Waltz of Her Life

Suddenly some people in the crowd began to chant "Zeppelin! Zeppelin!" as people pushed on Linda from all sides. She realized that if she lifted her feet, she could be carried around by the force of the crowd. The air around them smelled of stale beer, whiskey, tobacco smoke and smoke of another kind that she recognized from dorm hallways. Waves of nausea blurred her vision. She felt lightheaded.

Lauren looked down at her and laughed. As far as Linda could tell, her friend stood her ground, pushing back against the crowd. "What's wrong with you? Are you gonna barf or something?"

"I can't believe this!" Linda was able to wheeze out through her constricted chest. "Is this how they always do concerts? Someone's going to get killed!"

Lauren stretched on tiptoe and gazed ahead of them. "I can see them! They're getting ready to open the doors!" The crowd around them let out a hearty, expectant cheer, as if it had been a football game and their team had thrown a long bomb for the winning touchdown.

"Hold on!" someone shouted and Linda heard a series of mechanical clunks and thunks. The crowd violently pushed forward, carrying Linda with it. Whistles sounded as voices whooped with delight and the crowd surge shoved through the opened doors. Linda wanted to close her eyes and will herself to the point in time where it would all be over, but she dared not. Lauren had shoved ahead of her, causing Linda to panic, lunge forward and grab her arm. A loud crack like a rifle shot sounded and glass tinkled, followed by a young woman's scream. Linda's blood ran cold.

Up ahead she could see the door frame forming a bottleneck for the swarming crowds streaming through it. From behind someone pushed her and she got thrust the last several feet through the doorway and inside the coliseum. As bodies shoved and spilled into the building they reached a line of orange vested coliseum ushers frantically ripping tickets and shepherding people through. Linda bent over and let out a deep sigh of relief, jostled this way and that by people running beside her. Someone held her across her shoulders. Lauren spoke: "Are we all here? Good! Let's run down there and get some good seats."

Linda reached into her squashed purse for her ticket. When she looked up, she saw two people a short distance away shielding a third. With horror, she also saw blood on the concrete. She shouted "Oh my god," and ran to the three people. Lauren and Jeannie called after her. Linda found a girl with crazed eyes sobbing as blood poured out of a wound on her face, matting her brown hair against it. Her two friends standing above her frantically rubbed her shoulders, trying to calm her. Linda sunk down to her knees and wedged between them, reaching the injured girl, murmuring "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay."