A Reviving Vocal

XXXV - Downpour

A girl wearing a white tank top and a ripped black skinny jeans looked really annoyed while she was watching a band called Luminary playing in a live house she is currently in. 'What is up with their bassist? She makes so many mistakes, I can hear it all-over the song!' she thought once she drank the left-over grape soda she was holding the whole time. She quickly threw it out somewhere on the ground where people are bouncing and screaming while the band was still playing.

People were cheering for the band as they finished the song. The vocalist took a step forward and held the microphone in her right hand, and just when the crowd had stopped talking, she spoke in a calm but cheery tone. "Thank you! We really appreciate everyone for listening to us. We will now be playing our first-ever self-composed song called Downpour." The drummer tapped both of her drumsticks to each other and counted loudly. As if she had to struck a hammer to a nail that won't dig in, she hit the snare drums forcefully as she could and grinned at the audience. You wouldn't even think she's a drummer in a band because she looks elegant and rich just by looking at her face.

Meanwhile, the girl from earlier re-arranged the strap of her guitar case from her back and walked away from the audience, and then proceeded to enter the back-stage door. She showed her the sticker that said 'back-stage pass' to the bouncer in front of the door and the large, muscled man let her in without saying a word. The girl looked for her band mates and as soon as she spotted them, another girl in a black and purple outfit walked quickly to her. "We have to talk." The former widened her eyes and was confused, but she did not bother ask why because she knew something was wrong - and that made her extremely worried and nervous. She followed her band-mate and before she even realized it, she was already outside of the building.

"Iris, let me be frank with you. Don't - just... listen. Okay?" Iris nodded as she gulped anxiously.

Silence crept in but then in a split second, the girl in front of her spoke in an almost-guilty tone - which could be observed because her voice was shaking. "I am so sorry but I have to remove you from the band." Iris was stunned. Iris didn't know how to respond to that, so she asked instead while she was stuttering. "Wh- What? Why? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you didn't. I'm sorry... I just..." the girl trailed off and thought for a few seconds. When she knew what to say, she looked Iris in the eyes, "...I have to do this."

"Goodbye, Iris."

She froze.

She froze as if she was the only one who was not moving and as if the world was still revolving. The rain poured down heavily on her, and so did her teardrops. And only then that she realized, the bass guitar she has been caring for and has treasured all her life was already soaked from the downpour of the rain. She ran to the nearest waiting shed she could find and sat on an empty, wood bench.

Iris unzipped her guitar case and groaned in annoyance. The bass guitar had drops of water all over it, even the case was almost full of rainwater. "Well, fuck life."

"Hey, it's not good to cuss while you're the vice president of the student council of Westville Academy."

As soon as she heard the manly voice, Iris glared when she turned her head around to see her friend standing behind the bench. "What are you doing here, Ant?" She zipped up the guitar case once again and sighed as her friend sat on her left side. "Stop calling me Ant. It's Anthony."

"Well, you're little and an ant is little too. So that means you're an ant."

Anthony stared back at her furiously before dropping the words, "Stop it." And then he added as soon as he realized what she was doing out at the shed. "Why are you here, anyway? Aren't you supposed to be playing at the live house? And why are you drenched in water?" He took off the hood on his head from his jacket and ran his hand through his dark brown, curly locks.