The Pact - Prologue

This story first appeared on TSR Forum, and can be found here.

Running. That's all I wanted to do. Run, run, and run without stopping. I didn't care where I was going, just as long as I was safe. Safe from this horrible world around me. How could I ever run away from myself, though? Is that possible? Where could I go to hide? I needed a place to hide from all the questions, from all the cameras, and from the press. They would soon be around asking me questions. And I knew EXACTLY what they will be asking. "How do you feel after what happened?" "Michelle, your fans would like to know how are you feeling right now?" "Michelle, could you talk about your memories together?" Those questions and more - and all I wanted to answer everybody was "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!"

Memories. Wait - I knew the one place where I could be safe. Nobody would ever find me there. It was the safest place on earth.

Here it is - our old garage. I wanted to go inside, and stay there for as long as it takes. All I wanted right then was to be alone. But all these thoughts rushing through my head, would not leave me alone. And I knew that if I had to walk through that door, and inside this garage - I will never be alone again. Because right behind these solid doors, lied all our past. There were too many memories in there, and I didn't know if I could face them right then. But I had no choice - either I face the past, or else face the insensitive crowd out there.

So with trembling hands, I opened the door, and started walking back in time - back to when this old garage had been our pride and joy - our everything.

I entered the garage, and just like I knew would happen, I was suddenly whisked away to a different time. Everything in this dark room acted just like a time-machine to me - the things I was seeing, the smell, the sounds of my footsteps on the wooden floor. So many years had passed since I last came here, and I had grown up so much. Everything had changed. Even I had changed beyond recognition. Well, I was still a blonde girl, who dressed in nothing but pink, but I was so different from that naive girl, who trusted everybody, and loved everybody.

Oh yes, things had changed so much in the outside world. But time in this garage seemed to have stopped, and everything was still living the same old story of five years before. I felt the tears come to my eyes as I looked around that room, which smelled very much of dust, and mold and age. This garage had been our own hideaway, or own secret place, our own lair.

The posters were still hanging on the wall, and the drums, and the mike, and EVERYTHING that had helped us become the stars we were now, was here.

Suddenly I heard the sweet sound of my music in my head, and without knowing, I softly started to sing a song, "And in my darkest hour, someone came along my way, my friends were there beside me, to help me through the day..." The tears that had welled up in my eyes, now started streaming down my cheeks. The garage had suddenly changed, and I was seeing a nightclub scene, where the-soon-to-be biggest rock group of the decade were performing for the very first time.

I sat down on my favourite chair, and I slowly let my mind drift back to happier days. I started thinking about them all ... my best friends in the whole world, and the most terrific people I had ever met.

It was six of us - always together. We were never apart, not even for one day. We did everything together. It was as if one could not exist without the others.

There was my brother Steve, who played the guitar...
... and his girlfriend Mandy. Then there was David, my boyfriend who played the drums...
... and Lynn...

... while Tyrone and me were the vocals of the group.