[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Point of View: Nick

The play was spectacular. Kayla was definitely the shining star of the performance, though all the actors - even Todd - had done quite well. The audience roared with applause, though, after each one of Kayla's five songs throughout the play, and she positively glowed under their appraisal. At the very end, when all the actors had come onto the stage to take a bow, she'd been given a standing ovation, which I had observed, clapping and cheering as loud as I could.

When the curtain fell for the final time, I turned to Zoe and offered a hand to help her up. Zoe took it and grabbed her crutches, "I'm going to run to the rest room real quick. You go find Kayla and I'll be there in a minute."

I reached under my seat and grabbed the white box and tugged the ribbon holding it closed off. Inside was a bouquet of wildflowers and roses, tied with a glossy red ribbon. In my pocket was a box, waiting to be given to my star. I walked to the door that Kayla had disappeared through earlier that evening and found myself in a bustling backstage. People were running every which way, chattering loudly. I saw Drew standing guard a few feet away, talking to one of the actresses as she pulled off the bonnet she'd worn as part of her costume. I waved to him and he waved fleetingly back.

I found the door to Kayla's dressing room and knocked. "Kayla? Baby? It's me," I called, reaching for the handle. I twisted the knob and pushed the door opened. The room was empty. It was kind of a mess, clothes flung everywhere. Her bonnet and shoes were by the vanity table, but she was no where to be seen. I ducked around a corner and found a small private bathroom and knocked. "Kayla?"

Still finding no answer, I wandered back to the main part of the room and sat down on the stool by her vanity. I looked at the mirror and spotted a picture of me stuck into the bottom corner, printed off a computer. It was one of me that I didn't recognize, I wasn't sure where or when it was taken. I smirked, realizing she probably saw it on the Internet and liked it.

Zoe came in the room, "Hey," she said, looking around, "Where's Kayla?" she furrowed her brow.

"I dunno," I admitted. Zoe sighed and sat down in a chair a couple feet away and we waited.

When it had been a couple minutes and the commotion in the main part of the backstage area had started dying down, I looked at Zoe. "I'm gonna go find her," I said, standing up.

Zoe nodded, "I'll wait here for her."

"I'll check back in a sec if I haven't found her yet," I answered.

I started my walk, heading out of the dressing room toward the stage, looking through the folds of the red velvet curtain. The flowers hung at my side as I looked, my wrist tired of holding them upright, and the less I worried about the petals shedding as I started getting more nervous about where Kayla was.

"Have you seen Kayla?" I called up to a guy rappelling from the lights overhead of the stage.

"Nope," he yelled back, "Try backstage."

I made my way backstage again, and passed Drew, "Hey have you seen Kayla?" I asked him.

His radar instantly went up. "You can't find her?"

"No," I answered.

Drew looked sheepish for having lost track of her and started walking around the backstage, poking his head into various dressing rooms and investigating who the last was to see Kayla.

I was standing by a light fixture when Lauren went by, carrying three bottles of champagne. "Hey, you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, just looking for Kayla, you seen her?" I asked.

Lauren shrugged, "Not since you have."

"On stage?" I asked.

"No, like five seconds after on stage," she said, rolling her eyes, "In her dressing room? Wasn't that you she was with?"

"I just got back here," I said, "Like five minutes ago. She wasn't in her dressing room."

Lauren shrugged, "Well, I dunno, she was in her dressing room with someone last I saw her." And with that, Lauren flounced away to her own dressing room

My skin felt cold, and a rush of adrenaline went through my body. I felt sick, and I quickly ran across the backstage area to Drew. "Where's that weird alley you said you found?"

"It was over behind the stage, there's a door back there," he said, pointing, and he started to say something else that started with a "but...", but I was already gone, bolting toward it.

When I wrenched it opened, I dropped the flowers on the ground, and I heard their stems and petals crush into each other, my body was tense. It smelled like piss and garbage back there, and my stomach turned worse than it already was turning.

"Kayla?" I called, looking down the length of the alley and seeing nothing. I started down it, "Kayla?" I called.

