Metal Storm

The Heretic

                     -January 26th, 1987-
      More than a month had passed since the recording of our first demo and in a week, it had sold more than half of the copies that had been released.
     Thanks to Astrid who had become our biggest cheerleader and had taken to making posters for gigs and selling our tapes at shows, we had been doing quite well as far as album sales were going.
     We were even making money now from playing shows.
     Kristina was still in the band thankfully but I had a feeling that it was only a matter of time before her mothers empty threats became not so empty.
      And that day came.
      Sooner than later.
      We had been waiting to start a rehearsal.
      Kristina still wasn't here which was odd since she was usually one of the first to arrive.
      "I'm gonna give her a call if she doesn't come within the next ten minutes," Eric grumbled, pacing around the room.
      It didn't take much to tell that he was worried about our bandmate.
     The phone rang loudly from the kitchen and Svenn ran to grab it.
      "Put it on speaker," Ace said as we ran to join him.
      Kristina's voice came through.
       It sounded weak, as if she had been crying for several hours.
      "I'm so sorry!" she cried, "I should have called earlier to tell y'all that I wasn't coming but my mom is no longer allowing me to hang out with y'all- I'm supposed to be applying for a job now and there's no possible way I can play in the band anymore. "
      "Fuck..." Eric began, taking the phone from Svenn, "you can't convince her to allow you to play one more show?"
"I tried! But she won't listen. I should get a job, I mean. She's right about that but- never mind."
"Look, Kristina. Don't feel bad, you did all you could and you are a great musician regardless of whatever shit she says and we couldn't have asked for a better bassist."
"Yeah, I'll try to keep my head up. Again, for everything. All of you."
Lowering her voice her voice, she added, "I hope that I can rejoin one day as soon as I move out."
"I hope so too and you're welcome to rejoin if there's ever a chance. It fucking sucks that it had to end this way."
"Wait, one more thing," Kristina began, "I have a cousin. The one that I told you about. I mentioned y'all to him and he's interested in joining as my replacement. He wants to come in tomorrow and meet y'all."
"Yeah, yeah. That would work," Eric said, "tell him to come in tomorrow."
"I will. Farewell, Eric."
"Take care, dude," the guitarist replied, putting down the phone and going over to sit at the table, his chin in his hands.
"I knew this would happen eventually but fuck, why so soon! Why does life have to be so unfair to some people. Man, she deserves so much better. I was so hoping that she would be here to record the album with us," Ace fumed.
"I know, but we did all we could for her and I'm sure that she's grateful for that," I said, sitting down beside the drummer.
Ace didn't say anything, just looked down at his feet.
"Come on, bro," Eric said, "I know that this sucks but it isn't the end of the world. We got a new bass player coming in tomorrow and we should all look forward to that."
       "I guess you're right," Ace replied, slowly rocking back and forth.
        "Do any of you know the guy?" Svenn asked.
        Eric shook his head.
         "Nah, I don't think so. She said that his name is Sebastian or some shit like that and I don't think I know anyone with that name."
          "Hopefully he's as good as a bassist as Kristina was," Ace said.
           I hoped so too, feeling a tiny bit of excitement at meeting Kristina's cousin but it was mostly overshadowed by the sadness that I felt at her departure.
———
      The next day, we all gathered in the garage setting up our equipment for our first meeting with Sebastian.
      He was coming in this afternoon.
      But it was almost 2:30 and he still wasn't here yet.
      "Man, where the fuck is this guy," Eric muttered, pacing back and forth across the room, "he was supposed to be here an hour ago."
       "Maybe a Yeti got him," I joked, trying to lighten up the mood.
        "I sure fucking hope not," Eric growled.
         "Wait, I just heard a knock on the door," Ace shouted from the hallway, peering out into the door, "I'll go and get the door."
          I held in my breath, feeling both nervous and excited as I usually did at meeting a completely new stranger.
         Voices sounded from the hallway; Ace's and a much lower one as the drummer bounced into the garage, leading a guy who I had never seen before behind him.
        Sebastian.
        Kristina's cousin.
        "Hello..." he said, his cold blue eyes taking in each of us. He had the same accent as Kristina, just a quite a bit thicker.
When they lingered on me, I felt a cold shiver run up my spine before they flitted away.
          Dressed in a white Kreator tank top and blue jeans, he was tall, lean muscled, and very handsome. The kind of guy that you would perhaps see in a magazine. His sleek, brown hair fell around his shoulders framing a long face with chiseled cheekbones, full lips, and a light stubble on his chin.
         "Hey," Eric said, walking over to him, "I'm Eric. Kristina probably told you about me."
         "She did," Sebastian said, looking around the room, "and who is who here."
         "I'm Marlene," I said going over to introduce myself properly, hoping to make a good impression on him, "I'm the rhythm guitarist here."
          "Ace, drummer," the brunet chimed in, raising his drumsticks over his head, "the quiet guy is Svenn, our frontman."
          "Pleasure meeting all of you," Sebastian smiled, "I was told that you play a heavier brand of thrash metal. Is that so?"
          "Yep," Eric said proudly, folding his arms in front of his chest, "thrash metal inspired by bands like Venom, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and so on and so forth. The brutal shit."
          "I see," Sebastian purred as he unzipped his case and took out a bass guitar with several stickers on it, "why don't we play a few songs together? I will be playing in your band after all."
             "Yeah, of course," Eric agreed, "come on guys, let's get this shit cracking."
             I could have sworn that Sebastian was stealing glances at me the entire time we were playing.
           He'd clearly had some experience playing in other bands as he had no trouble keeping up with the different tempos that we tried out, switching from Hellhammer to Black Sabbath and back to Anthrax.
            He was a pretty good bass player and he was quite friendly towards me and the others but he didn't seem very interested in socializing with the guys, leaving as soon as we had played a few songs, probably assuming that he had done enough to impress Eric.
            "He seemed cool," Ace said, taking a swig of his Pepsi drink, "didn't seem like some lousy ass poser and he knows his stuff pretty damn well."
             Eric shrugged, "he's no Kristina but he'll work. Wish he would have hung out though instead of just dipping."
           "He probably wasn't in the mood," Ace snickered, "he likely has a girlfriend or something to attend to unlike you."
          "Man, go fuck yourself," Eric spat as he flung himself at Ace and they fought playfully on the couch, throwing mock punches at each other.
           I giggled at their antics but didn't say anything, mostly just excited that I had a new guy to include in our regular gossip with Astrid during lunch.