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Chapter 8 Collision

***Rich’s Point Of View before the lights went out***

                “Jen are you sure we’re going to have the sound check tonight?” I asked the manager as I was setting up the DJ stand.

                “Yeah, why do you ask?”

                “I have a feeling we are going to lose power tonight.”

                “We’ll see what happens.”

                Just then the lights flickered and a few seconds after that the power went out and we could hear screams coming from the audience.

                “Well it looks like we’re not having sound check after all…” Jen half chuckled turning on her lantern.

                I flicked mine on and asked, “So what do we do know?”

                “Well I have to talk to the Boys but we do have bull horns. Let me go talk to them and also find the manager to see if he found the generator.”

                I sat down behind the DJ stand and waited for Jen to come back. I listened to the murmur of the crowd and noticed that pretty much everyone in the venue had glow sticks and light wands that were sold at the merchandise stand. Surprisingly the light from the glow sticks and light wands illuminated the crowd pretty well. I could see the faces of everyone in the front row but they couldn’t see me. I glanced at the faces that were right against the stage and noticed that Heather wasn’t standing with her Backstreet Buds and Kalie’s friends.

                I casually walked over to the Backstreet Buds and knelt in front of them.

                Jess looked up at me and said snidely, “May we help you?”

                “Have you seen Heather?”

                “She went to the bathroom with Kalie but what do you care?” Carly answered with a harsh voice.

                “Maybe I’m being a little concerned for my girlfriend because she’s not with you guys and the power has gone out,” I answered making my voice gruffer.

                “Ok first off how dare you speak to my best friend in that tone,” Kelshie said defensively, “and secondly why do you suddenly care for Hermie when you have been such an ass to her today?!”

                My eyes became wide with surprise at this outburst of hers, “Wow I was just trying to be a good boyfriend.”

                “If you wanted to be a good boyfriend in the first place then you wouldn’t have slammed the door to your dressing room in her face,” Kelshie hissed.

                I wanted to punch her lights out! But instead I just got up and walked back stage. She had no idea why I acted like that. And I have my reasons.

                As I was walking away I heard Melina say, “Maybe he really is being concerned about Heather.”

                “Yeah right,” Kelshie snapped. “He’s probably just trying to get back into our good graces after being such a jerk!” she deliberately raised her voice so I could hear.

                I didn’t react. I just continued to walk off stage in search of Heather. What Kelshie said about me slamming the door in her face hit me like a ton of bricks and the only thing I wanted to do was apologize. I just wished she would forgive me.

***Nick’s Point Of View right after the lights went out***

                Just as the Boys and I were headed toward the stage the lights shut off. Brian stopped short in front of me and I knocked into him.

                “Sorry Bri,” I said.            

                “Eh don’t worry about it,” he said turning on his lantern.

                “I’ll be right back,” I said turning on my heel to leave. As I did I practically ran into Hanna, Sue and Tiffany. “I’m sorry girls. I didn’t know you were behind me.” I held my lantern so I could see their faces but not blind them. My heart skipped a beat when Kalie’s face wasn’t illuminated by the light. “Where’s Kalie?”

                “Last time we saw her she was showing your friends and DJ Lani’s friends to the standing area,” Sue answered.

                “She was supposed to come back stage with us but we haven’t seen her since,” Tiffany added in.

                “She’s probably in the bathroom,” Hanna shrugged.

                “Thanks,” I said as I nearly jogged off.

                “Hey Nick where are you going?!” I heard Jen’s voice come from behind me.

                “I forgot something in the dressing room,” I said continuing to walk.

                “Well it can wait for one second,” she grabbed my arm and pulled me into a circle with the dancers, DJ Lani and the rest of Backstreet. “Alright it looks like DJ Lani and the dancers will get a break tonight. As for the Boys, remember that show in the Never Gone tour when the power went out and you used bull horns to sing for the crowd? Well you’ll be doing a bull horn performance again tonight. I just have to get the bull horns and we’ll start the show. I’ll be right back.”

                As soon as Jen walked away I headed toward the ladies room to find my fiancé. I wanted to get to her as soon as possible because the only image I had in my mind was of her curled into a ball all by herself in the dark crying.

                I should have never left her! I thought to myself.

                “Nick,” someone said behind me after taping me on the shoulder making me flinch.

                I turned around and raised my lantern to see DJ Lani standing behind me, “Don’t scare me like that dude.”

                “Sorry,” he said, “Where are you going?”

                “I have to find Kalie. She doesn’t like to be in the dark by herself and she wasn’t with the other dancers.”

                “Mind if I come help you look? Heather isn’t with her friends. I don’t want her to be alone either.”         

                “I don’t mind, I just want to find her soon.”

                “Ok, Heather’s friends said she and Kalie went to the bathroom together. Maybe they’re in there.”

                “Alright then, let’s split up. I’ll look in the bathroom and you look in the dressing room.”

                “Sounds good to me.”  

                I slowly opened the girls bathroom and stepped in cautiously, “Hello is anyone there? Heather? Kalie? Kay baby it’s me Nick?”

                I stood there for a second but no one answered. Feeling a little creped out I started to walk toward the dressing rooms to meet up with Rich hoping he had found Kalie.

                I froze when I heard a familiar, sinister female voice say, “Naughty, naughty Nickolas coming out of the girls bathroom. But I guess if you like it in there we could go back in together and lock the door.”

                “What are you doing here!?”

***Rich’s Point Of View***

                I checked the dancer’s dressing room first then the Boys’ dressing room but both were empty.  

                My last resort was to check in my dressing room. I peeked my head in and called out, “Kalie? Heather? Is anyone in here? Heather if you are I want to apologize. Heather?”

                No one answered so I walked back toward the ladies bathroom to catch back up with Nick.

                I was stopped in my tracks when I heard two female voices from my nightmares say, “Hello Rich, we’ve missed you.”

***Heather’s Point Of View***

                Every door I checked was locked and at every locked door I was getting more frustrated. My blood was boiling and every fiber in me wanted to get out of the pouring rain. I was soaked to the bone and I knew the next day I would be getting a nasty head cold.

                I decided to run toward the back of the building in hopes of there being an open door. I gathered myself and ran as fast as I possibly could, flying past the doors I knew were locked.

                As I ran I thought of Rich who was nice and dry inside. He probably wasn’t even worrying about me or hadn’t even noticed I was gone. He was probably showing off behind the DJ stand and not even caring about me. As I thought of him I just felt more anger build up inside me which made me run faster. At this point I didn’t even know where I was running to.

***Kalie’s Point Of View***       

                The cut on my hand wouldn’t stop bleeding so I ripped off a piece of the shrug I was wearing and made it into a makeshift bandage.

                I was surprised that I was even able to function because I was shaking so uncontrollably, I was completely soaked to the bone, and my heart felt like it was lodged in my throat. Now I was desperate to get inside. I started to run toward the front of the building hoping for an open door. I ran as fast as I possibly could against the driving rain.

                While I was running I kept thinking about Nick. I was hoping he’d come to my rescue as I reached the next door. I would fall into his strong, warm arms and he would carry me inside. He would cradle me and warm me up and I would feel safe. But that wasn’t the case when I reached the next door and banged my fist against it.

                Desperate tears mixed with the cold rain hitting my face and I continued to run at full speed in the dark.

                I can’t tell you how long I had been running for but suddenly I collided with something fast and hard.

                A blinding light from a lightning bolt flashed for a split second as the collision happened. I was knocked backward and my head banged against the ground hard. My body lay limp on the ground and I slowly lost consciousness.