Cocoon

Chapter One

Tonight was the night, I was going to see them. Excitedly, I hurried to my window in nothing more than a fluffy black bath robe. Stars danced beneath the passing collection for grey clouds which were fluffy and in their own way, beautiful. Gleams from the street lights blinded my eyes and I was lost once more in my own mind for a second. Eventually, after what seems like years of gazing out of my window, I returned to reality. I weren't ready. I had to look nice. I returned to my small, grey and cosy room. In it was nothing more than a bed, a wardrobe and walls smothered in posters of all my favourite artists: Mike Kerr, Oli Sykes but there was no artist I adored more than Van McCann. Tonight was the night I was going to hear his elegant voice live and just this thought sent trillions of little butterflies twirling inside my stomach.

I sat on my bed and pulled out a small red bag. Inside was my small, yet quite luxurious collection of make-up and a pretty simple compact mirror. I looked inside the mirror to see a excited girl glaring right back at me, she has long wavy brown hair that faded into a raspberry red at the very end. She had plump lips and skin as white as snow. Her eyes were the colour of the sky on a warm summers day and they sparkled at me. They were complimented by long, dark eyelashes and slightly red cheeks. However, she wasn't completed yet. I put on a foundation that matched my paleness, which trust me is quite hard to find, with a flat yet fluffy brush. After what felt like hours of contouring my face with different shade of brown and highlighting with a shiny, white powder- I continued to emphasise my blue eyes. Gently, I applied a line of black eye-liner, winged on each eye lid. To finish the look, I added mascara and a beautifully deep, matte plum lipstick. There, she looked amazing. I closed my mirror and edged towards my wardrobe. Opening the door slowly, my eyes were met with cloth of dark shades and colours: Black, grey, white, navy, plum. I pulled out a tight black dress which cupped my petite figure and small curves. I matched this with platform heels which pushed me from a measly 5"1 to a slightly taller 5"4. I was ready.

Walking downstairs, whilst I tried to avoid falling, I sat on the sofa. Now all I had to do was wait for my dear Lydia to arrive. The excitement was buzzing through my veins. I physically couldn't wait no more, the feeling was overwhelming! I was going to see Van McCann! He was going to soothe our troubles which is adorable welsh accent, and it is going to feel magical. I glanced over at the clock which read '6:45PM' Wait what?! 6:45? That means the concert starts in 30 minutes and we aren't even there yet! Oh no. Where was she? I can't quite drive yet, so I rely on her taking me. Hurriedly, I ran over to pick up my golden, rose Iphone 6 which had one missed message waiting for me. My pristine matte, black nails gracefully clicked onto the messaging app to open the message. My eyes scanned the sequence of letter "Sorry Beth, I'm running a little late, I'll be there shortly". This was sent at 6:00pm. Oh lord, shouldn't she be here soon? My stomach sank so low down and I could feel the sadness surging my body, out of all days why this one?

I sat on my sofa in a cold and silent room for what seemed like forever until at last the doorbell sang it's mesmerizing tune. I ran to the door, pulling it back with all my strength to reveal Lydia. Her ebony hair ran in curls down to her chest. She wore her cute, geekish glasses and subtle pink lipstick which brought out her chocolate coloured eyes. A smile swept over my lips as she grabbed me into a hug. "I'm so sorry I'm late Beth! I know how much this means to you, lets go quickly, we have 20 minutes which is how long it'll take us to get there if we set off now". There was no time for a response, she grabbed my hand and dragged me out of my flat, down the stairs and into her small, Scarlett car. We buckled in and off we went. This night went back to the happy, fun atmosphere as we both sang out of tune to 'Pacifier' as it blared through her stereo. Every now and again our voices would break and we were left in a fit of laughter! It's moments like this we live for.

Lydia took a left and there it was. A stadium, blaring blue lights into the starry sky. A banner hung from it's large metal wall which reads "Catfish and the Bottlemen". I could feel the red colour burning through my cheeks as the excitement burnt out my heart. I let out a squeal and Lydia then did the same. We walked gently together, arm in arm to the front door of the stadium. I pulled our tickets out of my purse, passed Lydia's to her as we got to the line. "You're going to see Van McCann in real life Beth!" Lydia sang at me. "I know" I shouted, trying to be heard over all the other fans nattering as they waited to get in too. "I GOT MISLED, MISTOOK, DISCARD" Lydia shouted at the top of her lungs. To our surprise the rest of the queue shouted the next line back. It was phenomenal. I put my hands in the air as I went to sway along to the song when all of a sudden my ticket left my hand and was taken with the late night breeze. No, no, no. I pushed past Lydia and went to chase it. "I'll meet you in there I shouted at her" as I ran and ran. It was still in my sight. I chased it out of the stadium car park, across the road and into the street before I lost it. It couldn't have gone too far, I ran into an empty backstreet before I finally broke into tears. Thank heavens for the waterproof make-up. Tears poured down my face, I can't deal with this, not today.

Suddenly, out of the shadows came a figure with something placed tightly in their first. I couldn't make out their face, just the orange glow from the end of their cigarette. "Is this yours?" A welsh accent called at me. I recognised that voice. "Van... V-Van McCann" I stuttered back. The figure carried on moving forward towards me, until he eventually was brought into the light. It was him. "Darling, are you ok? What's wrong?" He hummed at me before his arms cocooned around me reassuringly. He passed me my ticket. "I-I-I thought I lost it and then I chased it and It made me sad. I sound pathetic but-" I said before he cut me off. "You're not pathetic. Wipe your eyes, here" He said passing his cigarette towards me. "No, no. I don't smoke" I nervously muttered. He simply threw it to the ground and squashed it under his black, polished shoes. Ripped jeans clung at his legs and a black jumper hung around his torso. He held his hand out towards me "You coming back to the event? I have some songs to sing. Benji will kill me!" He chuckled. Of course I took his hand. We walked back hand in hand back to the car park. "Thank you" I stuttered before releasing his palm. "No problem." He replied smiling. I started to walk towards the entrance where there was very little queue left now before I heard him shout behind me "Fancy coming backstage with me, silly? Don't think I'd let you go so soon did you?" before doing his adorable laugh again. I turned to see his eyes sparkle at me. I love Lydia, but there was no way I could say no. "Sure" I smiled back at him.