset, ‘The view is better from up here.’ His smile was so kind and she had loved them since they were children, ‘I can’t climb onto a moving tractor.’ He gave out a loud laugh, ‘I’ve known you much too long to believe that.’ ‘Oh, really?’ He was still smiling that smile that he knew she could not resist. In his softest voice he said, ‘Really.’ As he spoke, he jumped down from the moving tractor and grabbed her hand. Simone’s hands were rough from farm work, but his grip was soft. He spoke quietly and with a serious tone that had not been there before, ‘You can do anything.’ And with that, he kissed her briefly on the lips. Not even long enough to guess at what it meant. She stood there silently for a second, but once she regained consciousness, she ran as fast as she could and called out his name, ‘Simone!’  He turned around and, before he could react, she kissed him. His arms caressed her body and face. For a moment she was without any worries in the world, and then she remembered the tractor. As if reading her mind, Simone whispered into her ear, ‘There isn’t much fuel left. Don’t worry.’ She looked into Simone’s dark, green eyes and was in love.