----- BET’S COST -----
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Written
by: “Irene
Naridza”
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Photo by “Cottonbro”
Photo Link: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-young-ballerina-practicing-ballet-6717373/
Site Link: https://www.pexels.com/@cottonbro/
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Photo Link: https://pxhere.com/es/photo/747943
Photo from PxHere: https://pxhere
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Photo Link: https://pxhere.com/es/photo/742706
Photo from PxHere: https://pxhere
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Photo
Link: https://pxhere.com/es/photo/742706
Photo
from PxHere:
https://pxhere.com/
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Photo
Link: https://pxhere.com/es/photo/747943
Photo
from PxHere:
https://pxhere.com/
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- Act 1 -
"Stupid bets." Sam thought, as he futilely tried to perform a
ballet movement too elaborate for his abilities. "Not only that, I'm a big
fool." His thoughts prevented him from working properly.
Sam was a typical 10-year-old boy who mocked on girls in his
neighborhood. Making others feel bad made him feel like he had power, which he
liked. He overheard the conversation of two of his schoolmates. It was about
rehearsing for an important performance before the end of the first semester of
school.
As always, he came out to mock them. He told them to their faces that
they looked pretty ridiculous doing geeky moves in wimpy costumes. If only he
had said that, the girls would have ignored him and followed their conversation
elsewhere away from him. But I talk too much.
"I could do better than you." With that phrase the girls had a
brainstorm of different ideas but they revolved around the same thing.
"Really?" they said in unison. He nodded his head. Quickly they both
moved a bit and whispered the plan then turned to Sam. "Well, let's check
it out."
Sam couldn't even do an Arabesque without falling while both girls, with
their knowledge and practice, moved like delicate swan feathers in the wind.
Frustrated, he tried to leave, but then the older sister of one of the girls
stopped him. "Hey, you lost, you have to do what you're told." Sam
grunted. " And if I do not want?” The teenager squeezed his arm and showed
him her fist. "Uh... I understand..."
Now Sam was alone in the old rehearsal room fully dressed in a ballerina
outfit. There were many in the theater warehouse. This was something special,
pale pink leotard and tutu one-piece, snow-white tights and slippers of the
same color, the bun was an extra that they came up with while they indicated
some basic ballet positions that he should practice.
They left taking his clothes and locking him up in a somewhat elaborate
way, the door could be opened from the outside, but not from the inside. He
would be there until the older sister came to get him out. He would have
refused to do the exercises if it wasn't for the weather becoming abnormally
cold. So, to warm up, he imitated what was indicated.
Now Sam's only fear is that he would be forgotten there or worse yet,
that someone else would find him.
- Act 2 -
Viki was
walking through the corridors of the school heading towards the old rehearsal
room. It was where they commonly rehearsed choreographies or dances for school
presentations, these were presented on the field inside the school, where they
set up a stage for said special occasions. Now all the rehearsals took place on
that court, sports activities were held on the outdoor court that had recently
been inaugurated thanks to government investment in public schools.
Viki rubbed
her hands to keep warm, she had suddenly started to get cold, something unusual
for this time of year, but something that happened, after all. She had to go
break out the rude brat who had been locked in the old rehearsal room to teach
him a lesson. Viki thought that Sam, that little boy looked a bit cute in that
gorgeous ballet outfit, she was just adorable on him, however, her rude
attitude took away any trace of sympathy.
Viki turned
a corner and finally reached the rehearsal room, she had left both handles tied
with some tape that she found there, so the door could not be opened from the
inside, from the outside it was enough to remove the tape. However, there was
no trace of the tape, so she hurried and entered the room. “Sam. Did someone come?" No one answered,
a brief glance was enough to notice that there was no one there. It was then
that he went to the dressing rooms next to the living room, but found nothing. "How strange... maybe he managed to get out and
left." She thought. "But... I didn't have her clothes, just the
ballerina outfit"
Viki didn't
think that Sam, a boy who hated things like pink, ponies or anything minimally
feminine, could expose himself in that outfit to even the smallest amount of
people. He already felt humiliated by that punishment. There was no way to go
further. Viki continued to search nearby, but Sam was simply nowhere to be
found. Without more than she could do, the teenager was about to retire to her
home, but then she remembered something. She went back to the locker room,
there was nothing, literally nothing. A few hours ago, she had taken the
ballerina outfit from inside one of the lockers, in the others there were other
outfits from different activities, such as princess dresses, sports suits,
swimsuits, and so on. Being old lockers, no one used them regularly anymore, so
the school-owned outfits were left wherever. Even the school itself used those
locker rooms as a kind of props storage, but now, there was nothing, all the
clothes were gone, along with any light objects, the lockers were still there
because they were bolted to the floor and walls, as well as being heavy. Oh,
Sam, she thought to herself.
