The Lighter That Shone Like A Star (Story of The South) (8 page)

The rest of the table became quiet as all five members of the band were now staring up at who they now knew was Max. Haze could feel himself gawping slightly but he couldn’t help himself, he was more than surprised to see Max Myers, the boy who had changed their lives without realising, at the restaurant.

The group was forced to snap out of their shocked state when Max said nervously, “Hi, Jimmie.”

Jimmie and the other four wished Max a happy birthday, minds reeling. They were not expecting to meet him until later that day, apart from Jimmie who had planned to knock on Max’s door after lunch with the VIP tickets.

The Myers family turned to leave, when Zaak suddenly rose to his feet and shouted, “Wait!”

Haze, Naithain, Jimmie and Jayke all looked up at Zaak, wondering what he was going to say. An anxious part of Haze expected Zaak to blurt out everything that was meant to be kept a secret; he was sure it was on the tip of his friend’s tongue. Instead, Zaak told Max that the wanted to give him seven VIP tickets and they handed them over there and then.

After receiving several thanks from the birthday boy, Haze looked at Zaak and scolded him in hushed tones for scaring them all. Realising that everyone in their party was looking at them, the boys stopped and restarted the conversations that had been interrupted.

When the table was noisy once more, Jimmie said, so only the band could hear, “I just hope he doesn’t over-think how we knew to give him seven tickets. That was a close one Zaak, just keep it buttoned from now on, yeah.”

“Yeah, sorry guys,” Zaak replied bashfully as their waitress, accompanied by three waiters, brought them some appetisers.

“Yes, food time!” exclaimed Naithian loudly. “I’m starving!”

“You’re always starving,” chimed his bandmates in unison.

***

The rest of the day went as smoothly as they could have wished. With the sound check completed and their support act, the famous Hurburtan acoustic artist Susie Stone, warming up on the side of stage, the boys went to the music room to wait for the seven youngsters.

It was a fun hour they spent with the seven sixteen year-olds. Haze spent most of it talking to Jimmie, Max and Freddie. He thought both the younger boys seemed nice and was relieved that aside from the girls’ initial reactions upon meeting Light on the Landing, they were having proper conversations with fans rather than just posing for photographs, signing bits of flesh, or trying to interpret words through erratic sobs.

After a while, everyone joined together to talk whilst Jimmie took Max off to a separate practice room. Although Haze had advised Jimmie against this, he knew why they had gone in there. Jimmie was warning Haze about the plan to get him on stage to say happy birthday and then to invite his other friends to join in with the final song.

He was not going to tell him about the rest of the evening, but he wanted the boy to be prepared for at least a part of what was sure to be a hectic night.

Haze also knew that Jimmie wanted to find out whether Lornea had a boyfriend; as soon as she had walked into the room, Jimmie whispered in Haze’s ear that he thought Lornea was extremely attractive. And even though Haze told his friend that it looked like she was with the tall blond-haired boy, Freddie, once Jimmie wanted something he would always try his hardest to get it.

The hour with the seven young friends went much quicker than meet and greets usually went, Haze thought, and soon enough Graham had given the five-minute warning for Susie to open the show.

When the boys told the seven to keep in touch, they genuinely meant it, and each of the musicians subscribed to their new acquaintances before they went on stage. As they watched Max and his six friends head out of the music room, the band members began to whisper to each other, conveying their sadness that the young adults’ lives were about to change drastically.

Without allowing themselves to get too distracted like they did during rehearsals, Light on the Landing began their vocal warm-ups and did their pre-show routine that consisted mainly of jumping up and down, giving each other words of encouragement, and listening to energetic music.

Graham entered the room, the sounds of screaming filtering through the doorway. “Ready when you are.”

The boys grinned at each other and Zaak led the way onto the stage. The audience erupted into applause and even louder screams as one-by-one the band stepped into the blinding light. They quickly became reacquainted with their instruments.

Haze approached his microphone and shouted “Pipton, are you ready?!”

The crowd yelled “YES!” and Light on the Landing began to play.

Haze smiled, forgetting about everything else in the world. He was performing on the first stage that Light on the Landing had ever played on. He was the happiest he had been for months.

Sofia was having the best night of her life. As if being at the first gig of Light on the Landing’s tour wasn’t enough, she had also met her idols and was with Max, her boyfriend that she loved with all her heart.

Everyone in the hall was going wild; jumping, dancing and singing, screaming “I love you” to the five musicians on stage. Sofia, Anne-Alicia and Lornea spent the entire concert doing all of those things, while the boys were happier to simply sing along and bob their heads.

When they played the opening riff to Sofia’s favourite song from the album,
Fire and Desire,
she screamed so loudly in Max’s ear that she thought she may have perforated his eardrum. Not that it mattered. The group of seven friends was having an excellent time.

The band also seemed to love every second of the gig. They dedicated their songs to their fans, their families, their manager Graham, and their old music teacher Mrs Pittaway who first put the band together.

At one point, Sofia could have sworn that Naithian wiped away a tear, but then she supposed it could have just been sweat. All the boys were bouncing energetically around the stage emulating their fans’ euphoria. For the penultimate song, Haze told the audience that they would be performing a new, acoustic song that they had written especially for their Pipton gig called
Home
.

Some crew members brought five stools onto the stage and the boys sat in a circle with just
Naithian’s guitar accompanying them. They waited until the room was almost completely silent before they began.

