When the Curtain Falls

  ‘She spoke to you? When I met her she just… spelt everything out in the air. If I’d known her ghost could speak it would have made things a lot easier!’

  ‘Where’s Olive?’ Walter had already started trying to stand.

  ‘What? Why? She was on stage with everyone else when I left her.’

  ‘Help me up.’ Walter held out his arm for Oscar to grab and used all his strength to try and push him out of his chair as best as he could. ‘NOW.’ Oscar did as he was told and heaved at Walter’s hand and as soon as he was on his feet he was through the double doors and into the theatre. Oscar ran after him.

  ‘Why do you need to know where Olive is? What’s going on? What’s wrong?’

  ‘Fawn was never a quiet girl. Never shy. Always spoke her mind but there was only one person she was ever scared of hearing her because it meant he would know where she was. It meant he would find her.’

  Hamish has ears like a bat. If he even so much as hears me breathe he finds me.

  ‘Hamish?’ Oscar was surprised at how quickly Walter was darting down the stairs towards the stage, considering he’d just had to haul him out of an armchair.

  ‘Yes, and if he’s here, I don’t think it’s wise to leave Olive alone.’ As they opened the doors, Jane almost ran head first into them. Her mascara was in streams all the way down to her chin and when she saw Oscar, she burst into tears again, flinging herself into his arms.

  ‘How’s Doug? Is he going to be okay?’ Oscar put his arms around her and squeezed. Jane may have been a nightmare but seeing her this genuinely upset proved she had a heart somewhere in there that was beating louder than Tamara’s.

  ‘They’re bringing him out now. The light…’ she wailed, ‘It’s shattered his arm and his collarbone.’

  ‘My God,’ said Walter, as the paramedics brought Doug through on a gurney. He was conscious now, but so dosed up he was lying rigidly with his face scrunched up tightly and his eyes closed.

  ‘They’ve said I can go with him,’ Jane sniffed.

  ‘I think it might be better if Howard goes, Jane.’ Michael appeared in the doorway. ‘There’ll be paperwork to fill out and Howard knows Doug a little better.’

  ‘But… but…’ Jane burst into another bout of tears and transferred herself onto Michael who, oddly, started to soothe her.

  ‘Have you seen Olive?’ Oscar asked.

  ‘Earlier, but then she disappeared.’ Walter and Oscar exchanged a glance. ‘Why, is something the matter?’

  ‘No, no. Everything’s fine. Just need to take her home. She’s had a long day.’

  ‘Haven’t we all,’ Michael said, gesturing to Jane who was wiping her nose on his shirt. ‘I’ll send out an email tomorrow with an update on what happens with the show.’

  ‘Okay,’ Oscar said as Walter ran on ahead through the doors. ‘Thank you!’ he added and followed.

  They’d cleaned up on stage, the broken light collected into a pile on stage right.

  ‘Olive?’ Walter said, tentatively.

  ‘Olive!’ Oscar yelled but Walter was quick to shush him.

  ‘Up here.’ Olive’s voice came from the rafters. They both looked up to the fly floor where Olive was standing in her beautiful sparkling dress, but as they looked closer they could see that she herself was sparkling too. All around her skin were little blue flashes that buzzed in the air, little veins of electricity that crackled like lightning every few seconds, dancing off her arms and face. Her hair stood on end and as she tilted her head to look down at them, her eyes twinkled a bright blue. However, the most concerning thing for Oscar was the revolver which was now in her hand and pointed at her own head.

  ‘Olive, what are you doing?’ Oscar started to rush to the wings, ready to climb up the ladder and stop whatever this foolishness was, but Walter held out a strong arm to stop him.

  ‘Oscar…’ Walter said, still staring up at her. ‘I don’t think that’s Olive.’

  ‘Very clever, young Wally. Well, I guess you’re not exactly young any more, are you? Still though, sharp as a tack. Can’t fault that!’ Olive’s lips were moving but the voice wasn’t her own. Instead it was posh, clipped and almost whiny.

