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Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night

Chapter Two: Storms and Strange Birds

~LEAH~

It was storming.

Leah didn't mind that, as storms made her feel even safer inside the apartment. She liked hearing the rain hurl itself against the window. That was, till the electricity zapped off.

'Dammit,' she cursed, grabbing a matchbox and flaring a tiny flame into existence. Korra had loved the dark, but Leah hated it. She didn't always mind it, but since the cockroach episode yesterday, she wasn't taking any chances. She peeped out of the hallway: the rest of the building had electricity, so why didn't she?

There was a list of emergency numbers taped to the back of the door. Feeling spooky, Leah read them by candlelight and dialed the number that would fix her electricity problem. This is the part where the ghostly moaning comes out of the other end of the phone, she thought, twisting the curly wire around her index finger.

Less than ten minutes after Leah set down the receiver and sat down on her mattress to wait the storm out in the darkness, there was a knock on her door. She put one eye to the peephole and saw, to her surprise, George, the guy who had helped her out with the cockroach the day before. She opened the door. 'Need an electrician?' he said, holding a flashlight under his chin so that it threw eerie shadows on his face and giving her a crooked grin. She raised her eyebrows. 'You're the guy they sent to fix it?'

'That's me. I'm an electrician. Guitar is just part time.' He held up a screwdriver. 'Looks like the wires just tripped up. Lemme see ...' He flipped open a panel in the wall, twisted a couple of wires around while she shone his torch for him to see, and in a couple of minutes the lights were back on. Leah blinked in the sudden brightness and then killed the torch light. She handed it back to George. 'Thanks. If the roof caves in tomorrow, will you be the guy to fix it? You know, since you've helped me out of two scrapes already.'

George laughed. 'Nope. Tomorrow, I'll be performing with ma band.' He grinned delightedly. 'Gigs aren't so easy to come by when ya don't have a drummer! We got this one guy to fill in tomorrow.'

'What do you guys play?' asked Leah, feigning curiosity. She already knew exactly what genre the Quarrymen's music fell under and she knew all about their drummer dilemma - and their difficulty in getting good gigs in the beginning.

'Rock and roll!' exclaimed George, his eyes lighting up. 'Like Elvis!'

Leah could tell that he was practically exploding to speak about this subject. 'What all are you guys playing?' she asked casually.

'Well we're doing a couple of self compositions and Be-Bop-A-Lula and Heartbreak Hotel,' rambled George, waving his hands expressively, 'and maybe a couple of others, we haven't decided yet, and we have a new bass player Stu - he's alright - and we might be getting a tour at the end of the month!' George stopped and caught his breath. Leah nodded interestedly. 'That's nice,' she said. She walked over the door and waited beside it. George glanced at her and took this as his cue to leave. 'Thanks,' Leah said, grinning. 'You saved me twice, from my two biggest fears: cockroaches, and darkness, because cockroaches love darkness.'

George laughed. 'Hey, do ya wanta come hang out downstairs for a bit? You can meet the band!' he said eagerly. Leah looked at his excited face and then said, 'Sure.' Why not?

Three floors down, George stopped in front of a door. Several pairs of men's shoes were thrown haphazardly on top of the muddy doormat, interspersed with a couple of girls' shoes with wicked-looking high heels. Somebody had made a lipstick kiss-mark on the door. Loud music pounded from behind it, with raucous shouts and laughter. Leah hung back. She was feeling that shyness that had plagued her the only time Amira had tried to enroll her in a normal school. (Which was a total fail). George looked at her. 'What?' he asked.

'I think I'll skip it for today,' said Leah, stepping back. 'Maybe tomorrow.'

George shrugged. 'Sure,' he said. 'See ya.'

~GEORGE~

George watched Leah go back up the stairs. Her bare feet didn't make any sound on the steps. She stopped for a moment next to the window, letting the rain and wind batter her and actually looking like she enjoyed it. She sure was a strange bird.

Interesting, but strange. George thought he'd best stick with the simpler girls. This one was so different - and he wasn't sure if she was his type. Leah - firstly, what sort of a name was Leah? It didn't make sense. And she clearly wasn't from Liverpool ... Nobody could hit that shade of caramel-brown in Liverpool, where the sun basically never shone. Her hair was poker-straight: now, most girls would've at least put their hair in curlers to make it curly, because wasn't that what they all did? Wasn't curly hair supposed to be the thing? Leah obviously was not familiar with Brigitte Bardot's influence, George concluded wisely: girls all wore tight jumpsuits, short dresses, high heels and loads of make-up, just like their role model Bardot, and guys loved it. Then there shows up this weird chick with poker-straight black hair - though it did look kinda soft and nice, George mused - wearing strange jeans that hugged her legs real tight, and a top that left her shoulders all bare except for thin shoulder straps. She was completely barefoot, except for the toe-rings on her feet - George had never seen a girl wearing toe-rings - nor had he seen that number of beaded bracelets or rings on any other girl's hands. And she'd turned down the invitation to hang out with the band. Now, girls just fell all over the Quarrymen. Okay, not so much when they had to play in shitty clubs all squished up on stage with no drummer. But otherwise, skiffle groups sure were girl magnets. Leah just randomly turned down the invitation. It didn't look like she was doing much in her apartment, was she?

And then there was that - the apartment. What could a teenage girl be doing all alone in a new apartment of her own? What was her story, where was she from? Why would she choose to stick herself in Liverpool, anyway? She only had a mattress and a couple of candles in her apartment. George kind of liked the way it looked - it was kind of interesting - but still!

She was interested in the music, though. That was good. She'd even asked what all they were going to play. Hmm.

George walked into the apartment he shared with his mates. Meg, George's latest girlfriend, was waiting for him with a drink in her hand. Her blonde hair was styled to perfection, and that dress - George grinned inwardly, it suited her body nicely. He pecked her lips and accepted the drink. Well, tonight they'd all drink a little, then they'd go out for dinner and more drinks and maybe dancing too. Then he'd come back here with Meg. Tonight would be like last night and the night before that and the night before that.

Maybe Leah would need him to stamp on another cockroach.

Thanks for reading :) Review! -Jen.