Chasing Dreams

Chapter One - 'Mauled by a Tree'

Chapter One – ‘Mauled by a Tree’

She was desperately searching for the room that held the first aid kit. The receptionist hadn’t been particularly sympathetic but that told her that a first aid kit could be found around the corner, in the third room on the right. Personally she thought the receptionist was having her on but she dutifully followed her instructions and entered the room when she found it. Her head was throbbing and she knew there was blood on her face, she was also pretty sure that there were some slight scratches on her shoulder. Though she was wearing a jumper, she hadn’t escaped unscathed.

Straight ahead of her were a series of cabinets, it looked sort of like a kitchen, so she assumed that it was the best place to start looking for the first aid kit. She wobbled over to the cabinets, she wasn’t loosing lots of blood per say but she was in a lot of pain and that caused her to wobble.

A cough interrupted her search, she jumped and turned around. She was confronted with the sight of four surprised boys and one confused slightly scary looking man.

“I didn’t realise this room was in use, I’m sorry” she said but now that she saw who was in the room, she couldn’t leave.

“Wait! Don’t leave” called one of the four boys; he had a shaved head and seemed to be the leader.

She turned around.

“You’re bleeding” he stated.

She resisted the temptation to roll her eyes “I was mauled by a tree” she replied seriously.

The boys looked at her with confusion before bursting into laughter.

“I’m sorry, did you say you were mauled by a tree?” asked another boy, this one had shaggy blonde hair that fell into his eyes.

This time she did roll her eyes “you know you have quite a following outside. They didn’t take kindly to me actually wanting to get passed them. See unlike them I have a pass and apparently that fact alone was enough to anger them. It’s like sardines out there, one got a bit too angry and pushed me into a tree, and that’s where the tree mauled me” she said.

“So really you got assaulted by a fan” said yet another boy, this one had black hair that stuck up on his head – he obviously thought it was cool.

“What a way with words you have” she said sarcastically “it sounded more interested to say I was mauled by a tree”.

“Did you want to make your life sound more interesting?” asked the last boy – who was by far the most attractive – he had dirty blonde curly hair, dimples and bright blue eyes. His clothes screamed style and you could tell he could flirt as well as he could be mean.

“No, I just like playing with words” she replied.

“Why?” he asked.

“It’s my job” she replied.

To save her from further awkwardness, the imposing man came forward and introduced himself as Steve Ryan, the bodyguard. He located the first aid kit and forced her to sit down while he treated her wounds.

“Who are you anyway?” asked the same boy.

“I could ask you the same thing, you haven’t introduced yourselves either’ she said.

‘We’re famous though, aren’t you supposed to know our names” said the blonde haired one.

“And clearly your manners have died” she replied with a smile.

Touché’ said the one with the black hair ‘I’m Silas Jones, Blonde over there is Jack Winter, the one with the shaved head is Bradley Jenkins and Mr Grumpy there is Oliver Smith”.

“Pleased to meet you” she replied cheekily.

“Now will you tell us who you are?” asked Silas.

“Lacey Edwards, I won the competition”.

[Break]

If there was one thing to be said about Lacey Edwards it was that she loved to write. She’d found the power of words at a young age and delighted in reading book after book. When she reached the age of ten she realised that when she put her own pen to paper, she had a talent. Her imagination was overflowing and the words literally fell onto the page. Of course sometimes it didn’t make sense or it was a rough copy and her floor was often littered with scrunched up pieces of paper, but she couldn’t stop, she just loved writing.

Her passion for books and writing made her a nerd at school. She had plenty of friends outside of school but that didn’t really help her when she spent six hours a day stuck in school. Still she kept her chin up.

After school she’d gone to university and studied English and Creative Writing, she’d loved it and for those few years had stayed in her own blissful bubble until real life came knocking. Then she found herself in a dead end job, living with her parents and with no social life at all. She turned once again to writing hoping to achieve her goal of becoming a published author. She entered every competition available and prayed she got a break.

It might sound to others like a boring life or you might pity her for not having a social life. In fact, unlike you might assume, there was nothing wrong with Lacey. She was an average girl, tall and thin but with generously defined hips. Though others told her they envied her body, she couldn’t help being miffed by the set of hips she’d been given. He hair was not ginger as some would call it, nor was it carrot coloured. It was in fact a deep burgundy colour and it was completely natural.

On the advice of a work college she’d entered a writing competition that had gotten more media attention than anything she knew. This was because of one thing, a band. To be exact, the band called ‘Locked Doors’ named so because no one can resist the temptation of a Locked Door…it was a silly media notion but it seemed to work.

Their next venture was a writing competition when the winner gets to write stories about the band for six months. The challenge for the entry was to write an adventure story between two thousand and three thousand words.

Lacey had entered on a whim, she never expected to win and when she’d got the call saying she had, she was completely speechless and fell into a trance until the speaker on the other end of the phone had managed to get her attention again. Then it was a lot of dates and requirements and ‘we’ll see you in three days’.

Lacey was lucky she could leave work without much notice and she didn’t have anyone to really say goodbye to. Her journey to London three days later was rather pleasant and she was feeling quite positive about everything until she’d encountered that mob of angry fans and been mauled by a tree.

Now as she sat before the four members of Locked Doors and took in their shocked expressions she was beginning to wonder if anyone had told them she was arriving today.

[AN]

First chapter of Chasing Dreams, will be posting every Friday, regardless of votes, comments or laziness (on my part). Enjoy ~ Hannah