AN: I am not the original author of the story below my goal is to gather Beatles stories from around the web and have them in one area so that they don't get deleted. If you are the original author and would like me to remove this story I will.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Beatles and no offense or disrespect is intended, nor defamation of character. The stories are completely fictitious, so NOT real.

Stage Fright chapter three

"And now we would like to do something we don't often do; give someone a chance who doesn't often sing. And here he is, all outta key and nervous…Ringo!" Ringo announced himself.

The crowd screamed and the Beatles started in on 'Act Naturally.'

As he sang the chorus with Ringo, Paul turned a little so he was able to see Ringo and still sing into the microphone. They locked eyes for a split second and Paul quickly winked to let Ringo know he was doing fine. Ringo smiled back at him.

At the end of the song, Paul looked back at Ringo again and gave him a thumbs-up. "Thank you, Ringo! Well done!" he spoke into the microphone and the crowd cheered. Both John and George held an arm out towards Ringo as though they were presenting something.

Ringo flushed, feeling rather chuffed and bowed his head.

They did three more songs: 'All My Lovin', 'I'm a Loser' and 'Ticket to Ride' and after the last one, they bowed deeply. Straightening up, Paul spoke into the microphone again. "Thank you, thanks everybody. It was wonderful to be here. Ta."

Smiling, he removed his bass from his neck and held it in his hand as he waved to the ecstatic crowd.

Suddenly, Ringo saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He looked to his left and saw an unknown man sprint up onto the stage and run in the direction of where Paul was standing. Ringo instantly knew something was about to go terribly wrong.

"Paul!" he shouted, leaping up from his stool, hoping his friend would hear him over the tremendous noise of the screaming crowd.

Both George and John whipped around and also saw the man dash over to Paul. To his horror, John noticed something glistening in the man's hand. "Christ!" was all he was able to utter.

Upon hearing his name, Paul had also turned around. Unfortunately, by that time, the man had already reached him. Paul's eyes went wide as he caught a flash of a contorted face which belonged to a figure that was about to crash into him.

Dropping his bass, he brought up his arms in order to protect his head and torso and almost instantly felt an incredible pain in his arm as the weapon the figure was holding slashed into it. He managed to let out a cry in pain before the heavy body crashed into him and he literally felt himself soar through the air.

"Paul!" Both John and George screamed as they simultaneously ran to where Paul had been bashed off the stage.

In the meantime, Mal and a few security men had stormed onto the scene and grabbed the man who was kneeling on the edge of the stage, grinning wickedly. He didn't even resist as the security men dragged him backstage. "Goodbye, Paul," Ringo heard him say as he ran towards where he'd last seen Paul.

When they saw the famous Beatle topple over the edge of the stage, the crowd gasped and moved as one to break his fall.

Paul felt himself being caught by dozens of hands, preventing him from crashing down to the ground. His arm hurt and he could feel warm blood ooze from the wound. He felt himself being carried over the heads of the crowd, something that would later be known as 'crowd surfing'.

Suddenly however, hands were starting to pull at him and grope him. He tried to push away the dozens of hands that were touching and scratching him. "Stop it!" he yelled. "Let go of me!" But his frantic shouts were drowned out by the hysteric screams.

From back on stage, John, Ringo and George stared wide-eyed as they saw Paul being carried to the centre of the crowd. They could see Paul was not enjoying this at all, to say the least. They saw the hands ripping at his clothes, pulling on his arms and legs, tugging on his hair.

"Christ, they'll tear him apart!" John said in a panicked voice. "Bloody do something!" he yelled towards the policemen who had been lined up right beneath the stage, to prevent overexcited fans from climbing on. They had not, however, expected a Beatle to come flying down into the crowd. For a moment, they stood, undecided. Then, as though on cue, they all moved into the massive screaming crowd simultaneously.

To the other three Beatles' horror, Paul suddenly disappeared, having been pulled down in between thousands of fans...