Almost Famous

Chapter 1

"Come on guys, I want to hear you scream!"

"Louder!"

"Raaaaawrg!"

"Rawrg? Really Cadan?" I looked back at him.

"Yeah, today I'm a dinosaur," he said confidently. Tabby buried her face in her snare drum trying so hard not to piss herself laughing. Connor's face was scrunched up the same way it always was when he tries not to laugh. Jamie was paying attention to tuning his guitar back to standard for the next song and where was I? I was on the floor dying of laughter. I managed to crawl back to my microphone to try and introduce the last song.

"Okay guys, Defectless Xenogenesis and our new pet dinosaur, Cadan, are going to play How The Story Ends to end the night. We really enjoyed playing here San Diego! We hope to see you again soon, you've been a great audience!"

The lights dimmed as they always had for this song and they lit a single spotlight on Jamie for his beginning guitar solo. The crowd couldn't help but cheer, which on stage sounded like a faint rumble. This was going to be the perfect end to the night. Cadan came in with his bass, then Tabby and Connor with drums and rhythm guitar. At this point loads of super colorful lights were shining all around us and I was standing on an amp about to jump off and start singing.

It was cold, but it wasn't Virginia winter cold. It was more like a cool breeze I guess. Tabby was leading me into another area for another one of her crazy adventures.

"Where are we going?" I shouted for her running ahead.

"A place," she smiled and jumped over a pile of rubble.

"That didn't answer anything."

"We're almost," she stopped running, "there." She looked around the abandoned area grinning ear to ear. "This is our sanctuary. This is the place of memories whether good or bad. This is a place where dreams will be made and come true," Tabby began to give a speech. "This," she hopped onto a cement block, "place, this beautiful place is what raised me and Connor. We grew up here. We laughed and cried here because we couldn't do that shit anywhere else. We couldn't do that shit at home or at school; we came here. We screamed our lungs out and broke things and experienced life here. This is what got us through whatever fucked up thing life threw at us and now," she hopped in front of me, "this place is yours too. You're a part of the family now." She and Connor came closer to me and we all had a huge group hug.

"Drew, you've had a rough week and now, I want you to scream." I wiped the tear forming in my eye and let out the biggest scream I've had in maybe my entire life. Then she screamed and Connor too.

"We have another thing to show you," Connor took both of our hands and led us around the corner. It was a drum set, a guitar, a bass, and a microphone. I looked at them then back at the instruments. This was absolutely beautiful. I walked toward the microphone in awe and Tabby and Connor set up their instruments.

"Connor, play the song we were practicing the other day; she needs to let off some steam."

Oh my god. They began playing "I'm Not Okay" by My Chemical Romance.

"Well if you wanted honesty that's all you had to say. I never want to let you down or have you go, it's better off this way!" I screamed the lyrics at the top of my lungs.

"Good night San Diego! We hope you enjoyed Defectless Xenogenesis and that you'll enjoy the next band, As It Is, then after that All Time Low!" I shouted to the crowd. We exited the stage and took our instruments with. Once off stage, we all had a big group hug although we were all drenched in sweat. Yes, it was smelly as hell. No, I do not want a shower. Yes, I will be forced against my will to take one when we get to the hotel.