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Chapter 40 – Run For It

After taking a few deep breaths, I followed the mass of concert-goers to the exit. All the while I kept a leisurely pace, keeping close to the west doors, falling back in line when I noticed that I was advancing from the others.

My heart pounded violently against my chest. I kept a discreet eye on my surroundings, impulsively checking if Becky was somewhere near. I spotted her walking to the stage and started taking pictures with her cell phone or at least pretended to.

Then she started towards the two tall, heavily built men in front of the double doors, her shoulders slumped, breathing raggedly as though having an asthmatic attack. When she was a few yards away from the men, she staggered, fell to her knees, hands clasped on her chest, eyes wide with lack of breath.

“H-help…” She croaked weakly as if choking.

“Oh my god.” A tall girl from behind me spun around and ran to Becky’s aid. “Help!” She shouted. The guards were alarmed but were not too keen on leaving their posts.

“Someone help them!” I shouted ducking instantly and scampered into the crowd to blend in. I sneaked my way back in front of the crowd as I saw one of the guards hurry to Becky who collapsed on the floor and wheezed noisily.

People started to gather around the commotion. Everything was just as we planned.

“My inhaler!” Becky rasped in between the wheezes. The guard on her side seemed to panic for a while, and then glanced back at his companion for support.

“Brunner!” He called with apprehension evident on his voice. “The medics! Now!” The other bouncer hesitated then left his post cursing under his breath.

That was my chance.

I sneaked to the door past the people who had crowded around Becky out of either concern or curiosity. When I reached the door, I took one last look on the commotion, then at the stage. Leon was still on stage, oblivious of the ruckus Becky just made.

I pushed the doors and slipped past them quickly so no one would notice.

I did it!

I should remember to thank Becky for this if I get out… hopefully alive. I didn’t have a clue she could act so well I almost believed she had asthma. Wicked little Becky!

Looking around with my eyes adjusting to the fluorescent glow, I started aimlessly through the hallways, my steps quick but unsure. I turned to the right, figuring that if the stage was there, it must be that the dressing rooms must be out there too. Not too far, I hoped.

Soon, I saw a couple of doors on either side if the hallway. One was a utility room and the other had a name plastered on the door.

Louella Cole

I froze near the door but mustered enough guts to turn the knob and take a peek after hyperventilating for a brief moment. My hand trembled intensity ten. The soft click brought me relief and anxiety at the same time. Through the small crack, I took a peek. Nobody home. I slipped in and looked around.

With a frustrated slap on my forehead, I began looking though I had no idea whatsoever I was looking for. The truth was I didn’t really expect to get this far.

My thoughts wandered back at Becky. Was she still feigning an attack? Had the medics arrived yet? They would surely find out that she was faking it. She could pretend it just was a bad case of hyperventilation which she happened to confuse as an attack. After breathing in a paper bag for a few minutes, Becky could pretend to get well and she could just walk away as though nothing happened. But I should’ve told her about the hyperventilation theory before we agreed on this stupid plan.

I ran my eyes through the whole of the room. Nothing seemed suspicious. Just a ton of frilly skimpy clothes, pointy-heeled shoes, unbelievable stacks of makeup set and the rest was a colorful haze of things that did not make any sense to me.

Before leaving, I caught a glimpse of myself on the mirror. My face was all red, including my ears. I shouldn’t have agreed to do this.

I was back on track when I spotted another door with Leon’s name on it. A woman in her late twenties, wearing a lot of makeup came out from the door and headed to the opposite direction from me. My heart pounded as I tried to make rehearsed excuses in my head, just to be sure… if I was caught.

My head hurt from thinking so I just ran inside the room as soon as the woman was out of sight. Thankfully, no one was inside. Like the other room, there was nothing suspicious. There were a dozen or so of coat and ties, flashy clothes which I remembered from the production numbers. The red guitar was there as with a huge bowl of differently colored jelly beans.

Odd. I never knew Leon liked those.

You know almost nothing about him.

The voice in my head nagged at me. I looked further, wondering if I’d see the cute alien shirt he wore before the finale but didn’t find it anywhere.

