Feeling Followed

I was running, trying to pace myself so I wouldn’t run out of breath. She just wouldn’t stop following me. “Go away,” I yelled, running further down the empty road. There was no one around, only trees lining the sides.

“Jacky, I told you I’d always be with you,” the girl laughed increasing her pace. Her fiery red hair was floating behind her in long strands.

“Stop following me you crazy bitch! What do you want from me?!” I asked still running for my life. This girl was absolutely terrifying. Her eyes were a piercing green and you could see the madness within them. I was scared to bits.

The road pressed on and I kept running for as long as I could. What did this girl want from me? She was so familiar. I just couldn’t tell where she was from.

“Jacky, come back!” she screamed. She leapt into the air and attached herself to my back. My face hit the pavement.

“Jack! Jack! Jack, wake the fuck up!” I heard Alex yelling. I rolled out of my bunk and onto the bus floor. I was covered in sweat.

“W-what? What is it?” I asked, wiping the sweat off of my forehead. My head was throbbing in pain and it was unbearably hot. It felt like I had the worst hangover ever.

“Dude, you were screaming in your sleep. You have me worried man. Your eyes are bloodshot too,” my best friend told me.

“I-I’m fine. Just a little sick,” I said, “Alex, is the heat on? It’s so hot.”

“Jack, the AC is on high. How are you hot?” Alex touched my forehead. “You don’t have a fever.”

“It’s so hot Alex. I’m burning up.”

“Jack, why don’t just go to the bathroom and splash some water on your face? It could help because it’s fucking freezing in here.”

“Alright,” I said, getting off the floor. I stumbled to where the bathroom was on the bus. Everything was spinning. My stomach was churning and I had the nagging feeling of being watched. My hands gripped onto the sink in the small bus bathroom. I clumsily turned on the cold water and dipped my hand underneath it. It was so cold.

I brought a nice puddle of water up to my face. My eyes were closed and I was relishing the cool feel of the water. I brought my face back up to look in the mirror. I jumped in terror when I saw the fiery red head behind me.

“Miss me Jacky?”

I then realized where she was from.

~-~

It was the most perfect situation. The lights were low. The crowd was quiet. It was that perfect moment right before a show started. You could smell the anticipation as much as you could feel it. I stood guitar in hand ready for the screaming of fans. They were just as anxious as I was. I didn’t want to wait any longer. I wanted to hear the roar of the crowd and see their faces. There was nothing better than that.

“Jack, you ready man?” Alex asked me, placing his hand atop my shoulder. I grinned and nodded. He stepped in front of me and walked out onto the stage. The spotlight focused on him. “Hello Baltimore! How the fuck are you tonight?!” Alex questioned the crowd. The screams began to ensue.

“Well, my name is Alex and I’m from a little known band called All! Time! Low! Now as you can see the band is missing. I need your help with that. I want you all to repeat after me as loud as you can okay?” Alex asked. The crowd screamed in agreement.

“Alright repeat after me. Rian, Rian, Rian,” he sang. The crowd sang back. “Rian, Rian, Rian,” he sang again. The crowd once more repeated him. “Come be my sexy drummer,” Alex sang. He then held his hand out to stop the crowd before they could sing it. “And bang me really hard,” Alex sang. The crowd then sang the whole line. Most were in giggle fits. “Since you’re my Gay-be Maybe Rian,” Alex sang. The crowd sang it again and Rian ran on stage.

Alex then kneeled down on the stage. “Now we have to call for Zack. He’s pretty easy to get out here. All I need you to do is yell, ‘Zack get a shirt.’ Got it? On the count of three, one…two…three!” The crowd screamed. Zack then appeared on stage shirtless as usual.

Alex stood up again and walked across the stage. “To get Jack is going to be pretty tough because well only certain things get him on stage. I think I know what will get him out here, but I’m not really too sure if it will work. Can I get you all to scream, ‘Free blow jobs,’ for me? Jack might like that.” The crowd just went crazy. Alex held out his hand to calm them down. “One….two….three!” he said. The crowd shouted to me and I ran quickly onto the stage and to my microphone.

“Blow jobs where?” I asked, looking from side to side. The crowd laughed.

“Alright boys, lets this show on the road!” Alex shouted. I started strumming the beginning of Weightless. “Manage me. I’m a mess,” Alex sang. That’s when I lost focus of Alex and just started playing my heart out. It was normal for me to blank out and just play the songs. It helped with my nerves.

I went on like this for most of the show unless I was addressed by someone in the band. My eyes would scan the crowd at some points to make me appear like I was alert. My eyes stopped on a crying girl in the crowd. Never had I seen someone cry during one of our shows. We weren’t a crying band. I walked over to Alex and leaned into his ear. “There’s a girl crying in the crowd, Lex,” I whispered, “What do we do?”

Alex turned his head to my ear. “Ask her why she’s crying I guess. I don’t know figure something out,” he whispered in my ear. He then gave me a kiss on the cheek and ruffled my hair. Alex always knew how to cover up our mini conversations and he knew the girls would love him more for it.

I walked back to my microphone and just stared at the crying girl. I was still strumming away at my guitar. I was just waiting for it to end so I could ask her why she was crying.

