Beyond the home

Chapter 9: Burning Ash

Now confused as ever, but reassured by Suki, Ash gave up and just accepted she won't know what is happening with Nooshy. It gave her a chance to focus on her work, as she was booked for the night to play in a club. But she still was worried for Nooshy, since she can easily hurt herself.

The porcupine changed into her rock outfit to be matching with the theme she is gonna come into and packed her guitar into the case. Her goal was to play a few songs, and peacefully leave, hopefully not bothered by paparazzi, which was a problem more and more nowadays. 

Ash walked out of her apartment, locking the door, while checking on her phone if her Puber was already there. (A/N: Puber = Uber)

She made her way down the whole building and got out, seeing the car waiting for her already. Ash walked inside the car, and the driver drove away, no words spoken. She pulled out her phone, already seeing some funny videos sent from Gunter. She watched a few of them, laughing now and then.

Soon, she was in front of the club. She thanked the driver and stepped out of the car, closing the door after her. There were many animals still standing in the line, not allowed to get inside. Ash walked casually inside, passing some on her way backstage.

"Hey, Ash, glad you made it today." The producer said, as soon as she sat the case down, and opened it. She just nodded in response, not wanting to deal with that idiot. She prepared her guitar and stepped in front of the entrance to the stage. While she patiently waited for the time, she spotted something...or rather someone.

It was the singer that was before her. He was a porcupine, just like Ash. He was maybe a year older than her and had silver-colored splinters. A leather jacket with matching leather boots was standing out while he played his song, which was coming to an end.

Somehow, she found herself staring at him. Why? No reason...other than she found him attractive. She didn't hear his voice, as she already had earbuds in for monitoring the sound output, but she could tell just by looking at the crowd that they must have loved it.

The guy ended the performance, and walked backstage, passing Ash. He smiled at the porcupine, who slightly blushed and walked on the stage. She plugged her guitar in and began playing the song she chose.

While she was playing, she looked back into backstage a few times, seeing the guy watching her. It didn't make her nervous; she was used to being watched by many eyes, like a whole theater, where about 2 thousand individuals would fit if not more.

After almost an hour Ash fully ended her performance and walked back to backstage, where the same guy was sitting, looking like he was waiting for her. She took out her earbuds and quickly put them next to the guitar to be able to hear the man.

"Really nice performance!" The guy said as Ash turned around to face him.

"Thanks," Ash replied, packing her guitar back into the case.

"Hey, want to hop to a drink?" He asked, making Ash freeze. She wasn't expected to be invited out by a total stranger.

"Uhm, I don't drink." "That's okay, they also serve some drinks without alcohol." The guy said.

"Okay." Ash agreed and smiled.

/-/-/-/

"We are really gonna spend the whole day searching through this...dump of a country?" Sweetie whined, looking through the map.

"Probably." "Let's check something else." Sweetie said and zoomed out of the map, displaying the whole continent. "What about here?" 

"England?" Timur asked, looking over the map. "That would mean...Nooshy could have been in..." He moved the map, selecting three points. "Zurich, Paris, or Amsterdam." 

"You mean she traveled by train?" "I doubt she has a passport with her, so she can't travel by plane." He said. "That cut the places by so much."

"If she is there," Sweetie said.

"Sweetie, what happened on the tower really?" He asked the terrier.

"Nothing." Sweetie said, sitting down on the seat. "I just confronted him about his cheating."

"And he said?" "Nothing, but I warned him if something happens to Valerie I won't be so calm." Sweetie said, angrily. "It will also give him time to figure out if he wants to be with me, or that receptionist in his job."

"It must be hard for you," Timur said, feeling sorry for her.

"No, it's...fine," Sweetie said. "It's easy to lie since Valerie would believe anything I tell her." 

"Believe..." Timur stood up, most likely to think. "What if we made everyone believe that we are searching for someone, and if they know them they can call us."

"Okay, we put up posters around the world." "No, we share a photo of someone only Nooshy knows, making her contact us, and also keep it low in front of the public," Timur said. "That way we can pinpoint the route the watch had taken her and be ready for her when it happens again."

"That...doesn't sound like a bad idea, but...how?" Sweetie asked. "How will we know if it's Nooshy or not,  or how will we make sure Nooshy sees it."

"Hmmm..." He thought, pulling out his phone. "Either Porsha or Ash, choose." 

"What about Johnny? It's his girlfriend." Sweetie said. "But why?" 

"Something she would see easily." He scrolled through the contacts and dialed the number.

"Yes?" "What catches Nooshy's eyes really easily?" Timur asked.

"So it was really you who lost Nooshy." "No, and answer." "No." And the call ended.

"Wait! I have a picture!" Sweetie said, letting the computer connect to her collar, which captures everything. "March, 2nd, last year." 

The display showed the photos, on one where was Nooshy standing in front of a shop, which was really colorful, and definitely eye-catching.

"This store, we just need to remo-" "We can't put a photo of the store online and expect it to be seen by Nooshy," Timur said.

"But...if we just put that it's hiring, put there the number, but add that we only accept people born in...4th of August, so hopefully only Nooshy would call." Sweetie explained.

"Sounds terrible." Timur chuckled. "Jarvis, make it and send it worldwide, we need it to appear on EVERY display." 

"Understood, sir." "Now, we go to London in hopes she's there."