freefall

1.

There he was, centre stage. He could barely hear himself think. The crowds around him were screaming. It was getting to the point where he couldn't even tell if they loved him or hated him. But then he got a signal through his ear piece. He pulled down his sunglasses and lights started flashing around him. The crowd screamed even louder as he started singing.

He felt like he was barely in control. He sung mechanically. Dancers pulled him around stage. From time to time he would go up to the edge of the stage and those in the audience would start screaming. He honestly couldn't even think of any reason they had to like him. He felt like a piece of plastic. His fluffy brown hair was sprayed into place. And his lips were covered in pink lip gloss. His face was covered in makeup. He was wearing a checked black and white crop top and small sliver shorts. And shoved onto his feet were small red heels.

The show was a few hours long. The entire time he barely had any clue what was going on. He was too overwhelmed to think. The screaming and cheering only got louder and louder. He felt like a doll, a puppet. Everything he did was controlled by the people around him and the person screaming instructions at him through his ear piece.

Eventually he was walked off stage by the dancers as the show ended. The moment he was backstage his manager grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him into his dressing room.

"That was a good show." Said Maddie, his manager. "70,000 people. George? Hey, George?"

"Sorry, sorry." Said George, snapping out of his thoughts.

"Hey, you can go back to your hotel now. You look tired." Said Maddie. "But remember, you did a good job out there."

George nodded and gave Maddie a slight smile as she walked out of the room. George started packing all his things into his bag. Then he grabbed a puffy red racing jacket and pulled it on. He put his sunglasses on again and then someone knocked at the door. They opened the door and took George's bag. George was walked out of the building to his car. Then he was driven to his hotel.

---

"Look, it's him." Said Nick.

"There's no way that we can get to him." Said Clay.

"So we'll just follow the car." Said Karl. 

"I kinda feel bad about this." Said Clay.

"We all do. But we have to do this." Said Nick. "It's just like any other job that we've done."

"But it isn't is it?" Said Clay. "We fucking grew up with him. We were all so close. And then his parents dragged him off."

"And now look at him. He's clearly forgotten us." Said Nick. "He doesn't look like he's got a personality."

"Let's just get this over with." Said Clay.

"The sooner it's done then the less it'll hurt." Said Karl.

The three were in an alleyway round the side of the venue which George had been singing at.

"Wait, where did the car go?" Said Karl.

"Dammit, we missed it." Said Nick. "We'll have to do it tomorrow."

"I just had an idea." Said Clay. "We'll get fake tickets and go in the audience. Then we can keep track of him and we might even be able to get backstage."

"So at the very least we can get a tracker on the car." Said Nick. "And then we can just break into the hotel."

---

As George walked into his hotel room he got a call.

"Hello mother." Said George into the phone.

"George, you're concert today didn't make enough money. You had better get people to buy more of that crap that they sell." Said his mother.

"Yes mother." Said George.

And then she hung up on him. George dumped his bag on the floor and took off his jacket. Then he went over to the bathroom and started washing all the makeup off of his face. He walked out of the bathroom and went over to his bed. He laid down and before he could stop himself he fell asleep.