first question... ~ Paul McCartney (1st book)

•Part 44•

August 23 1966

The noise wasn't as horrendous as she had anticipated. She walked past hundreds of girls who were so engrossed in their excitement they didn't even recognise who Amelia was. She snapped a few photographs as the people hurried in knocking over some as they forced their way to the front and other seats in the arena.

It didn't take long for the venue to be completely packed and was obviously the largest crowd the Beatles had played to in their entire career. Amelia had made her way to the sound desk, which was half way around the arena, and she could see the stage in all it's glory from there.

"Does it sound any better out here?" She asked George Martin as he adjusted the sound ready for the performance.

"Not particularly, but I try my best" he said and she smiled at him.

"Do you know when it will start?" She asked looking at her watch.

"Around 6:30, but you know how they are" he said rolling his eyes which made her giggle.

"Well, I must move on. Got to take some more photos and then make my way to the front which should be interesting" she said eyes wide.

"Good luck out there!" He said and she smiled again as she walked away.

Amelia spent her time just watching everyone's excitement that was actually rubbing off and onto her. She finally felt her panic and anxiety begin to subside.

"AMELIA!" A very large group of girls yelled from the top balcony and echoed through most of the arena.

She jumped at the sudden outburst and waved at them a little taken off guard. They screamed at her small gesture obviously knowing that she was Paul girlfriend.

She paced on and almost reached the section in front of the stage when something was flung from behind her and whacked her on her shoulder. Amelia turned sharply with pain soon realising a full and unopened water bottle had been flung at her with quite a high velocity.  She picked it up and looked to see who had thrown it but no one seemed to have been there. It was clear to her that someone didn't like her very much as on the bottle there was an extremely rude word that she couldn't even look at for long because of its intensity. Shortly but too late a security guard rushed to help her and took the bottle off her and read it for himself.

"Are you alright?" He asked her sincerely and she nodded.

He left to contact the rest of his colleagues to keep a close eye on her in case anything happened. She quickened her pace to the front hoping she could take some refuge. Her eyes became heavy with water as she thought about the word on the bottle and how someone could even think about saying that to someone. However the fact that it was clearly directed at her made her feel uncomfortable and targeted. To take her mind off of those dark thoughts. She took some more photographs of an elderly couple who were sat high up observing the mess down below.

The girls were already hysterical just to know that they were in a the same place as the Beatles themselves and it made her chuckle at their obsessive behaviour. As she reached the barriers where the stage was, the fans reached out to her like she was a magnet and screamed her name for her attention.

"AMELIA! IS PAUL REALLY AS LOVELY AS PEOPLE SAY HE IS?" One yelled to her.

She laughed "YES OF COURSE HE IS, PROBABLY MORE THAN IS SHOWN" and yelled back, the girl broke down in tears at the news.

"YOU'RE INCREDIBLY LUCKY AMELIA" another shouted and she smiled.

"HOW DID YOU TWO MEET" a small girl suddenly appeared from the crowd.

"WELL ITS A LONG STORY ACTUALLY..." she began but was cut off by the heightened screams of the girls around her as the lights dimmed.

She flicked round and grabbed her camera like her life depended on it. The boys ran on with their instruments and she snapped as many shots as she could. They smiled and waved as they moved to their positions. Amelia actually thought her ear drums were going to explode from the sheer volume of the noises coming from everyone around her. She remembered that Paul had given her some ear plugs before she left and quickly placed them in.

It only muffled the sound and made it horrendously difficult for her to concentrate. John had shouted something through the small microphone but nobody, not even him, could identify what was said. The only way Amelia could discover what song was being played was to look at the chord progression George played on his Gretsch. It matched with what she knew to be as Drive My Car. She snapped some more shots realising they must've looked rather blurry from being shaken by the barrier.

The girls behind it look as if they were crying out for help in a cage. Amelia quickly rotated and took a photograph of them completely captivated by each member. Her hand started to shake along with her legs and soon she felt her skin turn white. She tried to focus on the boys as they moved and jumped specifically on Paul. He was so engrossed in all the chaotic crowd that he didn't even notice she actually looked rather unwell.

But she pressed on, remembering how determined she felt previously, and took more photographs of the band. They were now onto the fourth song and Ringo was already drenched in sweat from bobbing his head so violently. George grinned but also looked rather terrified underneath the plastered smile as he looked towards everyone. Amelia looked for her self standing slightly in the isle and noticed everyone acting almost delusional. She turned back, trying desperately to erase what she had just witnessed, and saw John finding the whole thing hilarious.

She zoomed in just as he let out a massive laugh before bringing the song Day Tripper to an end. Then she moved to Paul and saw that he was about to introduce the next song.

After hushing everyone he said "this next song is dedicated to my lovely girl, Amelia" as he gestured to her and the crowd roared once again. She couldn't tell weather they were pleased or angry but she focused back on Paul "this is All My Loving".

And that's when all hell broke loose. The crowd pushed far too hard and the barrier tipped at the bottom before fully falling to the ground. Thankfully Amelia had noticed it wobbling immensely from the ferocious shaking a few songs before and jumped back.

But just when she thought she was safe, the crowd stampeded over and around her. She let out a loud cry for help whilst being thrown around by the audience as they tried to get as close to the band as possible totally ignoring her. Amelia couldn't move to escape and felt her breathing become restricted due to the close proximity. This topped everything bad that had happened to her on the tour.

"I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE PAUL!" She screamed to him but felt as if no one could hear her.

She felt so overwhelmed that her legs couldn't take her weight anymore and neither could her mind. Amelia felt as if her heart and brain was going to implode from the pressure and close proximity of the sweaty bodies.

She instantly wanted to kick herself for being so naive, of course this was going to end horribly.

Suddenly one large shove literally pushed her over the edge and caused her forehead to be smacked against a speaker which knocked her into complete and pure darkness.