Howling Hearts

1. Concert Day

"You don't even appreciate them so why do you get to go?"

Tru sighed as she looked at her twelve-year-old sister Sara as she pouted, sticking her lower lip out as if she were two and crossing her arms firmly across her chest. Crouching down in front of Sara just got her pouting more, turning her head aside. Behind Sara was her room covered in an odd variety of childlike posters of 'Hello Kitty' mixed with posters of the band Stray Kids, a group that she had become obsessed with as of late. Sara was at that odd age where she wanted to be treated like an adult, but was still a kid.

"It's because it's my best friend that has the extra ticket," Tru said. "I promise I'll make sure to buy you some merch or something though, Sara."

Still pouting, Sara nodded her head as Tru smiled, reaching out to ruffle her auburn hair gently as she stood back up. Even though Tru wasn't necessarily a fan of Stray Kids, she was familiar with them thanks to Sara. Tru was also thankful for the ability to take a break from her life; her parents still gone on some sort of extended work trip and leaving her in charge. Tru peered back down the hallway where she had a partial view of the living room and the back of the babysitter's head as they watched something on the television.

"Take some pictures and videos too," Sara said then, redirecting Tru's attention back to her.

"I will try my best to," she said. "Behave for the babysitter, okay?"

"When don't I behave?" Sara asked, "Besides, why do I need a babysitter? I'm grown!"

"Not yet, young one. Mom and Dad won't forget the toaster incident so easily."

"So I forgot about my Pop-Tart one time!"

Chuckling at Sara's response, it was then that the sound of Tru's phone buzzing in her pocket caused her to dig it out.

"Lizzie is here. I'm off, Sara. See you later."

"Have fun at the concert," Sara said, turning her head to watch her older sister walk down the narrow hall lined with cherished family memories to where her shoes were. After Tru slipped her shoes on, Sara watched as Tru turned to wave one more quick goodbye before slipping out the door.

"Lucky..." Sara muttered under her breath as she shut her bedroom door, turning to look at the Stray Kids posters on the wall. "Someday I'm gonna meet you all. Just you wait."

- - -

As Tru walked down the semi-weedy walkway outside her family's house, she looked at Lizzie's dark green vehicle parked up against the curb. The front windows were each halfway cracked and Tru could hear traces of music reaching her in the semi-chilly evening air. The closer she got to the car, the easier time she had telling that whatever song was playing, it was a Stray Kids one. Lizzie started waving her hand madly as Tru chuckled, opening the passenger door and having a seat.

"Are you ready for tonight?" Lizzie asked as Tru nodded.

"Where's your lightstick?"

"Lightstick?"

"Oy! You're so hopeless sometimes," Lizzie said with a tsk, soon thrusting a small black bag at Tru's chest and causing her to let out an 'oof'.

Opening the black bag, Tru could see there was a light stick inside. She zipped it back up just as Lizzie set the car in motion to start driving them towards the venue.

"I appreciate you coming since my own sister bailed out and I didn't want to go alone," Lizzie started, "but you seriously need to be educated before we get there. You're hopeless."

"I'm not hopeless."

"Yes, you are and I'll prove it," Lizzie said as she started rummaging near the stick shift.

Tru and Lizzie have been best friends since childhood. To Tru, Lizzie was like another sister to her. Their bond was close, which caused Tru to being forgiving of Lizzie's nutty antics. After all, Tru knew they were both crazy in their own way. Tru was just more reserved than Lizzie. She had never really gotten over the bullying that she had endured in school growing up that had made her not want to show her true self ever again. Even though what had happened was back in middle school, she still bore the scars now at twenty-seven-years-old. For her, time just solidified the trauma instead of helping her to heal from it. Tru snapped out of her thoughts as Lizzie finished her one-handed rummaging and slapped a small black binder onto her lap.

"Open that," she said. "Your test begins now."

Smirking, Tru opened the binder to look at the first page to see the photo of one of the members of Stray Kids staring her straight in the face.

"Tell me who that is."

"Umm...do I even get a list of names?"

"Geezum, you can't really be that..."

"I'm kidding. I'm kidding," Tru said. Thanks to Sara and Lizzie, she knew the bare bones about all the members at least.

Tru let her eyes track the face of the man with the glowing smile and chocolate brown hair. Lizzie had framed the picture with cartoon wolf stickers.

"That's Bang Chan, right?" Tru asked as Lizzie made a 'ding, ding' sound, causing Tru to chuckle as she flipped the page.

The next page had the face of a man with blonde hair down the sides of his face that seemed to touch his shoulders, his face looking angelic looking even though he wore a serious expression in the photo. His picture was framed with cartoon yellow chick stickers.

"Felix, right?" Tru asked, getting another 'ding, ding' of praise from Lizzie.

This went on until Tru was able to successfully identify all the members in the binder. Lizzie then proceeded to fill her in on fun facts about the various members, along with their roles in the group. By the time the Stray Kids history lesson was done, Lizzie was pulling up at the venue and attempting to figure out where to park. Even though the concert wasn't set to begin for a few hours, Tru was surprised by how packed the place already was, fans walking by along the sidewalk outside the car giddy with excitement.

Once Lizzie managed to park, she became part of that giddy crowd. Tru tagged along behind her as they checked in and took in all the pre-concert activities going on. By the time they took their seats as the hour of the concert came along, the crowd around Tru thrummed like an active beehive. The chatting surrounded her followed by screams the moment the members took the stage. Even though they looked like nothing more than ants from the seats Lizzie and her were in (they had to focus on the huge screen mounted to one of the metal pillars on the side of the stage in order to see them clearly), she couldn't help but feel a bit of that enthusiasm in her chest as she soon found herself joining in with cheering them on.

Everyone in attendance was so focused on the concert that no one noticed the single person in the crowd that wasn't joining in on the enjoyment. They were standing there rooted to their spot with a passive look on their face. In their right hand they were crunching a piece of paper tighter and tighter until their nails dug into their palms, causing small puckers of blood to appear on it.

'Brace yourself Bang Chan,' the person thought. 'This is just the beginning of the end for you.'