No one gets everything they want. If anyone did, it would be Noel Pirelli. Noel is a twenty four year old actress in New York City. Everyone on Broadway knew her well. She deserved everything she did have and everything she would get; including the consequences to her flaws.

It was June 28, 2010: Noel’s birthday. Her full five foot eleven frame was hunched over in the dimly lit corner of the backstage area in Burton Theater. This hunch was partly out of the nervousness and thoughts of failure that resounded in her head, and partly because the parts of her brain that weren’t mulling over the potential horrors which this day could end in were focused on the script she held close to her face. At this point, the music notes and dialogue were blurring together and not reaching her conscious mind. Her nervousness had consumed her. From the large stage that sat ten feet in front of her, she could faintly hear the sound of her competition. Immediately, Noel straightened up and shook the nervousness. Her will to succeed was much more powerful than nervousness.

Noel was the next to audition for the judges. When she heard the regal and booming voice of the director bellow “Next: Noel Pirelli” she walked swiftly to the stage, her long jet black hair waving like a flag behind her. “Begin singing measure 40 of Follow Your Heart” said the director. Noel turned the page of the script to the appropriate place and began. She couldn’t hear herself, but her soprano voice carried to the ears of the director whose reaction Noel watched carefully. His creased, rough face showed absolutely no sign of any emotion. This was very unusual to Noel. She was used to knowing the directors thoughts immediately after examining their expressions. Usually they would widen their eyes and get a crooked smile that would tell her they were impressed by her performance; or in rare cases they would slump a little in their seats and avoid eye contact with her which told her they did not like her performance. This director’s vacant, expression showed Noel nothing. As a result of this, her nervousness began to creep back up, falling over her like a black shroud. Once this happened, she was nearing the end of the part she had to sing. Before she reached the last note, she heard an emotionless, “Thank You.” Instantly, she knew she was not getting the role. The words “thank you” are something an actor or actress never wants to hear. It’s a directors polite way of asking you to leave because he doesn’t think you’re right for the part. Never the less, Noel turned and left out the back stage door.

Noel walked with her head down quickly to her custom purple BMW. She opened the driver side door and nearly threw herself in. As soon as the door was shut, Noel began to uncontrollably hyper ventilate and shake vigorously. Tears began to roll down her cheeks. Between staggered breaths and sobs she managed to scold herself for what she called a “pathetic audition”. After about five minutes of this emotional break down, there was a loud rapping on her window. She straightened up immediately and began to wipe at her red and puffy eyes as if to make them presentable to whoever she was about to encounter. She turned to look at the visitor and realized it was her brother Tony.

To most people, seeing Tony at your driver side window would be more than frightening. He was about six foot six and a solid two hundred fifty pounds. He used this to his advantage. Like his and Noel’s father, Tony was in the Mafia. As scary as this may sound to you, to Noel, her brother was just a big teddy bear. They had been extremely close growing up and he protected her and adored her with everything he had. He had threatened to break the legs of three of her ex boyfriends and two that cheated on her haven’t been heard from for a while, and none of these situations ever reached the awareness of Noel. When all went wrong, Tony was the first person she went to.

“Hey ya sis!” exclaimed Tony as she turned to make eye contact with him. “Tony! What are you doing here?” she asked, not that she needed to. She knew he was here for the mafia. “Just finished a job down the street and I saw your car here, figured I’d come see how you were—hey, are you crying?” “Nah, Tony I’m fine.” she replied trying to muster up a confident voice. “Noel, don’t lie. You have been bawling your eyes out. Who do I have to kill?” he asked as his Italian temper began to show in his cherry red face and his voice that seemed to have acquired such an edge it might cut right through concrete. “No one Tony, I just had a bad audition, that’s all.” she said with shame. She hated to remind herself that she had just made a fool of herself. “Did that no good director think my sister isn’t good enough, I’ll show him good enough!” he shouted as he began walking towards the theater.

Noel knew that if Tony got a hold of that director that he would not be directing that show or any show ever again. She also knew that it wasn’t his fault and she couldn’t let Tony kill him. She flung the car door open and went after Tony. She had to do it at a run because for every four of her strides, Tony took one. “Tony, No! Come back here. It’s alright. Please Stop!” He had gotten such a head start and was so determined to avenge his little sister, he barely even heard her. He had reached the theater door and Noel was still running about ten feet away. All Noel saw was the door of the theater slamming shut behind him as he went in, making a thundering noise as it did so. At this, Noel began to sprint as if her life depended on it mainly because she thought that the director’s life depended on it. She finally reached the theater door and opened it with a lot less intensity than her brother had. Even in a rush, Noel was graceful. As the door opened, Noel heard her brother’s gruff, dagger like voice yell “Who do yous think you are?” At that point, she knew things were going to end badly.