There was another knock on the door, and this time, ready to be furious at Tyler James, Autumn threw the door open, a glare on her face.
‘Goodness, child,’ Tawanda greeted, ‘if you win those awards tonight, I think the cameras will be hoping for a better expression than that.’
‘I thought it was him.’ Autumn poked her head out the door and looked around for the security man. ‘Where is he?’
‘Who?’
‘My new security coordinator, Tyler. He said he would be outside.’ She scanned the faces of the other people lining the hall.
‘You have a new bodyguard?’ Tawanda questioned.
‘No! That’s the whole point. I don’t want a new bodyguard. This is because of my mother. I should call her. I should call her and tell her to stop interfering. I didn’t want her to come with me, and this is what she does. She hires someone to watch me.’
‘I spoke with her a few minutes ago, she asked how you are. She did not say anything about any security guy.’
‘Then who hired him?’ Autumn asked. ‘Oh, Tawanda, you don’t think this is As-Wana, do you? I thought it was over. The government captured the members of the group who weren’t killed, and they were going to question them. They were going to find out their plans and put a stop to them, for good.’
‘Calm down.’
‘I can’t. I can’t do it. I can’t go out there. Not now,’ Autumn stated.
She counted up her fingers and moved from one foot to the other. All the bravado of earlier had been picked apart by the appearance of a replacement for Nathan. She didn’t want him replaced. He couldn’t be replaced. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the numbers.
‘Miss Raine.’ Tyler James’ voice broke her concentration.
‘Who are you?’ Tawanda asked him.
‘Hi there. You must be Tawanda. Hi, Tyler James.’ He held his hand out to her.
‘You don’t charm me with your spiky little hair and the dimples. Who sent you?’
‘I’m not at liberty to say, ma’am.’
‘Speak English, will you! What does that mean?’ Autumn shrieked.
‘I can’t tell you,’ Tyler answered.
‘Then you’ll come nowhere with us,’ Tawanda said, stepping in front of Autumn and shielding her.
Tyler leaned forward and whispered something in Tawanda’s ear.
‘What did you say to her? Tawanda? Don’t let him be my security. Please. I don’t like him,’ Autumn exclaimed.
Tawanda’s facial expression was incomprehensible. The blood seemed to drain from her face and her eyes were popping out of her head as she stared at Tyler, her mouth open.
‘We should really go now,’ Tyler said as he offered Autumn his arm. ‘We don’t want to keep all those millions of television viewers waiting, do we?’
‘Tawanda, what’s happened? What did he say to you? What’s going on?’ Autumn looked at her friend and the bewilderment written on her face.
‘Nothing… I… we… we can trust this man,’ Tawanda stated.
Autumn could tell she was trying very hard to recompose herself, but it wasn’t really working. Tawanda’s whole body quaked.
‘Well, how do you know? I want to know how you know. What did you say to her?’ Autumn demanded from Tyler.
‘Autumn, please, you must trust me on this.’ She took hold of Autumns hands. ‘You trust me, yes?’
‘You know I do.’
‘Then believe me when I say we can trust this man. It will be good to have someone else with us. If nothing else, he can make sure our champagne glasses are topped up when you win the awards.’
Autumn looked at Tyler, trying to seek out any information she could from just looking at his face. His expression was not committing anything. He looked straight ahead, his eyes not meeting hers or Tawanda’s.
‘Miss Raine, Miss Raine, we need you backstage right away to open the show. Maroon 5 is caught up in a bad accident a couple hours north of here. They’re fine, by the way, just delayed,’ said a woman dressed all in black, wearing a headset on her head and carrying a clipboard.
‘Opening the show,’ Autumn said, the enormity of that task hitting her like a train.
‘The piano is all ready,’ the woman stated.
Tyler offered his arm again. ‘We should go.’
*
When the lights went up and she heard the roar of the audience, she wanted to run. It had only been a few weeks since her last public performance, but she had completely forgotten how it felt. The lights were so bright, she couldn’t see anything, and the heat from the stage equipment was already making her perspire. She could see no one, just shadows and darkness, but she knew there were thousands of eyes trained on her in the hall, and millions more behind television sets all over the world. Now was not the time for a meltdown. Now was the time for honoring the memory of her fallen friends. She was here. They weren’t. It was her duty to sing and play her heart out, because, between them, they had made sure she’d stayed alive to do just that.
‘Good evening everyone. This is “Broken Pieces.” This one’s for you Blu,’ she stated.
The music started, and a shiver ran over her, but she counted herself in, then she let rip with the vocals like never before.
*
‘The winner of the IMA award for Best International Female Artist goes to…’
Autumn was holding her breath again. She had held her breath for the announcement of Best Album and had quickly put a smile on her face when Lady Gaga’s name was announced instead of hers. One chance gone, one left. If she was honest, she didn’t mind if she won the award or not. Just being here,