  ‘If you want to settle this, Hamish, let it be just you and me. Olive and Oscar have nothing to do with this.’

  ‘She has everything to do with this,’ Hamish snapped through Olive’s lips. ‘Why do you even think I’m here in the first place? I’ve been lurking in this theatre ever since my sorry life ended but never before have I been able to do anything. Except, of course, re-enact the death of that ungrateful little brat once a bloody year. I’ve been waiting for the moment I’d be able to return, and I knew all it would take was something strong enough to awaken the magic of this theatre once more.’

  ‘It was you,’ Walter said, turning to Oscar.

  ‘I’m gonna be honest, I am so lost.’

  ‘Then all of a sudden, this one,’ Olive took the gun and pushed the barrel up under her chin, ‘and Prince Charming over there decided to fall in love at the exact same moment and HEY PRESTO! Here I am!’

  ‘We’re not in love —’ Oscar fumbled.

  ‘Oh, oh…’ Hamish made Olive pout. ‘I can hear her crying inside.’ Suddenly, Olive’s empty hand flung out and leant against the railing for support. She took in a deep breath and the blue in her eyes faded just for a moment. She looked down at Oscar.

  ‘Oscar… he’s in my head,’ she cried. ‘I can hear what he’s thinking.’

  ‘Olive, stay with us!’ Walter called up to her, but she was already crying out in pain as her skin started to crackle again, this time more furiously.

  ‘MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!’ she begged but her face snapped into serenity and she stood up straight once more. ‘Goodness me, she puts up a fight. Now, where were we.’ Hamish made her place the gun back against her head. ‘You took my girl from me, so it only seems right that I take the one that replaced her. She’s not quite as elegant as Fawn, a little clumsy, but pretty enough…’ Hamish made Olive run a hand down the front of her body and this time Oscar really did run to the ladder.

  ‘Oscar, don’t!’ Walter shouted, but it was too late. Oscar climbed up the ladder as fast as his body would allow him and he was met by the gun now pointing directly between his eyes.

  ‘Hello, Oscar. How lovely to meet you.’ Olive was grinning from ear to ear but now that he was up close Oscar could see that, despite the blue, her eyes were still her own. They were wide and panicked with tears constantly spilling out of them, down her cheeks and collecting underneath her chin. ‘Originally, I wanted Walter, but he’s got so old now, the day he dies is probably sooner than expected and where’s the fun in that? No, Wally, bless him, always seemed like a caring fellow when he wasn’t plotting my murder. It’d be much more fun to watch the guilt eat him alive for the rest of his numbered days knowing one of you was killed because of his own foolish past mistakes.’ A laugh slipped out of Olive’s mouth which made her lips contort in a way that briefly changed her whole face and Oscar worried that Hamish wasn’t ever going to leave her. ‘It didn’t matter which of you I killed. I thought I’d managed to crush you with that light earlier, but it turned out it was just another one of the theatre mice.’

  ‘You… thought Doug was me? That light was meant for me?’ Oscar said, glancing down at the shattered light in the corner.

  ‘Oh no, is the guilt setting in? What does that feel like, I wonder?’

  ‘It feels like this,’ Olive managed to whisper, and she let all the guilt she could muster flood through her body. She thought of Doug never being able to use his arm again because of something she could have stopped had she not been so foolishly in love with Oscar. She stumbled backwards, Hamish clearly not enjoying the feeling of caring about anyone other than himself.

  ‘Olive, if you’re in there,’ Oscar said quietly, as if Hamish wouldn’t be able to hear, ‘put the gun down.’

  ‘Do you really think it’s that easy?’ Hamish trie
d to make Olive put the gun back under her chin, but her arm started to shake, like there was a resistant force pushing against it. ‘You couldn’t stop me taking back my revolver or stealing a pearl necklace. What makes you think you’ll be able to stop what’s coming next?’

  ‘I think Olive’s stronger than you think she is,’ Walter called up.

  ‘This little thing?’ Hamish said, but Olive’s voice was shaking and changing in pitch. ‘She’s no match for me.’

