Prompt: "break"; in 500 words, tell us what happens when there is a break.

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Melody waited on the terrace outside the party for Pirouette to come for her, but she was late. Surely, she hasn't gotten caught, Melody thought, tonight of all nights. They had decided to run away together, two women in love, a singer and a dancer, far from House Treble and Stage Plié. But, her beloved was nowhere to be seen.

After waiting for several hours, Melody realized that Pirouette was simply not coming. She wiped her tears so that, when she walked through the last dregs of the party, no one would see them.

As she made her way to the exit of the Party Hall, she spied an odd thing; a mirror was covered with a cloth. Not being able to resist her curiosity, she pulled at the cloth, exposing the mirror.

To her horror, she saw her beloved Pirouette trapped inside the mirror. She gasped and called out, "Pirouette! Pirouette! Love, can you hear me?" She put her hand on the mirror as the young woman inside beat at the glass. Melody, fractic, looked for something with which to break the glass and set Pirouette free.

"Wait! Daughter!" her father called, running to the mirror. "Do not break that mirror! Surely Pirouette would perish!" he lied.

"Better she die than to be trapped so!" Melody cried, grabbing the poker from the fireplace. Slowly, the plot unfolded before her in her mind. She pointed the poker at her father, "You! You did this somehow!" She screamed.

"I did it for you!" he shouted back.

Melody raged, running for him, but, at the last second, turned to break the mirror. The shards of glass fell to the floor, crashing and breaking as they did and she heard Pirouette scream. She dropped the poker and ran to help her love climb out.

"No!" Forte shouted.

The two women in each other's arms once again, Melody turned to her father, "I don't know what price you paid to have this done, but I hope that it was something you hold dear."

Forte cried and sank to his knees. He'd given his singing voice, his song, his very soul, for naught. In the turmoil of his mind, he heard the old crone he had struck the bargain with laugh.

"There is a price," she cackled. "There is always a price."