Pulse

The clock ticked slowly, each movement of the second hand seeming to take hours. Ivy sat in the only chair in the basement - old, wood, stained white seat covers. She crossed her legs and waited some more. She stretched.

Ivy had called a band meeting about the small note that was sitting heavily in her pocket about an hour ago. And not one of them had shown up yet. Freddie even lived in the house where the meeting was to be held!

Ivy growled, jumping out of the decrepit chair and beginning to pace. Where were they?

Across town, Daniel’s phone buzzed. He was sitting by his pool, preparing to dive in. It was a good thing his phone buzzed, otherwise it would have gotten wet, and that would call for a trip to the phone store. He pulled it out of his pocket. Someone had texted him.

BM now. freaking out. I

Daniel understood what it meant. He pocketed his cell and went inside, searching for some clothes. He was in the laundry room when his phone buzzed another time.

were all @ da mall. pik us up. E F & M

Daniel understood what that one meant, too. He texted back.

on my way

He sent it to both Ivy and Erik, the only other band member with a cell phone. Daniel rummaged through the knee-deep piles of clothes. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a brown T-shirt that didn’t smell too bad, then walked out the door.

In the basement, Ivy began beating her head against the wall. She didn’t think they were going to show up. Freddie’s mom stuck her head in the doorway. “Don’t do that. You’ll dent the wall.”

Ivy apologized and went back to pacing. She was getting worried. The guys had never been that late to practice before. A million and one unwarranted scenarios of why they were late flew through her head.

Somewhere off the highway, Daniel’s car sputtered to a stop.

“Daniel, what the fudge?” Mitch shouted. He was not one for swearing, but his alternative words were always entertaining.

Erik jumped out of the jolly rancher-mobile, and peeked under the hood. A huge cloud of smoke billowed up at him. He waited patiently for it to clear before poking around a bit. “Radiator’s shot!” he called towards Daniel, who was bickering bitterly with Mitch. They ignored him, so he sighed and walked to the driver’s side window. He opened the door calmly and pressed the On-Star button.

“On-Star, how may I help you?” A nasally female voice squawked. That caused Daniel and Mitch to stop fighting quickly. Daniel looked at Erik with a dumbfounded expression. He couldn’t figure out how On-Star had turned itself on.

Erik shook his head as he spoke to the On-Star woman. “Hello. My name is Erik. We’re having some radiator trouble, and would like some assistance.” He gave her the vital details of the situation.

“Alright.” The nasally voice came back on after a short pause. “I’ve taken the liberty of calling a tow truck. Would you like a cab?” They graciously accepted, and no more than fifteen minutes later were on their way to Freddie’s basement.

Ivy sat down abruptly, pulling out her phone. If the guys weren’t going to show up to help, why couldn’t she just go seek help from a different source? She sighed angrily before texting her best friend, Amy.

Amy, need help. coming over now. c u in 5.

With that, she got up and stormed out of Freddie’s basement. Amy’s house was only ten minutes away, walking. And while she was, without a doubt, going to be smoking pot when Ivy arrived, it was more companionship that she needed than lucid companionship.

Ten minutes later, Ivy knocked on Amy’s door. Her boyfriend answered, a cloud of foul-smelling smoke tumbling out from behind him.

“You go to the park, Freddie. Erik – her house. Mitch, try Yumm Burger. I’m going to see if she went to Amy’s.” Daniel commanded. Ivy hadn’t been in Freddie’s basement when they’d arrived. Freddie’s mother then informed them that she’d left about ten minutes before they’d arrived. For some reason, those words sent a knot of worry into everybody’s stomachs. It wasn’t lie they didn’t trust Ivy, no, it was more that they didn’t trust the world. Especially not after all of those letters threatening her life.

Daniel was on the phone constantly. He was calling Amy’s cell phone over and over. After the first three times of it going directly to voicemail, he’d figured out it was dead, but he couldn’t stop calling.

After taking one smell of the house, Ivy knew Amy was doing something a bit stronger than pot. She turned quickly, without saying a word to Amy’s boyfriend, and ran in the direction of her house. However, when she reached her house, there was a strange car parked out front.

Oh my God. she thought, panicking. I can’t go home. They know where I live.

Ivy pushed herself past her house and racked her brain for some place she would never go. She ran all the way to the woods on the outskirts of town before she had to stop. She was completely out of breath. Her sides ached and her heart threatened to jump out of her chest.

She decided that, since she’d been smart enough to grab her purse before she’d left her house, she’d go to the mall. For one, she never went to the mall. For another, it was a nice, crowded place where only a mentally insane person would try to kill someone. Thirdly, she needed a disguise. She had a concert that night, and she couldn’t just walk up to the door without some means of protection.

Four hours later, Ivy checked her phone. She had 237 missed calls. Her voicemail box was full. They were all from the band and her mother. She called them each back in turn, trying to sound as calm and reassuring as possible. She told them that something had happened and she’d overreacted. She said she was definitely going to go to the show, she told them she was fine, even though she didn’t believe that one, herself.

After some deliberating, Ivy decided to walk to the show. The last thing she needed was to show up in Daniel’s car. That would give away her brilliant disguise. Ivy had decided that the best way to blend in was to stand out. The world was full of people trying to stand out, and almost nobody tried to blend in. She’d gone to the wig store and purchased a neon pink wig. She’d grabbed a plaid miniskirt and matching suspenders from Macy’s. Her shirt was a simple black tank top with a white jolly roger on it. She wore fishnets and tall leather boots. Her favorite piece of her costume was the neon purple fedora adorning her wig-clad head.

She felt very safe heading up the steps to the building she was scheduled to perform in. There were dozens of people watching her walk, and that made her feel safer, as well.

When she got inside, she ripped the wig off of her head and threw it into a nearby trashcan. She kept the fedora though. She had a shirt at home she could wear it with. The guys all ran up to her as she stepped backstage. They had an uncomfortably tight group hug. Ivy felt her face redden when she remembered how little she was wearing.

As soon as the boys let her go, she ran to the dressing room, threatening them all with a painful demise if they were to follow her.

The dressing room was amazing. It was filled with flowers of all sorts. There were so many cards; she didn’t know where to start. After changing into her flowy dress and her chunky jewelry, Ivy turned to the mass of gifts from well-wishers. She grabbed a single purple daisy that was attached to a card and put it in her hair. It looked perfect. She ripped the card open and read it. Her face paled with every word.

“Ivy

Good call not going home. Not that it’ll matter after tonight.”

She ripped the card into shreds and threw it into the waste bin. Her stomach was turning sickeningly. She took a few minutes to compose herself before walking out to greet the guys. They all complimented the way she looked generously, and she thanked them. She didn’t tell them about the two personal threats she’d gotten. She didn’t want to ruin the show for them. She’d just tell them directly afterwards. It wasn’t like anyone would dare touch her onstage.