  ‘Oh no?’ Oscar crossed his arms and watched in amusement as Olive fought against Hamish inside her. Hamish pushed to the left, but Olive pushed to the right. Hamish tried to pull back the hammer of the revolver, but Olive wouldn’t let him lift her thumbs. Olive’s eyes were still streaming but focused whilst Hamish clenched her teeth tightly together.

  Walter watched from the stage, wishing he was able to do something, but his time of climbing up that ladder was long since over.

  ‘Fawn, where are you?’ he whispered and immediately the air fizzled with a warm yellow light that wrapped around him and a voice in his ear whispered, ‘Always here.’

  He followed the trail of crackling yellow all the way up to the fly floor where the little bursts of flame all joined together to create one single blazing ball of light. It floated slowly and quietly behind Olive where Oscar could see it and he got ready to warn Olive, but a soft voice hushed him in his ear. As he closed his mouth, a calmness washed through him, as if he knew everything was going to be all right. The ball started to get brighter and brighter and crackle louder and louder and the fight between Hamish and Olive ceased. Hamish turned around in Olive’s body and before he had a chance to make Olive react, the ball of light flew forwards and into Olive’s chest and simultaneously a ball of blue flew out from between her shoulder blades. The gun slipped out of Olive’s hand, over the railing and plummeted towards the stage where Walter awkwardly dashed forward as best he could to catch it.

  It was then he heard a loud crackling in his ear and along with it, a laugh he knew so well, because it often haunted his dreams. Walter turned to face the light that hovered, still, for a moment, its bolts of lightning reaching out like hands before it zipped towards him. And even though Walter’s legs wouldn’t have let him run away anyway, he stood still and welcomed the impact of the blow.

  The force of Fawn expelling Hamish from Olive’s body had sent Olive flying backwards into Oscar where he was ready to catch her. Olive’s hair was singed and smoking, and her arms were peppered with little burns, like someone had held a cigarette to her skin over and over.

  ‘Olive? Olive!’ He shook her gently and patted her cheek but when her eyes finally opened, they glowed yellow.

  ‘I’ll only borrow her for a moment, I promise.’ The voice was more like Olive’s own but much more refined – still not the voice of the girl he knew. Fawn quickly guided Olive to her feet and looked down onto the stage where Walter was bent double, his hands rested on his knees facing away from them.

  ‘I’m too weak to fight him, Fawn.’

  Hamish turned Walter’s body, which was overcome with blue electricity.

  ‘Your mind isn’t,’ Fawn smiled, and Olive let her.

  ‘It never was but even when I was younger and stronger, I never fought for you like I should have.’

  ‘Had you fought the way Hamish fought, I wouldn’t have been in love with you.’ She smiled, and even though Oscar knew it wasn’t Olive speaking, he still felt that familiar twinge of jealousy at hearing her say she loved someone else.

  ‘Well, that’s some comfort, I suppose.’ Walter smiled as his shaking arm raised the revolver up to the fly floor at Olive. ‘Argh…!’ Sweat dripped down the bridge of Walter’s nose.

  ‘Is there anything I can do, Walter?’ Oscar got to his feet and jumped in front of Olive.

  ‘All I ask is that whilst I’m holding him off, you listen to me. That girl up there, and that’s Olive, I mean… she’s a good one.’

  ‘I know.’ Oscar nodded.

  ‘No, you don’t know. Don’t just hear me, listen to me.’ Walter had never raised his voice in anger, but he thought if any moment called for it, it was in these last moments of his life. ‘Every molecule of that girl loves every molecule of you. Do you know how rare that is? Do you think you’d be able to find that again with someone else? I’ve watched you both walk past me a hundred times, together but also alone. When you’re not around, I’ve watched her collect your mail with her own and deliver it to you, so she’d have another excuse to spend time with you. I’ve seen her struggle through doors with a cup of coffee in each hand to surprise you. God knows how many times she burnt herself. She’s signed you in and out of this building because you’ve forgotten more times than I can count, and she always doubles back down the corridor at the end of the day to check your door for your key because you never remember to bring the bloody thing back.’ Walter’s legs buckled underneath him, and his knees hit the stage with a gruesome crack. ‘And she never complains, Oscar! Because she doesn’t have to. That’s all just part of what loving someone is to her. And in the same way you’re only hearing me and not listening to me, you’re looking at her but you’re not seeing her.’

