The Legend

She never stood a chance. Her palms still sweaty, she shoved them in her jacket pockets and headed for the door. The background noise of cheering and celebration was too much to bear. She walked faster. Corinne squinted as the sunlight hit her face. A welcome contrast from the dark, dank theatre she'd left. Her thoughts raced as quickly as the cars whizzing by. "What did I do wrong?", "What if I'd put a little more into that move?", "A little less?". “Perhaps I should have spoken louder?”. Her heart seemed to answer her mind with each question it posed. "I never stood a chance". The truth was piercing. She knew this kind of thing existed but she'd never experienced it back home. Where everyone looked like her, her talent was undeniable. At the University, the hue of her skin seemed to drown out the lines and notes before they came from her mouth

Corinne wanted a role in this show more than anything. When she'd approached the paper taped to the wooden door there was no doubt she'd find her name. As she scanned the sheet her heart jumped in her chest everytime she saw a name started with "C" and sank when she realized it wasn't hers. Finally, her eyes met the end of the list and her name was nowhere to be found.

She could still feel the emptiness in her chest. The busyness of campus somehow reminded her of her reality. She ached for the slowness of the South. With each though of sweet tea and porch swings the lump in her throat grew larger. Tears welled up in her eyes with a desire the same as her own; escape. The woods at the edge of campus seemed to beckon her. She often went there to get away. It reminded her of the calm of home. She slipped between the trees and into their shadows. Something about their shelter gave permission for the tears to flow. Dripping at first then streaming. She sunk to the leafy ground, the leaves providing little cushion from the twigs below. The sun snuck through the trees and shone on a stream nearby. Ignoring the rough tree bark on her back, her focus on the trickling stream dried the one coming from her eyes. As she watched the water she chuckled to herself at the University legend. The myth had it that if you put your feet in the stream and made a wish it would come true. “I wish” she thought. Images of the events that led up to the paper on the door moment invaded her mind once again. The view from the mirror on the first day of class where her blackness resembled a blemish on a clean white dancing canvas. The instructors twisted lip as she watched the extra sway in her hips after she’d already advised her to do the moves more mechanically. The judges unreadable faces as she walked off the audition stage with confidence. Her face was now a mess of tears and sweat. She slid up the tree and took a few crunchy steps until she reached the edge of the water. She threw off her shoes and submerged her feet. She rested her back on a rock and enjoyed the cool trickle. Calming but not enough to drown her thoughts. “I just don’t understand”. Her thoughts became whispers. “Its not fair!”. “I wish I could read their minds!”. “What do they want from me?”. Now she was screaming. The breeze picked up some. Now more of a wind. Then a symphony of swirling colors. Then darkness.

The first sense to return was smell. The earthy scent of soil and smokiness of wood was now replaced with something much more sterile. Corinne’s eyes blinked open to a dim room with towering bookshelves. Hundreds of books. It wasn’t until her sight returned that she noticed the tiny creatures scurrying about at her feet. Half robot half… squirrel? The creatures carried books to and fro seemingly unaware of her presence. Another figure sat at a cherry wood desk. It was too dim to make out his features. Corinne blinked a few times hoping she’d be back in the woods when her eyes opened again. No such luck. This place was like nothing she’d seen before. Although nothing made sense, the most sensible thing to do was approach the figure at the desk.

“Excuse me….um … Sir?”.

As she got closer she could make out the grey hair and small glasses. He resembled an old man but was not quite human. His movements were robotic. She moved closer but the words seemed trapped somewhere in the recesses of her mind. A mechanical voice bridged the gap.

“Hello, don’t mind me. Just calculating the next step as always”

A soft “huh” was the only word that escaped Corinne’s lips.

“You look familiar. I’ve seen your kind but never here”

“Where are we?”

“This is the library.”

She’d figured out that part but it still didn’t make sense. One of the tiny scurrying creatures lost its balance falling onto it’s side as it collided with her foot.

“What are those?”

The Robot Man sighed and closed the book in which he’d been frantically writing. He seemed exacerbated, as though Corrine’s questions were ridiculous and what was going on around them was commonplace. It definitely felt like the opposite to Corinne.

“They’re Carriers. I tell them which memory to retrieve, they bring it to me and I come up with ideas.”

Memories? Is that what the books were? There were so many questions. Corrine could hardly choose which to utter

“Who’s memories?”

The laugh was almost startling given the Robot Man’s previously monotonous tone.

“The Holder’s of course”. The monotony returned.

The confusion in Corinne’s head must have been leaking onto her face.

“Here, come with me”.

The robot man was much shorter than he’d looked sitting at the desk. Not surprisingly, given the oddity of the past few moments, instead of walking he rolled toward her on wheels peeking from under a long blue lab coat. He lead her to a door and down a white hall. There were rooms on every side, each with it’s own frenzy of activity. Finally, they reached a large window. The world on the other side was much more familiar. An office, a desk, medals and what seemed to be awards on the wall. It was all to much for her mind to process.