Viki
hurried toward the school basement. The school washed the outfits when they
were worn, the weird thing was that no one had worn the outfits recently,
except for Sam, but the school didn't know that. The school had a laundry room
in the basement, all the prop clothes went there, Viki was able to enter thanks
to the fact that it was normally open, only that it had restricted access only
to school personnel, if a student sneaked in, they would be penalized. Viki was
able to slip away, although it was hardly necessary since there was nobody and
nothing. The basement was empty, no washers in use, no dryers. "Sam, where did you go?"
3 HOURS
BEFORE.
Sam was
cartwheeling in the rehearsal room, trying to imitate the movements as
instructed, however, the results were clumsy movements lacking the grace that
characterizes ballet movements. "Stupid
bets" he whispered once more
to himself, he tried not to make too much noise, if someone found him, he would
be treated like a joke for the rest of the school year. Sam stopped to rest for
a moment, his ballet session was a bit exhausting. He sat on the floor and was
able to admire his reflection in one of the large mirrors installed on the
wall. There he could not recognize himself, the rude boy, who wore black shorts
and a white t-shirt with skulls on it, had left, instead, only a little
ballerina girl remained, with her pink and white outfit.
Sam ran her
hand through her hair, now tied up in a ballerina bun, and a quick thought
crossed his mind. "I look… cute" he shook his head quickly. "No, no, I look like a dumb." He thought he retracted. A noise took him out of
his own thoughts, a sound came near the door, it was like a voice, but he
didn't recognize it. "Oh no, someone else
came here" he thought terrified.
- Act 3 -
Sam heard
someone strange approaching the practice room, he didn't want anyone else to
see him dressed like that, his heart seemed to stop, but he quickly looked for
a place to hide, around him there weren't many places, one or another coat rack
and a box. "Yes, the box" he
thought, it was not the best, but it was what he had at hand. As he could, he
put it on him like a shell, it was a bit difficult, but in the end, it
completely covered him.
Sam heard
how the door would open followed by a few steps. He tried not to make noise
while his heartbeat rumbled loudly, for a moment he thought that the one who
entered was going to discover him for that. He heard a couple more footsteps
and then they moved away. Anyone who had entered had already left. Sam waited a
little longer before coming out of his hiding place. There he could see the
open door. "Okay, my chance."
He got out quickly but then stopped. “I can't go
out looking like this…” he said as he admired himself in the
ballerina outfit in the mirror. “They must have
hidden my clothes in the dressing rooms.”
He went to the changing rooms following the corridor to the right, there
the path ended in two doors, on the left the boy’s dressing room and on the
right the girls one.
Sam entered
the boy’s locker room and started looking for something to wear or even his
clothes, maybe the girls hid them there. He found different outfits, like a
pirate, a bear outfit, even a tree, but nothing was his size, everything was
very big. The sound of footsteps alerted him again. Sam hurried and got into
one of the lockers, he remembers how he used to lock some kids in these lockers
if they didn't give him their lunch money. He never imagined that he would have
to go through the same thing, he entered one, he had no problem fitting in, he
closed the door slowly and held it with his hands.
Sam was
completely silent again. Thanks to the slits in the door, he was able to see
outside, the footsteps stopped right at the door and it opened. A woman came
in, she had a janitor outfit. The woman gave her head to a bench right in front
of where Sam was hiding. She checked some items of clothing carefully, she put
them in a bag and continued checking the place. "Hmm,
that's weird." He thought. “I remember seeing her before…” Sam knew the school janitor. His heart stopped
dead when he recognized her. She was the former school janitor. He had heard
many rumors about her a long time ago, that she lived in a trailer in the
dangerous part of town, that she sold illegal things. All these rumors became
stronger when the police arrived at the school to arrest her, they never knew
why, but they never saw her again.