  ‘He’s right. I can feel it. She’s choosing to potentially get hurt by you over and over again because she thinks what you could be together would be breathtaking… if only you were brave enough to take that shot,’ said Fawn, gazing up at Oscar through Olive’s eyes.

  Walter’s arm was shaking vigorously now as Hamish was slowly but surely winning the battle inside him. Walter knew he had little time left to say all the things he needed to say before it was finally all over. ‘I’ve been watching you too, Oscar. And I see it, don’t think I don’t. There’s only so long you can hide it before it starts manifesting itself in different ways. I see the way your face changes when you see she’s already signed into the building and I see the pride in your smile when she’s signing autographs by your side at stage door.’ Oscar smiled, recognising himself in what Walter said and acknowledging all of the feelings that were starting to poke their heads out of the cage he’d put his heart inside. ‘And Oscar,’ Walter laughed, ‘the fact that I’m knelt here with a gun in my hand proves that you’ve fallen for her as much as she has for you. Your love awoke the magic that this theatre lost the day Fawn Burrows died.’

  ‘I know.’ Oscar reached down and took Olive’s hand and Fawn let Olive squeeze it back. ‘I know,’ he said and without meaning to and without warning, Oscar started to cry. It was only a little at first but instead of pushing back against feeling something, Oscar let himself feel it all. Love and sadness gushed through him, breaking down every wall he’d ever built.

  ‘You need to look harder, Oscar. At yourself. Stop holding back. You haven’t got anyone stopping you from doing the things you want to do… not like I have right now,’ Walter said as his thumb pulled back the hammer of the gun. ‘She’s bravely put herself into no man’s land and she’s taken every shot you’ve fired at her because you’re just too scared to join her.’

  ‘So, join her,’ Fawn whispered and nudged his arm.

  ‘And if I may, my darling Fawn, I think it’s time I joined you,’ Walter said, tears starting to spill from his own eyes.

  ‘Walter?’ Oscar wiped his tears away on the sleeve of his shirt.

  ‘I’ve never had the courage to do what I thought was right and it’s time that changed.’

  ‘I’ll be here.’ Fawn smiled, knowingly.

  ‘Then I’ll see you on the other side, my love.’ Walter took a breath as deep as his tired lungs would let him and with all his strength, he took Hamish by surprise and quickly put the gun against his head. The gunshot rang out across the auditorium and Walter’s old body fell forwards onto his face. His skin was still crackling gently but after a few moments, it fizzled out with a hiss and Hamish was gone.

  ‘I’ll be gentler this time,’ said Fawn, but Oscar knew she wasn’t talking to him. Then she took a long breath an
d gently blew into the air like she was blowing out candles on a cake. Hundreds upon hundreds of tiny little lights came pouring out of Olive, and swirled in the air like stars. They spilled out and down like a waterfall, floating down onto the stage until they gracefully took the shape of Fawn Burrows herself. She wasn’t sparkling or crackling and this time she wasn’t just an outline. She looked as though she’d been drawn onto tracing paper and then pasted into real life. Olive wobbled for a second and then opened her eyes which were back to her usual, human green and Oscar couldn’t have been more grateful. For a moment, they smiled at each other as if they’d been by each other’s sides for a lifetime already.

  ‘I’m waiting…’ Fawn called out, rocking back and forth on her heels, her hands clasped behind her back.

  ‘Calm down, woman. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a body as young as this.’ Walter emerged from the stage right wing in all his former glory. Olive couldn’t help a little sob escaping at the sight of Walter as his younger self, in his shirt and sweater vest and his delightful little flat cap.