Green, red, whammy, blue red, green, whammy, yellow. The split screen showed that my opponent began to miss every single note since the last twenty seconds. She never touched her guitar again, even when the last chord had been strummed.  The victory felt hollow because I know she hadn’t even tried, but then again, now I was going to an Ashley Davies concert!

“What was that?” I asked, amused.

“What?” she asked.

“You know what,” I tell her, slightly annoyed but flattered all the same.

She quickly changed the topic. “Do you have tickets for next week’s show?”

“Yeah,” I admitted, slightly embarrassed. I didn’t want to seem like ‘just another fan’.

“Good. Just come in through the back and I’ll have them upgrade your ticket. I’ll find you before the show.”

“Uh—Oh. Alright,” this was all happening so fast.

“See you there,” she chuckled and then she was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I arrived at the concert a half an hour earlier then early to make sure I could get a decent parking spot. Ashley Davies’ concerts always sold out within the first few hours and parking was horrendous. I snagged a spot and made my way to the concert hall.  I approached the main entrance, but then I remembered to go around to the back.  So I did, but I didn’t see a door.  I walked back and forth twice, but I still didn’t see any signs of a door to enter.

“You,” a male’s voice grumbled. I stopped dead in my tracks and held my breath, desperately trying to remember what I learned from self-defense class. “Yes, you, over there. Come here,” the voice commanded.

My gazed traveled to the sound of the voice and I spotted a tiny opening in the brick wall.  He had to work there since he was obviously inside the building so I walked over.

“Why are you here? What’s your name?” the hidden man demanded.

“I—“ I gulped. “I was told to come here. I’m, uh, Spencer Carlin… Ohio’s Missin’ Angel?” I figured he’d hopefully recognize my screen name if not my real name.

The peephole slammed shut.