A Year to Change Your Lives

Chapter 33

Reader had gotten the scant details from Laura before she rushed back to her room to pack what she needed into her small carry-on bag. She only needed to get properly dressed and take her passport and her phone with her. She and Tae would be packed up by the rest of the team here who would follow on, for now, they needed to get on a plane.

She was back out the door and in Tae's room to find he was now on the phone again and she waited, impatiently, trying to discern who he was speaking to and what information they had. Her own phone had had a number of calls and notifications but they only seemed to have been trying to rouse her from sleep. Now that she was informed to the extent that she was, her phone was frustratingly blank.

"It happened right at the end, when they were all just leaving, half of the stage just fell down." Laura had told her through a tear chocked voice. "Some people have definitely been injured but there were so many of them on stage for the end."

"The boys? Laura where are they all? Have they been hurt?" Reader asked frantically, spinning to Tae, catching sight of her own wild eyes in the mirror.

"No, I don't, I don't know. The rescue crews are still getting everyone out, they won't let me back there."

"What does that mean? They're trapped? They're hurt? Do you know..."

"No." Laura moaned, sobbing. "I'm sorry, I don't know. It just happened. But Reader, I'm sure some people must have been hurt because the stage just crumbled."

She gave a little chocking sob at the end and Reader tried to get a hold of herself. Laura would be doing her best, and as much as Reader wanted to know about all of them, but Jungkook in particular, Laura would want to know about Jin's wellbeing.

"Okay. Okay. It's alright. They'll be alright." Reader had told her, gathering herself and looking uncertainly at Tae who was sitting on the bed, a hand over his mouth. "We'll get there. Do we know how we're..." She started but Laura cut her off.

"HYBE know. I'm with Sejin now and they're going to get onto the airlines and things. Go to Heathrow."

"We've only got one guy with us. Everyone else went home for the night." Reader told her nervously looking at the security guard who was stood in the doorway.

"Tae won't want to wait." Laura said and Reader nodded, she didn't want to wait either.

"Yeah, okay. We'll head to Heathrow."

Tae seemed to have been in a little stupor while Reader spoke hurriedly to the security guard. On her instructions, he went ahead of them to find a cab and Reader stopped Tae from trying to pack up his whole room.

"Let's go. Passport?" She asked him and he nodded, feeling in his bag for it. She took his hand and led him out the door.

Their journey to the airport took a little under fifty minutes and was punctuated by phone calls received back and forth between Tae, Reader and various BigHit staff.

By now, they'd had confirmation that Namjoon and Hobi, who were the first ones off the stage and therefore less hurt by the fallout, were safe, although badly shaken. Tea had spoken to Namjoon on Laura's mobile, but his answers were short, tight, strained. He was leaning forward in his seat at every traffic light, willing the car to move forward, frustrated by every pause.

The footage of the stage collapse had been picked up by most of the news now, especially when it had been revealed that the collapse had happened during a BTS performance and that there was still concern for the wellbeing of the members and their wider crew. As the boys began their usual exit, with much waving and bowing to the crowd, there was a shift and for a moment it looked like some crazy effect was going to draw both halves of the side staging together to bring a wall down between performer and audience, but then there was a sickening lurch of timbre and the dancers still at the front began to flail.