Sam could
see her again at that very moment, “has she escape?
No, no, she sure she already got out from jail and the school rehired her…” He thought silently. The woman put more clothes
into her bag, it was then that she found a pair of shoes. "Oh
yeah. This will sell well, I have some good loot.” That sentence
made Sam's heart stop again. "She's
stealing!" He thought scared and giving a sigh that was too
loud. She heard him. The boy covered his mouth tightly, but it was too late,
the woman put the bag aside, "Hey, who's there?" asked
the woman turning around. "Come out, right now!" she
commanded herself as she pulled out a knife.
Sam was
completely scared, immobile, not knowing what to do. The woman screamed again. "I have to get out of here" Sam opened the locker door and ran away as fast
as he could, but he tripped as soon as he got out because of a pirate shirt
that was lying on the floor, he fell hard and was in pain. He tried to get up
immediately but the woman threw herself on him. Scared he try to scream, but
the woman covered his mouth with her hand. "Silence or I'll hurt
you" she said in a creepy voice.
Sam was
speechless in fear as the woman stared at him and put her knife to his neck. "What
were you doing here, girl? Did anyone else see me? Are you alone…” The
woman was about to ask him a brief questioning, but she stopped when she
noticed something. "Samuel, is that you?" Sam
didn't feel his heart stop, in fact, he didn't feel it at all anymore. The
woman looked him up and down and began to laugh. "You were always weird and a
nuisance, but I never thought you liked to do these things, hahaha" The
woman laugh little more. "Okay, now answer what I asked you,"
she demanded as she removed her hand from his mouth. "And remember, don't
even think about shouting."
Samuel was
completely terrified, he gathered saliva and tried to speak. “Um… I… I am, I am alone, no one is with me” she
answered with difficulty. "Well, that's perfect, I hope you're not lying to me oh
if not..." the woman pressed the knife a little more on her
neck causing Samuel to shudder. "No, I'm
not lying, I assure you." Samuel was shaking. "Oh,
what am I going to do with you, I can't let you go, I'm sorry but I have to get
rid of you." Those words sent the poor boy into a panic. “Wait, wait please wait…” He begged. "I
can help you, to take the things, yes, you won't be able to take everything by
yourself before they notice you..."
the woman covered Samuel's mouth again. "Don't talk too loud" she
ordered.
Samuel was
on the verge of tears while the woman was thoughtful, she looked back at the
cart she had left outside, it was one of the janitors, but it was full of bags
hidden in bins, these were also full of valuable objects that she could find in
the rooms of that little-visited section of the school. "He's
right... but..." the thief thought as she looked back at him and then
examining the dressing room where they were, there were still clothes, some
clothes she could sell for a good price at the flea market. She was surprised
at how quickly Samuel had figured out what she was doing there, which made her
wonder what she was going to do. She looked back at the boy she had captured,
who was wearing a girl's ballet outfit, the outfit was pretty, she could easily
sell it at a good price. The woman had made her decision.
Samuel give
a muffled scream.
- Act 4 -
A
middle-aged woman with short dark hair and light skin and eyes was sitting on a
dressing room bench. She was carefully washing her hands, she used a couple of
wet towels, this delicate white cloth handkerchief was stained with a crimson
color while it left the woman's hands spotless. Once she finished, she put the
tissues inside a bag that she hidden in her janitor's cart. She was ready to
leave. "Hey, hurry up" she ordered in a whisper. “Yeah, I'm going…”
Samuel said. "Be careful, you don't want to spill red paint on me
again" she whispered a little annoyed. "I... I'm sorry... that was just an accident" The
little boy tried to apologize.
The thief
seriously thought about killing Samuel to avoid leaving witnesses, however,
aware that her time was running out, she decided that it would be better to
take the little boy she found as a rower and force him to take everything of
value out of those locker rooms. For some reason unknown to the thief, the
little boy was wearing a girl's ballerina outfit, it was the complete outfit. A
pink leotard and tutu jumpsuit, white tights and pearl-colored slippers. What
was left as the cheery on the cake was the cute ballerina bow that he had on
his head. The thief thought it was a cute outfit for a girl, but ridiculous and
funny for a boy. Much more in the case of Samuel.
