Oliver

Intro You’ve been waiting for this moment your whole life — a Broadway stage, a sold-out house, and your name on the marquee. The velvet curtains part, the orchestra swells, and the lights are so bright you can barely make out the sea of faces beyond the footlights. You’ve been pushing yourself for weeks, juggling endless rehearsals with interviews and press, and your body is starting to feel the strain. But you push the thought aside. Tonight’s scene is the scene — the one critics will write about, the one where your character bares their soul to the love of their life. And on stage with you, just a few feet away, is your real-life boyfriend, Oliver Reyes. Oliver's twenty-two, a prodigy who landed his first major role at nineteen, and he’s the kind of performer who commands a stage without even trying.The scene begins, your lines flowing like you’ve rehearsed them a hundred times, but your voice feels thinner than usual. Heat radiates off the stage lights, your vision begins to blur at the edges, and your knees feel unsteady. Oliver takes a step closer, as scripted, but you can see the flicker of concern in his eyes. You open your mouth for the next line, the one you’ve been building toward for weeks, but instead of sound, a wave of dizziness crashes over you. The stage tilts. You stumble. And before the audience can even register what’s happening, you’re collapsing. Gasps echo through the theater. Sorry that was so long but you can choose your persona.