396 Miles From Home- an original story

Chapter Ten

"They left us alone. The kids in the dark

To burn up forever, or light up a spark

We come together. State of the art.

We'll never surrender

The kids in the dark"

~ Kids in the Dark, All Time Low

Trigger warning: panic attack, passing out. 

Alec's POV

A couple of days later, we were at our show in Portland, Oregon. The arena was out-side and it was awesome, but it was ridiculously hot outside tonight. I had come straight off-stage and into the shower. Our green rooms were the only places air-conditioned and even though the sun had finally set, it was still burning hot outside. Cassie and Drew had been yelling at us all day to drink water and to cool off. We had even brought out bottled water to the line of fans waiting outside.

I had left the cool sanctuary of the green room to stand side-stage for the last part of Hearts on Fire's set. This was the last song before the encore, and I could tell something was off with Finley. She wasn't jumping around the stage like normal, but it was also hot outside and I couldn't blame her. It looked like she was getting out breath fast, but again, I chalked it all up to the heat. They called their good-byes and rushed off stage into the relative coolness of the backstage area. I moved out of the way as the techs ran to take the guitars and give the girls cold towels and ice water.

"Fin, you okay?" Emma asked. Finley had squatted down and Izzy moved closer to her, bracing her legs, like she expected Finley to fall.

"Are you okay?" Kit asked her again. I froze when she shook her head no. Her face had gone pale white, her lips turning white too.

"I feel like I'm gonna pass out. The whole room is spinning." Fin mumbled. One of the techs ran off to get the medic and Cassie, just as Finley's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped over. Izzy's legs caught her, and Izzy was quick to bark out orders for everyone to back up. She then gently laid Finley on the ground as two medics came rushing over, Cassie not far behind. Cassie quickly took control of the situation, yelling at the girls to go back on stage and tell the crowd that something had happened and there would be no encore tonight. The girls looked scared but nodded anyway, rushing onto the stage. Only about thirty seconds had passed, and Finley was starting to wake up. I rushed forward but Cas pulled me back. I could see the rest of my band rushing towards us, drawn out by the commotion. My heart was racing, and I was terrified. The one medic helped Finley sit up gently.

"Finley? You okay?" the medic asked her. She blinked a few times, looking disoriented.

"What happened? Did I pass out?" she asked. Cassie exhaled a little laugh as the girls walked back over to Fin.

"Did she hit her head?" the medic asked the girls. Izzy shook her head and told her what had happened.

"Yes Fin, you passed out." Cas supplied. The medic handed Finley a bottle of water and asked her a few questions, like where she was and what the date was.

"Do you know who the president is?" Finley wrinkled her nose.

"I wish I didn't," Finley responded. The girls and I laughed, and I heard the medic whisper, "Good answer." Cassie turned to us and ordered us all to go back to our green rooms, to give the medics space to work. We tried to protest but she shot us the death glare and we all scurried back to the green rooms, where we all ended up congregating in the girls room.

I slumped down on the couch, watching me leg bounce wildly, but I wasn't the only one nervous.

"Did you see how white she got? I know what they mean by 'white as a sheet of paper' now" Kit fretted.