Missing

Juliet finished breastfeeding her sleepy three month old daughter, Andra, and laid her down in the white bassinet in the back room of the tourbus. The door opened behind her, causing baby Andra's eyes to flutter open at the sudden gust of wind into the small room.
"Mommy?" Juliet's two year old son, Arlo, walked into the room wearing only a blue shirt and a Mickey Mouse pull up diaper. He was holding a soggy ice cream cone in his right hand.
Juliet turned to hush him as she rocked the bassinet gently trying to get Andra to go back to sleep.

"Gone! Gone!" Arlo complained as he held up his eaten ice cream. Juliet hushed him again and began to whisper as Andra finally closed her blue eyes again.
"Your baby sister is sleeping, Arlo. Go get another ice cream from uncle Ashley." She said referring to her husband's band mate, Ashley Purdy. Arlo just shrugged his shoulders. "Gone!" He insisted again.

Juliet picked up her son before he could make anymore noise to wake up Andra and left the room with him, shutting the door quietly behind her.Content with the attention he was looking for, Arlo took a large bite out of the empty ice cream cone he had just been complaining about.

They were on a single story Canadian tour bus and Juliet was barefoot, stepping over open luggage in the hall, holding Arlo on her hip, when she called out for Ashley.
The bus was empty except for the driver, herself and her two kids. Everyone else was already inside of the venue getting ready for the Black Veil Brides concert.

Arlo was in the building earlier spending time with his dad, Andy, backstage but it was way past his bedtime now, so she had him brought back to the tourbus where she had spent all afternoon with Andra who was coming down with a cold. Juliet didn't want her daughter in that germy building. She heard Ashley Purdy talking to the driver just a few minutes ago when she was still feeding Andra in the back, so she assumed he was still nearby.

How else did Arlo, who was supposed to be watching a movie quietly in his Dad's bunk, get a random ice cream cone? The driver, an older frail man with a grey beard stepped out from the front of the bus and turned to smile at her and Arlo.
"What was that? Did you two need something?" He asked, adjusting the tie on his dress shirt.
"Yeah, was Ashley in here earlier?" Juliet asked.
He nodded, "Yeah he brought little Arlo a chocolate ice cream cone."

"Oh.." Juliet looked down at the cone in her son's hand, "Do you want another one?" She asked. Arlo smiled and nodded his blonde head. He looked so much like his dad when he was his age. "Ok, I'll go find uncle Ashley and get you another ice cream. You go back to Daddy's bunk and finish your movie, alright? Don't go bothering your baby sister. She needs to rest." Juliet told her son as she put his feet down on the ground.

"Me too! Me go bye bye!" Arlo pouted wanting to go with his mom inside of the building.
Juliet explained to him, again, that it was way past his bedtime and he should be grateful that she was even letting him watch a movie this late at night. Arlo pouted all the way back to his Dad's bunk but he climbed in and pulled the curtain closed behind him.

Juliet sighed as she turned to the driver, "Can you keep an eye on him for me? I'll be ten minutes tops." She said. The driver nodded with a smile, "No problem. I'll be here all month." He joked since the Canadian tour was supposed to last another four weeks.

Juliet hated the idea of taking her two kids on tour with Andy, but he insisted that they accompany him. He said he was feeling left out being on tour while his kids were growing up without him. It wasn't too bad, however, as Andy was keen on frequently getting hotel rooms for his family to have breathing room, but in small no name towns like these, there weren't even hotels. So tonight her and the kids had to sleep on the tourbus.

The band members were nice enough to give up the back room for her and the baby to sleep in. She insisted there was enough room for Andy and her son to sleep on the couch in there too, but Arlo liked the bunk too much.
"-and the little princess? How is she feeling?" The bus driver asked Juliet now.
"I think she's got a little stomach bug but her fever's down. I just fed her and put her down for the night. If she wakes up and starts crying just call my cell. You have my number right?" Juliet asked. The driver nodded. "Thank you so much. You really are a life savior. I'll be right back." She said before opening the bus door and climbing out.

The back alley they were parked in was strangely quiet when Juliet got off the bus and closed the door behind her. It was crawling with fans all evening. They must have all went inside for the show already. Juliet checked the time on her phone as she walked up to the back door of the venue, careful not to step on any small rocks with her bare feet.

There was still a little over 10 minutes until the show was set to start. The security guard who was usually blocking the door was gone.Juliet frowned when she was able to easily open the door and walk straight backstage. Where the hell were all the security guards? What if she were some deranged fan who had just walked in here, hell bent on murdering the band? The band's dressing room door was locked. Atleast something was locked. She knocked.

There was no answer, so she knocked harder and announced her presence.
"Hello? It's Juliet. There's seriously no one out in these halls right now. What's going on?"
The door opened a crack a few seconds later and the security guard who was usually guarding the back door peeked his head out and looked up and down the hall before stepping aside and letting Juliet in.The room was deafeningly quiet despite it being jammed full of people.

It seemed like all of the security guards in the building were standing in the room with the crew as they stood around the band members sitting on a couch. They were all staring at a laptop screen. Except for the security guard who let her in, no one else seemed to notice her as she walked up behind the couch to lean over the back of it and see the laptop screen.
She was terribly curious to see what had everyone so quiet.

