Lifespan Deathwatch

[Damien McEwan]

Shortly after the sun went down, the band came through the door and started dropping their equipment off at the stage. Jaina, a little starstruck, excused herself from her friends and went to go say hi.

"Hi!" she said to the band, and the band all said 'hi' back to her.

She stood there for a few moments with her hands clasped behind her back, nervously rocking from heel to toe, as the musicians silently continued their work uninterrupted.

"Good talk, guys." she said self-consciously, and returned to her friends at the table.

"Can you believe it? I just met my favorite band!" she exclaimed, beaming like a sun from ear to ear as she sat back down.

"Yes." Said Alia. "It was only like, twelve feet away."

Keighley laughed and patted Jaina reassuringly on the back. "Cool your jets, fangirl." she advised. "If you want to actually meet the band, introductions have to be exchanged first."

"Oh, sh*t." muttered an embarrassed Jaina. "I fell into the hero worship trap, huh?"

"YES." the other two women replied in unison.

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An hour later, something bad happened.

The band, finished with setting up their equipment, each took their places on stage to do soundcheck.

"We good?" The singer asked from behind the mic at center stage.

"Yeah. We are now." said the bassist off to the left, plugging the guitar into his amp stack..."Everything is connected."

"Cool." the singer said, gripping the microphone on its stand. "Flip the breakers, please?!" he shouted across the club.

The bartender hit the switches and the stage lights came on, and the amplifiers began to hum with power.

...There was a very loud POP at the breaker box, and the entire club browned out.

Apparently the mic had a short, and the singer, frozen in place, was in the process of being electrocuted.

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