Work Text:
The room is empty when she arrives. Warm sunlight filters in through the stained windows, plays with the dust floating in the air, causing it to sparkle like tiny diamonds. It’s reflected by the mirrors covering three walls, broken only by bars made of wood polished by the wear of hundreds of hands that have held on to them throughout the years. Her steps resonate as she crosses the room to get to the black box nestled into the corner. Her movements are hurried, frantic as she turns it on, sets it the right way, chooses a song.
Forcing herself to breathe deeply, she sits on the wooden flooring, pushing into her stretches, trying to block out her thoughts, but failing miserably. Her mind is full of them, spinning and circling and spiralling and tumbling, always returning over and over and over again, until she has to get up, has to move, unable to sit still for even one more second.
The urge to scream is overwhelming, but she clenches her teeth, holds it back, until it feels like she is ready to explode. Where the sudden anger came from, she does not know, but anger is good, anger helps her to distract herself from the images in her head. Finally, she stomps over to the CD player again, turning on a different song before sinking down in the middle of the studio, her body folding into a familiar pose.
The first notes sound in the room and she breathes, counting in her head. One, Two, Three, Four. One. Two. Three. Four. One, she rises to her knees. Two, her arms are moving up. And three, her arm turns to swipe through the air again. Four, every movement measured down to the tips of her fingers. One. The beat fills her ears. Two. Weaving into her mind. Three. The music is running through her veins. Four. And finally, it erases all clear thought.
She raises all the way and turns, spinning on light feet, jumping with every movement flowing from somewhere inside of her; she has no control over herself.
The beat of the music domineers that of her heart, the notes are coursing through her body. The sound is filling her, embracing her, lifting her up until gravity seems to fall away. It feels like she is flying and when she closes her eyes, she can almost sense the sun on her face as she arches her back, the wind on the skin of her arms spread wide. She lets herself fall, she is twisting, turning, leaping up, she stops and....
The silence sounds so loud, her body is still frozen in place. Her heart is beating heavily in her chest, the blood rushing in her ears the only thing she hears. Until suddenly it’s not.
Clapping cuts through the silence and she spins around.