Today was meant to be simple and the start of her performing career. Not only was she a center dancer for tonight's show, but they were also going to let her sing, not lip-sync. Which was a big deal in modern-day Burlesque. It was standard to do lip syncs and original choreography. They only opened up auditions for new singers when one of the girls left. And that's just what happened. Carly was getting married and moving. Good news for Carly AND Salem.

Having always loved being on stage and singing, Salem’s life goal was to make it on Broadway one day. With practice over, she ran out of the building barefoot whilst checking her phone. On the luminescent screen, she about jumped for joy.

An e-mail hat could very well change her life, glowed brightly.

Ms. Salem, We would like to thank you for your interest in the Dallas Doh Theatre group and are thrilled to offer you a second-round try-out. The Dohs' had many candidates and only a few were selected to move forward. Second rounds will be held...

This was an e-mail from the Dallas Doh Theatre recruitment team. 

"Holy.."

The rest of the e-mail went on to provide a date and time and theme for the audition as well as other conditions and rules. Salem had stopped dead in her tracks inside the lobby of the burlesque lounge to carefully read through the e-mail. She didn't want to miss a word. 

She was ecstatic. This meant that not only was she singing live for tonight's show, but she could very well be one step closer to Broadway.

I'll need to get a plain manicure and move wash day up... Salem’s thoughts were all over the place. Her hair was currently in a protective style: individual, yet long twists. Great for training and practice but not for an audition. As her mind went through all the possible styles and potential wigs she had stored ready at her apartment, she slammed the lobby doors open.

BAAM!

As she burst through the double doors of the cabaret lounge’s lobby with the intention to sprint to her trusty civic, Salem had not expected to find a blank space. What should have been a parking lot, was pitch blackness.

“What the fu-” She murmured in shock.

Her eyes narrowed in confusion thinking she might have gone blind in an instant. All the excitement she had felt seconds ago, vanished along with what seemed to be her sight.

WHOOSH!

Salem spun around and some of her twists slapped her in the face. She ignored the deep red twists that were her natural hair and glared. She wanted to ask Krystal, a co-worker who had been right behind her if she was seeing the same thing she was. Only to find, the inside of the lounge was no longer there.

Panic and fear struck Salem at that exact moment. Convinced now that she had indeed gone blind due to the lack of... well anything, Salem crouched down and closed her eyes for a moment. Open or closed, she could see nothing.

With a deep sigh, Salem opened her mouth to get ready to call for help when her skin felt like it was on fire.

Her eyes popped open immediately and if only for a second, she forgot the intense burning feeling. There was her left hand in all its glory. Her various sterling silver or gold rings adorned her fingers and her arm had several small tattoos. Wrapped around her left wrist was her gold smartwatch.

“Ok, I’m not blind…”

Salem repeatedly opened and closed her eyes to verify this fact. And it was on the third verification that she noticed. One, the burning feeling had not gone away, it had just gone down to warming. And two: her arm, scratch that, her whole body in view, was glowing.

Salem’s brown eyes widened in shock before she jumped up. Once she jumped up, she felt the dull thump of her backpack pound her back.

“Holy FUCKKKK! Am I on fire?” She began to whisper furiously. Salem began to do what could only be described as a half-assed hokey pokey as she began to fret about in this black space.

“STOP DROP AND ROLL!!!” Salem exclaimed in late realization. She was about to dive headfirst, into literally nothing when the black void turned into a bright white. The sudden change irritated her eyes and she lifted her arms to cover her face when she began to hear what she assumed were multiple voices.

“Djekjlsmolhjiw kendmldmalsskdnmuehnn jkgdaksdna; loerne, ncjdcbau, dlejiowlknmejbavba wjshdmdnbegk”

“HELLO?!” Salem shouted. Her head was pounding at the sudden noise.

But the voices only seemed to get louder.

•ΔΗΣΚΕΗϑΣΝΚΝΕΟΦ ΚΛΔΧΣΝΚΔϑΦΒΧΣΚΝΑ.ΚΣΕΗΦΚϑ ΝΧΖ,ΜΣΧ€ ΔΦΝΚΣΖΙΚΦ.ΛΣΣΚΔΣΝΜΔΛΔΧ ΝΣΚΧΝΣΚΑΝΕΥΝΚΛΑ.Λϑ.ΛΟΛΩΙΑΛ;,ΝΑμϕηεκλνδ δκλα! Νκηδαλ;.υοεδ!

