Was It a Dream?

“Don’t panic Alena.” She heard a familiar voice say. “It’s only us.”

It was Gerard.

“Please stay calm, I’ll explain everything soon.”

Someone picked her up and started carrying her. Although she felt a little better, she was still scared. She’d only met them recently and didn’t know them that well. For all she knew they might be a bunch of psychopaths.

She was carried for what felt like hours, but it was probably not that long. She had no idea where they were taking her. Finally they put her down on a couch. The hood was removed along with the gag. She blinked her eyes at the sudden light and looked at the men in front of her with tears streaming down her face.

They looked at her in horror. “Oh shit, Alena I’m sorry!” Gerard said.

“Wha… What’s going on?” She asked in a frightened voice.

“I told you this was a bad idea!” Ray said hitting Gerard on the back of his head.

Frank tried to give her a hug but she shrank back from her and he pulled away, looking sad.

“Please let me explain.” Gerard said. “We don’t want to hurt you and we didn’t want to frighten you. Remember when Tomo told you about the time we stole Jared’s guitar?” He asked.

She just nodded her head, unsure what that had to do with her current situation.

“Well they decided to get back at us for that, they’ve ‘kidnapped’ Mikey and are holding him for ransom. They want us to give them our guitar hero game in return for Mikey. We decided that we’d hold you for ransom in return for Mikey. I know Jared will do anything to get you back”

He grimaced. “It doesn’t seem like such a good idea now.”

“Did you have to go to such extremes?” She asked. “You nearly scared me to death. You don’t know how scared I was. It reminded me of…” She trailed off not wanting to talk about Gregory.

“I guess we didn’t think I’m sorry Alena” He sounded sincere and they all looked very upset.

“I guess that’s what they were up to this morning.” She said with a weak smile; then sighed.

“Frank I could really use a comforting hug right about now.”

He smiled and gave her a big hug. Frank was really good at giving hugs, and she felt a little better.

“Does this mean we’re forgiven for our stupidity?” Gerard asked.

“I’ll only forgive you if you promise never to do something like that to me again.”

Suddenly she found herself being hugged by all of them.

“Please … I … need …. air!” She gasped as she was being crushed by them.

They let go of her. All of them were smiling. Everybody took a seat.

“So what do we do now?”

“We wait for your lover-boy to phone us.” Gerard said.

“Man I wish I could see his face when he finds out we’ve got you.” Frank yelled.

All of them laughed.

“Where are we anyway?” She asked looking around.

“On the tour bus” Bob said. “We need to go back on tour so we arranged for the bus to meet us here.”

“Who carried me here?”

“I did!” Frank said.

“You’re stronger than you look.” She said; her comment made him smile like a little boy getting praised by his mother.

“What do we do until they phone?”

“I know let’s get to know you better.” Gerard suggested.

Alena groaned. “You sound just like Shannon. What do you want to know?”

“How did you and Jared meet?” He asked.

“They were running away from some teenage fans and then ran into the bookstore where I work and hid from them, and then later on when I and my friend Tina went to this new club they happened to showed up as well.”

Gerard smirked. “I don’t think they just happened to be there.”

She frowned. “But he didn’t know… Oh!” She stopped as she realized something. “He must have heard me talking with Tina of the phone.”

The guys laughed at her consternation.

“Jared can be very single minded when he wants to, and he’s also very devious.” Gerard said.

“I’m starting to realize that.”

“So you work in a bookstore, do you enjoy it?” Bob asked.

“It’s okay, but it can be very boring. About the only interesting thing about the place are all the hidden rooms and secret passages.”

Frank’s eyes went wide.

“Secret passages that’s so cool!” He said jumping up and down.

Alena laughed.

“You’re just as bad as Tomo; I had to show him all the hidden rooms and passages. The owner had them built into the premises. He’s obsessed with them.”

“You said that when we grabbed you, it reminded you of something but you didn’t complete your sentence. What did it remind you of?” Ray asked.

Alena didn’t really want to tell them. “Sorry Ray, but I don’t want to discuss it. All I’ll say is that I had a bad experience and leave it at that.”

Gerard grimaced again. “I’m really sorry.”

“That’s okay, at least I didn’t completely freak out like when Jared accidently sparked off memories of the incident.”

“You freaked out?” Bob asked.

“I went totally loony on them and then feinted.” She grimaced remembering. “I thought for sure they’d think I was crazy and have nothing to do with me.”

“But they didn’t, and more importantly Jared didn’t.” Gerard said.

“No. They’re all great. I’ve never been happier than I am now with Jared. Tomo and Shannon are like brothers, I always wanted brothers” She smiled and then she yawned.

The shopping trip and ‘kidnapping’ had made her very tired.

“Why don’t you lie down on Mikey’s bunk and rest for a while.” Gerard offered.

She smiled her thanks. “That sounds great.” He showed her to the bunk and she fell asleep almost immediately.