A Day in the Life

I spot a guy at the back of the line who is selling tickets to the show and I walk over.

“Hi, can I get a ticket off you?” I smile as he turns to look at me and he smiles.

“I have loads of tickets, how many do you want?” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wad of paper tickets.

“I just need one, thank you.” He separates one ticket from the bunch and puts the rest in his pocket.

“Great, that'll be £35 for that.”

“Can I see it to make sure that the ticket is real before I pay?”

“Of course it’s real.” He sounds a bit frustrated but I put my hand out for the ticket and reluctantly he hands it over to me. I look at the ticket before looking up and over his shoulder.

“Looks like you have a lot of customers coming over.” He turns around to look and while he is distracted I walk over to the entrance of the venue and hand the ticket to the security guard.

He checks it and waves me inside but just before I walk through the door I hear the ticket man yelling that I stole from him. As I start to walk up the stairs he is drowned out by the sound of live music.

I go into the main venue area where the support band is already playing their songs. I take a quick glance around the room and I spot Matthew's father towering over the whole crowd. I walk over to him through the bustling crowd and come up on Matthews right brushing up against his arm.

He looks round at me and the smile that was on his face disappears in an instant.

“I hear that you’ve been looking for me.” He looks round at his father who hasn’t noticed my arrival before turning back to look at me.

“How did you find where I was?” I look at him.

“That’s none of your business, why are you trying to kill me?” His smile reappears.

“If I can’t have you, no one can.” He turns back to the front of the stage at the band and seemingly ignores my presence. I take my hand out of my pocket with the knife in my hand and move to be standing in front of him very close with the blade aimed at his heart.

He notices the knife and tries to move backwards but I hold onto his belt with my other hand so he can’t move.

Now he is paying attention to me.

“You will tell everyone to stop looking for me right now or I will put this knife through your heart right here, right now.”

He blinks before slowly reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. He clicks a few buttons before holding the phone to his ear. After a few seconds he speaks into the phone.

“It’s me, call everyone off. The situation has changed. Everyone… Yes, you heard me, call everyone off now.” He hangs up the phone and looks down at me. “Happy now?”

“Yes however I want you to know that I am more capable than you are at finding someone, I don’t need a whole army to find one person. I found you alone and I can find you again. Keep that in mind.” I put the knife back in my pocket and released my hold on his belt. Matthew immediately took a step back and bumped into the person behind him who then pushed him forward.

“How did you get Samson in on this?” I ask out of curiosity.

“I’m very convincing, what can I say?” He smiles slightly as if this was an accomplishment. Has Samson ever been a real friend to me? Clearly not if he’s willing to sell my life out for no reason.

I smile, “enjoy the concert.” I go to walk away before I feel someone grab my arm and I turn to look at who is touching me.

“ERICA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Matthew’s father, Stuart, has a hold of my arm and when I turn around he pulls me in for a hug.

“Hi Stuart, I was just leaving…” He hugs me tighter.

“Can’t you stay for the concert? You can stand with us. Are you and Matthew back together, please say yes?” I push away from the hug and I look at Matthew who looks slightly hopeful at the question.

“We are never getting back together. I have things to do. I better go. It was great to see you Stuart.” I make sure to emphasize that it was only Stuart I was talking to before walking away. I smile at the look of pain on Matthew’s face which is hopefully the last time I ever need to see his sadistic self.

I walk out of the event and take a look up at the sky. Maybe now I can finally move onto the next day of my life.

“Busy day huh?” A voice I didn’t recognize says to me. I look over to where the voice came from and I see a tall, young looking boy who looks about 18 years old. He has thick, curly blonde hair and deep green eyes. He looks almost unreal because he is so strikingly attractive.

My voice catches in my throat as I try to reply.

“Yeah you could say that…”

“Let me walk you back to your car.” He walks over and stands at my side like a guardian.

“You don’t have to do that. How did you know I drove here actually? Who are you?”

“You can call me Lucien, that’s the name I give to people that I don’t want to explain myself to. Let’s go.” He starts to walk in the direction of Blythswood square as if he already knows that is where my car is parked.

“Lucien…”

He smiles at me.

“Tomorrow will be a normal day for you, you figured it all out in the end. I am very proud of you.”

“I hope so yeah, today was….long.”

“So long.” We walk in silence for a few minutes. “You were very interesting to work with, I made the correct choice in helping you out. Despite all the negative aspects that I will no doubt face when I go back home. This was fun. Let’s do it together again some time.”

I don’t say anything as I have no idea what he is talking about. How could he possibly know what I’ve been going through? I don’t even know who he is?

“Who are you?” I ask as we reach my car where it is parked. The car keys are in my hand but I haven’t unlocked the car yet.

“Consider me an old friend who you hopefully don’t need to meet again. Go home and enjoy this second chance, you’ve earned it.” He walks away without saying another word and he doesn’t look back.

Confused, I click the unlock button and step inside my car. I turn to put my seatbelt on and when I look back to the last place I saw Lucien to see that he has disappeared into thin air. There’s no way he could have walked away that fast.

“So weird…” I say to myself. I look around for a few seconds more before I start the engine for my car and begin to drive home.

When I get home it’s about 5:12PM and I’m exhausted. I lie in my bed and fall asleep. I dream about a neon clock turning from 11:59PM to 12:00am and when I wake up that morning my calendar reads 18th of August 2015.

It was finally over.