“This is where we see the Product”. Robot Man said with pride and as if it made perfect sense. It didn’t. “Feel free to explore. Take a look around”.

She stared through the glass for a little longer, feeling a sense of comfort in the familiar. As she turned to walk down the hallway she gathered that this was some sort of a factory. Each buzzing room was connected, sharing information and creating something that she didn’t quite recognize. She stepped into a room. More Carriers and robot men. As she tried to make sense of the scene some sort of alarm sounded. The word “input” flashed on a large screen which somehow signaled the creatures and machines to move faster. “Input” was followed by some code she couldn’t decipher. She walked over to a different grey haired, glasses wearing being.

“Excuse me? Where are we?”

“Receiving, of course”

Asking more questions seemed futile. She longed for something more recognizable so she sauntered back out to the large window. The image nearly brought her to her knees. The stage, the lights, the actors. The auditorium where she’d walked off the stage with confidence. She’d figured it out. This was torture. Hell? Had she died in the woods? She wanted nothing more than to look away, to run. But where would she go? Her eyes were glued to the glass. The other actor’s saying the lines and performing the steps she’d practiced for so long was heartbreaking. She was relieved when she heard the word “cut” over what sounded like a speaker inside the factory. The actors walked off the stage seeming exhausted. Anger welled up in her chest. It should be her. The speaker sounded again.

“This isn’t working”

Now from outside “Be patient, it’ll get there”.

“It just isn’t not right”

Corrine recognized the voices. The stone faced Judges from the auditions.

“Lets call them back”

The actors returned to the stage. Slowly. Unenthusiastically. Almost listless. Corrine couldn’t help but think of how excited she always was to be under the lights. She watched the next act. Lackluster. Boring.

“Cut! It’s a wrap for today guys”

The actors seemed relieved. They grabbed their things and exited. The Judges seemed relieved as well.

“Can we call her back?”. The voice from the speaker sounded almost desperate.

“That’s ridiculous. It’ll get better.” She could barely hear the voice outside the window.

“It won’t! It’s just not right. We needed her and you know it!”. The speaker was much louder now.

“Alex, you know how those people are. Remember the last one?”. The whispering made the outside voice even more almost inaudible.

“I do… but…”

“There were no characters like her in the original show and we don’t need them now. Our audience just isn’t ready. Besides the donors would be livid if those spots didn’t go to their kids”

“Fine. Your right.”

She could hear the disappointment through the speaker. She watched as the view shifted to a hallway, the office she’d seen earlier, the parking lot and streets she’d driven down so many times before. Then into a house, a shower and a bedroom. The screen went black.

Everything seemed to go quiet. She ventured back down the hallway. The little creatures were still. Only one room seemed active. She asked the robot man of this room where she was. His response, “Dreams”, somehow made sense. She explored other rooms which now seemed frozen. Back in the library the original Robot Man was still. Powered down it seemed. Carefully, afraid of what disturbing him might do, she picked up the book he’d been writing in off of the cherry wood desk. She sank to the floor amidst the motionless creatures. Their fur was more intricate than she’d noticed before. Deep browns intertwined with black and hues of red. Beautiful actually. She flipped through the book to the most recently written on page. She had to read twice to believe the words. Random scribblings but all related:

Her execution is flawless.

Wow, perfect.

I’ve never seen any this like it before.

Beautiful.

The final scribbling was the most surprising. Her heart sank just as it had when her name was absent on the door. But this time it rose again and filled to the point that she felt it would explode.

I think we’ve found our next star. Corinne Jest.

She froze for a second, blending with the room around her, and closed her eyes as not to be distracted by the peculiar world around her. She allowed those words to settle somewhere deep inside. Her heart beat a little slower, her breath a little lighter. She was consumed by a feeling she hadn’t felt since landing at the busy airport on move-in day months ago. Not quite contentment but some mingling of calm and resolve. Peace. She wasn’t sure if the warmth was coming from inside or out. The view behind her eyelids transitioned from a dark grey to orangeish red. She slowly opened her eyes. Dancing green above, sparkling silver at her feet, the smell of earth and wood filling the air again. Corinne shook her feet dry. Remembering the University legend and the words she’d uttered with the water trickling over her feet, she tried to convince herself that she’d been dreaming. Certainty never came. She rose to her feet and started back in the direction of the dorm. Out of the woods she merged into the stream of students but never blended in. Each person moving quickly to their destination, those who looked like her standing out in the sea of monotony. She smiled to herself and imagined something half human and half robot in the library of her mind scribbling frantically in a book on a cherry wood desk “I don’t belong here… but those who make a difference don't tend to fit in". She was ready for the next audition.