Drowning

Chapter 26:

The bar air was hot and humid from the body heat in the room. It was worse than outside. I could already see the sweat dripping down the back of his neck as he forced his way through to the bar. It was like someone had forgotten to turn the air conditioning on for the concert tonight.

"There you two are. Are you guys ready to go find a spot?" JD asked when we finally caught up to them.

"Let's go!" Anna squealed in excitement.

"Girls, stay close." JD warned as he looked around the bar. I turned my eyes back around to follow his. The bar was packed, but there were not many other females out on the floor. Anna and I looked out of place in the sea of testosterone.

JD led the way down the stairs to the floor. We followed his path in a single file line to weave through the bodies. We got about halfway to the stage before there was no more moving forward. There was a pretty good view of the stage from our spot. At least we were in the middle of the floor and not stuck in the back.

The crowd was loud, full of liquor, and there was a strong smell of pot in the air. It was pretty overwhelming. We stood in silence. We wouldn't be able to hear each other anyway over the noise. Aiden was on one side of me and Ezra was standing on the other. At least I was surrounded. It made me feel a bit more comfortable knowing I knew who was standing behind me.

JD had his arms around Anna's waist. He would probably stay that way for the whole concert. Mark was on the opposite side of JD and Anna. I noticed the guys were protectively flanking us. Was there something Anna and I didn't know? There were rumors that Camo concerts could get pretty rowdy. Maybe our standing situation happened just by coincidence, but I had my suspicions otherwise.

More bodies were cramming into the space as the minutes ticked by. There was almost no breathing room between us. Ezra and Aiden were both doing their best not to touch me, but it was almost impossible as the crowd filled in. The band began to walk out to the stage and a roar went up through the audience. Our group joined in. It felt so freeing to scream this way and not be ashamed.

The short, thin, bald lead singer walked up to the microphone and the music started the slow fade in. The anticipation of the first song playing was thick in the air. Anna and I exchanged excited glances. This was going to be awesome.

The lead singer opened his mouth and let out a scream. The music exploded through the bar. Within seconds the whole crowd was jumping and shoving each other. I was knocked back into Ezra and he grabbed my arm to keep me from being thrown to the floor.

When I looked over, I saw JD, Mark, and Aiden fighting to grab Anna, who was struggling with someone trying to pull her into the pit. JD picked Anna up by her waist and pulled her back towards the other side of the floor. Mark and Aiden pushed at the crowd to make a path for him to pull her clear. They all started moving back towards the back of the bar.

My eyes searched for Ezra's and I was bumped into again. He kept having to hold me up from getting knocked over. I was struggling hard to stay on my feet. I kept getting pushed into and knocked back with every swell of the crowd. He motioned his head for me to follow him. We needed to move back away from the aggression.

We began to try to move back when I felt a tug on my arm, trying to pull me forward. I screamed and fought, trying to unhook the fingers wrapped around my arm. Ezra turned quickly and his hand flew to grab me. He missed my arm and ended up holding me by my corset strings. He pulled hard, trying to keep me with him. I kept fighting against the crowd as Ezra struggled to hold onto me. He was struck from behind, which knocked him to the ground and I felt him lose hold of his grip. I was being pulled right in the middle of the pit.

In the swirling and shoving crowd, I completely lost sight of Ezra. Panic ripped through me as I was pushed and shoved from every direction. What was I going to do? I began to push back against some of the guys trying to find my way out. I was not strong enough to break through. An arm hooked around my waist and swung me in deeper towards the stage. I was spinning and felt my feet leave the ground multiple times when someone else would toss me deeper. I was being thrown like a rag doll through the crowd.