Falling Waters

|1| -Now-

The crowd was chanting so loud that they could be heard in the furthest lot, at the opposite end of the venue. The band hadn't even arrived yet, even though they were supposed to have been there before the show even had started, but the crowd was wild with anticipation. There wasn't one silent body in the stadium.

A few crew members raced by as the band's manager, Emily Green, who was waiting anxiously for them to arrive, pacing the floor behind the stage. She looked out the curtain once more to see an almost angry crowd. She had been calling Scarlet almost obsessively, blowing up her phone with unread voicemails going straight to her inbox.

"Scar, where are you guys? They were supposed to go on 20 minutes ago," Emily said in one message.

She panicked after hanging up and immediately made another call.

"Dammit! Make that 30."

Across town, in a bulky, blacked-out SUV, Colter Thorn, who recently failed his driving test, was speeding through every stop light with McKenna Ashleigh Larson, Tyler Halter, and their photographer Scarlet Rein.

To say the ride was dangerous would be the biggest understatement of the year. A shriek of fear was let out by Scarlet, as a semi-truck nearly hit her passenger side door, coming from down a hill. Ash humorously laughed at her as a white Nissan hit the back tail light, pushing it to pop off and fall to the wet, glossy asphalt, causing them to all turn around. Scarlet was the first one to look forward again, gripping the center cup holder and the door's handle for dear life.

"Emily is going to kill you," Tyler stated while Colt dodged more and more cars, now driving on the wrong side of the road.

Somehow avoiding every car, ​​Colter smiled over at Scarlet, who was on the verge of crying. Warily, he removed one of his hands from the wheel and took Scarlet's closest hand in his. He squeezed it as an apology that he got her into the mess that they were in, keeping his eyes glued to the front windshield.

Colt knew that eventually, if not the moment they got to the arena, she would forgive him, but in the moment, it felt like life or death.

Slightly opening her eyes, she managed to gather the courage to reply to Tyler.

"If he doesn't kill us first," Her voice shook and cracked between a few of the words.

She closed her eyes once more as tight as she could while turning away to not see the horror that Colter was causing.

"Why did I call shotgun again?" She screeched as the tires made an ungodly sound on the slipper surface.

The dark sky luckily hid their illegal actions, but Scarlet was sure that the restaurant they were previously at, had called the cops due to their dining and dash. If they hadn't, she knew some passer-by undoubtedly had. It was clear to anyone that some criminal activity was happening, whether it was driving under the influence or someone who wasn't supposed to be driving, was.

Ash, who goes by an abbreviated version of her middle name, Ashleigh, climbed up front and wrapped her arm around Scarlet's neck for support.

"I'll trade you. It's like being on a rollercoaster up here." She said with enjoyment in her voice.

Ash watched from the middle, with a giant grin spread across her face. She was the thrill seeker, always at Colt's side since they met. Dumb and Dumber, you could call the pair.

Cutting off Scarlet from her next words, Colter suddenly made a sharp turn that should have sent them flipping. She gulped, regaining her train of thought.

"That's even more dangerous." Scarlet's voice cracked again.

She clutched the door and shook her hand away from Colter's so that she could go back to tightly holding the cup holder.