The odd pair of slippers

Staring down at the two pearly white boxes she knew she had a tough decision to make.

"Anna" called out Isabelle distracting the girl for a moment, Isabelle Anna's best friend since Kindergarten was as jolly as any young teenage girl should be. Although Anna wasn't as carefree as Isabelle was, she sure felt as carefree and as pure as a bird when she pirouetted gently across the ballet stage. "Hurry up and choose a pair Anna! we are going to be late for dance practice" Isabelle shouted over to Anna as she traced her fingertips along the pretty tutu's that were worn by stiff cold looking mannequin's before leaving the store to wait outside. Sighing Anna turned to look back at the pearly white boxes that hid inside of them two beautiful pairs of ballet slippers. How was she supposed to choose only one pair? LIFE was hard enough already with difficult choices everywhere she turned, How was she supposed to choose between the dark sooty black pair and the bright ruby red pair? 

Almost like choosing between playing the villain or the hero, this decision, like all other decisions made Anna want to cry. Asking for a second opinion would be of no use, after all Anna never took other people's opinions seriously. Captivated by the two pairs of slippers Anna hardly even noticed a boy around her own age walk up behind her.

"Still deciding?" he asked from behind the girl's shoulder causing Anna to jump up in surprise. "Who are you?" Anna asked, angry with the raven haired boy for interrupting her when she was trying to make a very important decision. "I'm nobody, you on the other hand are very bad at choosing between things, aren't you?" the boy asked cockily, tilting his head to the side as he stared at the two boxes that Anna held in her hand. Before the girl could even reply the strange boy knelt down beside her and took out one shoe from the two pairs saying "Although I've never seen one wear odd slippers before I do think that these would suit you rather well".

Saying nothing else the boy stood up and walked away leaving Anna alone with her thoughts.

Practice that evening was more complicated than ever before. As Anna danced along with the music she couldn’t get the strange boy’s face out of her head. Why for once did her indecisiveness start to slip away like melted ice. As if her imaginary shield had worn off Anna didn’t feel as scared or as cautious of life anymore. It was almost as if the strange boy had given her a glimpse of hope, when in this world hope was in short supply. Maybe she was overthinking it but she felt as though the boy’s calm aura had stayed with her. Too distracted by her thoughts Anna excused herself from practice for the first time and decided to walk home.

Walking home in the pitch dark Anna didn’t feel as scared or as lonely as she used to. Strangely she felt comforted by the mystery aura which followed her home. Upon entering her empty house Anna went to the living room and lit a warm fire. On cold nights like this Anna felt lonelier than ever but tonight she could feel the presence of someone else in the room.

Going over to her dad’s old rusty vinyl player Anna placed hers and her dad’s favourite vinyl onto the player and waited for the beautiful music to begin to play.

Wearing her new slippers Anna danced and twirled around the living room as she laughed and smiled, enjoying the warm atmosphere that felt comforting to her.

“Father don’t you just love this song” the young Anna asked her father who sat lazily in his armchair watching his young daughter dance around the room, the orange light from the fireplace glowing across the room. “Yes sweetheart, you dance perfectly to this song. I think this song was made for you” he said as he watched his daughter's face light up with a smile.

“Come dance with me Father”

Anna lay awake that night fondly reminiscing about her father who did everything for her.

“Don’t worry It’s just a bit of thunder nothing to be afraid of” he used to say when she would sob into his neck afraid of the loud crashes and bright flashes of a thunderstorm.

“One day I want to be a brave ballerina who isn’t afraid of anything” she had told him one night as they watched the bolts of lightning in the distance, from their living room window.

“You will be one day and when you are, I’ll be there to see it”

A few weeks later, Anna was smiling at her reflection in the mirror of the backstage dressing room. Anna was ready, she had been practicing for this day her entire life. Looking down at her odd pair of pointe slippers Anne felt like crying with happiness but also despair. Three years ago on a snowy winter's day her father, who had been driving home from work, got into a car accident and slipped into a coma. Since Anna had no other family apart from her precious father, it had been her decision to turn off her father's life support when it became clear he wasn't going to recover. Ever since that dreadful day Anna had struggled to make important decisions as she feared that the consequences would be too hard to deal with. But now as she waited to be called onto the stage, Anna felt as though her odd pair of pointe slippers would help her to glide across the stage just like she'd always dreamed about. Perhaps if she really focused, she might even see her father watching on proudly as his daughter floated along with the music, like a true ballerina.

Walking onto the stage with her head held high and her legs steady, Anne caught a glimpse of a familiar looking raven haired boy sitting next to an elderly man who's eyes glistened when they caught hers.

The music began and as a single tear drop fell down her cheek, Anne glided along the stage finally feeling like she had found her home again.