His business partner and friend, Daniel, stood not far from him. He was also smiling, a glass of champagne in his hand. It was a party in their honour. Everyone who had ever had anything to do with Savage Garden was there, enjoying themselves. There were easily over 200 people in attendance.

Of all these people, only one was the reason for her presence. Him, Darren, a beautiful, young angel. How she longed to tell him that, but she couldn’t. She hadn’t been invited to this celebration. He didn’t even know her. She could only hide in the shadows and view him from a distance. No one seemed to notice her as she stared at him, awed by his beauty. He looked so handsome in his dark Versa?e suit. The sight of him only made her want to tell him all the more. Tell him that she…

A smash was heard outside. It was like someone had broken a window. However, it seemed that she was the only one who had heard it. Everyone continued their activities without pause or falter. If they had heard it, they made no sign of it. Yet, she had heard it and the sound had been close by. That worried her.

Security was all but a ghost patrol at this party. Only two security guards monitored the activity. No bodyguards were present. No one would be there to protect Darren, the dark-haired angel, if someone dared to attack him. She would run to his aid but would be rendered powerless against a built criminal with a gun. This event was unlikely to occur, but the thought never left her mind. She would have never forgiven herself if anything were to happen to Darren.

Reluctantly, she peeled her eyes from him and slipped outside into the cool night air. She cautiously surveyed her surroundings, walking around the side of the building. A familiar cool feeling slipped down her upper chest. She pulled the golden locket out from under the black, velvet material of her shirt, letting it sit over the neckline of the shirt.

She heard a piece of glass make contact with the ground, making an unmistakeable sound. She looked up suddenly. Not far in front of her, under the light of a nearby streetlamp, she saw a smashed window. Its outline was that of jagged glass. She assumed that it was the window she’d heard broken earlier.

Next to the window was a door with a large padlock on the clasp under the handle. The door was slightly battered and dinted, as though someone had been trying to bash it in without any luck. They must have given up on the door and just smashed the window. She looked up.

A small, red light above the door was glowing, indicating that the silent alarm had been triggered. The police would have been alerted and would probably arrive soon. Suddenly, she heard the sounds of someone shuffling inside the breached room. Someone is still inside!

As though he’d heard her alarmed thoughts, the intruder poked his head out of the window and looked around. Seeing no one, he pulled it back in again. She was immersed in shadow so he had not seen her. She heard more soft noises as he continued his activities in the room.

There were other noises, the sound of someone’s shoes crunching down on the small stones on the gravel. Someone was apprehensively coming closer. She looked slightly towards the right to see them. She was caught completely by surprise. It was Darren!

Without knowing the danger he was putting himself into, he was walking towards the room. The intruder had already heard Darren. He stood and peered out the window. She saw his stretched outline and the outline of the gun in his raised hand. Unaware, Darren continued to advance towards him.

No! Go back!! her mind screamed at him. She knew she had to do something quickly. She was briefly distracted by the faint sounds of sirens, growing louder as they approached. Good, the police are coming.

“Okay, please just don’t shoot!”
She was pulled from her daze. The scene before her made her tremble in fear and panic. The intruder was pointing the gun at Darren, his finger resting on the trigger. She snapped completely out of her trance.

“NO!” she screamed as she charged at the man holding the gun. He was completely caught off-guard as she rammed into him at full force, knocking him to the ground. Suddenly things were moving too fast for her to comprehend what was happening. She blindly hit, kicked and bit the man as much and as hard as she could.

Sirens, down the driveway.

Then she felt it, like an explosion into her side. She knew he’d shot her. She instantly recoiled in pain, clutching at her side. She saw him stand and try to run. She saw the police tackle him to the ground. Then she saw a few people gathered around her, looking down on her as they held medical equipment. They were wearing blue overalls. Paramedics. They were lifting her.

It didn’t matter though. All that mattered to her now was whether Darren was all right. She looked around her as best she could. He was nowhere to be seen. She could look no more as she was lifted into the ambulance. She tried to struggle free from them but they restrained her, saying that everything would be all right.

Tears left her eyes, trailing down her cheeks. Now she would never know if he was all right. Never would she have the chance to explain to him why she’d done this. He would never know how much she loved him. Her thoughts faded as her eyelids became heavy and she slipped from consciousness.

He stood there in the shadows. No one seemed to notice him, not since he had called the ambulance and shown the police what was happening. He was still in slight shock, only half-remembering what had taken place. The first minute, he was being pointed at with a gun. The next, she had come from out of nowhere, ramming into the gunman.

Helplessly watching the violent struggle between them, he had heard a shot as the police had raced into the dirt driveway. Then, the ambulance had taken her away, bruised, battered and bleeding profusely from the wound on her side.

He concluded that she could have been no older than 15. He thought suddenly that she could have been a fan who had stumbled across the party. The question on Darren’s mind was ‘Why?’ Why had she done this?

Something small and shiny suddenly caught his eye. It was on the ground near where she had been shot. Perhaps it was hers. He walked toward it, crouched down, and picked it up off the ground. It was a golden locket, undoubtedly hers. It must have been torn off in the confusion.

He carefully pried it open with his fingertips. Silent tears formed in the corners of his eyes, quickly falling and streaking down his cheeks. Inside, on either panel, two pictures of himself stared back at him.

He knew his international fame brought many things, but he never imagined that it could do this.