Dancing in the Firelight

Tonight was the night. It was the night of the dance. Kelly had never been so excited. In all her twenty years of life, nothing had ever come close to what she felt when she woke up that morning. The Appleville Gala only came around once every ten years, and ever since she had caught only a glimpse of it as a child, there had been nothing she wanted more than to attend one.

That night, ten years ago, still felt like a dream. She still remembered how the night sky had been crystal clear and full of stars that shimmered around the orange glow of the harvest moon, and how it had felt to sit at the window with her mother as all of the adults walked by towards the town hall. They had been dressed in three piece suits with polished loafers, and ties of every color, and oh, how the dresses had glittered! Done in every cut she had ever seen, some so scandalous that the thought of them still made her blush. 

Her own dress was more modest, but still a little racy. She had chosen one of red silk that clung to her curves. For shoes, she had decided to neglect them and go barefoot. It wasn’t too cold out, after all, and she wanted to remember the feeling of the floorboards under her feet.

The day was a slog. She had been given a long list of chores to do, and had homework besides. There were dishes to clean, floors to mop, shelves to dust, and laundry to let out, but she did it all, and the homework too. She even finished with an hour to spare, but that was when her mother returned from work and went looking for her.

She came up to Kelly with a determined look on her face, a look Kelly knew well. It meant she was about to say something that Kelly didn’t want to hear. And sure enough, her mother said, “I can’t let you go to the dance tonight.”

“What?”  Kelly asked. 

“It’s not what you think, Kelly. I won’t let you go,” her mother said.

Kelly thought about talking back. She thought about screaming at her mother for being unfair, but instead, she looked down and quietly nodded her head. Her mother seemed happy that her daughter understood, and as though it had just popped into her head, she mentioned that the attic would need cleaning tonight, and wouldn’t Kelly please do that for her?

Kelly agreed happily, and while on her way towards the attic, she slipped into her room, donned her red dress, and hopped out the window. There was still a bit of time before the dance, and she didn’t want her mother to catch her, so instead of going straight to the town hall, she snuck into an alley behind a few old warehouses. She waited there, practicing her dance steps as she watched the sun go down. Finally, the harvest moon rose in the sky and the soft sound of music could be heard in the distance. It was time. 

She half expected her mother to show up and stop her, but there was no sign of the woman as Kelly slid into step with the others walking down towards the town hall. They were all dressed as wonderfully as she remembered, but what she hadn’t expected was the attention she received as she walked by. Kelly didn’t consider herself terribly pretty by any means, but as she walked through the crowd, all eyes turned towards her. They lined up to dance with her as soon as she stepped onto the dance floor.

Later, as the lights in the hall dimmed, a tall, handsome man with red hair took her hand and slipped his arm around her waist. He was dressed all in crimson and black with hints of gold. His eyes were two pits of bright emerald. 

“Dance with me,” he said.

And she found herself saying, “Yes.”

The lights dimmed until only candlelight remained, and the music began to pick up. She seemed to glide across the floor in his arms. It was as if every step he took was in perfect harmony with hers. It seemed impossible, but it was almost as if his dance was making her a better dancer with each and every step. She was mesmerized, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that they were the center of attention. The townspeople had cleared the dance floor for them, and now stood in a circle all around. For the first time, she noticed that strange lines had been painted across the floorboards.

The red haired man picked up the pace. Soon, Kelly was breathing heavily and beginning to sweat, and not just from exertion. The temperature in the town hall had gone up. Some of the townspeople had brought forth braziers of dark iron in which they lit roaring fires. Kelly tried to pull away, but the man’s grip was like stone, and every attempt to trip him up only seemed to add another step to the dance. Smoke from the braziers filled the hall in a matter of moments, and she felt the floorboards grow hot beneath her feet.

All around them, the townspeople began to chant.

“The King in Red,” they said.

Flames began to flicker into existence across the dance floor. She tried to scream, but he kissed her before she could and spun her between the growing tendrils of fire. Her lips responded to his with a mind of their own.

“The King in Red,” they said.

The fires were all around them now. They struck at her with little tongues that burned and blackened. Still, the man danced.

The King in Red,” they said.

Her dress caught fire. The flames crept up her skin until blisters and cinder were all that she wore. The smoke blotted out the night.

“The King in Red,” they said.

The people of Appleville woke up the next morning happy, and healthy, and went to work with a fresh spring in their step. There was wreckage to clean up, and a new town hall to build. A town hall that would look just the same as all of the others.