Cities in Peril

Catching Up

Ash was sweating heavily as she was rocking her electric guitar out. She was on a big wooden stage in a massive restaurant called the Tough Rock Bar. Containing no less than one hundred tables, the seating area was big enough to be an entire food court. Ash wasn't alone; she was in a band with other porcupines. They called themselves The Rock Corns and she had been with them for nearly a year now. They saw her on TV when she sang her own song Set It All Free at the show she did at the Moon Theater while it was destroyed. Then they recognised her in a bar when she was trying to book a gig but the manager wouldn't have her, who obviously didn't see her performance. The Rock Corns, who actually did, took her onboard as the lead guitarist. She was honoured and she always did her best to be reliable, work hard and smart and give it her all. All they could get to perform was in bars and restaurants. They had tried to enter competitions to perform in concerts and get record labels to take them on board, but they didn't impress them. On the bright side, Ash was able to earn enough to pay for food and rent for her apartment.

Tonight the band was performing a song that Simon the lead singer wrote. Ash thought it was stupid but she kept on focusing on her guitar playing. She had tried writing a few more songs since Set It All Free, but all of the other porcupines were narcissist and stuck to their own songs that they wrote. When Simon's song finished, the audience booed them and even threw their table scraps at them.

The Rock Corns went into their dressing room. As they cleaned the food scraps of their clothes, they wondered what went wrong with their performance.

"I know what went wrong," Ash said. "You chose to stick to your own songs, Simon, instead of giving mine a go like you promised."

Simon approached her. "I am the lead singer of this band, Ash. I make the decisions here."

Simon reminded Ash a lot of her last ex-boyfriend Lance. Sometimes she even wondered if they were related to each other. "Don't forget I wrote that song you guys saw me sing on TV."

"Oh, a diva!" cried Susan, the drummer.

Ash knew that the Rock Corns were difficult since she joined them and had managed to tolerate them, but recently times grew tougher and they were becoming bigger divas. "No, no," she protested. "All I'm suggesting is that we gave each other a chance to sing each other's song."

"No wonder Lance chose Becky instead of you," said Katrina, the keyboard player.

That insult really crossed the line. Ash was still not over Lance cheating on her Becky and she never had a boyfriend since. "Gosh, you guys are so antagonising!"

"You think I'm completely selfish?" Simon said. "Let's take a vote, guys. All those in favour of kicking Ash out of the band?"

Simon, Susan and Katrina put their hands up. 

"See, Ash?" Simon smirked. "I'm not so selfish after all."

Ash didn't bother to wait for her turn to vote otherwise not because she didn't stand a chance but because she had enough of them anyway. After she left the room with his guitar in its case, she took a deep breath. She started to wonder what was wrong with her. She wondered why the Rock Corns didn't enjoy playing with her. She wondered why no one else wanted to take her on board. She still wondered why her ex-boyfriend Lance who cheated on her with Becky, who was still with him. This scarred her for life and made her vow to never have a boyfriend again. As she walked into the restaurant to exit, she wondered what she could do to keep paying her rent. She had only enough money for two months pay and she'll be evicted if she didn't find a way to make some more.