“Welcome to this week’s dance class, everyone. For those first-timers, I’m Michael, your instructor. Let’s begin with introductions from the first-timers.”
They moved around the circle, nervous laughter flitting between strangers. more so when Tom, dressed in a top hat and tails, introduced himself. When they finished, Michael counted again.
Eleven. An odd number.
“Well,” he smiled, clapping once, “who’d like to partner with me? Maggie?”
“I’m with Emily, my wife,” announced Maggie.
“Tom?” Michael gestured. “You don’t mind dancing with another man, do you? After all, you’re dressed for the part.”
Tom looked horrified. “Why would I dance with a man? I’m here with my wife.”
There was a polite pause while everyone waited for Tom’s wife to reveal herself. A few people looked towards all the empty space around Tom.
“Of course,” Michael said casually as he broke the silence. “Right, take your positions, everyone. I’ve some hits of the eighties to dance to later, but first we’re going to do an old-fashioned waltz.”
Tom frowned before music filled the room, and shoes softly whispered over polished wood. Partners turned, stepped, and breathed together.
Tom moved carefully, one hand curved around an invisible waist, the other clasping fingers no one else could see. Every now and then, Michael and the other dancers watched Tom smile as he spoke to himself.
“Tom,” Michael said gently, as he approached the edge of the mirror. “Are you sure you’re all right? You’re dancing alone.”
“But she’s right here with me. We’ve been coming here for years,” he said as he faced Michael and the large, mirrored wall. “Tell him, Darling.”
In the room, the figure of a much younger woman in a ball gown appeared in Tom’s arms.
Maggie gasped. Emily staggered backwards while Michael felt the air leave his lungs.
The woman kissed Tom on the cheek, leaving lipstick on his face, and then lifted a hand and pressed it flat against the mirror.
Inside the mirror, Michael and the other dancers started to scream. Tom watched as their reflections shattered into tiny pieces along with the mirror before he and his wife left the room.
Outside the old music hall, where many from the past once danced, the ghostly figures of a man in a top hat and tails and a woman in a ball gown departed the hall once more. Tom hadn’t liked the glimpse of the future he had seen in the mirror.
Written in response to Esther Chilton’s Writing Prompt: Theme: Dance.
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I miss dressing up; I look at old films and photos how people dressed to parties, even to go to the ballgame.
How times have changed. Even when I go out to dinner, I’m surprised by how many people no longer dress up for the occasion. It seems that jeans (or even shorts) and a t-shirt are now considered dressing up.
I was thinking tom may have had dementia! Brilliantly written Hugh! Xo
No, he was of his time and simply visiting a place he onced loved, but this time as a ghost.
Thanks, Carol Anne.
In my youth, in the time before the dinosaurs, I attended a dancing class with my friends. It was so long ago that ballroom dancing was what you did. The new modern dances like the shake and the twist were looked down on.
Mind you, I did a pretty good twist, but not as good as your story ending!
I’m being asked to sign in AGAIN. I can’t lise what I just wrote, so I’m signing this anonymous post.
Vivienne
Ballroom dancing has become more popular since the birth of TV shows such as Strictly Come Dancing. I’m a fan of the show, but how they lean all those steps in six days is amazing.
It’s great to see how many of the original dances have come full circles. If I had to do one, it would be the Charleston.
A very lovely story, Hugh. To Tom it was real and that’s all that mattered. Thank you for sharing.
That’s very true, Jan. For him, he never lived long enough to see for real the future he didn’t much care for.
Intriguing story, Hugh! Quite the twist at the end. 😲
I always enjoy adding in that twist, Debbie.
Loved this Hugh. I really didn’t expect the ending. Great job
Good to hear, thanks, Brenda.
Oh, I love the eeriness and the twist at the end. A brilliant write, Hugh.
Glad it all came through, Eugi.
I met my husband taking dance lessons (30+ years ago). We still dance when we can… and I hope to continue dancing after we are gone. 🙃
What a lovely story of how you met your husband. Keep on dancing, Janis.
Oh, thanks for the story, Hugh. So, we better learn from that story before we share the same destiny…
Very true, Erika. When the past and the future meet, things can go in the wrong direction. Thank goodness the present hardly exists.
What I love abut your stories is how we never know where they’re going to go. Very atmospheric and chilling towards the end. Nicely done, Hugh.
Thank you, Esther. As you know, I enjoy taking the reader down the wrong path.
I’ve never been to a dance class…and probably won’t ever attend one 😆 Nicely done, Hugh.
Thank you. Don’t allow my story of a dance class put you off from trying, Cathy. Strictly Come Dancing, here I come…
Chilling, Hugh! What a fate for the other dancers who dared to scoff at Tom and his wife!
Exactly, Terri. Don’t mess with people you see on the otherside of a mirror.
Nicely spooky. Reminds me of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining!
Not a movie I have seen. On the night I was meant to watch it, the choice was ‘The Sound Of Music’ or ‘The Shining.’ I’m still singing ‘I am 16 going on 17!’
I was so terrified when I read The Shining I shut the book. Going to see the movie in the Student Union with a bunch of irreverent students was the only way I would see it.
I used to be a lover of horror movies. But as I have grown older, I don’t seem to have the urge to watch them anymore.
Me, too. I had to do the same thing when I went to see The Silence of the Lambs. And I even played a role i in that!
Did you? Which part? I don’t think I’ve met anyone who has been in a movie before.
I raised the insects and trained the insect wrangler how to get them to do what the directors wanted!
Not bad, Hugh, not bad. :) After reading your story I don’t think I will ever attend a dance class. Not that it’s my thing anyway.
I once attended a line-dancing class, Liesbet. The cowboys were great, but the dancing was not me.
Very nicely written. And a little spooky. 🤣😎🙃