The screen had a tweet pulled up that Juliet couldn't quite read. "What's that?" She asked, breaking the silence in the room. Her husband, Andy sat straight up on the couch and slammed the laptop shut. "It's BULLSHIT! Don't worry about it!" He announced before standing up. He was fully dressed in his blacked out stage outfit. The only source of color on him tonight was the ink from his tattoos.

He didn't even look at her, as he addressed his band.
"Come on guys, that's enough fucking around let's get started with the show." He said.
"-I don't know, Andy. That shit was really specific." Jinxx sighed. None of the other band members had made a move to get up. "Oh it's BULLSHIT! Guys come on! Stop being pussies and let's just do the fucking show!" Andy cursed.

"What's going on?" Juliet asked getting inpatient and crossing her arms over her striped tank top. "....Someone threatened to bomb the concert, tonight." Ashley finally answered, after no one else offered to say anything. Andy snorted as Juliet's heart began to pound in her chest and she got a cold chill wishing she was wearing more than just shorts.

"It's BULLSHIT babe! It was a fucking tweet from some low life asshole who probably lives in his mother's basement in buttfuck, Idaho!" Andy exclaimed. "He tweeted pictures of the stage layout! He's here somewhere!" Ashley insisted, looking up. He looked scared. Andy just groaned. "He got those pictures from the fans that are out there -right now- waiting for us to perform! They've been tweeting pictures of the venue all day! I don't see why you guys are taking that - that- that TROLL so seriously!" Andy said.

"I think we should postpone the show, evacuate the building and call the police to have them search the venue for any bombs -" The black veil bride's tour manager started to say, but Andy exploded. "NO FUCKING WAY! I'M NOT GOING TO HAVE SOME LITTLE SHIT RUIN OUR SHOW! WE'RE GOING TO GO OUT THERE AND SHOW EVERYONE THAT WE'RE NOT GOING TO BE INTIMIDATED! I'M NOT SCARED OF -"

"Shut up, Andy! You're being an idiot!" Juliet snapped. "I agree with him! Postpone the fucking show! Better safe than sorry!" She said feeling upset. Andy just stared at his wife as the other band members began to agree that postponing the show was the best idea.
Just when Juliet thought Andy would give in, he suddenly turned and began to walk toward the door.

"Where are you going? I think it's better if you all stay right here in this room while we get this sorted out." A security guard called after him, but Andy flipped everyone off.
"Fuck you guys! I'm going out there to put on our fucking show - with or without you guys!" He announced. Juliet stared at him in shock as he unlocked the door and threw it open.
Several of the security guards and crew members chased after him, down the hall, but evidently they couldn't stop him because a few moments later Juliet heard loud screams from the audience as Andy walked out on to the stage.

She couldn't believe he would do something like that. His band mates couldn't either, as CC jumped to his feet, livid. "I cant believe that asshole would go out there! Especially after what that guy said he would do if we ignored his tweet!" "What the hell are you not telling me?!" Juliet demanded. Jake stood up, "The guy said he would do something worse than blowing up the venue." "Like what?" Juliet pried. Jake shook his head, "He didn't say."


Andy was saying something to the crowd but it was muffled. A few seconds later the crowd started chanting "Black Veil Brides" in unison for so long, Ashley finally sighed.
"Come on guys....maybe Andy's right, maybe it was just a troll. Let's just go do the show..." He said. The rest of the band followed behind Ashley, looking anxious , as they left the room to join Andy on stage.

The music started a few minutes later and Juliet just shook her head in disbelief.
She couldn't believe her husband was being so stubborn. She completely forgot about Arlo's ice cream and walked back out toward the bus empty handed.

She pushed open the back door of the venue and was met with an empty alley.

Confusion set in before the panic. What the hell? Did the driver move the bus?
Juliet saw the security guard from earlier standing at the end of the alley looking around with a flashlight. "Hey!" She called. He turned around and flashed the light in her direction.
Juliet shielded her eyes, "Can you get the light out of my eyes?!" She moaned.
He moved the flashlight, coming closer toward her so he could hear her better.

"Where's the bus?" She asked. The guard looked confused. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Did the guy move it when you were out here?" He asked. Juliet shook her head no. "It was right here when I came inside a few minutes ago..." Panic still hadn't set in yet.
The panic wouldn't set in until her and the guard had completely walked around the entire venue and didn't see the bus.

"Why the hell would he go somewhere with my fucking kids on the bus?!"Juliet cried thinking the driver had gone for a spin. The guard asked if Juliet had the driver's phone number. She had to look back through her old calls before she finally found it.
She called the number and was strangely relieved when she heard the phone ring nearby.
'Thank god, he's back!' was her first thought, until she turned around and just saw the empty back alley they were standing in again.

They both followed the sound of the ringing phone to a dumpster.
Juliet's heart started pounding faster and faster as they approached the large black dumpster.
She was trembling by the time they reached it and the security guard shined his flashlight on it. Juliet hoped the wet red stains on the lid and down the sides were paint.


She screamed when the guard opened the dumpster and they found the dead, bloody body of the tour bus driver with his throat slit open. His discarded phone was still ringing in his pants pocket. Once the shock of his death set in, Juliet was desperate to find her babies.
Without thinking, she climbed into the bloody dumpster, throwing the trash bags aside thinking her kids were somewhere under them.

The security guard finally had to crawl in to drag her out as she was messing up the crime scene. Even after she was out and the guard dragged her back into the safety of the venue so he could call the police, Juliet just kept screaming.

Notes