Note: First POV in narration - Alex's POV
She looked around. The place looked as if it had been freshly vandalised. The only light was from the streetlights on the roadside. The steel bars of the stage hanging off the frame, broken drum sticks thrown around, empty pit, speakers torn apart, confetti bombs blown onto the stage, with colorful confetti spread on the floor, something had gone down here, and it was quite recent.
"Let's not get involved in this," She mumbled, taking a few steps back towards the beach. Right then, all the streetlights suddenly turned off, making it pitch black.
"Oh shit," She muttered, as she started to run away from that place, back to her hotel.
Her eyes were shut tight, her lips pursed, and her eyes facing forward, as she darted towards her room. Beads of sweat began to form on her temples that eventually became streams down her face, her breath started to get heavy and heart was pounding hard against her chest, as she tried to navigate when suddenly-
"THUD."
She hit her head. Hard. A sharp shooting pain brought everything to a jarring halt.
She opened her eyes, as she winced. She saw herself standing in front of textured wood, realising she hit herself on a palm tree at the beach. It was not the only tree, though. She was surrounded by palm trees all around her, with no beach or even the ocean around her.
She had been running in the wrong direction!
"I need help!" She exclaimed, for the third time in her life.
She took out her phone from her pocket and dialed Berlin's number. Berlin picked up immediately on the other side, because Linda only calls when extremely urgent.
"Linda! What happened?" She screamed from the other end.
Linda held a phone a little further from her ear, since she didn't want to go deaf.
"Berlin I'm lost! I don't know the directions."
"Oh Dios Mio!" She cried. Honey was around and heard her.
"Is she okay?" She whispered to Berlin.
Berlin signaled a thumbs down, putting the phone on speaker mode.
"Berlin, it's so dark here! I can't go on!" Linda cried. "Please send someone who can guide me."
Honey pulled the phone from Berlin and sighed.
"Okay, Linda, I need you to look around and tell me what you see," She tried to calm her down.
"Umm... There's trees, all around me..."
"What about sounds? What can you hear?"
"Uh... I think I hear a swooshing sound, maybe of water falling, and some birds chirping."
"And what do you smell?"
"A wet smell, something grassy and swampy."
"Okay, we'll get the guard on board. Stay calm until then. Stay on call with us." She tried to reassure Linda.
Linda sighed.
Honey was the perfect person for this situation. Her years of dealing with difficult and angry clients in strategy department had made her an excellent negotiator. She could calm down anyone in less than a minute. Unlike Berlin, she was level headed and pragmatic.
Linda was half reassured, half panicked. She had trust in both her friends but not in herself. Although she loved the colour black, she wasn't really fond of darkness. Her experiences with darkness weren't really that great in her past.
Tired of waiting at this moment, she decided to sit down against a tree and tried to shut her eyes and sleep. However, the moment she tried to do that, she could feel something creep around her, swarming towards her and eventually crawling up her body, causing her to jolt awake, again and again.
There came a point when her body wasn't able to keep up with the stress, her shoulders began to droop, eyes began to shut and tiredness took over her, the biting cold of the night caused her body to shrivel up, leading to a sleep of desolation.
The moment she was about to slip into a sleep for the umpteenth time, a cold touch grazed her, causing her to become alert and stand up in a defensive stance, with legs lunged and hands crossed in front of her face.
"Stay away!" She screamed, throwing punches in the air, managing to hit one hard. She realised it was a person.
"Ow!" The person yelled back. It was a man, with the familiar voice.
"Who are you!"
"Pink frills, it's me," he scoffed. "You've upgraded to pink ponytails now!"
It was him. The guy from before. Although he was very annoying earlier that day, his voice was the very reassurance she needed out of the abyss, wanting to hold onto it until she was fully out, finally in the light. She let go of her tensioned limbs and then let her body relax naturally.
"Thanks for coming here," She said, rubbing the back of her hair.
"The lights never go off, this is the first time it's happening," He placed a hand on her head. "You're afraid of the dark right?"
"Yes... " She squeaked softly.
"I don't understand one thing," he said, scanning her around, trying to look for something.
"What?"
"Why didn't you think of using your phone flashlight? Instead of sitting in darkness?"
She handed out the phone she was holding.
It was a flip phone, an old model, light pink in color but with no flashlight.
He took it and examined it. "What year are you from? Are you a time traveler?"
...
Somehow, I was one who felt a lump in my throat.
...
She lightly chuckled, lightening the tense atmosphere. He shot a curious smile too.
"I don't really like the current phones with "smart" features. All keep a track of us and I just want to be private," She said.
"Okay conspiracy theorist," He faced his palms towards her. "Wanna go for an adventure?"
She nodded.
"Let me inform Honey and Berlin."
Linda called them up and informed them she had been found, and was somewhere with Brent. Although she had only adventures that day, hearing she's with Brent assured them. Since he was a local, he would know things around.
They both went to the urban part of the city, which was a compact neighborhood full of narrow alleys. There were neon lights with all sorts of names all around. The place glowed blue, orange and green, throwing soft hues on her pale face. As they approached a rundown building, the smell of smoke and alcohol increased, gradually heightening Linda's vigilance.
...
I was there too, as I couldn't really leave behind my characters but since this part was added by Margie, I wasn't sure of what is to happen.
...
They both stopped in front of a pub.
Linda, held Brent's wrist and pulled him closer, grabbing his collar with the other hand.
"SPEAK! ARE YOU GOING TO KIDNAP ME?"
He laughed. "Linda what are you--"
CRACK.
Before he could speak, she punched him on his face, with a loud crack in his neck
His eyes were squinted as he fended to his bruise. He locked his neck back in place and glared at her.
Brent grabbed her wrist and took her inside the building. A knot growing in her stomach, breath hastened.
Inside the building was a garage turned into a band. There were red lights all around, intensifying the atmosphere. People around smoking and drinking like it's a normal business day.
One thing about Linda, she had never visited a pub before.
As she glanced around, Brent pulled her to a round table facing a stage. He stood opposite to her, facing his back to the stage. She looked at his bruise, which had now turned brown and scabbed.
"S-sorry," She muttered under her breath, barely audible.
"I understand you, a little bit," He replied, before turning away from her.
Right then, a group of people came onto the stage to perform, starting off with a familiar melody. Linda could recognise it anywhere, it was the Smoke Makers!
Brent glanced over his shoulder towards her. "They venue they were performing got attacked by the local gangs," He informed her.
Linda nodded, before going back to the show.
...
Meanwhile I was in the pub too, enjoying their interaction. Before I knew it, the glowing rose threads crept upon the table, meeting in the middle and locking into a tight knot.
"Yes!" I exclaimed.
Since the Rendezvous was now complete, I was free to roam outside unless they both realised it too. Since I was not needed anymore, I took a can of beer off the counter and walked outside, at the back entrance of the building.
I popped open the can and sipped out of it. The cold feeling against the hot and humid weather was an amazing feeling. I leaned against the brick wall, giving into the silence, finally loosening my tight shoulders.
"Have you all lost your minds?"
A voice broke the silence. No way. It couldn't be-
I ran towards the source of the sound, hiding behind a corner building, narrowing my eyes.
A sight of a man being beat up by local thugs, cornered yet shoulders held high.
He looked in my direction, unusually aware of me.
"Dude," the voice laughed. "The cheesedrip in this play was insaaaane!"