Ch. 4
It still looked the same. It still smelled the same. It still sounded the same. It was home. Home for me and all other kinds of wayward kids. The interior of The Garage resembled an old brick building that had been demolished, rebuilt, demolished again, then finally just repainted, The bricks that made up the four walls where a bright orange color, on the walls where rusty signs, old car parts, screws and rivets, and whatever other crap the boss could throw on the walls. The floor was black marble, which couldn't have been cheap, and a small oval section made of wood that was elevated and placed in the center of the floor. The main stage. The dreams and aspirations of many were held under a spotlight there, and countless more were crushed. This place had started as a serious concert venue but, slowly deteriorated to nothing more than a tourist spot and a cheap place to rent out little Abigail's sweet sixteen. It was owned by some guy everyone called Boss. Nobody knows his name and nobody's ever asked. Why he started this place and why he hasn't closed it down, well it's a mystery to pretty much everybody. "Hey, didn't you see the sign?" ahh the velvety sounds of nails on a chalkboard "Were closed." That's the boss. Harsh voice, harsh man. "Yeah, but I thought I could pay a visit to my favorite concert provider extraordinaire." He looked at me for a moment before recognition sparked in his eyes "What are you doing here?" he didn't sound happy "You have a lot of fuckin nerve strolling in here like nothing happened!" he wasn't happy, I tried to diffuse the situation "Woah, look I just wanted to expand my horizons, what did I do so wrong?" his face turned three shades of red before he charged up to me, grabbing my collar and pulling me up close to his face "What did you do! What didn't you do!?" I was starting to get nervous, the situation was getting out of hand very quickly "After you left no one wanted to play here anymore, because of you I have been reduced to nothing more than a tourist trap! Do you have any idea what that's like!?" He breathed heavily before finally loosening his grip. I took a deep breath "Look, i'm sorry, you're right, you are one hundred percent right." It was hard keeping eye contact "I didn't know what it would do to you, I thought if I left that others would take Social Suicide's place. I never meant for any of this." I couldn't keep looking at him anymore, so I dropped my gaze to the floor and waited. After a long while of silence he finally spoke. "I know you never meant any harm, but you gotta start thinking with you head." I looked up "You were the heart and soul of this place, you need to put more stock in your abilities." he was right, I don't think I'm going to start tooting my own horn for awhile now but he was right "Look" I replied "how about I repay that debt now?" his glance hurt, I tried to act as stand-offish as possible "What you don't want my help anymore?" he finally caved "Now, I never said that, so what do you have in mind?" the gears were slowly turning in his head, this was my chance to reel him in "How about a Homecoming show right here in The Garage?" He seemed skeptical, lines of thought creased his forehead "Think about it, Social Suicide, this city's favorite sons, return to their roots for one night only, people would be lining up down the block." he thought for a long time before responding "I don't know kid, I have no doubt people would come, but how do we keep them coming back if it's only one night?" I gave a small chuckle before grinning "After the show we put on, people will be coming for a millenium to play where we once stood." those lines returned to his forehead, they were really starting to bother me. That many wrinkles at his age couldn't have been healthy. My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shriek of laughter "Haha, alright kid you got yourself a deal." I smiled a genuine smile for the first time in a long time, man those muscles really needed the workout. That's the thing about real smiles, they use your entire face; your eyes scrunch up and your forehead expands, it's quite the hassle. "I am going to need a couple of supplies." this time he smiled "No problem, whatever you want, you got." I gave him my phone number before responding "I'll hit you up with what we need later." he was already getting to work before I had even finished "Got it kid, you go do what you need to; I'm going to hit up a couple of my old promoter buddies and get this ball rolling. This is going to be huge kid, huge!" I tossed him a quick wave and called up my band mates as I walked back home, telling them to meet me there. There was to be an immediate emergency meeting of Social Suicide parliament. It was going to be a doozy.
After everyone had made themselves comfortable in the living room, or as comfortable as you could be in an apartment for one, the meeting began. "So what in the hell of it are we doing here." I took a deep breath "Is everyone free saturday?" they all looked at me with a hint of suspicion in their eyes "Way to dance around the question." I shot daggers at the drummer "Well" I replied "Are you free or not?" they all nodded apprehensively "Good" I said. I sighed, this was going to take a lot of shilling. "Because we have a show that night." carefully enunciating every word, trying to make it more appealing. "What!" they didn't seem to pleased with the information being given. "But we just had a show!" time to explain "Look, I talked to the boss at the Garage, I agree to a comeback show to help boost morale there." I waited for a moment to examine their expressions, it was a mixture of anger and sympathy. It was the drummer that was the first to respond "Look, we are all sorry for how the boss is faring, but we already have a show scheduled in two weeks we can't just throw this one out there." I jumped on it quickly, cutting him off before he could say anymore "But it won't be thrown out there, the boss is already handling the set-up, the materials, the promotion, everything. All we have to do is play, and I know we can do that." he looked down before looking me in the eye "We sure can play." he looked towards everyone before making his final response "Alright, we'll do it." I jumped on top of the whole band in what could technically be called a hug and in other words assault "You guys are fucking awesome, this is going to be our greatest show yet!" Soon the feeling would be back, that elation, the joy, the feeling of being truly alive. And the chance to see her, I won't miss a fuckin thing.