I might start with that I am a big fan of symphonic metal music genre (it is combination of metal and orchestral classical music, I recommend it with all my heart!). The idea for this ff sprung when in one episode I saw Rita and Veridia standing together and I thought that they looked like vocalists of band playing such music.
Wacken Open Air is one of the largest metal festivals in the world, which occurs every year in Wacken, Germany.
...
They made it to Wacken the day before the festival.
Rita was just unpacking in a hotel room. She was taking out things from a large, green suitcase and placing them on her half of the bed. Among that stuff were a toiletry bag, a hairbrush, a book and few more comfortable clothes for the next few days. Finally she grabbed a long, soft cover and pulled out a dress from it, which was her creation for tomorrow's concert.
Rita stood in front of the wardrobe's mirror. She put the outfit against her and looked at the reflection. The dress was black and lace, reaching above her knee.
"You will look beautiful in it. As always anyway," Harry's voice came from the doorway. Rita jumped up in surprise.
"Honey, you scared me," she gasped then smiled and put dress down on the chair. When Harry got to her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up. Moments later, they both were spinning around, while he was still holding her up. The sight of the room swirled in front of Rita's eyes.
"Harry, what are you doing?" She enquired with a laugh. He set her back on the floor and kissed her.
"I'm just happy that we really have succeeded," his eyes sparkled. "It's the first time we are in Wacken as invited musicians, not festival participants. It all still feels like a dream, even after a year."
A year has recently passed since they managed to release their first album. More specifically The Dark Islanders- a band playing symphonic metal in which Rita was a singer and Harry, her boyfriend, was a drummer.
"And what is most important," Harry added, "I'm here with you. Me and my dearest muse, together we will conquer the global music market."
"Then good luck to you and your muse," Rita joked and started putting her belongings in the cupboards.
"You can do it later. The rest is waiting for us in the pub downstairs. Apparently they have quite good beer there" he went to Rita and hugged her. "I know you are stressed with our tomorrow's concert and that's why you should relax. Today don't think about singing, stage fright or anything related to it."
Rita sighed. "Ok, I'll try," she winked.
…
When they came down to the bar, located on the ground floor of the hotel, someone waved at them from one of the tables.
"Rita, Harry, over here!" That was Nerissa, their guitarist. Rita and Harry approached her and took seats beside each other, in front of Nerissa and Ross, last member of the group, who was playing bass.
"How are the moods before tomorrow?" Nerissa asked cheerfully. Her cheeks were pink and she was probably slightly drunk already.
"Excellently. We've almost got the stress under control, so everything will go smoothly," Harry interlocked Rita's fingers with his and gave her a warm smile, which she returned. She was still impressed that she had managed to get through the entire tour. "We are gonna rock next night."
"It's good that we are performing on the first day. For the rest of the Wacken, we'll just be able to leisurely go to the remaining concerts," Ross spoke up.
"Yes, we deserve some vacation after a few months of touring," Nerissa added and drank another sip of her liquor through the straw.
"I will go to the bartender to place an order," Harry turned towards Rita. "What would you like?"
"Some Blue Curacao drink, please. Maybe I'll try beer next time. Thank you," she kissed him on the cheek before he rose from the quilted couch they were sitting on.
For the following half hour, the four of them were only consuming alcohol and talking. Topics were various. They were discussing an ongoing tour, good sales results of their record and ideas for the subsequent one. They were chatting about private life too, how everything has changed completely. Currently, they had practically no free time for themselves and rarely saw their friends and relatives (it was especially painful for Nerissa, who missed her beloved very much). They also had to reschedule their life plans other than those related to music, for example Ross postponed his doctoral studies.
A blond-haired woman came up to their table.
"Great. Here she is, to spoil all our fun," Nerissa mumbled quietly. It sounded as if they were partying hard at the moment or something like that.
"I met my mates and we're hitting the town. Anyone wants to join?" The blonde said nonchalantly.
"Aurora, Rita and I are tired, so we drop out. But I can only speak for the two of us," Harry spat out before he could even consider what he was saying. Nerissa shot him a murderous glare.
Aurora was a keyboard player and their touring member- she also arrived with them to a performance at Wacken. They would have invited her to be a regular part of the band long ago but she didn't get along very well with Nerissa. For this reason Nerissa wasn't too eager to go out with her anywhere, to put it mildly.
They were continuing that conversation when Rita got this strange feeling that somebody is watching her.
She was familiar with that. Since she had become more recognizable, it was happening regularly. However, she continuously didn't control the reflex of looking back. At least not entirely.
She turned towards the entrance to the bar, from where she noticed a motionless figure out of the corner of her eye. Entrance to the bar was located near the hotel entrance and a large group of people had just passed through it. For now they were swirling around, most likely were waiting for someone else or were tidying up their luggage. That person, leaning against the doorframe, had to be with them.
It was like a glimpse of the past. Rita knew this silhouette well, as well as its curly hair. The mysterious woman was hard to see because she was standing against the light so Rita wasn't sure. But that was so unlikely…
It took her a while to realize that Harry was talking to her.
"Would you like to go to sleep already?" He asked with concern.
Rita shook it up.
"Umm… Yes… We can go back to the room in a few minutes," she answered distractedly. When she looked again in the entrance direction, the woman and her companions were gone.