Launi

The crowd is going wild as we run down as many stairs as we can to get close enough for my brother to see us. We are still a ways away when security for the venue stops us. "He's my brother!" I tell him, but he isn't listening or he doesn't believe me. Instead, Parker and I scream his name as loud as we can.

"Jagger!" I scream. He never even looks in our direction.

"He can't hear us," Parker says disappointed.

Jagger's exits the octagon, shaking hands on the way out. He's is stopped for an interview. I'm reminded that my mom is missing this moment and I need to get a good picture.

My phone opens to the text thread with Rye. I had intended to text him after Tinsley told me the truth about their relationship in the bathroom. I'd gotten as far as to unblock him when I had heard my brother's fight be announced. Before I can get out of the thread and into my camera, his message pops up.

Rye: Launi, your dad's in trouble. I think he had a heart attack.

My heart drops like a lead ball into my gut. I grab Parker and show her the text. The two of us search the arena for their section and can see through all the standing people the presence of emergency workers and a crowd around a man on the ground.

"We'll never get back up there," I say in a panic.

"We have to tell your brother," she says.

I hadn't even thought about that. Of course we have to tell Jagger. Our screams are no longer cheerful but instead are wild and insistent.

"Jagger!" we yell repeatedly until I'm sure I won't ever have a voice again.

Finally, my brother looks over in our direction. I know I look crazy, tears are falling down my face and I'm waving my arms like I'm stranded on a deserted island and he's the ship in the distance that can save me. I know there's no chance I can tell him what's happening over the crowd so Parker and I start pointing to the section my dad is in, hoping he can figure out something is wrong.

I stop when I see his eyes move to the commotion in that area of the arena. He turns his head slightly to the man with a walkie talkie next to him without taking his eyes off the emergency crew. He says something as he points up in that direction and I pray they tell him what's happening.

Jagger nods. I haven't talked to my brother in a long time, but in this moment he's back in his role, motioning for me to come to him and sending his men to retrieve us. I'm relieved and scared as the seriousness of what is happening sinks in further. I can't get to my dad, and I can't get to my brother. I'm stuck in the middle like I always am, waiting for it to pass.

"See!" Parker says loudly to the security guard that hadn't let us through. "I told you," she scolds.

A man from Jagger's crew holds up some credential and the guard takes a minute to make sure he has the authority to bring us down. Finally, he steps aside and lets us pass. I run to my brother who is also trying to push his way through to get to me. He scoops me up and holds me. I don't even care that his nose is bleeding and he has a large cut above his right eye.

"They're taking him to University Medical Center," he tells me.

I wipe my face and nod. "Ok."

"We can get out this way. I have a car ready," he says.

When I turn around again, the section is cleared. The entire band and all their guests are gone. People have been so distracted by the fight they have failed to notice a man might have just taken his last breath in the same room as them. How quickly our focus is stolen, like a magician twitching one hand to direct your attention away from the other.

I stand there, frozen, the realization that I have aspired to do the exact same thing. Afterall, isn't that what PR is? A slight of hand—a redirect. And for the first time in a long time I feel homesick. Not for the house I grew up in, or the cabin I stayed at all those summers, but for the small room I share with Parker in the city where neighbors remember your name and ask you where you were when it takes a little longer to get home than usual. I don't think I want this new life at all.