Isle of Sanctum | The Aya Thrasher Chronicles | Book 1 |[Editing]

Chapter Fifty-Five

CHAPTER FIFTY - FIVE

HAYES

Two weeks ago...

      Ring...Ring....Ring...

I inched my hand toward my dresser, my fingers climbed toward the top of my time-keeper as I attempted to silence the alarm. Was it nine already? I rolled over to my side, my eyes darted toward the time-keeper. It was five past nine. I jumped out of the bed, tripping on the sheets on my way out.

My tablet communicator was lightning up like crazy. The name, Asshat kept popping up on the screen. It was my jerk of a manager. He always liked me to be two hours early to every show, to warm up vocals. It seemed ridiculous, but I did it just to appease him.

 I was asked to play in the Spirits music festival, a three-day event out in the desert. I was the first artist of the day and event, which meant I needed to make sure I was fully warmed up, or I'd make a fool out of myself. I changed my shirt, brushed my hair back, and rushed out the door of my trailer.

 I imagined myself on the large stage in front of thousands of audience members. You make me go crazy....I began humming the lyrics to a new acoustic song I was going to premiere at the festival. I could feel my fingers strumming over the metal guitar strings, completely in tune with the song. I hoped everyone would like it as much as I did. You make me want to lose myself....

 I had played at various music venues all over the district and other parts of the world before all the safety barriers had been drawn, but I had never been this nervous before. I tried to convince myself to that the stage fright was just in my imagination. The screaming girls would still love me even if I messed up a note here or there.

I took in a deep breath of the desert air and released it as I walked toward the coliseum. I had expected my manager to be standing by the entrance, his arms crossed as he shook his head. To my surprise he wasn't there. Only a lone security guard.

 "You can't go in yet," the security guard said. "Audience seating starts in an hour."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my badge. "I'm Hayes Shire. I'm performing first," I said.

His eyes grew at least two sizes after he examined my badge. "My apologies. Go ahead," He said.

 I looked around, trying to spot the dressing room. At least I could go put my guitar down before looking for my manager. The further I wandered down the hall, the more lost I got. I kept walking until I ran into two men in armor. Must have been military.

 "Do you know where the dressing room is?" I asked.

They both glanced at each other briefly before returning their attention back to me. I took a step back and they both took a step forward. "Hayes Shire?" One of the men asked.

"That's me," I said.

"Well you need to come with us," he replied.

I glared at him. " I what?"

 "Are you deaf?"

 "I can't go with you. I have a concert. I'm performing here." I said.

 "No, you're not," he said and grabbed one of my arms. I tried to fight him off, but he only yanked at my arm harder, until the second man was able to gain hold of my other arm. "Sorry buddy. You need to come with us," he said.

I gave in. I wasn't strong enough to escape from the both of them. "Will you at least tell me where we're going?" I asked.

 "That's confidential," he said.

"We could tell him. I don't think it would hurt. Maybe he'd calm down," the other man suggested. "It's not like he's going to tell anyone."

 "Fine," the first man said and pushed me forward, trying to encourage me to walk faster. "We're taking you to a dyeing center," he said.

 "What, why?" I asked. We didn't have dyeing centers here in California, so it didn't make any sense to me. The only dyeing centers were in Woodport and Miami. The Pacific districts were taking everyone. They weren't making people win dyeing spots.

"It's inter-district orders. We're just following orders. We don't know why," the second man explained. "We're just supposed to drop you off in Woodport," he said.

 New Boston? This was it. Something was definitely going wrong. 

END OF PART IX.