Give Me a Sign, Show Me The Light (Corey Taylor)

1

"Crystal, I'm going out to get some food, you stay here or you'll be a dead woman!" I heard him call sternly up the stairs. Perfect, I thought as I went to the window to see him getting in his car and pulling away.

As soon as he was out of sight, I wasted no time in running into the spare room and grabbing my bag. Swinging it onto my shoulder, I rushed down the stairs and grabbed my keys before pausing and putting them back where they were. I didn't want to make it to obvious straight away that I had gone against Ryans rules. Taking my keys would make the penny drop way to easily.

With that, I headed for the back door, slipping out and going through the gate at the side of the house. I walked out onto the main road, debating whether I could walk to the venue in time. I pulled out my phone, checking the time to see that walking was out of the question, so instead I hailed down a taxi and managed to get to the venue with about 15 minutes to spare.

I thanked the taxi driver and payed him, telling him that he could keep the change. With that I stepped out and took in the appearance of the building. It wasn't massive like most of Slipknots arena tours, but it was still a decent size. There was room for a large enough crowd, but it still felt rather intimate in a good way.

Making my way towards the fairly big line that had already formed, I bit my lip slightly, knowing that I'd probably be right at the back of the crowds once we were in there.

Just as I was about to trudge to the back of the line, I heard a voice call out, getting my attention.

"Hey, red head girly, with Stone Sour shirt, come stand with us!"

I looked towards the first quarter if the line to see a blue haired girl waving me over. She was standing with three other people, a tall dude with fire engine red hair that swooped slightly infront of his eyes, another girl with black hair and another boy with black and green hair.

I nervously made my way over to them and the blue haired girl greeted me with a happy smile.

"Hey there, we saw you get of the taxi and felt bad that you'd have to go to the back of the line, so we thought to call you over so you wouldn't have to be," She started and I smiled in return as she offered a hug.

"Sorry, I'm a hugger haha, my name's Jessica, and the red head is Jason, this chick is Alexa, and this is Nate, " She introduced, pointing at each of them in turn.

"Hey, my name's Crystal, it's nice to meet you," I replied. After introductions, we slipped into an easy conversation about the Slipknot members until we saw the doors being opened.

"Ooh! I'm so excited, they're letting us in!" Alexa exclaimed, jumping up and down slightly as she clung onto my arm. I tried not to flinch as she accidentally grazed over one of my bruises whilst she calmed down. I just smiled and laughed a little at her excitement.

Before I knew it, we had gotten our tickets scanned and were walking through the foyer of the building, where the merch tables were set up. There was Slipknots stands, and the two support acts placed either side. Slipknot had chosen quite semi-underground bands as support acts for this tour, so I didn't know them as well as many other bands I knew of.

I was pulled from my thoughts as a hand gently tugged at me. I looked round to see Jessica and Alexa stood by me.

"You coming to the merch tables with us?" Jessica asked. I thought about it for a second but shook my head. I wanted to make sure I got a good place in the crowds.

"Not before the show, sorry. I wanna make sure I get a place in there," I explained as she nodded her head in understanding.

"Ok, well that's fair. Hey, lemme get your number so me and the others can stay in contact with you, we could hang out sometime soon."

Oh if only that was possible...

I smiled and nodded anyway, quickly tapping my number into her phone and saving it. She sent me a text so I could save her number then read mine out for the other three to save. Once that was done, we said bye and went separate ways, hoping that we'd bump into each other in the crowd.

I managed to reach the front, with only two or three people around and in front of me. That didn't bother me much, I still classed my spot as at the front and who knows, the people by me might move to go into the mosh pits or something. I stood, happy with my place, and waited for the hall to fill up and for the concert to begin. I hope it went well.

Not long after, the lights dipped and the first band began their set. They were good, but I ended up liking the second support act more. To me they had a better sound than the first band, although they could work on their stage presence a bit more. But hey, who am I to judge, if I was on stage I'd probably just stand there like a lemon not knowing what to do.

The second support act said goodbye and left the stage, then the butterflies started to appear. The thought of being able to watch Slipknot play live with my very own eyes was for some reason quite nerve racking, but then again I suppose it's like this for everyone when they see their favourite bands for the first time.

About 15 minutes went by and my attention suddenly turned to the slow rising of cheers throughout the crowd and I looked up to see the lights were down and each Slipknot member appearing on stage one by one. Finally, my eyes fell on Corey as he ran out straight to the front of the stage and yelled into his mic. The crowd screamed in response and they began their set, starting with Heretic Anthem and then following with songs like Wait and Bleed, Sic, Pulse Of The Maggots, Duality and many other well known songs.

"How are you all doing tonight my beautiful people?" Corey shouted out, receiving a mix of screams and yells from everyone. He looked around as everyone continued making noise, his eyes falling on each fan individually at the front of the crowd. My face felt a little hotter as he looked at me briefly, his eyes lingering for a second more while I pursed my lips in nervousness, causing him to give me a heart stopping smile through his mask. Why am I feeling like this? I've never thought like this about a band member before, it would be crazy to as I don't even know them. Plus I have Ryan...

My smile faltered slightly at the thought of him and how mad he'd be once I get back. But before I could dwell on that thought any longer though, Coreys voice filled the room again as he introduced their next song.

"Good, good. Anyway, we only have two songs left to play for you here tonight, and because you're the last crowd we're playing to on this tour, I want you all to make it a memorable night for me and the Slipknot crew here. Now please, go fucking crazy on this one for me, this is People = Shit!"

As soon as that was said, everyone done exactly what Corey has asked, and people began opening circle pits which soon became mosh pits as the song played.

All to soon, the concert was over, and the band were slowly leaving the stage, while throwing drum sticks and guitar picks into the crowd, Corey and Mick even threw a couple of shirts and wristbands out. My attempts at catching anything failed as everyone dove to get whatever fell near them. Oh well, I was going to the merch table anyway, I thought as people began slowly moving out while the lights came back up.

After what seemed like forever, I finally managed to push through to the merch stand and decide what I wanted. Just as I was about to pull out my purse, a familiar figure caught my eye. I looked round to the side and my stomach dropped six feet under. Ryan stood there, raised eyebrow, chewing on his lip to show his anger. Knowing better than to just ignore him, I left the merch and made my way over to him, terrified of what was going to happen.

He was deadly silent as he grabbed my arm with a strong grip, making sure no attention was brought to us, and dragged me out towards the side of the building were no one else was to be seen. Once there, he finally let go of my arm and tripped me up, sending my tumbling down against the cold hard concrete. I held my hands out, breaking my fall and only just stopping my head from hitting the ground. Not even a second passed before he was repeatedly kicking me, punching me, shouting profanities at me. I could feel blood pouring from my lip and my nose and I was slowly slipping unconscious. Trying desperately to stay awake, I looked around for help, trying my best to scream out. Giving up all hope on that idea, I took one last look at Ryan before he sent his fist across my face more, leaving me to black out as he knelt down beside me.

"I told you you'd be a dead woman if you tried anything, now here you are."

With that, he got up and left as I lay there, gasping for breath then slowly falling unconscious. I hope someone finds me soon.