With a jolt, the bus came to a halt.
"Final stop.", the diver exclaimed cheerfully.
I looked up.
Truly, we already were in Goldfield.
I got off the bus and started wandering through the streets to the rehearsal room in hopes of finding one of the boys inside.
The chances were high, since they spent just about every free second in there, plucking at their instruments, drumming or composing new songs.
I craved to be with them to forget about what was waiting for me at home, if only it was for a few hours. I was lucky.
Jason, our guitarist, was sitting on the small sofa pushed against the wall and appeared to be lost in thought when I entered the garage through the side door.
"Hi", I greeted him with a grin and a hug, he reciprocated.
After letting go of each other he looked me over and his gaze became serious.
"Got in trouble?"
"Why?" This guy could be creepy sometimes.
"You kind of look like it." I put off his concern and sat down in the small, mothy chair in the corner.
"The usual, nothing special."
Even though I could talk to Jason about lots of things, not about this.
My family was a topic that no one was concerned with.
Maybe I was already copying my grandma who'd always made a big secret out of it.
None of my friend were aware of my strange family situation.
Kind of obvious.
How should I talk about something that even I didn't fully understand.
I'd only told the boys the same thing I'd told anyone: that my mother was a psychologist (which wasn't a lie) and that she worked in Gotham City at Arkham Asylum (which was where she'd had her first real job after her graduation). My dad had vanished before I was born and I had no contact with him (which was also true).
The four had accepted it that way and had never asked any questions.
Generally, we only rarely spoke about our families.
We were mostly occupied by our biggest passion: music.
Thankfully, it was the same this time.
After Jason had examined me thoughtfully once more, he turned to his guitar and casually mentioned
"I've sent it now, by the way." I looked at him with confusion, then broke out in laughter.
"No you didn't!"
"Sure! I said I'd do it, so I did it. Did you think that was only hot air? As if!"
I lit up a cigarette for myself and shook my head, smiling.
"We don't even have a chance."
"Hang on."
"Hey, the best bands of Gotham City will be playing there. Why would they also take a small village group that no one's ever heard of?"
"Because we have a great singer and a dashingly handsome guitarist?" I sighed deeply.
"And even if they let us perform… the Music Night in Green-River is on a Thursday."
"So what? I'm faking sick on Friday, and everyone else too. You could also skip this once."
I shook my head.
"My grandma would never let me. I wouldn't even be allowed to go to Gotham."
"Why not?"
I shrugged and let the cigarette fume escape my mouth.
"She says that there's too many weirdos there and she's not completely wrong with that, is she? Apparently this city makes people go insane. That's why my grandparents moved away from there in the first place."
"But we'll be there and protect you."
I smiled.
"I don't think that that's going to convince her. She has a serious repulsion of that city for some reason."
Jason looked at me.
"And you don't know why?"
I shrugged
"She only ever tells me that she'll never set foot in there again ant doesn't want me doing so either."
Jason sighed and tuned his guitar.
"Well, whatever. You're probably right and we'll not be picked anyways. Why go crazy over it now? Come on, let's rehearse instead. Your mic is lying around here somewhere… ."