Far From Here

Chapter 2

            After climbing three flights of stairs and walking down a long hallway, I was glad to reach my apartment. I knocked on the door in hopes that Kelly was still awake and would let me in. Sure enough, the door swung open. The girl that answered the door wore black skinny jeans with converse shoes and a loose tee shirt that appeared to be from a concert she had gone to. Her hair was pin straight and the ends of it were dyed blue.

            “Hello,” I said when she looked at me, “I’m Amelie. You must be Kelly. It’s nice to meet you.”

            “Yeah, it’s great to meet you too. Come on in.” She picked up one of my bags and I followed her into the apartment. The walls were covered in posters of some band. It appeared to be the same one that Kelly’s shirt advertized. “I already started decorating. I hope you don’t mind.” She said and then paused, “Do you like Marianas Trench?” she asked and looked at me demanding an answer.

            “Uh… You mean the thing in the ocean? I guess I don’t really have an opinion.” I was confused. What was she talking about?

            “Oh my god. You’ve never heard of them? They are the best band in the entire world, I have to play something for you!” She dropped my bag on the floor and ran into the room which I assumed to be hers. She soon returned holding a CD.

The cover was red and black with what looked like some sort of old, battered first aid kit on it and it was titled Fix Me. She put it into a CD player and music came out of the speakers at full blast. “I never took you for a trick but sometimes I don’t know what you want. I can take it if you need to take this out on someone,” The music got even louder as she cranked up the volume. It wasn’t the kind of music I usually chose to listen to but a part of me really liked the song. The singer’s voice was so captivating and I had to admit that the guitar and drums were superior to many others I had heard.

I was far too tired to really take in the lyrics though, and as the rest of the CD played, the songs just kind of blended together in my mind while I unpacked. The last song came to an end just as I was finished putting all my clothes into the dresser in my room. I looked up and Kelly was standing in my doorway. “So what did you think? Pretty amazing, right?”

“Yeah, it was good.” I yawned, “Look, I’m really tired. I think I’m going to bed. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Oh, ok,” she looked so disappointed and I felt bad, but I was so tired, “Your walls are so bare. Here, I’ll be right back.” Yet again, she darted into her room and returned seconds later. “I’ll let you have one of my posters of them. It’s the band we were just listening to. Talented and hot!” she smiled and her joy was evident.

I laughed, “Thanks, have a good night.”

“You’re welcome! And thank you, you too.” Kelly dashed out of my room for the final time that night. I looked at the poster she had given me. There were four men standing in a parking lot. Three were slightly behind the fourth. They were crouching down and had their hands covering their ears. The fourth man was standing in front and appeared to be screaming. This man had longish hair dyed black and blue. His hair hung in his face so it was impossible to make out his features but the more I looked at him the more he looked like the man that had helped me earlier. Strange. I must just be tired. There was no way that guy was in a famous pop punk band. What was his name again? I didn’t even remember. Maybe I would tell Kelly about him in the morning.