Every time you make a move

Flashback filler-Silence is golden: Pt2

Omni colloseum, downtown Atlanta, Georgia, 8th December, 1977

"Where do you want me to drop you off, ma'am? I can't seem to drive to it from here" The taxi driver told Monica as he passed a row of parking bollards blocking the back entrance of the large stadium.

"I will walk it from here. Thank you" Monica dug through her purse and handed him the correct change.

She climbed out, and set off on her merry way as the taxi moved off.

The sky above the urban landscape towering around her was dim and cloudy, and the lamp posts switched on as she moved onto the public footpath, to which she mumbled, "Perfect timing"

As she walked, she glanced down to the floral green dress that she was wearing. It was a few years off-trend because she still couldn't afford to buy the latest styles, and she didn't even remember packing it in the first place, but she knew that Freddie didn't mind as long as she was happy in it.

She reached the vip entrance in no time, and two of the venue security guards that she didn't recognise were standing there, as always. But these ones were more intimidating than any that she'd ever encountered.

"Pass, please" The skinheaded one on the left said as she approached.

"Pass?" Monica felt her pockets in a panic, and to her surprise there was one there.

It looked different to the one she remebered being given by the administrators the day she arrived in Chicago, which was fronted with Frank the robot. Nontheless, she assumed that she didn't look at it properly at the time, and presented it.

"Are you a fan?" the second one asked, and Monica swore that she saw his eyes turn black.

They didn't even examine it properly.

"She's dressed like one" the bald one followed, eyeing her, then the pass, critically.

She felt her blood boil, "The fact that these absolute morons have the audacity-"

"No! I'm Freddie Mercury's girlfriend!" she was getting irritable, "How do you think I got my hands on a pass otherwise?!"

They laughed, "Freddie Mercury has no girlfriends, he is a poof!"

"Bring me to him and see for yourself if you don't believe me," thinking that she was being clever, she crossed her arms, "Or just ask Ratty"

"Ratty?" the other echoed, "Who is Ratty?"

"Peter Hince! Ratty! His roadie!" she protested.

"Do you think it's stolen?" the one on the right murmured to the one on the left, who nodded.

Then, they grabbed her arm before she could tell them how she got it, "Where are you taking me?!"

She looked around as they pulled her through the plain, white brick walls of the backstage corridor and linoleoum flooring. It didn't look like any other opulent VIP areas she had been to, which had cream-painted walls where photographs documenting the venue's history would normally hang, and carpets, and overall a much warmer atmosphere.

"You'd think that somewhere Elvis Presley performed at would have better decor and not look like a school" she remarked in her head.

They at last turned a sharp corner into a dark corridor as she heard sound of laughter getting louder, and she saw an open door at the end of the corridor with light spilling out and silhouettes flashing past the doorway as her heart began to race.

"Wait behind us" one of the guards instructed on the approach, and she caught a glimpse of a butler with a tray of champagne flutes.

"That's odd," she thought, "They normally have champagne after the gig, not before it!"