The disappearance of Awsten Knight

Chapter 1: Fair Game

Jesse's POV

I let go of the mic and the crowd went batshit, by the sound of it they had totally gotten my drift. I shot a look towards side stage and by the look on Mikey's face I could tell I had done the right thing. I took a step back and suddenly it sunk in what I had said. The corners of my mouth twitched and I bit on my tongue with full force, my chest felt tight and I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt. Then I saw him, headed over to where I knew he would be waiting until after my set, he was glaring at me through bangs that covered one eye. By some miracle I made it through the rest of my set before I stumbled backstage and burst into uncontrollable laughter. I was shaking and nearly tearing up. I knew it would probably cost me later but I couldn't help it. The thought of him finally getting even a small taste of his own egotistical medicine, it was enough to make me lose all sense of caution. As soon as I was able to stop laughing, I realized Joe was looking at me disapprovingly. "I should have tackled you before I let you say that." he said quietly. I looked over at him then swung my bass over my head and set it down. "You know he deserved that and worse." I said grimly. Joe took a long drink of an old looking water bottle then shook his head. "You are going to have to deal with the aftermath of that, I'm going to go hide somewhere with my ds until we head out." As I watched Joe leave I realized he probably had the right idea, but I had felt like I had to do something and a clever backhanded comment was the only thing I felt I could do. And I knew it wasn't my fault but I felt guilty anyways. I owed Mikey, I knew that much.

It felt like way longer than it probably was as I waited for them to wrap up so I tried to zone out with my sketchbook. I was jerked out of my bubble by a knock on the door. I was paranoid as it was with a fresh target on my back, so I jumped when I heard it. "Didn't mean to scare you Jess. We're gonna take a picture for Myspace." I turned to see Ellis standing in the doorway "Oh, okay cool. Where's public enemy number one?" I said trying not to sound on edge. Ellis lowered their voice. "With Mychem, you're safe." I nearly jumped out of my seat. "Why the fuck is he with them." Ellis brightened and said matter-of-factly "Oh, Mikey is nowhere to be found." I looked at the ground and tried to think where he would be. "Come on, they're waiting." Ellis said, biting their nails. I stood up and followed Ellis to where I saw Awsten holding a camera. "Hey, you guys stand next to Patrick." he said. We posed for the photo and then we all started heading out. I looked around frantically for Mikey but I couldn't find him anywhere. I saw Ray and remembered what Ellis had said, I was terrified of running into Cameron aka public enemy number one, but at this point I was desperate to find Mikey. As soon as Ray saw me he lit up. "Jess! Hey, you killed it out there! your set was amazing." I looked around nervously as I replied "Thanks, you guys were amazing too." Then I saw him, I immediately looked down and put a hand in front of my face. Ray looked confused until he saw him. "He cant see you, you know." Ray said sounding amused. "Did he say anything about-" I cut myself off. Ray sighed. "He didn't have to, it was all over his face." The way Ray said it made me realize that maybe I had made a mistake, I mean just because I was close with Mikey didn't make his situation any of my business. I had been telling myself since my set that it was more than just petty revenge, but I was feeling more and more that what I had done was selfish. I gave Ray a vaguely apologetic look. "Where's Mikey?" I asked hopefully. "Isn't that the question of the day." Ray paused for a moment. "He disappeared after our set." I looked around one more time and only saw Ellis talking to.....Pete? Fire and ice. More realistically fire and gasoline. I fell back to earth as Ray started to say something. "Anyways, were having a small get together with some of the bands from the fest, Mikey is for sure going to be there so why don't you and the rest of your band come?" Small? I doubted that. "sure." I said doing my best to look present.

As I tried to catch up with the rest of my band, I kept an eye out. Just then I felt a hand to the back of my gel covered hair. "what the hell was that back there?? Have you lost your damn mind??" I stumbled forward and straightened my hair with my hand. I spun around and found myself face to face with Cameron. "You're really gonna get hung up on a couple words?" He was seething. "Don't pretend that you don't know exactly what you were doing. Do I look stupid to you?" If I were to be honest, at the moment he did. "Maybe I did know, and maybe you deserve far worse than being the butt of a joke that only a handful of people will get." He looked like he might hit me again. "You fucking idiot. These people are obsessed, depraved, there isn't a line they wont cross. They know everything." I rolled my eyes. "This isn't about you." I said stabbing a finger in his face. "This is about Mikey and you know it." I had never seen him so angry. "You don't know anything about that, so I would stay in my lane if I were you." I smirked, is he being serious right now? Or was he actually that clueless about this whole thing? "Oh, really? Naturally, Mikey told me everything." His face changed from upset to confused. "Obviously he wouldn't tell the truth after what Gerard did." I felt my face get hot. "Gee didn't do anything, you were the one who fucked everything up. Don't talk to me about staying in your lane!" He started to say something when Joe from behind him called my name. "You Coming?" he said. I thanked him silently for bailing me out, but I knew this wasn't over.