(Don't) Panic

I - The Concert

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*trigger warning: abduction

*the full warning and list of triggers to be found in part 2

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"Look! They are gonna be in our area after the exams are over! Let's buy tickets, yes?" Doreen was thoroughly overexcited about a concert and pleading with her friend and flat mate Marissa to come along with her.

"We can even go by bus, I think the student ticket covers it. It'll basically be for free! Please come! Will you?"

Chuckling at the antics of her friend, Marissa couldn't say no. She was sure that others from their dorm would come along and the trip would be fun even if the music did not really meet her taste.

"I'll come if you do the dishes tonight an-"

"Oh it'll be so much fun!! And it'll be good for you to get some fresh air..." Doreen interrupted her friend giggling and skipping through the kitchen.

"AND if you learn with me for economics."

That quieted the squealing girl immediately. „But you know I hate that subject and it is not as if I have to do it this semester really you know? Please?"

„You'll have to eventually and this could be the proper motivation. If you fail the exam I won't come with you."

Knowing Marissa well, Doreen slumped in defeat. „Alright I'll try. Can we buy the tickets now at least?"

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The semester was over, the exams done, the papers handed in. Doreen, Marissa, Louis, Sarah, Max and Simon had departed for the concert some two hours earlier and were exchanging plans for the remainder of the summer holiday.

"I've got a flight next Wednesday to go home and visit my parents, my sister and her husband will be there too. Mom said that maybe we can visit grandma in the hospital, she fell down last year and had a broken hip." Max told the group.

"I thought you had that internship at Cox & Sparrow?" Simon inquired.

"No, they took the airhead Gary." Max replied with a dark look. "They told me they were 'sincerely sorry but that I would not fit in with the other employees'."

"That's rubbish" Sarah joined in. "I know for a fact from Leanne that their head of HR is really homophobic. You know she worked there as a stand-in during spring."

Doreen nodded. "Gary is as stupid and incompetent as possible but straight as a pole. Which stop is ours again Marissa?"

"The one after next. Only about ten more minutes I think. We should probably get this chaos back into the bags."

The group had spread out, having the compartment all to themselves. There were wrappers and water bottles, a set of cards and some pillows that needed to be cleared away.

Of course they were not the only ones arriving with public transport and once on the platform they were greeted by more familiar faces from the dorm and their different majors. Instead of taking the overcrowded shuttle to the concert they opted for a walk, after all they had been cooped up in a bus, a metro and for the last hop a regional train.

"Hey Doreen, Marissa! What are you two doing over the summer then?" The sour mood had not entirely left Max but he wanted to have a good time.

"We really wanted to go scuba diving but we were too indecisive, weren't we, Doreen?" Marissa laughed at the memory.
"Yeah, once we finally knew what we wanted the flights were too expensive and all the groups were full already. We'll probably just go to the seaside maybe and enjoy the empty flat." The two young women grinned at each other mischievously.

The terrain became steeper and the conversation ran dry, replaced by heavy breathing and groaning.

"Are we there yet?" asked a sweaty Simon some time later.

"Should be... just around... those houses... over there." Louis had to stop to gather himself. He had the best sense of direction in the group but was definitely not enjoying physically strenuous activities like hiking up what seemed like Mount Everest to him. "Why couldn't we have waited and taken the shuttle?" he groaned.

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When finally arriving to their destination and after having checked into the enclosed area where the concert was to take place, Doreen, Sarah and Simon were only thinking of a rather urgent toilet break. The other three milled around the different stalls, debating whether or not to buy merchandise and if so which item. Even Marissa, though not a fan of the band herself, rather fancied one of the T-shirts.

"Hey Max, I guess I'll get that keychain for Doreen, it's her birthday week after next. Are two you getting anything?"

"Probably not, the stuff is rather pricey for the low quality." Max replied.

Louis, nodding his approval, added "We should get back to the meeting point, Doreen, Sarah and Simon should be back. The concert should start soonish and we still need to find the others. Might take some time, too, with this amount of people."

Reuniting with the other half of the group took some time because by now there were thousands and thousands of people crowding the grounds. Even Louis, tallest of the six, had difficulty to overview the crowd.
They only managed to get together again because the short Sarah stumbled into the others while fighting her way through a sea of elbows.

"There you are!" Sarah exclaimed. "Didn't we say that we'd meet over there somewhere?" She was vaguely pointing to her left. "Well it doesn't matter anymore, let's just get going or I won't be able to see anything but backpacks!" With that she grabbed Max's wrist and marched off, creating her own pathway using her rather efficient elbows.

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They never got to hear even one single song.