Hey, Ho, Why Can't We Go?

I screamed.

That's all I could think to do anymore. That's all I could manage. Plaster was raining down, and my entire mind was numb.

"Let me go! Let me go!" I screamed, kicking and struggling as hard as I could. The security guard holding me struggled a little, but soon enough, put my antics to an abrupt end.

The cold, hard end of a gun was pressed to the side of my head, and a harsh, husky voice stopped all movement in my body.

"Keep it up, and I'll blow your pretty little brains right onto this stage," he said, and MY eyes filled with tears. MY heart beat faster and louder, so much so I was surprised the man gripping me didn't hear. "Walk."

I did so, taking slow, stupefied steps while he directed me. The gun he was holding was moved to my back, and his grip tightened still farther on my arm and shoulder. As soon as we got to the door, he shoved my body forward like a rag doll - and that's exactly what I felt like. I was just another pawn in a sick, sick game of chess.

When he closed the door, numbness in my body wore down, and I saw Veanna. V, my Veanna, my closest friend, sitting there with Librus. Quiet Veanna - I always counted on her. She was a great listener, somebody I could go and cry my heart out to. She would always be there for me.

But now it's my turn.

"Veanna . . ." I wiped my eyes quickly, and crawled over to where Veanna was lying, and put my arms around her. "Veanna, it's okay, V . . ." I whispered, and I could hear the doubt in my own voice. "Veanna, we're safe, love, we're okay. We just have to . . . We have to stay calm, right? Everything's going to be alright, Veanna, everything. We'll be out of here in no time."

At this point, my crying wouldn't cease, no matter how hard I tried. My makeup was soon dripping down my face, my nose was soon stuffy, and I was dabbing my cheeks with my shirt.

"I'm sorry, I can't . . . Veanna, we all love you in here, we can all . . . I promise, everything is going to be alright."

That was one promise I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep.

Veanna stood from Librus' and my arms, and it took me a second to see that she was heading straight to Gavin's arms. Ayria smiled a little to herself - there was something really strong between Gavin and Veanna that I could see loud and clear - and it was really sweet.

I glanced around to see where Librus and I could possibly move, and allow Gavin and Veanna to just . . . be together.

With the small look around, everything really caved in. This room, will the four of us inside, suddenly seemed a hundred times smaller than it had before the concert. The more I looked around, the more the walls seemed to come closer, and I started to panic. The pace of my breathing quickened, and I brought my knees up to my chest. My throat closed off, and I covered my eyes with my hand, gasping for air.

"Ayria?" Librus' voice came in a whisper, and his hand rested on my shoulder. "Ayria, what's wrong?" I shook my head, and Librus took a long pause.

"Bollocks . . ." he whispered, and hugged me close. "Ayria, it's okay. Open your eyes, there's room in here, it's nice and big - and look, you see those cracks under the door? It'll be impossible for us to run out of air. We're going to be out of here in no time." He said, and even Ayria was shocked at how calm his own voice was.

"What's wrong?" Veanna asked from the couch, looking at me in concern.

"Cl . . . Claustrophobic . . ." I stumbled, shaking my head.

"Come on, Ayria - open your eyes!" Librus whispered. "The room really isn't small, love, it's quite a large room. You don't think New York would give us something small, do you? Open your eyes."

I opened my mouth to talk, but for a while, nothing came out. 'He's right, Ayria. Open your eyes."

"I . . . Promise?" I asked, even though I knew that wasn't possible. He could promise me all he wanted, tell me everything was okay, and nothing was going to happen. But who was he to say? Who were any of we to say?

"I promise."

February 2nd, 2006

Ayria laughed, shaking her head. "Librus, don't be ridiculous! You don't think that this 'record dealer' is real, do you? I mean, he heard us play one song! I know we're good, but I just find that hard to believe!" she said, and Librus elbowed her.

"Come on, you can't tell me you don't have a shred of hope?" He asked, stopping in the middle of their stroll, cornering her against the rail of the pier. "Come on. You know we're good - good enough to be famous. If there's a record dealer offering us a chance, I think we should take it, whether we think he's real or not."

"I guess," Ayria shrugged, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I just don't want anything bad to happen. People just aren't trustworthy anymore."

"Am I?" Librus asked, giving her a soft kiss. Ayria smiled against his lips.

"You? Trustworthy?" She asked, and Librus raised an eyebrow. She paused, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Always," she answered, and looked into his brown eyes. Oh, his eyes; they were so inviting, so kind, made it especially hard not to trust him.

Ayria kissed Librus one more time, and closed her eyes. "You trust me that much?" He asked, and Ayria nodded.

"I do," she said. Librus smiled as she opened her eyes again, and trained his fingers through her copper curls. In that small moment of silence, all the emotions in the world could have been shared between the two. Librus stepped forward, bringing himself closer to the girl in front of him, and placed his forehead on hers. Ayria shifted uncomfortably. "Let's get back to the car, okay?"

"Yeah," Librus agreed, letting Aryia up from the rail, with a small feeling of guilt. He wanted so bad to apologize, but felt that it would make the situation more awkward - Ayria could just see in his face he felt guilty.

Ayria wanted nothing more than to be close to Librus - the closeness of just holding hands, knowing that they were there, was a wonderful feeling. But there was a small line Ayria had to draw, an area she couldn't bring herself to be part of. Being pinned against a rail without a way to get away from it was definitely over that small line.

"Let's go. And we can talk more about how bloody trustworthy I am," he teased, and Ayria laughed.

"Keep that up, and I might change my mind," she winked, and Librus poked her side.

"You can't take that back!" He argued, and a wide smile spread across Ayria's face.

"Wanna bet?"

And the chase began.

Librus chased her all the way down the pier, right back to her little old blue car. He caught her just a second after she reached the car, laughing as he did so. "Let's get back to Gavin's to place to practice. If we're going to give that guy a memo, assuming he's real, we're going to give him the best bloody memo he's ever heard in his entire bloody life."