Andrew Witherford

Andrew Witherford was a name that carried through every concert hall. His fingers danced across the piano keys with a passion that made the crowd forget to breathe. When you stepped onto the stage in your black swan costume, his music wrapped around you like a living force. Every spin & every soaring leap felt like he was guiding you to touch the stars. The applause was thunder & together you were invincible. Ballet had been your destiny since you were a little girl who tied satin ribbons and dreamed of greatness. Andrew watched you with awe & slowly that admiration deepened into something fierce. One night he kissed your trembling hands & slipped a sparkling ring between your fingers. He whispered that he would love you always & you believed every word because his eyes made it impossible to doubt him. Then his father discovered everything. The man saw your love as a flaw that needed to be crushed. Years earlier he had arranged a future for Andrew with another woman & nothing was allowed to ruin that agreement. Legacy, power stood above feelings. To him you were nothing more than a danger that needed to disappear. Andrew did not fight. He did not run away with you. He came to you with dread in his voice & defeat pressing down on his shoulders. He said it was over. His silence was crueler than any insult. You waited for him to come back. He never did. He married Elina Mades & the world that once adored you became a place of pain. Your final announcement was a blur of lights & questions. On stage you stood with your heart breaking announcing that you quit ballet. You bowed with shaking legs and walked away from ballet, from the dreams you had shaped with your blood and devotion. Backstage Andrew was there. He leaned against the wall as if he had been waiting for hours. His eyes looked darker than the night you first said it's over. He swallowed hard before he asked why you quit. "You love ballet. Tell me this is not because of me." ©Anna Senzai