The concert hall was vibrant with the orchestra in the throes of a concerto. The audience erupted with applause as the piece ended.
Kaiza stood up among the other woodwinds, bending her knee and bowing her head in tandem with the rest. Her face was flushed from the extended song, spackles of sweat on her brow. She smiled widely as her brown eyes scanned the audience from behind her round-framed glasses.
Four empty chairs caused her smile to wane. She put on a polite one, took another bow, and filed off the stage.
Kaiza undid her ponytail before turning her attentions to disassembling her heckelphone. She looked up from her task only when the backstage doors opened, but visitors bearing flowers did not so much as glance her way.
She changed from her long, black skirt and white, button-up blouse into a floral tunic and jeans. She switched her heels for clogs, grabbed her sack-bag of clothes, and shouldered her heckelphone case.
It was dark outside the concert hall; night having settled in during the lengthy performance. The humidity was stifling with a stickiness in the air and on the concrete.
Kaiza pulled out her phone, going to the last page where her rideshare app was.
She jolted as a car horn beeped. “Kaiza! Over here!”
Her mother was leaning out the SUV window, waving at her.
Kaiza trotted over with a smile on her face. She wrenched open the back door, her smile flickering at the empty seats. The front passenger seat was also vacant save a grocery store bouquet.
She unloaded her stuff in the back before joining her mother in the front. She played with the flowers, sniffing them.
“Did you see any of it,” Kaiza asked.
“A bit in the middle, I think.” There was a pause. “We couldn’t get the boys ready quick enough, so Dad stayed back with them. And then I realized no one bought you flowers, and so many of the other parents had flowers, so I left before the crowd to get some.”
“They’re very pretty,” Kaiza said.
“I’ll have Dad buy some roses for your play. We should get some carnations too so that your brothers can toss them at the stage.”
Kaiza put forth her support for the idea. She gazed out the window as they drove home.
The thick curtain rose, and Kaiza was washed with the lights and applause. Kaiza joined hands with her fellow wood nymphs, stepped forward, and bowed. She squinted fruitlessly at the blur that was the audience without her glasses, gaining no information before she dashed back with her line to make space for the leads to bow.
Kaiza left her line to join the crew line, repeating the bowing process. She dashed off the stage once the curtain fell, maneuvering about the chaos with her hands out to guard against bumping into someone or something in the mess.
She opted to remove her makeup but kept the costume to save time. She donned her frames and hurried from backstage.
Her parents and brothers were not among those waiting for the performers.
“Hey, Kaiza, awesome work on the forest sets.” She was handed a bouquet of roses. “These came for you.”
The note included was an apology for not showing up, explaining that her brothers both got into something and were vomiting everywhere.
Kaiza wrinkled her nose at the image and headed out to find a ride.
The kitchen was modest in size and bright. The appliances and fixtures were new, but the floor was made of outdated linoleum. There was a table with two chairs and two short benches off to the side. The center counter had a taller section with three barstools.
Kaiza sat at the counter munching on a bologna sandwich. Her hair was tied up in a knot. She wore a simple, tasteful navy dress.
Identical twin boys around seven came tearing into the kitchen. The one wearing blue snatched a handful of chips off Kaiza’s plate as they dashed through on their way to the living room.
Kaiza stood to brush off the crushed chips that her brother had not successfully carried off.
“What are you doing eating,” her mother asked as she entered the kitchen. “You’re going to be late for the gallery! Go wash up and do your face.”
Kaiza eyed the rest of her sandwich before retreating to the upstairs bathroom.
The bathroom was small with a double vanity squeezed where a single would have fit better. Damp towels of various sizes were all over the floor and counterspace. Toys were cluttering the bathtub, and the toilet seat was up.
Kaiza pulled open one of the mirror cabinets above the sink, standing on her toes to reach the makeup bag on the top shelf.
She removed her glasses to dab on some mascara, leaving that the only decoration for her eyes. She ignored the foundation and concealer, just applying a maroon lip balm that tasted vaguely of raspberries.
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I did this one after the Hazel thing to see if it was the story as a whole that I liked comic style for, or if it was character specific. It's the story. But the idea with this was to highlight Kaiza, so you have this big sister, overachiever who has a heck of a lot of extracirriculars that she does good to great in. Orchastra, theater, photography (where I stopped), and then she was going to get an academic achievement award, and it was going to end with her meeting her student advisor Mr. Gedney. I think if I ever start being consistent and typing more, I'll get to Witchboy and I'm pretty sure Kaiza's achievements will come out in story even if it's just casual talks. How she met Mr. Gedney will, so I didn't feel like I needed to finish this.
