Day 8: Write a scene that takes place at a concert.
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THE JUGGERNAUT'S TUNNEL
LIVE IN MANILA!
The words glowed bright red above the concert hall, lighting the sky on an otherwise dark night. It was a cloudy one, making the sign stand out even more. The closer you got, the more blinding it was, but once the doors opened you couldn't even focus on it anymore. Suddenly the adrenaline kicks in and all you care about is getting through those doors.
It was worse than lining up at MRT. There was maybe an equal amount of people there on a regular day at the railroad station, but the noise was one of a kind. Thousands of people talking, screaming, chanting the band's name. And not everybody had even taken their seats yet. You could feel the excited buzz in the air from all the tired yet restless bodies that had been waiting outside since the day before. People were impatiently pushing each other while simultaneously complaining about being pushed.
In the middle of the throng, I was just trying to make it out alive. I've always tried to avoid crowded spaces. I have this legitimate fear of stampedes and pickpockets, and those were my two apprehensions when the chance to see TJT presented itself. Watch your favorite band and risk getting robbed or trampled to death? Or stay at home alone in sweats and stream the whole thing for free?
What ultimately helped me make up my mind was my friends. They came barging into my room as soon as they heard.
"TJT two months from now," Brian had announced as he plopped down onto my desk chair. "My brother scored us some tickets."
"Really? Front row?"
"Dude. Come on." He looked at me as if it should've been obvious.
Now, here we are.
Brian and the rest of my companions were chanting along with most of the crowd, getting pumped up. While I trudged behind them, going along with the flow of the crowd. I kept my hands in my pocket, keeping track of my phone and wallet.
My neutral mood was disrupted when someone harshly pushed past me.
The person in question was a short girl--her head couldn't have gone past my shoulders--with dark, wavy hair, squeezing her way through the crowd. I shrugged, thinking that I couldn't blame her for using her littleness to her advantage.
But then she turned halfway around. "Sorry," she said. But I couldn't even get a word out.
Her face--or half of it, anyway--was beautiful.
(Fast forward through the first half of the concert.)
"...see you on the greener side."
The music died out and the crowd roared. I wasn't the loud type, but when I did make noise, rest assured it's for something totally awesome. The concert had been amazing so far. All rock concerts, I think, are super high-energy and loud, and this was one was no exception. Everyone around me was jumping and screaming the lyrics of every song along with Zoe, the vocalist of TJT. Girls were sitting on guys' shoulders. Pretty much everybody had their phones out and stuck them into the air. Fists were being raised in time with the beat. Everybody was dancing and having a good time.
And as for the band itself, they were beyond my expectations. They sounded better live, and Zoe was prettier in person too. They gave equal energy in their performance as we did in cheering for them, and I guess that says something about the band's relationship with the fans.
"Whoo!" Zoe hooted into her microphone. "You guys have been unbelievable so far! The most amazing..."
BAM.
Somebody bumped right into my back. It wasn't really painful, but it was annoying because I was listening to Zoe talk. I spun around to confront whoever it could be.
Well smack me in the face--it was the girl from earlier. The one who was wiggling her small frame through the crowd. She looked up at me with her soft brown eyes, and I could see her whole face this time. I was suddenly thankful that Brian's brother had gotten us front row seats. I probably wouldn't have found this girl or seen her entire face if it wasn't for the lights shining onstage.
I was right. She was beautiful.
"Uhh, sorry," she said, smiling widely.
"Uhh, it's fine?" It sounded like a question. Come on, I have to do better than that.
"Ian, Look!"
All of a sudden Brian was wrenching me away from the conversation. And for what? To watch our friend Andrew vomit all over the floor.
"Ew, dude," I said with a laugh. I was annoyed by his interruption, but I still found it incredibly funny, especially because he was spitting the stuff on the back of a girl's shoe and she still hasn't noticed.
I got over the hilarity and turned back around to talk to the girl again--the small one that had a knack for crashing into people. But when I faced her--or what was supposed to be her anyway--I found that she'd disappeared. Gone in a wink. Elusive as a ghost. The mess with my friends couldn't have lasted more than a minute. And yet, she'd managed to slip away a second time.
I shook my head, knowing that I was never going to be lucky enough to see her again.