“Stella, would you take me home?” Alex questioned the crowd at the end of the song. He never sang the last line at shows. He would only ask the question. The crowd was screaming and I stepped closer to the microphone.

I cleared my throat and the crowd quieted down. It was great having that kind of power. “Excuse me crying girl in the crowd?” I asked pointing to where she was. The light fell automatically on her. She pointed to herself. “Yes, you,” I said, “Not to pry or anything, but why are you crying? Is Alex that ugly?” The crowd erupted in a laugh and so did the crying girl.

“I heard that Barakat,” Alex said angrily into his microphone.

“Shut up Alex,” I said, “I want to know why she’s crying. Why are you crying?”

“It’s my first show,” she shouted, “and you guys mean a lot to me. I don’t know what got in me. I just started crying.”

I awed into the microphone and the girl’s face became red. “That’s so sweet. Now I don’t care if Alex doesn’t remember the words, but you’re picking the next song,” I spoke. The girl smiled.

“I know it’s old,” she shouted, “but can you guys play Circles?” She looked up at us with hopeful eyes and I couldn’t say no.

I looked over at Alex and he looked over at me. We both nodded to each other and we began.

╪♥╪

It was much after the show, we had already showered and everything. The crowd outside had died down as well, but I still couldn’t find the girl that was crying in the crowd. There were a couple girls left, but they were either trying to seduce Alex or touch Zack’s torso.

I shook my head and put my hood up. I began to walk around the building of where we just played. It was pretty late, but to me the night was young. I guess it came with the rock star territory.

“It was perfect! It was more than perfect! Jack saw me in the crowd,” I heard a high happy voice say as I turned at a corner. I blinked my eyes a couple of times and saw it was the crying girl from the show. I could get a better view on her than I did from the stage.

She appeared to be of average height and she was a red head. I couldn’t tell if it was natural or not, but she had red hair. She was dressed in normal blue jeans (No skinny jeans that’s a first) and a white t-shirt. Her hair was picked up messily in a bun.

“They played Circles! Can you believe it? They played Circles! This has got to be the best night of my life,” she said brightly into a cell phone. “Gosh, I just wish I could thank them.”

I stepped closer to the girl quietly. I didn’t want to interrupt her conversation since that would be rude. I waited a good five minutes listening to her go on about how Alex made the crowd do the crazy shit that he always does and how she won’t be able to function tomorrow. When she pocketed her phone and began to walk, she rammed straight into me.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said quickly. “I wasn’t paying attention at all.”

“It’s alright. I was waiting for you to get off the phone anyway,” I spoke to her. She just stood there and didn’t reply. She just stared at me. I honestly was beginning to feel pretty uncomfortable.

“M-Mr. Barakat,” she stuttered, pointing a finger at me. That was first. I was usually just called Jack by the fans. Her smile grew wider as the seconds passed.

I mimicked her and pointed at her. “Crying girl,” I spoke with a smile. I watched the girl burst in fits of laughter. I always enjoyed it when I made fans laugh. Besides being a guitarist like I was, I wanted to be a stand-up comedian.

“Can I hug you?” she asked. Her eyes were a glassy green. The poor thing was going to cry again. I guess we did mean a lot to her.

I nodded and extend my arms out. She flew into my chest and I released a small cough from the force. Her arms wrapped tight around me, bone crushingly. For a girl, she had some strength. I wrapped my arms around the red head. I could feel the section of my chest right before my stomach becoming wet. She was in tears again.

“Honey, don’t cry. It makes me super happy when I meet fans like you, but you don’t need to cry,” I whispered. Rubbing small, smooth circles on her back, I kept hugging her as she cried. My shirt was slowly getting soaked, but it was bothering me at all.

The girl looked up at me and frowned. “Sorry, about shirt. I didn’t mean to get it wet and everything, but you got me through so much. You still are.”

I walked backwards, holding the girl, until my back hit the venue’s wall. I slid down taking the girl with me. I sat myself comfortably and then sat the girl on my lap. Her face was still buried in my chest. I looked down at her red hair and smiled. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

“O-okay,” she whispered. Her body twisted in my arms until her back was against my chest and her head just underneath my shoulder over my heart. “I used to have this friend named Holly. We grew up together. She would call me strawberry because of my hair and I would call her tapioca because she had blonde hair. She moved away just a little under a year ago. Do you remember that really bad plane crash?”

I nodded my head. The crash was all over the news. The plane was perfectly fine during its flight until it reached its destination. It just blew up with no proper explanations. They reported that everyone on the flight including the pilot and stewardesses died. My eyes grew wide. Everyone died. That included the crying girl’s friend Holly, well at least that’s what first came to my mind. “Yes, I remember that crash. It was all over the news,” he finally said.

“Holly was supposed to be on that flight. She never got on the plane, but they never found her either,” the girl cried.

I honestly felt sorry for the girl. I didn’t even know her name, but I wanted to help, if I only knew how to do it. “I want to help you,” I spoke to the crying girl, “I really do. I just don’t know how.”

“Please don’t worry about it. They tried everything. She just disappeared. I’m starting to give up hope anyways,” the girl said to me. She placed her hand on my cheek. “Please don’t worry. I know you guys will be with me, especially you Jack.” She stood up and took off in a sprint.