The Summoning

XVII - Nazareth

I woke from a nightmare of a car's headlights coming at me through the dark. I was getting tired of gasping for air as I awoke, not remembering where I was while feeling water flood my system.

"Let's load the gun..."

There was the low hum of a bass and guitar over the tempo of the drums. They were already at practice. I checked the clock above my door and saw that it was already past ten a.m.

"Make her eat the tape in the bathroom mirror..."

I got up and, after a moment of debate, grabbed the crutch by my door. I was still in IV's sweater and my hair was a mess.

I started down the hall, following the growing sound of the song. It seemed darker than most of the songs on their setlist, I hadn't heard this one yesterday.

"See if she can guess what a hollow point does to a naked body. Let's fuck her up..."

Upon entering the practice room, I found III absent and Vessel playing the bass in his place as he sat on the piano bench. II was keeping a slow beat as Vessel sang over the bass and IV stood by, focused on plucking harmonic notes high up on the fretboard.

"Manifest pain at the core of pleasure, I'll see you when the wrath comes 'round..."

A chill ran up my spine and I suddenly remembered what II had said to Vessel last night. Had I dreamt that?

I think I know why she was there that night...

A sort of memorial trip...

Why did II care about where I had been? I had gotten a plane ticket down to London the year after my brother's death. His friends still had some of his stuff that they wanted to give to me. The trip was so long ago that I barely remembered it. I tried to connect the dots on my own, but nothing was making sense. I wasn't in a good state of mind that year, so there wasn't a lot to make sense of. I had thought about dropping out of school when my mother had a stroke after losing her son and I remember moving through life in a sort of haze as I became the backbone of the surviving family. Memories from that time were dark and blurry and I wanted to keep it that way.

I stood in the doorway, just to the side of the door so that I may not be seen immediately. The cymbals crashed as Vessel stood up and moved with the breakdown as well as he could while holding a bass. The rest of the song had no vocals, which wouldn't have been heard over the deep notes of the guitar and the crashing of cymbals, anyways.

Between one breakdown and the next, Vessel seemed to be wearing a bright smile as he circled IV before they faced each other and played out the last notes, letting them ring out and reverberate around the room. Obviously, I wasn't able to see II's expression as he played the breakdown, but Vessel and IV were smiling at each other. IV seemed to have more of a rueful smile, but they both had some sort of knowing look in their eyes as if the song meant something more to them.

A sinking feeling captured my gut for just a moment before being wiped away.

"Alright, I get it. I'm up." III scrubbed his hand through his hair as he walked into the room and II and IV laughed at his state. He was still in checkered pajama pants and an oversized wrinkled shirt, padding into the room in his socks.

Vessel reached out to III as they approached each other and smoothed III's hair back from in front of his face. In response, III ruffled Vessel's hair into a mess in front of his face. Grabbing the neck of the bass, III teased lightly, "You thief."

He pulled the bass closer, therein pulling Vessel closer and kissed his forehead.

"Sam will be at the cafe in about an hour, is that what you're gonna wear?" IV ran his hand down Vessel's arm as he spoke to III and I noticed the rest of them were fully dressed for the day.