•Ωε συμμον ψου!•

•Ωε συμμον ψου!•

•Ωε συμμον ψου!•

“We summon you!”

“We summon you! Great Saintess!”

That was the last thing Salem heard and understood before the burning stopped and the now white void had disappeared. What replaced what she now realized were chants were shocked gasps.

Salem opened her eyes and lowered her still-raised arms. A part of her was praying she would open her eyes and see the parking lot she so desperately craved more than ever. Of course, her prayers went unanswered as she stood stock-still surrounded by several dozen people in white robes. The ground beneath her felt uneven, and when she looked down, she realized the ground had been carved out to make some large symbol or another. The ‘room’ she seemed to find herself in was dimly lit by fires on torches. As she slowly looked around to take in her surroundings, she became increasingly aware of the disgusted or terrified faces she saw from those whose hoods had not been up covering their faces.

Unfamiliar with this blatant hostility and disgust, Salem tried to smile at these strange people who had kidnapped(?) her.

Am I dreaming? I don't remember falling asleep...

“Um... excuse me.” Salem took a single step forward and every single robed individual took 3 steps back.

This one act made Salem's mood do a 180. Now she was frustrated and slightly pissed.

Fucking great. Even in my dream, I’ve been kidnapped by what looks to be racists.

“Look, can someone tell me where I am? Or at least what the hell y’all did?”

She was rewarded with silence and the tension in the air became thicker. Salem’s eyes spotted a stairwell behind the largest cluster of robed individuals. No longer in the mood to play nice, Salem adjusted the straps of her duffle bag and began to walk out of what she was just going to call “the summoning circle” Of course, the nerd in her was really curious about her current dream-like situation but she had seen enough horror and thriller movies to know her main priority was to bolt it out of here.

Every step she took had the robed individuals gasping and trembling. Several of which took to running up the stairs she herself was making her way toward.

“STOP DEMON!” One voice bravely shouted.

Salem flinched at the choice of words before turning her head to look for the owner of the voice. She soon found him. The voice belonged to one of the taller-robed people. He had short platinum blonde hair and a mask covering his face.

Salem narrowed her eyes at him before commencing her walk out of the reasonably large circle.

“There is a barrier around the summoning platform demon! You will not be able to leave!” He continued to shout. Salem registered the anxiety in his voice. Salem ignored the urge to smile at the fact that she had been right about the summoning circle as she continued to walk. The huge anime nerd in her wanted to do a little dance but she kept a straight face. She reached the end of the platform facing the stairs and raised her hand to test said barrier. The platform she was on seemed to be raised at a higher level. She could not see a barrier like the one this person was shouting about.

Salem raised her hand and slowly pushed it through in anticipation of this “barrier”. Her hand easily went through as nothing stopped it. She felt no resistance. Salem once again looked back at the man. Even in this dim lighting, Salem could clearly see the man’s face paling. If not for the current circumstances, Salem would be flirting right now.

“Oh, Gods…”

“What have we done…”

“A demon has come upon our land.”

Salem took in the collective sound of sobbing before she frowned. At this point, she was certain she was dreaming as no sane person in the 21st century would call a black girl a demon to her face. Confident she was in a dream, Salem decides to let go of her civil attitude completely.

“Demon. Demon. Demon. I’m not a demon you assholes. I’m black.” She growled before jumping down from the elevated platform easily. It wasn’t higher than the stage she was accustomed to performing on. Once again no barrier was there to stop her like what he spoke of. A majority of the robed individuals immediately fell to the ground in fear as she walked past the ones who stood in front of the staircase. Many fell to their bottom and others fell into a pitiful bow.

Forgetting shock at the different environment and culture around her, Salem was just annoyed at this rude ‘welcome’. She wanted to leave this dark and dull place and go outside to get some fresh air and some idea of where she was. She couldn’t stand a second longer in this dismal summoning prison. Even for a dream, she thought this was ridiculous.