Chapter 9

After a sleepless night, I awoke to the sound of a knocking on my door. "Knock, knock, knock."

"Mmmm..." was the only voice heard.

"Time to get up, we got to be at the buses in five minutes, don't be late." I heard a familiar voice say.

"OK, OK." I mumbled lazily as I got slowly out of bed. 'Oh boy, I get to spend a whole entire day cramped up on a bus with half-wits.' I thought aloud.

After a quick shower, I packed up my one and only bag and headed for the buses. After depositing my bag in the cargo hold, I boarded my bus and immediately went to the back to find my bunk. Just as I was about to draw back the curtain, I stopped short when I heard moans coming from inside the bunk. Inside my bunk. "Ugh.....gross." I said as I walked away.

Searching for somewhere else to sit, I decided to sit at the table in the kitchen. "Hey, are you new?" A very cute blonde with a British accent asked me.

"Well, yea..." I said uncertainly.

"Well, then, my name is Josh," he said, extending a hand towards me.

I shook and motioned for him to sit down. "So," I asked shyly, "what do you do?"

"Oh, I'm the head cookie salesman."

"Oh my God! Oh my God! I sell cookies too! I thought I was the only one," I said, my face brightening up.

"Ummm...I was only kidding. I am a sound manager," he told me, with a sarcastic look.

"Oh...right...I knew that." I giggled, mildly embarrassed. The next few minutes went by in a blur conversation, finally resulting in a date.

"I'll see you later tonight...OK?" Josh smiled.

"Yea, tonight." I replied trying to hide my excitement.

"God, I am so bored my head is gonna fall off," I muttered, banging my head on the table.

Noticing the bus slow up, I sat anxiously hoping we were gonna stop. The bus came to a halt in some sort of ghetto shopping plaza. Grabbing my purse and exiting to bus, I went in search to find Howie, which I found two seconds later. "Hey Howie, what are we doing here?" I asked him, slightly confused.

"Well, our management decided that the Backstreet Boys need like a trademark, some kind of distinguishing feature. So anybody that works for us, as well as ourselves, are getting our noses pierced." Howie said, a little over-enthusiasticly.

"You have got to be kidding me." I asked, bewildered.

"No, now come on, I want to be one of the first one's to get is done," he said, dragging me along.

The ghetto factor of the neighborhood was extremely high and even in the daylight I was petrified. The very thought of getting my nose pierced scared me, and I instinctively grabbed my nose as I slowly trudged behind Howie.

The mindless chatter between the two men burned into my brain. Motion sickness was overpowering my stomach and hunger pains seeped throughout my body. The nonstop two day driving was making me sick.

I felt the car slowly descending and the chatter between the two men ceased. Looking out the window, the place looked strange to me. The car jerked to a stop and I cocked my head side to side wondering what I was gonna do. The car doors opened and rough hands grabbed me as I was yanked across a dormant parking lot. My clothes were stiff with grit and filth and I wreaked of grease and dirty clothes.

The back door of an unknown place opened and inside I heard the shrill screams of someone being tortured. "Where am I?" I asked, shocked by the congestion of my voice. I was blindfolded and sat down in what felt like a dentists chair. The screams of the person continued. My skin prickled with each shrill wail. Not knowing what else to do, I sat, obviously.

Something cold was wiped over my bellybutton right before a sharp pain shot up through my body like a thousand knives. Just as abruptly as it began, it ended, leaving only a throbbing mystery as to what just happened. I felt the hot tears spring out of my eyes, and then it accured to me I am gonna die.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Mercedes?!?!" somebody yelled.

The only noise that escaped my clogged up throat was a slight "yea" sound.

"Mercedes! It's Michelle! Oh my God!!!"

"Michelle?" I croaked as I struggled to break free from the force that was holding me. I heard voices enter the room and the two men being ordered to release me.

"Your package has successfully been delivered, have a nice day." I heard one of the men say.

Ripping the blindfold off my eyes in a blurry mess I could almost make out Michelle's worried face.