21 Club

“Drew, hey, can you hear me” no words left Drew Taylor’s mouth. This occurred often for him. Anxiety was a staple in his life. “Drew, you go on in six minutes” he couldn’t breathe. What if the audience hated him? What if he had an anxiety attack on stage? “”Drew, it’s Zach, calm down, you’ve got to breathe, they’re going to love you” Zach is Drew’s best friend, and they’ve been friends for awhile. Drew regained his breaths slowly. “You good” Zach asked. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” he said. Drew took the mic from his manager, who was clearly annoyed with him for causing the delay. 

It wasn’t his first concert, in fact he was in the middle of a world tour. However, he suffered from severe anxiety that gets worse as the days go on, and it made touring hard. He had always dreamed of being a musician. He blew up overnight, was signed to a label, and almost immediately moved to Los Angeles at the age of fifteen. Drew would love to say that his anxiety came from his life changing overnight and everything moving so fast, which in a way, it did. But now, at the age of twenty, he was living his dream, his dream simply came along with severe anxiety and a bit of stage fright. 

At fifteen, Drew was naive. All that he wanted was fame and fortune. He didn’t care about the cost, so he did the only thing he could think to do. He didn’t want to put in the work to get the fame. He had heard story after story of musicians selling their soul to the devil in exchange for fame. And that’s exactly what Drew did. He sold his soul for fame. Of course, when you sell your soul, the devil always gets his way, and he controls your life from that point on. At first, Drew didn't mind it, but after five years, Drew regrets it everyday. 

The show was going great. Zach was right, as usual, they loved him. Drew was told by most people in Hollywood that he had amazing stage presence. Nobody believed Drew when he would tell them he had stage fright. It affected his performance when he first started out, but he found several ways to cope with it. “Thank you Miami, I’ll see you soon” Drew yelled out to the crowd as he left the stage. “Hey good show” Zach said. “You did good tonight Drew” his manager said, high-fiving him just as he does after every show. But did he actually mean it? Was he just doing it to make him feel better about himself? He let his thoughts consume him, knowing there was no point in fighting it. “Drew you goof” Zach asked. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, let’s uh, let’s just go to the bus,” he replied. 

Drew’s anxiety got worse by the day and all he wanted was to get out of this stupid, annoying deal. His life was miserable. He wanted the fame but he never truly had time to enjoy it. His fans demanded interviews, but the thought of sitting face to face with the interviewer terrified him. Drew did interview after interview when he began, but when one was released of him having a panic attack after being asked about his rise to fame, he realized he couldn’t do it anymore. By now, his anxiety had taken over his life. Out of forty shows he’s dont this year, he’s made it all the way through three of them without some sort of attack. Drew was constantly terrified. 

“I can help” the sound of the voice sent shivers down Drew’s back. The voice was way too familiar to him, even after five years it wasn’t a voice he could simply forget. “Why are you here” Drew asked. He turned to face the owner of the voice. “Why question when you know the answer Mr. Taylor, are you anxious” the devil held his typical playful tone while talking. “I want out of this deal, it’s ruining my life” Drew demanded. The devil laughed out of pure amusement. “Oh but what about your adoring fans, they’ll wonder what happened to their precious Drew Taylor. They’ll wonder why he simply disappeared off the face of the Earth” Drew thought for a moment. “Can we make a new deal then” he asked. “Sure, but I make the deal, all you have to do Drew Taylor, is sign the paper” he said. Drew knew what he was doing. And he knew he shouldn’t be doing it. But he didn’t care anymore. 

“The 21 club, what’s the 21 club” Drew asked him. “You’ll find out soon, but it’ll take away all your anxiety and stage fright, you’ll perform with ease,” he said, handing Drew the golden pen he used to sign the contract when he was fifteen. And he signed the paper with no hesitation. Almost immediately he felt as if his anxiety had completely left. 

The next morning Drew Taylor was found dead on his bus, on his 21st birthday. You see if Drew would have just read the Devil’s contract, it explained what the 21 club was. The way the 21 club works is once you sell your soul, you get fame, but you can only live until 21. The devil knew Drew would take the deal, and he took advantage of that.

The whole world was in shock. Their beloved popstar was gone. Everyone loved him. He was a normal person who struggled with normal things and he just happened to have the voice of an angel. Conspiracies flooded the Internet almost immediately, the top conspiracy being the 21 club. And that conspiracy only grew stronger when the cause of Drew’s death was never found, and no one could explain how he died. However, the only thing anyone could find was an unknown tattoo on his wrist. He had never posted about the tattoo and nobody knew when he got it, not even Zach. But right on his wrist, was the number 21 imprinted in black ink.