Is This a Prank?!

Luciela’s light steps down the staircase ended with a small thud, and she walked with a quick pace, motivated by the adrenaline rush that had yet to leave her since she first made her way to the top of the stage.

She smiled to herself, barely managing to contain her excitement as she continued to gaze at the shiny golden and silver trophy she held delicately in her hands. An object molded from two precious metals, carved into a shape that physically represented her achievement and congratulated her on her success.

“Hah, now where am I going to put you in my trophy case ~” Luciela spoke happily to herself, continuing her walk towards the backstage exit door a little too excitedly. She was already imagining the trophies she’d move around to make space for the latest addition, her footsteps resounding loud against the silence of the space surrounding her.

“Actually, huh, where are the backstage crew? Strange that they aren’t around…” Luciela noted to herself, wondering where everyone could’ve suddenly disappeared to. It’s not as though the show was close to conclusion; far from it.

And yet, the eerie silence of the space, the cameras that had no one operating them, the sound system control panel that wasn’t being carefully monitored by highly focused staff…

‘This…is truly odd.’ Luciela noted internally, the unnaturalness of it all making her feel uncomfortable by default. She, however, decided to brush that feeling aside; after all, strange as it might be, there was no reason for her to be suspicious.

No reason at all. She continued to make her way to the exit door, trying her best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling that pricked at her skin as she did. In an attempt to fight said feeling, she mentally reviewed the path she would take once she exited this space; down the corridor, two left turns, and after a brief walk, she would shortly find the dressing room.

And in the blink of an eye, she found the exit door right in front of her. She reached for the handle a little bit urgently, she realized. Something else she took note of was the sticky feeling of sweat coming from the tips of her fingers.

‘Seriously, what am I getting so worked up for?’ Luciela scolded herself internally, slightly embarrassed at how shaken she felt by simply the absence of other people and her own active imagination.

But it doesn't matter. She would open this door, head out to the dressing room, and gather her things before calling it a day. That’s how she expected it to be, how it was supposed to be. That is, until…

A sudden ‘pop!’ sound filled the silence, and the lights suddenly went out.

“Wh-what is going on?!” Luciela’s panicked voice filled the room after the blackout happened. She felt her heart jump, the shock of the sudden development causing her to begin to sweat profusely.

This was more than enough to convince her to hurry.

She attempted to swing the door open, and yet, almost comedically, but more so tragic than hilarious, the door refused to budge.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Luciela whispered, fear overtaking her as she attempted to shake the door in desperation. She was too overcome by fear to yell for help or dare to turn around and look for the source of the power outage, finding herself only able to anxiously shake the door in a desperate attempt to escape the situation.

There was a reason she never auditioned to act for a horror film; the jump scares, the subtle signs of someone approaching from an unknown place, the chase scenes, and other terrifying ordeals; she would never sign up for a job like that, one that would needlessly take years off of her lifespan.

Even the idea of auditioning for mystery and thriller films felt like a stretch to her, but at the very least, they were still better than horror movies.

“What kind of crazy movie stunt is this?!” She suddenly yelled in frustration after shaking the door for a minute that felt like an entire hour, but she found no success in opening it.

‘Wait…that’s right, maybe this is a prank? Yes, a surprise stunt to entertain the audience further as a fun way to wrap up the ceremony!’ Luciela quickly strung together a somewhat satisfying conclusion, feeling her tense muscles ever so slightly relax.

‘Well, I can’t go looking ridiculous when I’m being filmed can I? Especially not in front of my fans.’ Luciela took a deep breath, let out a sigh of relief, and recollected herself. She took out her phone, turned on the flash, and conducted a brief examination of the doorknob, attempting to figure out the cause of its sudden refusal to do its job and open the door.

But there were no clear issues with it. And another attempt at opening it gave the same result as the previous tries. Luciela then paced in front of the door, trying to think about what to do next. There had to be something in this space that would let her make an escape, right?

‘Or perhaps…’ Luciela would usually not resort to such measures, but since there seemed to be no other way…

“Alright, if it’s a show you’re looking for, it’s a show you’re going to get!” Luciela whispered to herself with determination. She took a deep breath, her eyes focused on the door ahead. She then took some steps back, braced herself, and in a split second she bolted off towards the door, twisting her body as she prepared to land a side kick on it using all her might.

However, her dramatic display of strength was abruptly interrupted by a sudden flash of light, one that was so bright and felt so near she couldn’t help but squint and stop what she was doing, the light demanding that she look upwards to give it her full attention.

“Wh-what’s going on?” Luciela questioned aloud, surprised by the sudden development. Could the staff have somehow set up some light effects to further intensify the prank they were currently playing? But the light felt too strong to be a simple set up, and why was there a breeze coming from the center of that light?

Luciela’s eyes narrowed and her palm serving as a convenient shield to protect her vision, she had but a singular thought as she continued to gaze upon the light that increasingly expanded and grew closer to her…

‘Wait…am I dying?’ And with that, she began to, reasonably so, freak out.

“W-Wait! Am I actually dying?! I didn’t think this day would come so soon!! I haven’t done everything I wanted to do, I still haven’t even properly thanked my aunt-” She began to rant in a panic. However, before she could finish her desperate monologue, she felt her feet lift off the ground, the cool air blowing beneath them.

She stared wide eyed at the cool wooden floor that was becoming increasingly distant from her, and, as though poking at her nerves for the fun of it, the light filled portal lifted her ever so slowly, taking its sweet time to reel her in while her desperation to escape grew even greater.

“No, no, no, no, no WAIT! WHERE is this thing taking me?! J-Just hold on-” Luciela tried to protest with the portal, but her pleas were met with cold silence and, as though in retaliation, the portal suddenly pulled her completely in, her terrified screams fading before the portal, now satisfied, flashed even more brightly before finally disappearing.

…

Nearby, two staff members were walking down the hall, happily chatting away about their predictions for the final category winners, their weekend plans, and a debate regarding the plausibility of finding aliens living on a distant planet.

“I’m telling you, the idea is absolutely ridiculous, even if they didn’t need oxygen to breathe, where in the world would they grow their food with soil like that?!” One of the staff members, a young man in his early twenties who worked on sound production, reasoned with his peer from stage setup as they reached the door to the backstage area Luciela had exited into after making her way off the stage.

“And I’m telling you, just because the soil is different from earth’s-” The second staff member, another young man who was carrying a box in his arms, began to try to reason with his colleague, but a sudden noise interrupted his speech.

“Hey, did you hear that? It sounded kind of like a scream.” The second staff member questioned, feeling a little uneasy at the sound he heard. “Uhh, no? What are you talking about?” The first staff member asked in surprise, turning the door knob to enter the backstage area.

They saw a room full of staff rushing from place to place, monitoring the sounds and light and moving equipment to different spaces, clearly absorbed in their work.

“Haha, everyone’s busy as usual. You probably just heard one of them shouting something over the loud sounds coming from the stage.” The first staff member laughed while chatting with his colleague, causing the second young man to laugh nervously and reply with, “Yea, I guess you’re right. Got nervous over nothing.”

Nobody had realized that there was a fifteen year old girl who had just mysteriously gone missing, vanishing into thin air after being pulled away.