Nick lost sight of Erin. Where had she gone? He spotted two dumpsters in front of him. She must have gone in there. He stepped in between them and saw a door into the building. It was slightly ajar. Now why would she be going into the auditorium, Nick thought as he opened the door all the way and walked in. There was nothing in there a 16 year old girl would want. But then again, Erin wasn’t your average 16-year-old.
Erin picked her way toward the stage in the maze of corridors backstage.
Finally she saw the darkened stage that her brother and his band had preformed on just hours earlier. Feeling her way along the wall she felt a bunch of light switches. Turning them on one after the other, she found the one she needed. The one that turned on the light for the right side of the stage.
Erin approached the piano hesitantly. It looked so beautiful. The light Erin had turned on shone on it like a spotlight making its polished black wood glimmer. She sat down on the bench and ran her fingers over the glistening ivory keys. The keys were much smoother than the keys on the Hutchin’s piano. The ones there had been cracked and chipped by the decades it had been used. But this piano, this piano was perfect.
Erin started to play a waltz she had learned a long time ago. It was stiff and formal, but soon Erin’s fingers began to fly over the keys. She played all the old folk songs Oma had taught her. Beautiful songs that the Amish had sung for centuries. She played songs that she herself had written a long time ago while she was at the Hutchins. Erin was so caught up in the music that she didn’t notice Nick sitting near the front of seats. Nick was in awe. He couldn’t believe Erin was so good. She was way better than Kevin was or anyone else he had ever seen. Most of the songs she played he had never heard, but they seemed to stick to him. Some of them he recognized, but he wasn’t sure where he had heard them before. Nick closed his eyes and just listened to the free concert he was getting. Suddenly the piano playing stopped and instead of hearing music, Nick heard soft sobbing.
He opened his eyes and saw Erin with her face in her hands crying her eyes out. After a few minutes, she wiped her face and rose off the piano bench. She hurried backstage and in a minute the light on stage flicked off. Nick got up and ran out of the auditorium and down the hall to the small door he had come in by. He beat Erin to it and was out the door and in a flash. He sneaked around the building and ran into the bus as quickly as he could slamming the door behind him.
“Gee, Nick,” Brian looked up as Nick slammed the bus door. “What are you up to? You look like…never mind what you look like. What were you running from?”
Before Nick could answer Erin entered the bus with her bag in her hand.
“I decided not to spend the night on Stacie’s bus after all,” she announced serenely, “I wanted to get extra sleep tonight.” Without a second glance at Nick or Brian, she strolled back to her bunk and started unpacking her bag.
“How does she do it?” Nick whispered, “Acting like she’s been nowhere at all.”
“What are you muttering about?” Brian looked at Nick curiously.
“Oh, nothing…nothing at all.” Nick shook his head. “I think I’ll go to bed early.
“Aw, come on Nick, we were going to watch that pay per view tonight, remember?” Brian said.
“I changed my mind,” Nick answered him in a preoccupied tone of voice. Having said that he walked to the back of the bus.
“Everyone is getting so strange around here.” Brian sighed. “First Erin actually talks to us, then she returns to the bus because she wants to get some sleep? Then Nick comes in looking like he’s seen a ghost and he decides to go to bed early. What is up with this?”
“I don’t know but it sounds pretty strange,” AJ chuckled.
“AJ!” Brian sat up suddenly and hit his head on the bus’s window sill.
“What’d you do that for?” Brian rubbed his head.
“Sorry, I was getting myself a drink, I thought you knew I was there.” AJ sat down on the couch. “Nick’s going to bed early? He really must have seen a ghost.”
“Yeah, I know. He ran in the bus all out of breath and pale. Then Erin came in right after him and they both went to bed early.”
“Why was Erin out of the bus? I thought she was supposed to be with someone at all times.”
“She is, but she asked to spend the night on another bus. I told her she could. For some reason though she came back early. I don’t know why. Supposedly she wanted to get more sleep.”
“Which bus did she want to spend the night on? I didn’t think Erin had any friends on tour.” AJ asked.
“The clothing/hair/makeup bus.” Brian answered him. “You know Stacie? She does our wardrobe.”
“Yeah, I know her. She’s got curly brown hair right?”
“Yep, that’s her,” Brian said. “She and Erin have hit it off. They spend a lot of time together. Stacie invited her to spend tonight on her bus.”
“That’s kind of weird. They’re total opposites.” AJ shook his head.
“Stacie’s all bubbly and outgoing. Erin barely says anything and if she does its usually only one or two words.”
“I know, but I think being with Stacie is good for Erin. Since Erins been around Stacie, she’s been more…human.”
“I don’t know,” AJ frowned. “Erin seems pretty weird to me. There’s something about her that just isn’t right. I don’t know what.”
“Yeah, she’s a strange bird alright.” Brian acknowledged.
“I’m going to watch some TV, want to come?”
“Sure,” Brian followed AJ into the entertainment room.
