Bethany's Last Dance

Spinning some times made her dizzy and honestly it was the one thing about dance that made her uncomfortable, but then there were the lifts and tosses and for just the briefest of moments she was flying that she loved. In those moments she was truly free. Sure her feet hurt all the time and her legs were beat up and more than a few times she had taken bad spills and hurt different parts of her tiny body but it was what she knew and it was what she was best at.

Every professional dancer understands that what they do is special and that it can only last for a little while and for Bethany in moments when she was honest with herself she understood that at most she only had a couple more years left in her. Only Bethany was like most dancers she seldom was honest with herself and so she felt she could go on dancing forever despite age, injuries, or whatever else might happen.

Between seasons her days were spent dieting, working out, and practicing her craft. During season she ramped it up even more which was hard to do. She seldom slept for more than four hours at a time. She almost never ate anything except to fuel her workouts and practices and even then it was mostly bars or shakes. Her body was extremely toned and firm there was almost zero fat any where on her. In her mind that was the way it had to be so that she could continue working.

Bethany had just turned twenty-five when the latest season had wrapped up. As was her routine she would travel from New York back home to Georgia for a few weeks. Where she thought she was resting, her family would beg her to retire and come back home. Her mom would try to set her up with some random guy and sure Bethany would see him a few times maybe even sleep with him but it would just be an exercise for her. She didn’t take any of it seriously. None of it was her life the way dancing was. None of it freed her like those moments where she was flying, and she couldn’t imagine she would ever find that in anything else in her life.

This trip back home would be no different. Her parents begged her to stop performing. They talked about how they would help her set up shop in town in a studio so that she could teach dance. They talk about Michael her college boyfriend and how he would like to see her. It was all their other normal ploys. It went on like that for nearly two weeks until one day they just stopped.

The day they stopped her parents did however talk her into going out to eat at a new place in down town which just so happened to be across the street from the studio that her parents had offered to put her up in. Bethany almost was annoyed but her folks explained that the studio could no longer be gotten as someone else had already scooped up the place and was going to do something with it. A relief came over her as this came to light and so she relaxed a little and tried to enjoy the night with her well-meaning parents. She even allowed her self to eat more than a salad.

The last couple of weeks at her parents home were some of the best times she had living there since she was a little girl before dancing had become her life. She felt that at long last her family understood what she was doing and that she had their blessing.

Her dad drove her back to the airport on the day she was to leave and it was a kind of long drive into Atlanta from the northern part of the state and so it gave her and her dad a little time to talk and it was mostly easy conversation until they hit the cities outer limits.

“B, you understand that your mom and I worry about you doing what you do for a living right? I mean baby you have given so much of your life to this and I admit that it has provided you with a good life so far but it’s really taking a toll on you. You look sick baby. You so skinny and we have both seen you limping around when you thought no one was looking. You don’t have to keep doing this to yourself. Your mom and I want you happy but we want you in one piece, you can understand that can’t you. Please B just stay here with us. You would be a wonderful dance teacher and you can have a whole life not just a part of one that is going to leave you broken if you don’t stop.” Tears were freely rolling down her father’s cheeks when he finished his speech. Bethany was in shock at this she was not use to seeing her father crying and his words were ringing true to her. She knew that she was hobbled a little but she didn’t think anyone had noticed it. Her father was all but begging her to stop and just stay home. In that moment she thought very seriously about not going back to New York but that moment was fleeting.

“Daddy, I can’t give it up not yet. I still have some thing to give and one or two more seasons will mean that I can retire in better shape financially. I want you guys to understand that I’m just no ready to give it up while I can still do it. There is nothing physically stopping me.” Her father started to mention the limp but Bethany stopped him before he could start on it. “Its just a little sore is all. I’ll be fine you know that right Daddy.” The two had arrived outside of Jackson International Airport and she reached over and kissed her father on the cheek. “Daddy I promise that after this season I will seriously think about coming back home for good but let me have one more year in the sun ok.” The two hugged a long time and her dad kissed his little girl on the cheek and forehead and for old times sake pinched her nose.

Like a good father he helped her unload her bags even though the people parked behind him blew their horns and cursed out their windows at him to hurry. One last embrace and he set his only child off again into the grown up world. He hoped that she would do more than just keep her promise of thinking about coming home, he hoped she would come back for good. His little girl needed to come home before something bad happened to her. In that moment he had a though as his daughter turned one last time and looked back at him before blowing him a kiss. In his mind he thought “I don’t want her hurt but I need something to happen so that she can’t do this to herself any more. God she’s so frail.” Then he prayed for his little girl and drove back home.

Flying to New York from Atlanta is not a very hard task. A person just has to be very patient. Normally Bethany was but she had been a little shaken by the last words of her father.  She understood that her parents wanted the best for her but their idea of best and her idea of best was no where near the same.

Bethany limped along pulling her rolling carry on bag slowly behind her. As was normally the case the airport was really busy. She was thankful that she had gotten there kind of early. It would give time to get to her gate after getting through security and maybe sit down and get off of her feet for a little while before her flight.

She felt completely whipped when she finally made it to the seats outside of her gate. Her flight did not board for another forty-five minutes or so she found a seat facing the windows and watched plane after plane taxi and line up for take off. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so weak and so spent. She dozed off while sitting there.

Some time later she was awakened by a kind faced old woman. “Dear I think you had best wake up I believe your flight is almost finished boarding.” Bethany jumped up startled. “yes, thank you ma’am.” Bethany hurried as best she could over to the ticket stand and boarded her plane just before they closed the door.

She had nearly missed her flight due to a nap. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that something just wasn’t right. She took her seat and settled in for the flight to New York. Once the plane was in the air she texted a few of her friends in New York to tell them she was on her way back and try to explain how off she felt. None replied right away and so she put her phone away and drifted back off into the land of dreams. She dreamed of dancing. She was doing so well and the male dancer went to lift her and her couldn’t. She was too heavy for him. She stopped dancing and looked at herself and she was becoming very bulky all of a sudden. She had always been slim and toned but now her muscles swelled and bulged. She could hear her tights stretching and tearing as her calves and thighs almost instantly doubled in sized. He shoulders where becoming wider. The muscles on her neck grew larger. Her normally slender arms filled out larger and larger becoming as large as her still slender waist. Her chest expanded became hard ripping her top down the middle starting at the neck and stopping just below her growing pectorals. Her stomachs tightened up and her ab muscles, which she already had, became harder and more defined. She was some kind of huge muscle bound woman who she barely recognized.

While all of this was happening in her dream, it was also taking place in real life. Her jeans split like and an over ripe melon all the way up her legs. Her tee shirt stretched to it limits and moved up her mid-section and finally ripping apart at the sleeves and the sides as she grew more muscular. Her body was racked in pain but still she remained asleep and that kept her from experiencing too much of it. But she was not alone almost one in three of every female on board the airplane was experiencing some type of transformation. What would later be called the flash had just occurred and for women like Bethany their lives would never be the same.