The Invite

A gentle knock on the partially opened door of her bedroom drew Celia's attention from the novel she was reading. She sat on a white bean bag chair in the corner of her room, a light fleece blanket covering her crossed legs. With a slight turn of her head, she shifted her gaze from the George R. R. Martin novel she was absorbed in. The door creaked as it opened. She hated that creak, a small but haunting reminder of the results of her procrastination on having it fixed.

At the doorway, her sister Amelia stood with a mischievous grin playing at her lips. Amelia walked into the room; her right hand tucked behind her. "Guess what?" she started, making no effort to contain her excitement.

"What's up?" Celia asked, closing the book and marking her current page with a ribbon bookmark.

Amelia didn't answer. She revealed two concert tickets in her right hand.

"I got us these." She handed the tickets to her sister and watched, hoping for any indication on Celia's face that she was excited.

"Tickets to tomorrow's concert," Celia drawled, looking at the shiny tickets.

"Yeah, you and I are going. I'm not taking no for an answer," Amelia warned before Celia could respond. She knew her sister wasn't the biggest fan of any social event and would always avoid them at all costs.

Celia looked up, meeting her sister's eyes which seemed to be begging her not to say no. "What about Mom and Dad?" she asked reluctantly. "They would never allow me—"

"Don't worry about that. I already talked to them. They actually think it's good for you to step out of this bubble of yours," Amelia rolled her eyes.

Celia bit her lip and sighed, seeing she had no way out of it. "Fine, I'll go."

"You won't regret it, Celia, I promise. I'm gonna leave you to your book now. Goodnight."

"Night," Celia replied and watched her walk out. The door creaked again as Amelia pulled it shut, causing Celia to curse under her breath.

The following day at school over lunch, Celia broke the news of her attending the concert to her best friend, Laurel.

"What happened?" Laurel asked with a mixture of surprise and excitement. "I thought you said—"

"I know what I said," Celia shrugged. "Amelia got us tickets and practically begged me to go; she wasn't taking no for an answer."

"And your parents are okay with that?"

"Yeah, I don't know how Amelia did it, but she managed to get them on board."

"This is huge, Celia," Laurel told her, her eyes widening. "It's going to be so much fun!"

Celia smiled weakly. "I don't want to have my expectations too high—"

Laurel cut in before she could finish. "Girl, shut up! We can't have that attitude. This is the one night that you should try to enjoy as much as you can. We don't know when the next time something like this will happen."

Celia turned to her friend and feigned a smile. "Fine, I'll try. But I'm not making any promises."

"That's good enough," Laurel replied, satisfied with Celia's response.

"You should come by my house later and we'll all go together," Celia suggested as the two exited the food court and entered the noisy hallways.

"Sure thing," Laurel agreed.

As the day went on, Celia's nerves continued to grow. Nothing else occupied her mind other than the concert. By the time she got home in the evening, she was nothing but a bundle of anxiety and anticipation. Her sister's efforts to calm her edgy nerves did nothing to ease the situation. The thought of loud music, large crowds, and all the chaos they would encounter gave her chills. It all felt very overwhelming to her.

The three left the house a few minutes after the sun had disappeared over the horizon and darkness had set in.

They arrived at the venue less than fifteen minutes later, having opted to take a cab over walking to the place. The loud music from the concert grounds could be heard from quite far out. It only grew louder as they neared. Celia noticed the faces of her sister and best friend light up in sheer excitement as they alighted the cab. She failed to understand how anyone could find joy in such a rowdy event.

The three girls walked to the ticket-check line, with Laurel and Amelia practically racing ahead. Once inside, the girls navigated their way through the pulsating crowd to their VIP spot at the front.

"I can't believe this is really happening!" Laurel exclaimed, her voice barely audible over the chants of the crowd and music.

Celia managed to reply to Laurel with a smile. As much as she had been reluctant to take her sister up on her offer, she couldn't help but admit that being there was thrilling, exhilarating. The air was thick and full of vibrant energy, the atmosphere electrifying. She looked around, absorbing the sight of so many strange faces, colorful lights swirling overhead. She turned her head to her sister, who was already riled up, dancing to the tunes. Celia smiled to herself; she was happy that her sister was having a blast.

"It's going to be epic," Amelia shouted over the loud music, her eyes bright with excitement.

Glancing around, she noticed everyone was absorbed in the pulsating beats of the music. Bodies unconsciously moved in dance, hands raised, swaying in sync with the music. Celia couldn't help but join them, her initial anxiety and nervousness slowly melting away. If she was being honest with herself, she would rather have been in her room, on her bean bag chair with a novel, absorbed in the world of fiction. But since she was at the concert, she surrendered to the moment. With slight hesitation, she allowed herself to move with the crowd's flow.

"Told you this would be fun!" Amelia shouted close to her ear before she went back to singing her lungs out.

Yes, she was dancing to the music. Yes, the feeling was exhilarating. Yes, her body was charged with energy. But nothing about it was fun to her. As far as she was concerned, it was all noise—loud and chaotic. Looking around, she saw how happy everyone was, fully immersed in the concert experience. She couldn't help but feel like an outsider.

After a few minutes, she had had just about enough of it. The noise was too much for her, a loud ringing in her ears causing great discomfort. She pushed through the packed crowd, making her way out of the sea of concert-goers.

She found a bench a little further from the crowd. She could still hear the music, but it was a bit quieter. A few meters away, she heard giggles and turned her head to see a small group of boys and girls holding party cups and bottles of liquor.

On that bench, she fished out her phone, finding solace in the familiar glow of the screen. Little did she know that her night was about to take a very drastic turn.