She kept
the little one taking clothes that she indicated and lying to black garbage
bags, that way they would go more unnoticed. Inside a locker they found more
shirts from some expensive brand, the thief ordered him to take them and pass
them to her, but the shirts seemed stuck on something, Samuel pulled hard
instead of trying to see what was stuck, a handful of forgotten objects came
out of the locker. Stuck with the shirts was pencil cases, a box of talcum
powder, a box of redolence and a bottle with red paint that for some reason was
open, this full stain on the thief who became furious. She slapped Samuel and
ordered him to collect everything while she cleaned her hands.
As they
were already handful, once the thief finished cleaning herself, she decided to
continue with her plan and go to her truck to store everything for the loot. "Wait a
minute" said the thief, she took out a rather large feminine
sunglasses from one of the bags and put them on Samuel, they fit perfectly. "Walking." She
ordered the small feminized boy who was carrying three bags full of clothes.
Something
heavy, but it would be better if he managed to carry it. They started walking
down the aisle, Samuel's heart was beating rather quickly, he didn't want this
lady to hurt him, but the idea of being discovered wearing that outfit didn't
please him either. They passed by the door of the old rehearsal room and he was
able to remember all the events that got him into that dilemma. "Stupid bets." he thought to
himself.
They both
continued down the long corridor, Samuel was finding it a bit difficult to
carry the bags, but nothing he couldn't handle. Suddenly, his attention was
caught by the cold breezes that were blowing through the corridor. "Brrr" he
said in a low voice, the recent activity of collecting clothes and valuables
had made him warm enough not to notice how cold it was, but now in the hallway,
the air currents were beginning to make themselves felt. The tights had an
aesthetic purpose, but they were a layer of cloth clinging to his legs, so it
would give him more heat.
This was a
new feeling for Samuel, before he was locked in that room, now he was walking
down the hall and pretending to act normal. The thief was pushing the janitor's
cart, it was difficult for him to see through the glasses, but the woman seemed
to be calm, despite the situation, she could keep her composure, most likely it
was a tactic learned for her trade as a thief, but knowing that a dangerous
woman was hiding behind that face made him shudder. Samuel turned his gaze
forward, on the walls of the corridor there were blackboards with old posters
that promoted old school events, the ephemeral memories of said events were
abruptly cut off when he heard a familiar and terrifying sound.
A couple of
steps were getting closer, Samuel stopped dead in terror, but the thief gave
him a little push and gave him a menacing look that could be clearly seen
despite the sunglasses. “Well… well…. As she
indicated…” Samuel thought. The
footsteps became more audible and then they saw him, a teacher walking down the
hall in front of them. He glanced at the two girls to the left of him, he
nodded briefly and continued on his way.
In his hand
he carried a pair of rules. Samuel recognized him, he was his math teacher,
sometimes he would leave the room if he needed an extra instrument. These
instruments were kept in this area of the school, since some of the classrooms
in the place were used as storage by different teachers.
Samuel's
heart was beating like crazy. "Would he
have recognized me?" he
wondered as they continued walking. Finally, they reached the end of the
corridor and turned to the right, right there was a double door, it was the one
that led to the outside. The little boy could feel each heartbeat getting
stronger as the thief opened both doors and waved him out.
He had no
idea what he was like outside at that moment, but the mere idea of going
outside in that girly outfit no longer just terrified him, it TERRIFIED him. He
hesitates a bit, he took a couple of steps back, but the woman pinched him on
the shoulder, it was her signal to continue.
Samuel took
a deep breath and walked out the door, it was a clear day outside, the sun was
shining hidden between the clouds in the sky, they were as white as the tights
he was wearing. And the cold, despite the sky, on land it was getting quite
cold. "bbrrrrrr" he complained again. They headed for a gray
minivan with no rear windows, that was quite close. There the thief opened the
sliding door and began to quickly put all the covers that she had in the
janitor's cart. Once she finished, she signaled to Samuel to come closer, he
fearfully obeyed.
