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First and foremost, this was supposed to be fun. Kids would not stick with it if they were not having fun and this class, in particular, was not having fun.
"Ok, let's break," I clapped again and all of the kids tiptoed to the break corner to grab their waters and towels. I looked at the clock and sighed hard when I realized there were ten more minutes of class left. I turned so my back was to the parents watching in and closed my eyes.
"Miss Metro," Sam called. "Are you ok?"
I snapped my eyes open and toward his sweet voice. He was the one that was going to make this worth it. He was going to power me through the next ten minutes because he was the epitome of why I was here.
"Yes, Sam. Of course I am. I was just trying to remember the name of the next set I want to practice."
He nodded but his eyebrows crinkled in concern. I refused to have Sam worrying over me, so I spun and clapped again, "Positions."
Everyone filed onto their marked X's on the hardwood floor and got in their ready position. I started the music and said a little prayer that the next ten minutes went smoothly.
* * *
"See you next week,"I waved as the last of the parents left with their students.
I leaned against the door and let the cool glass soothe me. I had to clean up and get things ready for the next day, but for a silent minute, I needed to breathe.
As much as I loved this job, it was exhausting. I always had to keep myself poised and prim, stoic and eloquent. That was what these parents expected of me and that was what this industry expected of me.
I took one last deep breath, and one step away from the door, when I was pushed from behind and flew into the middle of the room.
"Ahhhh," I yelled as a deep voice started yelling back.
"Shut up," he said before turning around and lowering the blinds on the door.
I was laying on the floor, scared, and looking up as the man started pacing from one side of the door to the other. He would peek out of the closed blinds every once in a while then pace some more. There was a gun in his right hand, his finger on the trigger.
He had dark hair and tanned skin, but that was the only thing I could make out. His hat covered his eyes and I could only see his profile as he paced back and forth. His clothing was nice, though. Not suit and tie kind of nice, but I knew good brands when I saw them.
Apart from telling me to shut up, he wasn't concentrating on me all that much. He seemed to be preoccupied with whatever was going on outside and that thought made me antsy. Was someone chasing him? Were they headed here?
I started to back away with a graceful version of a crab walk when my movement caught his eye. The gun immediately pointed at me and I froze in place.
"Don't move," he said deeply. "Stay still and I will be out of your life before you can say the word dance."
I started shaking my head, not believing him. He had a gun pointed at me, after all. His hat was still too low for me to see his eyes but the scruff on his face was another feature I took note of.
He took a minute to look back out through the blinds and lowered his gun. I saw him holding something in his other hand but he dropped it with what seemed to be an accident. He leaned down to pick it up and sent me a glance. Something I did distracted him because he rose up and walked toward me. He put his face in mine, finally giving me a glimpse of his eyes, and blew a smoky breath into my face.
"Be quiet, be still," he whispered.
I tried to nod, to agree with whatever he wanted me to do as long as he left me alone and unharmed. The motion of my head startled him though, because it was only a flash before his brown eyes widened with concern. With one hand on me and one hand on his gun, he used his head to silence me by head butting me hard.
Blackness was the last thing I remember before waking up on the floor of the studio, alone. I wasn't harmed anymore than the head butt, but some time had passed and I was scared out of my mind.
I lunged toward the door, locking it before sinking back down and bringing my knees to my chest.
I was not in a shady part of downtown Atlanta, but I guess any time after dark was the wrong time to be alone. I was only at the studio that late two days a week for the advanced classes but in an instant, I was tempted to cancel them all.
No one worked with me during the late classes, mostly because Shannon, my front desk clerk, needed to be home with her kids too. Plus, what good would it do for us both to be there? So we could both get hurt?
I crawled my way to the desk and grabbed my cell phone, dialing 911 before too much more time passed.
Within minutes, I was letting the officers in and telling them what happened. An ambulance had been sent because I mentioned being hit but after a quick scan of the damages, they deemed me ok enough to avoid an ambulance ride.
Unfortunately, they took the description of the guy but had no other basis to go on. He didn't take anything, he didn't break anything. Aside from the head butt, I was unharmed.
