The Sun Had Set on All
Emily Paterson
Struggling with a three seated sofa, attempting to steer it down a set of curved stairs would definitely have been the lowest point of an unforgettable week. Whilst one person was shouting left the other was shouting right and I was stuck in the middle, quite literally. My heart sank as a bundle of clothes brushed again my back; I spun round and saw my costume being roughly packed into a dilapidated cardboard box. Without noticing we had reached steady ground, amazingly with the sofa still intact. I flopped into the middle and with a heavy sigh I was soon joined by other disheartened cast members, seeking for a joke to break our uncharacteristically negative attitudes. Helping each other up, everything felt like a task, after searching around the room my attention was brought to a group of girls whose liquid filled eyes told a story. Anyone not involved with shows would have instantly labelled us, the stereotypical drama queens. Yet it is difficult to explain such feelings of disappointment once the production has came to an end, the thought of not performing the show that had became part if our lives was most definitely understandably sad, yet our extreme emotions were maybe not so justifiable.
As we gathered in the bar downstairs we were all guided out the front door onto the tiered steps, a crystal green bottle of champagne was popped open, a little too excitedly by the youngest cast member. As we were showered in the foamy alcohol we all danced around in celebration, in a somewhat secretly despondent manner. A group hug was conducted and we all stood, holding on to one other, our grip contained the words of thanks and gratitude we all felt for each other that we feared to express. After watching the shabby white van be loaded with the final few props and costume accessories it pulled away. Suddenly it felt like the warm and peaceful night was being inconsiderate of our emotions.
We clearly weren't yet ready to see less of each other; not much later that evening I had arrived at a cast member's house prepared to reminisce in the unforgettable moments of the past few months. Three pizzas and an excessive amount of ice cream later we all seemed to appear considerably more upbeat. Following the arrival of several other people seeking for their usual crowd of melodramatic friends a guitar was brought out and as we sang at the top of our voices. I found myself laughing without even noticing. It was one of those rare moments where nothing particularly amusing happens yet sheer happiness appears to take over your body. Instead of longing to repeat the last week suddenly I couldn't seem to wait for the summer which contained so many days it seemed endless.
Without making a conscious decision to go outside we all put on jumpers regardless of who they belonged to and carelessly shoved our tired feet into shoes and opened the heavy doors to the garden. The dull sky told us evening had passed and we had entered early morning of the next day. Nobody needed to say anything and we all followed each others steps almost exactly, not out of fear of being different but due to trust that this was the right direction. The country fields loomed in front of us, bare and endless in beautiful varying shades of green and yellows. The grass was wild and carefree and we battled our way through it laughing, affectionately as each person fell over with the weight of the strands tugging at out ankles.
As soon as we all felt a break was necessary an ancient looking tree was spotted in the near distance. We scrambled on and balanced ourselves at a point on it its gnarled branches. As we gazed into the distance the moon had began to dismantle taking with it the past week. However as the sun rose a new day had begun, and had brought with it the prospects of an everlasting summer.