There were also flowers. Tons of them scattered about that I almost toppled a vase of yellow daffodils as I snooped about. Funny. What could Leon possibly want to hide from me?

It was all just a stupid theory. I was insanely insecure in a stalker-ish way and that was all. Great! Urgh.

Just when I was about to leave, I spotted a tiny pink note on the dresser. I fumbled on the piece of paper and read it.

            You know I’ll always be here for you. Don’t worry about that little problem of yours. I took care of it. See you tonight after the show.

            Love,

            Elle

A lump started to form on my throat as I dropped the note and rushed outside the room, breathing raggedly. A screen of mist covered my eyes, making it harder to see where I was going.

A little problem.

That would probably be me. And Louella was quite keen on taking care that I wasn’t anywhere near them. Just so she and Leon could be together without interference. That was it.

A twisting feeling in my chest made it harder to breathe. Just then and there I wanted the floor to swallow me whole. It was suffocating.

Trying to blink back the tears, I stifled a sob and headed back to where I entered. I dragged my feet, struggling to steady my pace, telling myself that I have to get out of here now and not give in to the gripping urge to breakdown and cry. There were footsteps approaching but before I had the chance or the energy to turn back and hide, I was seen by someone. I immediately recognized who it was. Gerald.

I didn’t wait for him to take a good look at me. I had no intention of letting Leon know about this tiny expedition. My feet loped me to the nearest turn, skidding to halt when I saw a flight of stairs. With my legs slowly giving up on me, I didn’t stop to look back or rest. Tears were streaming freely now. I couldn’t control them anymore.

“You there! Stop! Where do you think you’re going?” Gerald bellowed in between the panting. He was closing in on me but I knew he had no idea who I was so I keep scurrying up the steps. I took a deep breath as I reached the top of the stairwell and sped to the next hallway I saw hoping it wasn’t a dead end.

The corridor stretched a bit more ahead before I spotted another door. I stopped almost mechanically when I saw the name plastered on it.

Leon Walden Rm. 2.

Without hesitation, I opened the door and entered once I realized it was empty. It was like the rooms I had checked before. Only, there were no flowers. Leon’s blue lead guitar leaned on the side of the table on which a pile of music sheets and a couple of unlabeled CDs were stacked precariously.

There was a rack of clothes but they weren’t as flashy as the ones I saw in the first room. I scanned the room once again for any note but found nothing interesting except for Leon’s old sneakers, with tattered shoe laces as a result of being Kidnap’s chew toy for a night.

After a peek through the slim opening of the door making sure no one was around, I slid out again and headed forward. Gerald could still be searching for me from the other side of the hallway so no point in going back. Half-running, I arrived in front of a large glass paneled room; those where sports announcers do their MCing whenever there was a ball game.

From the lightly tinted panels, I saw a dark head inside and immediately realized it was Leon. Beside him were Arthur and Moira. Instinctively, I crouched down and inched my way to the end of the corridor where another flight of stairs waited for my escape.

Just before I begun to walk away, Gerald went into the announcer’s booth looking all exhausted and sullen. He was shaking his head as Arthur stood to talk to him. The booth was soundproof so I couldn’t really hear anything but I had a hunch that they were talking about me.

Leon removed the headphone from his ears, ruffling his raven hair as he joined the conversation. They exchanged frustrated looks for a moment and just as Leon’s eyes inadvertently trailed on my direction, I ran down the stairs hurtling myself two steps at a time, heart racing, thoughts buzzing inside my head.

I let out muffled whimpers as I reached the door where one of the two hefty guards spotted me. He yelled at me to come back but I darted away as fast as I could, confused and desperate. All I wanted was to get out of this hell hole and go home.

The stadium was still dark though the crowd had already thinned dramatically. At once, my eyes fixed on the exit. Wiping the tears with the back of my hand, I did a mad dash toward it, feverishly searching for any sign of Becky.

“Sarah!” Her tiny voice registered in my ears as a hand grabbed my arm. “This way!” Becky shouted as she towed me, nudging our way out.