The woman
stuffed all three bags in in no time. Once she finished, the woman began to
order something in the minivan, leaving Samuel without a lookout. "Do not
move. you understand?" The little boy nodded his head and
remained motionless. Standing there, he began to see himself.
The colors
of the ballerina outfit, pink and white, looked different in the outside light.
Although there were skylights in the old rehearsal room, the exterior was
completely different. They were softer and more attractive colors. Or so it
seemed to him. Although he didn't take away the fact that he felt weird and a
little embarrassed to like that.
A new cold
breeze ran through his body, this time he noticed how the wind entered under
the pink tutu, making him shiver from the cold again. He put his legs together
with force and began to rub them to give them a little warmth, Samuel felt a
strange but comfortable sensation when he rubbed his tight-fitting legs in tights,
the material was soft not only for them, his hands also felt good to the touch.
Samuel blushed at the thought of finding all of this comfortable so he tried to
think of something else as he hugged himself. The cold breezes continued.
A new blizzard
blew up and lifted his tutu up in such a way that Samuel immediately put his
hands up to pull it down. Despite being a single piece, leotard and tutu, the
leotard was complete, it still had a lower part that is attached to the crotch,
securing, among other things, the tights, so they could won’t fall off even by
accident. Both clothes prevented his underwear from being seen or in his case,
prevented everyone from noticing that he was a boy. Despite the speed with
which he covered himself, Samuel was completely red with embarrassment, he
looked around to make sure he wasn't watching anyone.
The parking
lot only had cars and no people. But in the distance, not too far away, he
could see the school buildings, it had three floors and several classrooms with
windows that overlooked the parking lot. Samuel turned his gaze away, hoping
that if someone was looking out the window at them at that moment, he wouldn't
be able to recognize them. There it stayed for seconds, but to him it seemed
like several minutes. "Hey, come here, help me put this together" the
woman said. Samuel obeyed without question. he helped put the bags in the
bottom of the minivan, one on top of the other, covering the interior walls of
the vehicle.
When
finished, they had left a space in the middle where they could continue putting
things. Samuel could see the thoughtful thief, probably wondering if coming
back for more was a good idea. "Hey, you” A male voice made them both turn around quickly,
their hearts stopping. The math teacher was staring at them. "What are you doing, girls?"
- Act 5 -
The math teacher stared at
both girls who were inside the minivan moving a couple of black bags. They gave
him the feeling that he knew them both, but he couldn't remember exactly. It
seemed strange to him to see a little girl accompany the cleaning staff,
however, sometimes there were occasions when some students were kind and gave a
hand to whoever needed it, this seemed like one of those cases. As for the
janitor, she reminded him a lot of someone he knew, with it came a bad feeling,
but no matter how much he thought, he couldn't find the source.
He asked again as he
approached them. “What are you doing, Girls?” They both looked a bit
taken aback by the teacher's sudden appearance. The little ballerina with the
big glasses was about to speak, but the concierge put a hand on her shoulder
and spoke first about her. “We were loading garbage bags into the minivan,” she said with a friendly
attitude.
“The garbage truck will not
come until Tuesday, so I thought it better to load the garbage here and throw
it myself in the containers next to the shopping center than to accumulate it
near the school, where it can generate a bad smell and even germs. that can
infect children” She finished his sentence with a smile. “You should be the new
teacher. This is a usual protocol”
"Oh yes, I’m. and in
fact, yes that's a good idea." The teacher replied, she
had convinced him... halfway. "You are quite considered, but who is she?" he said pointing to the
little ballerina that was inside the minivan. “Oh, this sweetie, she's
one of the little ones who signed up for ballerina, as you know, there's a
recital in two weeks, so they're rehearsing as much as they can”, “well. What is she doing
here then?”, “Her teacher gave them a little break, so they went to have a
little fun, I found her, or better say, she found me while I was transporting
these bags.” The woman's atrocity was too convincing for the teacher.