"NICK!" the scream came from behind me and I turned around.

Leon smacked her across the face. He had her in a precarious position, sprawled across a pile of teetering milk crates. He was standing between her legs, her dress hiked up, revealing her skimpy underwear. He was holding onto her by her bra, the chest of the dress ripped open obscenely.

But he hadn't done anything else yet.

"You mother fucking..." I started towards him, but my words were drowned out of my own ears by the throbbing sensation of complete anger taking over every cell of my body. Every ounce of me was tense, and my heart pounding was the only sound I could hear. I crossed the length of the alley within seconds, my legs carrying me faster than I'd ever dreamed they could, my hand latching onto his hair, and pulling him back by it, and throwing him on the ground.

It was then, sprawled on the ground in front of me, that Leon knew he'd gone too far.

He backed away from me, his legs scrambling to push him away, and he banged into a large garbage can. His skull making it clang. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" I bellowed.

"Nick," Kayla was sobbing behind me, but somehow she seemed far away, my anger completely consuming me as I stared at Leon.

"Don't you fucking ever touch her," I screamed at him, pointing backwards at Kayla.

"Nick, please," she begged.

I started to turn to go to her, started to let it be. I decided I'd call the cops, let them handle it, let them put the fucking bastard in a jail cell and lose the God damned key.... But the moment my back was turned, Leon had struggled to his feet, and thrown an incredible blow to the back of my head that made me see literally stars. I fell into the brick wall, and felt my nose break and the brick scrape my face.

"Don't!" Kayla screamed, "Don't hurt him."

I dropped to my knees on the ground and spit a mouthful of blood onto the grimy cement, shaking. Drew was suddenly there, kneeling beside me. "Nick," he said. I could hear panic in his voice. I couldn't see, everything was spinning.

"Fucking what you get, putting your nose in other people's business," snarled Leon from behind me, "Stealing my bitch..."

"Do not call her that," I groaned, angry adrenaline recharging me again. I shoved Drew off me and stood up, my unfocused eyes finding Leon a few feet away. I charged at him, my hands stretched out before me. It as as though all of the stress, all of the fear, all the hurt, guilt, shame, and pain that I'd been experiencing over the last couple days seemed to ball up and embed itself into Leon's person, and I found myself lost in the act of punching him. "I'll fucking kill you man," I screamed at him, his face turning red from blood, my fist matching.

"Nick!" screamed Kayla, "Stop."

The sound of her voice was the only thing that could've stopped me. If I'd kept going, I would have killed him. But, hands shaking, at Kayla's command, I stopped, and let go of the grip I had on his shirt. Leon dropped, like a broken toy, landing at my feet, and grabbing his face, writhing.

I backed away, my mouth tasted like metal from the blood leaking into it, and I turned to look at Kayla. I went to her, dizzy, my face throbbing. I unbuttoned my suitcoat as I walked and when I got there, I wrapped it around her, covering her bared chest, and pulling her to me. She slid off the milk crates and into my arms.

Drew was kneeling beside Leon. "I'm bringing Kayla inside," I said, stepping over Leon to the door. Drew nodded as he inspected the damage I'd done, and pulled out his cell phone, calling the police.

I carried Kayla into the backstage, and immediately whispers and shocked gasps ensued. "Oh my God," cried Lauren, covering her mouth with her hands as she'd been just coming out of her own dressing room and saw me clutching Kayla across my arms. Kayla's arms were wrapped around my neck and she shook from sobs.

"I want my mom," Kayla's voice was trembling and so quiet I almost didn't hear her.

"I know, I'm sorry," I whispered. I stumbled, my knees gelatinous, the world starting to fade from my eyes; everything was growing darker every step I took. I was pretty sure I was bleeding all over Kayla, but I couldn't really tell.

Zoe stood up when I walked in the room, a terrified expression on her face as I lowered Kayla into the chair. Exhausted, I dropped to the floor beside it, my head spinning. "Nick?" Zoe was saying, but she sounded far away, as though I was under water, "What happened?"

But before I could answer, everything had gone dark.