FicWad

The noise was completely deafening as the band walked off the stage for intermission. It was all Ava could do not to jump up and down in excitement, waiting for more. "They are so amazing!"

"I know. Pete is totally hot!" Wendy added, a huge smile plastered across her face. She was pretty sure she had never seen her best friend look so happy.

"And Patrick sounds amazing. Even LIVE his voice blows me away."

Wendy nodded in agreement, sending her blonde curls bouncing in all directions. At that moment, with the thrill of seeing their favorite band, she looked like she was about ten years old.

Ava dug in her pockets for her camera, wanting to capture this moment before it was gone, but couldn't find it. "Shit." She muttered, remembering she didn't bring it in.

"What's wrong?" Wendy asked, a frown covering her face.

"I think I left my camera out in the car."

"Want me to go get it?"

"Neh, I can. It's cold outside and you didn't bring in your jacket. Besides, they're on intermission, so I have twenty minutes or so." Ava explained, beginning to collect her car keys from the pocket of her coat.

"No, let me. I need to get my cell phone, anyway." Wendy reached for Ava's jacket. "Matthew is probably worried that I haven't called him yet."

Ava shrugged, watching her friend disappear through the crowd hoping she'd be able to find her way back without getting lost. Wendy had a tendency to do things like that.

She still couldn't believe where she was. Fall Out Boy had been her favorite band of all time so it was appropriate that this was the first concert. Just seeing them in person sent chills running along her spine. They were beyond amazing, and Ava couldn't help but feel momentarily jealous of their life. They were so young and had already accomplished so much. She was still struggling with her writing. Her first book had only sold, like 5,000 copies total. It was a little depressing to say the least.

But now was NOT the time to think about stuff like that. Oh no. She was at a Fall Out Boy concert! Her career was not something she was going to focus on. She was going to sit here like a good little girl and have fantasies about Patrick Stump- you know, the kind where he somehow finds her in the audience and falls madly in love. Okay, so maybe she had a crush- or more realistically an infatuation (after all, she really didn't KNOW him... it was just that /voice/)! But then again, a lot of girls were in her same position. How could you NOT be infatuated?

Ava carried on like this for a while. In one of her fantasies Patrick ran into her right after the concert, asking her to join him backstage. In another, she somehow managed to get herself lost and ended up backstage in his dressing room... They were all extremely unrealistic but she couldn't seem to stop herself. Ava was in the middle of a particularly good one when she began to realize there were a few cops near the doorway, scanning the audience, giving her a bad feeling.

Glancing at her watch made her heart rate speed up suddenly. Wendy had been gone for almost fifteen minutes. There was no way it would have taken her that long to go to the car and get back. They had a really good parking spot near the auditorium.

Looking around for anything she might have left behind she headed for the doorway. That was when she noticed the crowd of people outside. Frowning slightly she picked up her pace. It was probably nothing. Maybe the band went outside for a smoke or something and they got swarmed...

The closer she got, the more worried she became.

Maybe she called Matthew while she was outside.

Then she noticed the smoke and the fire trucks surrounding a smoldering heap of charred metal. Her heart totally stopped.

"Ma'am, we can't let you go any further." A policeman said as she continued toward the scene. "It's dangerous."

She broke into a full-out run. "Wendy?" She called, her voice raspy from screaming so much at the concert. "Wendy!?"

She knew the police were running toward her, shouting orders but the rush of static in her head drowned it all out. She had to find Wendy. Now.

Strong hands grasped her shoulders hard, making her tumble to the ground from stopping so quickly. She felt the hard asphalt beneath her, skinning the bare flesh along her arms and palms. "Wendy!" She called again, knowing she wouldn't get an answer.

"You can't be over here. I'll have to arrest you if you pull another stunt like that miss." It was the police officer that made her fall.

"That's my car!" She croaked out, turning toward the rubble. It didn't even really look like a car anymore. The entire outside was black with ash, the roof completely pulled away from the car and laying about fifteen feet away.

"My friend..." She started, not really paying attention to what she was saying, "Wendy?"

Oh God.

"Do you have reason to believe your friend was in the car when it exploded?"

Exploded?!?

"I- I don't know. Wendy..." She trailed off as she took in her surroundings, but saw nothing that could give her any clue of her friend's whereabouts. "She went out to the car to get her phone and my camera. She didn't come back right away so I came out here to look for her."

The officer immediately got on his radio, alerting the others of the new development to the situation.

"We need to get you back inside." He told her gently. "The gas tank could still explode if there is still any flame, and it's freezing out here." He started walking back to the building, his hand against her back, ushering her along. She was so numb. Her fear for Wendy and the physical cold of the elements seemed to take away all feeling she might have possessed.

Something on the ground caught her eye; a bright blue barrette- the same one Wendy had worn today. She bent down to pick it up just as the gunshots echoed across the parking lot.

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