Never As It Seems

Chapter 10

Amber shivered. It wasn't cold out but for her, it wasn't pleasant to be out either. What on earth was she doing here?

She watched her Dad's car disappear having agreed to come back when she called him. She felt very alone all of a sudden. For seven thirty it was eerily quiet. She reluctantly pushed the door to the entrance open and walked over to the desk. It was closed with a little hand written sign posted onto the glass which read, "See Box Office for enquiries" and an arrow pointing to the left. Amber looked in the direction of the arrow. The Box Office was literally a box! It was placed in the corner of the huge entrance hall and dimly lit. She walked over still questioning herself as to why she was even here. The woman behind the plastic looking window seemed bored. She didn't say anything, she just looked at Amber waiting for her to say something. She faltered for what to say for a few seconds and then gave into her father's plan.

"I'm looking for..."

"Tickets only. I'm not allowed to let fans do anything so don't even bother." The woman snapped. She obviously didn't want to be here.

"I'm not a fan." Amber tried again. "I'm looking for a member of staff. Jay.... errr I don't know his last name."

The woman smirked. "Do you think we're stupid here? We get every story under the sun from you lot to try and get in. Knowing one of the crew is the oldest in the book." She waved Amber away. "Bye bye". She said coldly as she picked up her mobile phone and studied it intently.

Amber huffed, glaring at the woman. She just raised an eyebrow and pulled down the shutter so that she could no longer be seen. Amber felt a sense of relief.

"Can't say I didn't try." She said to herself, heading for the door.

It seemed so much darker outside than usual. There was definitely no show on tonight and it seemed eerie outside the arena where she had become used to it being bustling with excited activity. She wrapped her arms around herself and started heading back to where her father dropped her off not ten minutes ago. She wondered if she should wait a bit before calling him to come back. She didn't want to disappoint him or at least not to let him think she didn't try. She stood for a moment by the curb feeling conspicuous, even though there was nobody around to see her. She hated standing around so decided to start walking. She would call for a lift when she got to a place where it would be easy for her dad to stop.

As she walked past the huge wall that enclosed the side and back of the arena, she heard voices ahead of her. She looked up to see the shadows of two or three people stop by the wall and then disappear in to it. She frowned, confused for a moment as to where they went. Then she remembered the gate that Jay had let them in through just the night before. As she thought about it, it seemed like all that was years ago. She once again chastised herself for letting her father bring her here. She began to walk at a more determined pace, she wanted to get home.

As she was passing the gate that Jay had unlocked for them to the night before, she stopped. The gate was slightly open and for a few seconds she debated with herself about going in or not. It didn't take long for her to acknowledge that the gate was usually locked and if she were to go in, she might get into trouble for trespassing. That would look really bad for her mother. Amber sighed to herself. Why did everything have to come back to what her actions would make her mum look like in public. She wished she could act recklessly sometimes without the risk of it affecting her mother's career. Again she started to walk, deciding it was probably time to call her dad. She put her hand in her pocket to fish out her phone but as she was about to dial, someone stopped her in her tracks. Her heart jumped into her throat as the figure in a dark hoodie loomed over her. It seemed even darker all of a sudden and very quiet.