"I don't know," Derrick, who was equally shocked, replied.
"We came to transport the instruments and costumes backstage as you ordered and met the rehearsal room in this state," He explained, frustration visible on his face.
"We were on our way to check the CCTV cameras when I decided to inform you about the issue..."
"Then what are you waiting for?... Let's go," Raymond ordered and together he and Derrick hastened out of the hall.
"We have less than fifteen minutes to perform. With the drums, costumes and other instruments nowhere to be found, how are we gonna do that?" Lia lamented.
She squatted on the floor with her hands holding her head firmly.
"Without the costumes, we can't model and with the drums nowhere to be found displaying our play is impossible..."
"In other words, we are doomed," Another person cut the first guy short.
Joanna stared at the broken instruments in silence. With everyone talking at the same time, her stressed-out brain which she has deprived of sleep for a few days hurt.
She couldn't think of any solution other than to gaze at the ruined stuff as if they would start assembling themselves.
[I have worked so hard... no, everyone has worked themselves to the bones to make sure that everything goes flawlessly on this day, so who is this fool who dared try to jeopardise all our efforts?]
Joanna was in deep thought as she let her eyes scrutinise the spacious room.
Apart from their instruments and costumes which were destroyed and even stolen nothing, else in the room was touched which showed that whoever did this came solely for the things that were stolen and destroyed.
[Almost everyone here has someone they wished to impress with today's show. Lia's father cut short his business trip and travelled back from the human world to see his beloved daughter perform on stage. As their leader, what am I gonna do to make sure their expectations don't get cut short?]
Joanna grabbed her aching head which felt as if it would split open at any moment.
For the first time in her life, she felt so heartbroken for the people who were not her brother or best friend.
Thinking about the hard work she had put into rehearsals the past days didn't make her heart ache as much as it did especially when she thought of her teammates.
Joanna and the others waited for news from Derrick and Raymond who went to confirm what happened and who did such an awful thing to their stuff.
Her delicate heart was on the brink of falling apart when Raymond and Derrick returned at last.
Joanna moved away from the same spot Raymond left her earlier and strolled to join the two guys where they stood.
"So how is it?" Joanna was quick to ask. "Did you guys see who the heck did this to us?" Joanna demanded.
Her curious eyeballs moved from Derrick's to Raymond's face as she awaited a response from either of them.
"Time is of the essence right now so say something, guys," the frustrated Joanna berated.
When Derrick saw that Raymond didn't have the heart to break the news to the woman he loves, he stepped forward.
"Whoever destroyed our instruments came prepared..."
"How prepared were they to make you say something like that?" Joanna asked, her eyebrows raised in annoyance.
"Because the CCTV cameras surrounding our rehearsal hall were down at the time the crime took place..."
"What!" Lia and some of the others exclaimed. They were dumbfounded at such a revelation.
"Does that mean we can't even find out who did this to us," Joanna raised her voice at the two guys.
For a moment she forgot that they weren't the ones responsible for their current predicament.
"We will be called to the stage any minute from now. What are we gonna do?" Lia cried out.
"First we will search the premises with hopes of recovering some of the instruments. I am sure those who cart away with our stuff haven't gone far yet," Raymond suggested.
"What do you guys say about this?" He didn't forget to ask for their opinions. And since they had no better option, everyone set out in a group of two to search for their stolen instruments.
Within six minutes Joanna and her group searched all the possible places their instruments could have been dumped, but despite their thorough combing of the surroundings they found nothing.
As they went on with their search Joanna completely forgot that Bacon was in the rehearsal room when everyone exited the hall.
"Joanna, they are nowhere to be found. What are we going to do now?" Lia whined. She had so many expectations for tonight she couldn't bring herself to accept those expectations had been stolen from her.
"Now that it's confirmed we can't perform tonight, why don't we inform Mr Finley that we will be unable to put on a show tonight?" Roy, one of the guys playing a major role in their drama, suggested.
Seeing their once colourful expression turn gloomy made Joanna's heart bleed on their behalf.
Joanna was thinking about the suggestion that has been brought forth when her wandering mind recalled something she had long forgotten about.
"Guys," Joanna called the attention of her sad members.
When she made sure their gazes were on her, Joanna went ahead with what she had in mind.
"So I had Zayne and the others record the beat for our play a few times... And Raymond and I often played the beat whenever we rehearsed together..." Joanna trailed to make sure that everyone was following what she was saying.
"The beats are almost to perfection and synced with our actual performance..."
"What point are you trying to make by telling us this?" An angry girl who saw no point in Joanna's words cut in.
"What if I say we use the recorded beats for our performances instead of the live beats?" Joanna nailed the points at last.
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