"I'm afraid Rios, I'm afraid," Cassandra says, taking off her costume.
"Afraid of what? Cassandra, we need you to get it together. I'm tired of being booed off stage. We finally have an audience and you're afraid," Rios says, while trying to coax Cassandra into getting back on stage.
"I'm tired of this. I can't do it."
Cassandra runs and locks herself in the bathroom backstage. She falls to the ground shaking.
Looking at her script, Tasha notices that she only has one act before her scene and the audience is enjoying the show. Tasha frantically knocks on the bathroom door.
"Cassandra, we're going to need you to get it together," Tasha says, in a high-tone whisper.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Cassandra tries to ignore them.
"I can't do it."
Tasha begins to rub the door as though it were Cassandra's back.
"Cassandra, I need you to listen to me. Show business is all I have right now. I've lost everything. This is the only thing I have left that makes me happy. I'm going to need you to get it together. I don't know how word got out but we have a good crowd tonight. Please, Cassandra, I've lost everything. I need this show," Tasha says, begging, eager to get in the bathroom to convince Cassandra to finish the show.
Silence fills the backstage atmosphere. The whole crew, even those in the act, now have Cassandra's part on their minds. Then the knob on the bathroom door begins to turn. Cassandra slowly walks out of the bathroom and heads straight towards the backstage curtain. No one says a word, they just follow. Peeking from backstage, she notices her father in the crowd, the audience is really feeling the show. She fixes her costume, grabs her prop, looks at her fellow cast members, then enters stage right.
In the midst of her performance, flashes of articles of dead friends, school shootings, and lost loved ones flow through her mind, over and over again. In character, she tries not to notice the huge crowd, but that's really all she and the crew really ever wanted, nothing more. Exiting the stage, Tasha thanks her as the audience applauds and stands. Throughout all of the hardship and heartache, throughout all of the mayhem and destruction, the show went on. As roses fly on stage, everyone proceeds to curtain call and takes a bow. Cassandra glances at all of her fellow cast members, and waves towards the good audience. They all take a deep breath, exit stage left, while also walking over the roses on stage.
"What a good audience," Tasha says, noticing the lights fading to black.
"What a good audience." She says again, then sits down backstage and says no more.
Everyone places everything back in order for the next show.
Cassandra's dad takes the footage of his daughter from his phone and uploads it to YouTube. For some odd reason the country's mood went from sadness to excitement.
It was a good audience.
That show, somehow saved the world.
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