Max wrapped his arms around Sofia, their heads turned towards the stage while they swayed along to the slow music. They were completely lost in each other and the lyrics.

Haze

We walk through th
ese halls but they’re empty now

The classrooms and sta
irwells are burnt to the ground

Memories k
eep us alive within these walls

And all that
is different is nothing at all

Jayke

Our lives they started here

There’s nothing left to fear

All

‘Cause we are five brothers

Best friends, significant others

And we’ll keep on lighting

Your hearts, we’re igniting the world

And we thank you

The dream we are living

Just carries on giving

And we’ll keep on lighting

Your hearts, we’re igniting t
he world

And we love you

Jimmie

Yellow fields and clear rivers tell us we’re home

The town we were
born in flows through our bones

The circle that stands
on the edge of the forest

All these little thing
s that for years we have missed

Jayke

Our journey started here

In the place that knows no fear

All

‘Cause we are five brothers

Best friends, significant others

And we’ll keep on lighting

Your hearts, we’re igniting the world

And we thank you

The dream we are living

Just carries on giving

And we’ll keep on lighting

Your hearts, we’re igniting t
he world

And we love you

Naithain

Yesterday we were just five lonely boys

(
Today we’re together, on the landing for ever)

Tomorrow we keep on m
aking our noise

(
The future is brighter because of our Lighters)

And we thank you and love you and we will ignite you ‘cause

Haze

We are your brothers

Best friends,
significant others

And we’ll keep on lighting

Your hearts, we’re igniting the world

And we tha
nk you

All

This dream that you gave us

In many ways saved us

Today we’re together

On the landing for ever

The future is brighter

Because of our Lighters

And you keep on lighting

Our hearts, you’re igniting our world

And we love you

Naithian gently strummed the last chord and the boys all stood in a line downstage centre, looking out into the crowd.

Haze spoke into his microphone, “Thank you so much guys, that one was just for you. We love you all so much!” The hall erupted in screams and cheers. “We now want to invite a special guest to the stage! We met him earlier today and he is a lovely guy
and
it’s his sixteenth birthday!”

The rest of the group all looked at Max in surprise while he grinned back at them.

“Max Myers, get up here!”

Max stepped forward where a security guard helped him to climb over the barriers and clamber ungracefully onto the stage. The five boys greeted him with a group hug and began to sing the birthday song.

The entire hall sang to a very excited, if not slightly embarrassed, Max and erupted into applause once more at the end.

“Thank you everyone,” Max mumbled shyly into Haze’s microphone.

Jimmie took to the mike this time but before he could say anything the hall was suddenly engulfed by darkness. Sofia looked around but she couldn’t see anything, not even Anne-Alicia who was standing right beside her.

Murmurs started to fill the hall and the band had fallen silent, indicating that their microphones had also stopped working.

“What’s going on?” Anne-Alicia asked in Sofia’s ear.

“I don’t know, maybe a power-cut. I guess we just wait for the lights to come back on.”

Then, without warning, there was a flash of light near the back of the auditorium followed by a shrill scream.

The crowd began to panic. Everyone pushed their way towards the exits as more flashes and screams filled the hall. Sofia tried desperately to cling on to Anne-Alicia’s hand but they were broken apart by the surge of the mob.

She felt herself being carried towards what she hoped was the way out; she was still blinded by the blackness. The small girl lost her footing. She fell to the ground with a thud. Someone stood on her leg but they couldn’t her scream. She tried to push herself to her to feet using her hands, but a foot crashed into her side, leaving her winded.

Tears streamed down Sofia’s face as she tried to scream again but no sound came out.

Matthew did not have time to think before Russell had grabbed his arm, yanked him towards the barrier, and shouted to him to climb over. Obeying his friend’s orders, Matthew resisted against the crowd pushing into him and fell clumsily over the metal railings.

He got to his feet and yelled out for Russell, but there was no reply. Around him he could hear people screaming and calling out for friends that they were unable to see as the hall was pitch black.

A few others had the same idea as Russell and joined Matthew on the other side of the barrier, safer from the flood of panicked people. Flashes of bright white light appeared sporadically around the room. The screams that followed were hard to distinguish from
ther general screaming of everyone else.

Filled with fear, Matthew decided that his best option was to hide. He walked blindly towards the stage with outstretched arms and lifted himself onto the raised platform. Crawling on his hands and knees, he headed towards the wings, where he could remain unseen by whomever or whatever was responsible for the darkness, the bursts of light and the screams.

Sitting with his back against the wall, he focussed on controlling his fast and heavy breathing.

He had lost all his friends. He had lost Russell. Matthew did not know what was happening; all he knew was that he should be scared. The only way he could contact his friends was via Scribbler, but he had left his ScribblePad at home.

Matthew wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his head, trying to not let his fear take over.
Russell helped me before thinking about himself. If anything’s happened to him I’ll never forgive myself.

A loud bang caused Matthew to lift his head. It sounded close. Too close. He shut his mouth firmly, his loud breaths threatening to betray him.
Footsteps
. Somebody had joined him on the stage.

He could hear the sound of heavy shoes on wood, getting louder and louder. Matthew’s body tensed as he held his breath, trying to remain silent and still.

The footsteps stopped. A blinding flash of light and a scream flooded the stage.