Fiction Friday
Here’s a new short story.
Eighteen
Melanie couldn’t believe it when she opened the envelope. “Are these for real?” she asked holding two concert tickets up.
“We’re going to see The Pillars tomorrow night!” Patrica grabbed Melanie’s arm and shook it. “Can you believe it? It was so hard for me to keep my mouth shut. I did a good job, didn’t I?”
“A great job,” Melanie said. Patrica and Melanie had been friends since third grade. During that whole time Melanie couldn’t remember Patrica ever keeping a secret–not once. Keeping this one must have nearly killed her.
Melanie was hoping for the perfect eighteenth birthday and she thought she had already had it, but this present made it better than she could’ve ever imagined. Turning eighteen made her feel electric. She felt like the world was opening up to her. These concert tickets were the exact right thing to add to the electricity of the moment. The Pillars had been her favorite band ever since she was eight. She’d always wanted to see them in concert, but had never gotten the chance. With their recent break-up announcement she never even imagined she would. This was their final tour. This was her last chance to see them live and now she was going to.
Melanie dressed up for the concert in her favorite black leggings and a black and silver designer shirt she’d bought off the clearance rack the week before. She wore thick black and silver belt that she borrowed from her older sister around her waist. Patrica helped her do her make-up for the night. She didn’t usually wear make-up, but tonight was special.
On the way to the concert Melanie kept pulling down the sun visor to check her make-up in the mirror. The waxy red lipstick made her lips feel dry.
“You look great,” Patrica said.
“I just can’t get used to it.” Melanie rubbed her lips together to make sure her lipstick was evenly spread. She felt tempted to wipe it off and put on the cherry Chapstick she always carried in her purse.
Their spots at the concert were better than Melanie expected. They were on the right side toward the center. Patrica must of spent a fortune for the tickets. Melanie wandered how much they cost.
Once the concert started Patrica wasted no time trying to get closer. “We should move to the front. It is your birthday after all.” she said.
“Can we?” Melanie had never been to a concert like this before. She didn’t want to break the rules.
“Of course we can. Who will notice?” Patrica started pushing her way to the front and Melanie tried to follow her, but somehow lost site of her in the dizzying excitement. She stood on her toes but couldn’t see her over the crowd jumping and yelling. Giving up on ever finding Patricia in the crush of people Melanie decided to try to get as close to the stage as possible and enjoy the action. Now the only thing that separated her from the stage was the metal barrier and a large bald man in a black t-shirt his arms folded talking into an earpiece. Security.
Melanie never liked crowds. She usually did what she could to avoid them. Now here she was throwing herself into one. She was close enough to see the lead singing clearly. When he came to her side of the stage to sing she swore he could see her too. When he took off his scarf and threw it into the audience she knew he was throwing it to her. She reached up to catch it. It grazed her fingertips and as she extended back to get it she started to fall into the crowd. She didn’t hit the floor all at once. She fell slowly cushioned by one body and then another. Each moving out of her way until there were no more bodies to hold her up only the hard dirty concert floor.
She couldn’t see anything but legs and feet pushing into her. She called out, but the music was too loud for anyone to notice. Her head hit the concrete floor again and again as the feet came down on her.
The music pressed into her eardrums. It was the day after her eighteenth birthday and her favorite was playing her favorite song.