“What happened?” Becky whispered finally breaking the silence as we got out of the car. I shook my head then turned to Joe, one of Leon’s bodyguards and thanked him for driving us home. I kept my gaze down and Becky seemed to realize almost immediately that I wasn’t ready to talk about it.

We were up until two in the morning talking about Becky’s cunning escape from the guards and the medics. Apparently, she had to stay in the emergency booth but got away before the medics even arrived at the scene she created.

“You sneaky fox!” I snorted tugging the blanket from her as we lay in bed. “I couldn’t believe you made a fool out of those huge guards. Just imagine if they caught you…”

Becky grinned. “They couldn’t. I didn’t know being vertically-challenged had its pros.”

I chuckled silently, thinking of other topics to talk about just in case Becky decided to ask about my spying tour of the star lounge. I wasn’t really sure if I should tell her about Louella’s note to Leon. She’d be furious. Before Leon could explain himself, Becky would’ve already gone the trouble of shaving off their heads or putting hydrogen peroxide on their cappuccino. If not, it would be something along those lines.

“So what about you? Did you find out anything?” She finally asked after several moments of hesitant silence.

I pulled the sheets over my face and pretended to yawn. “Nothing in particular… Just tons of clothes and jelly beans.”

“Did you see him do anything strange? Urgh, why am I asking that stupid question? He was with Louella on stage while you were sneaking in.” Becky pulled the blanket off my face. “You found nothing? All that trouble for nothing?” She voiced with sheer incredulity.

With a sigh I turned to her and squinted through the dim light to see her face.

“Actually, I saw something.” I begun as Becky’s eyes widened with anticipation. I gave her a detailed account of what happened, not leaving out anything. She risked so much for me to be able to sneak in and she deserved to know the fruits of her hard work.

“Are you sure it was him. I mean inside the announcer’s booth?” She asked with a hint of skepticism.

I nodded and swallowed the choking lump that surged into my throat. “Why?”

The gap between her brows furrowed.

“Nothing. I thought they were on stage while you were sneaking around. Leon must’ve gone in when the commotion went too far. But Leon… and Louella…” She blurted blankly. “I never thought it was possible! Leon doesn’t seem to be the kind of guy who does that.”

“I don’t know Becky. We know so little about him.” My voice almost broke so I cleared my throat with an effort. “If it wasn’t true, then why hasn’t he come home?” There was a wrenching feeling in my chest as I choked out the words.

See you tonight after the show. The note seemed to flash back in my memory again and again.

“For all we know, he’s with Louella at this very moment. And they’re laughing at how stupid I am.” I muttered bitterly fighting the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Was it something I did? Was I not enough? I wasn’t perfect like Louella. Of course he’d grow tired of me and my flaws.

“Sarah…” Becky pulled me and hugged me tight as the tears streamed on my cheeks. Pathetic. All I could do was cry. “We don’t really know what that letter means. Why don’t you and Leon talk about it?” She rubbed my shoulder and gazed intently at me.

“N-no…” I blubbered. “I won’t… I- I can’t. I don’t know if I could take it when he admits that everything between us was all a lie. What if—”

“If… Sarah. And if he really loves you? I know he does. I just know it. If you don’t confront Leon about this then you’re just torturing yourself.”

I cried again, burying my face on the sheets, wanting to scream and disappear at the same time. Was Leon capable of cheating on me?

Of course he is! He’s not a saint, Sarah. The voice in my head retorted.

All I wanted was for the tears to run dry but it seemed like they wouldn’t. The pain was just unbearable. It was worse than when I thought Leon was leaving. Life without Leon; I couldn’t imagine it. Perhaps I’d been too delusional. He’s a superstar, for God’s sake! He could get any girl he wanted and he didn’t have to choose one when he could easily have them all.

Just then, Becky cursed under her breath, her shoulders shaking, her eyes fierce.

“They better not be cheating on you. Or so help me God, I’ll rip their faces off.”

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Okay, if you're still reading this, then you must really love this story!!! *hugs everyone with tears of joy* Or really bored... but regardless, I want to thank you wholeheartedly for the support and encouragement! I didn't have the time to re-edit this so please tell me if I have any errors. And stay awesome! ~jaaaa!