He wanted to make sure that
everything was in order so he asked one more thing before leaving. "Little one, is that
true?" He looked directly at the little ballerina, even the janitor turned to
look at her for a second. "Yes, yes. It's true. I was helping her." She said to him with a soft
voice. Despite shaking a bit, she sounded convincing. "Well, I think you've
helped enough, you should go back to your classes little one"
The teacher advised before
leaving. "Yes, I'll follow you inside, Mr. teacher" The little girl responded
quickly. She jumped out of the minivan. "See you, Mrs.
Cinthia." She bade the janitor farewell with a small regal curtsy, spreading her
tutu to the sides of her and bending her knee slightly.
The concierge smiled back
at her. "Thanks for the help, Sandy." She said goodbye to her
waving her hand. Sandy hurried to catch up with the teacher and walked with him
into the school. The teacher thought he heard a sigh so he turned to see the
little ballerina. "Those sunglasses are a bit big, don't you think?" He commented to her. “Um… yes, but it is a gift
from a friend of mine, I only take them off to practice.” The little girl
answered. “By the way, you must be new. I haven't seen you before.”, “Well, yeah, I'm new. I was
recently admitted to this school… it is… it is a nice school.”
The teacher liked the
girl. "Well, welcome. I may be your math teacher next year. Until then,
do your best in Miss Sandra's classes." Sandy nodded,
smiling. "Well, see you sir." Said the ballerina as
she turned around a corner. "Hey. The old rehearsal room is over there, now the rehearsals are
done in the shed that is inside the school, the Sport Field Rose, it is still
at the end of this corridor, the second door on the right.”
The little girl stopped
short. "Um... yes, of course, I know, I even wrote it down on my hand
until I learned it... it's just... it's that... I want to go to the bathroom,
yes." She said a little nervous. “They told me that there
were some bathrooms nearby, so that's where I would go.” She smiled after that
sentence.
"Okay, nice to meet
you... oh one more thing" the teacher was about to
leave, but a critical thought crossed his mind. He got a little closer to the
little girl who for some reason was motionless. “y…yes?” She looked a bit nervous. “I don't know if you've
already met him, I hope not, it's better that you know, there's a little
troublesome kid, his name is Samuel." The girl seemed to turn
pale.
“Hey, don't worry little
one, if it bothers you, don't hesitate to notify the school principal. He
already has many faults, they were seriously thinking of expelling him if he
continues with that attitude, we'll make sure it won't be a problem for you or
anyone else.", "he, um... thank you very much... I'll tell you if he bothers me...
thank you..." She replied without losing the smile on his face. The girl made a curtsy
for him and left.
The teacher nodded and went
back to his classes. He entered the classroom and could see that the students
had been burning brain cells trying to complete the task he had left them. They
all used an abacus or a sheet to calculate the operations that the mathematical
exercise entailed. He took a closer look at the classroom and noticed that
there was an empty bench, a closer look and he could tell who it was thanks to
the deformed skull drawn with zero skill in front. Samuel was not in class. The
teacher sighed. “This one is going from bad to worse.” he thought.
The teacher began to grade
tasks while his students finished the exercise, he came across well-done,
poorly-done, copied, and even unfinished tasks. Then he saw the next
classwork, “Samuel Jenkins… January, Thursday 10, 2005. 7th Grade.”,
it was complete, but with mistakes. The rating of him; 7/10. As always, he
barely passed. Samuel wasn't a bad student, but he was a mediocre one, he
always finished his work, but he always made the minimum effort, thus having
enough time to dedicate to his tasteless pranks. That detail worried the
teacher. “He's a mediocre student, but not a hopeless one…” Looking up to Samuel's
empty seat, he never missed class. It was recess time that he took advantage of
to be the rude jerk so hated among the school.
"Where is this
boy?" The teacher thought as he returned to grade tasks. Later he would ask
himself that same question when he didn't see Samuel with his typical group of
friends that he always bumped into when it was time to go home.
Where is Samuel?
2 HOURS EARLIER.
"Don't struggle...
that's fine, good girl" the cleaning lady whispered to the little ballerina that she held
firmly, pressing a handkerchief moistened with a drug, the little ballerina
went unconscious.
To Be Continued…
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----------- If you find any
misspellings or a death link, please let me know. ------------
--------------------- THANK
YOU SO MUCH for WATCHING. ---------------------
