Tabbs

Epilogue

The lights above felt like a bazillion little suns slowly bringing Tabbs' flesh to boil. She felt the small river of sweat trickle down her spine and into the small of her back, where her velvet corset pressed the fabric of her clothing flush against her body. She watched as the Jerry, apparently Terry's Tavern's one and only MC, adjusted the height of the microphone till its dented mesh was level with her mouth. She thanked him once it was perfectly angled and he wordlessly took his place behind the tiny soundboard a few feet away from the designated 'stage area.'

Tabbs swallowed a mouthful of dry air and looked out into the filled bar stools before her. The old, faded fabric of the 'Terry's Tavern Open Mic' flapped above her as another biker-looking man opened the front door and allowed a fresh wave of sticky evening summer air in. Her eyes darted between every face looking back at her so attentively. Her sister sat at one table, sporting a fancy pink drink with a little umbrella, her glasses perched atop her manicured hair. Across from her were Tabbs' neighbors, who sat together on one side of a small table. Both men had a large hand wrapped around a sweating amber glass. One, who she recently found out was named Romeo, raised his glass to her and nodded. She smiled, nodding back.

Then, of course, in the frontmost seat, was her girlfriend, Valentina. Her long, curling, black hair was draped over a single shoulder, leading into a top with a plunging neckline. It was one of Tabbs' favorite tops for obvious reasons. Though her heart sank all the same seeing the scarred flesh poking out from just above her collar bone. An unfortunate reminder that Valentina would forever have to bear after that nightmare several months back. To her credit, Val never tried to hide it. She wore it like an Olympic medal. Particularly to the courtroom, where her cousin lawyer had been making quick work of Keith's pathetic defense. Her cousin had assured them both the fucker wouldn't be seeing the sun anytime soon.

Val nodded back to her reassuringly. They had practiced this particular performance for weeks, each person in the same position. Tabbs had been in the middle of the living room at their new apartment and Valentina had sat in their brand new love seat. She had played the same set to her countless times, but this time was different. Now it was on stage, in front of people. At the same exact place she had bombed a few months before.

Tabbs closed her eyes, breathing deeply. 'Crap,' she thought. 'How long have I just been standing here like a freaking idiot?' She reflexively chomped her lip and plucked a sour note that rattled against her guitar. Her heart rate spiked - she had already fucked up.

She opened her eyes and they landed back on Valentina, the torrent in her head quieting just enough for her to hear herself think. Valentina nodded again, flashing a thumbs up. Tabbs smiled, took another breath, and readied her finger work. She leaned into the mic.

"Thanks for having me, Terry's Tavern." A few dunk guys at the bar whooped in reply. "I'm going to be playing a couple of originals tonight that my girlfriend helped me write. I hope you enjoy them."

Tabbs stepped back from the mic, tapped a short rhythm on the body of her guitar with her pick, then unleashed a bass-heavy bar chord that rumbled the dirt out of the carpet at her feet. Folding the progression back into itself, she tapped one of the stomp boxes at her feet and the rhythm she set began looping behind her like an army of guitars had all synced up and joined her on stage. She tapped another box, then a played a distorted assembly of notes that shaped into the sound of an aggressive drum beat. She tapped another box and all went silent. She approached the mic, looked to the faces of the crowd again, and smiled as she stomped the box again with the heel of her boot and a flurry of music she had just programmed blasted the spectators back into their seats. The effect had a feel of the room being plunged into the middle of a space battle with subtle laser effects and little explosions hidden between layers of music. Tabbs smashed another pedal, then began belting out a solo with marksman-like accuracy.

The solo was planned note for note beforehand, but she felt a feeling overtaking her. A sort of whimsical and playful feeling she hadn't felt in years. She strode past the music stand with her carefully planned notes on it and began riffing, making her guitar squeal with pleasure at her touch as she compressed the notes into a higher and higher pitch, all before letting a heavy bass drop, rattling the glasses on the bar.

Riding the fallen bass note, she began to thrash her dyed scarlet hair at a near concussive speed, then rode a single bar chord higher and higher up the neck till it was nearly at ear splitting intensity and accompanied a final bass drop with a final satisfying strum of her guitar.

All in the bar were silent for a time, with the exception of the sports casters on the TVs. Tabbs heard herself pant as she slowly rose to full height and peeled back the locks of hair sticking to her sweaty face. Then, all at once, the bursting to capacity tavern exploded with applause. Several stood to give her a standing ovation. She smiled a wide grin and bowed theatrically.

"One more song," Valentina shouted, then began chanting.

"One more song! One more song! One more song!" She got the others around her to join, then the whole bar.

Tabbs looked to the ginger man at the soundboard and he shrugged. "Okay." She fiddled with the mic stand. "Here's another one I've been working on. It's called -" But Tabbs found she suddenly couldn't remember the name of the next song, or the name of the city she lived in, or even her own name. It all seemed to ebb away as easily as the receding tides of the ocean.

All that Tabbs found she could focus on was a lone man standing in the back, dressed in an olive-colored jacket, desert camo fatigue pants, and a pair of cobalt blue eyes looking right back at her over a half-cocked smile.

Tabbs felt a burning in her stomach that reached all the way to the back of her throat. "Dad?"