Assigned to Fate

The crowd cheered as they recognized the opening chords of this, the final song in today’s performance. The two of us exchanged a glance and a smile; it was almost time. In a matter of a few verses, they would be ours.

Andrew POV

“Does anyone know where our merch tent is?” I yelled out to the crowd. They cheered. “I said, do you know where out merch tent is?” Again they cheered. This might pose difficult.

Finally, two girls in the back of the crowd got the idea and pointed rapidly behind the stage.

“Can you lead us?” I asked them. I didn’t wait for the response. “Okay, everybody who wants to be in the Idiot Parade, follow me!” Even if I was the one following them.

I hopped off of the stage, barely managing to keep my balance. There had been many times in the past where I was unable to manage to do this and wound up face down in what had been a screaming crowd. They used to give me strange glances and walk away, leaving me to sort out my injured pride. Today, however, was a good day; I could feel it.

As soon as we cleared the arena, two girls emerged on either side of me. They gabbed at each of my ears, telling me just how great it was seeing us “alive.” That struck me as somewhat strange, but I could have very easily misheard them. Still, it made me focus on their faces.

Although one was a blond and the other was a brunette, their features were remarkably similar; they could have passed as sisters. Looking closer, I realized it wasn’t the shape of their faces at all; it was their skin. It was very pale and seemed to be peeling, as if they had gotten sunburns and tried to cover it with a lot of make-up. Their eyes were also very peculiar; it looked like they had been pushed away from their noses, and thus stretched out the rest of their faces in order to accommodate the large maroon irises. The two looked almost alien.

Their clothes were dark and ragged, probably some sort of new fashion statement I had apparently missed. There was no color, besides the red bandanna wrapped around the brunette’s head. Their cheeks were sunken in, almost hollow, like you might see on Halloween.

And it was these strange two that led me to our merch tent. The rest of the band was already there, which didn’t make sense because I had come straight here, while they still had to deal with their instruments. They looked as confused as I felt.

All our fans, save the two girls, had vanished.

Night turned to day with a blinding light from above. I move my hand to shield my eyes, and see the two girls staring up at the light, hypnotized. And then I can’t feel my feet below me. I check to see if they’re still there, and notice the ground far, far below.

I can safely say that I have never been this terrified in my whole life; somehow this thought calms me, despite the growing wetness in my pants.

Of all the possible inconvenient times, my cell phone chooses to ring while I’m being… abducted by aliens… Punk’d? How hopeful. Either my life is in jeopardy or I’m up here looking like a complete idiot. So I reach into my pocket and attempt to pull out my phone. After jerking it free from my keys, I lose my grip on the blasted miniature device, and it gets hurled to the ground hundreds of feet below. Kind of makes you wonder how stable these whole light beam things are.

I shook my head at the thought. Whatever was happening, my band mates and I were about to find out, as we found ourselves right below a large object looming in the dark.