Sparrow of the Dawn

Return of the Rat

By the time I get home it's almost time for dinner so I cook some frozen stir fry I found in the freezer. It's still pretty gloomy which has me in the mood to write some music. I haven't been focusing on playing since I've met Jake and the rest of the band, but now that things are kind of looking up for me and Jake, I'm feeling a bit more inspired. After dinner, I start playing my guitar and manage to come up with a pretty cool riff, so I try to make a song out of it. I usually have trouble coming up with lyrics but this time, the lyrics came easily. They were about Jake of course. When I finish up with the song, I decide to go to bed.

***

Once again, it's 8 am and I'm on my way to Home&Hardware for a 6 hour shift after not being scheduled for almost a whole week. When I get to work, my manager, Kris, tells me that Christa recently quit. Probably after Jake told her to back off.

"Hey stranger," I turn around to see my favorite guitar player.

"It's only been a day, Jake," I laugh and wrap my arms around him. "I can't wait to see your show tonight."

"I know, it's going to be fun. We've never played this venue before and it sold out pretty fast," he says, smiling.

"Wow look at you guys being rock royalty already!" I'm so glad Jake and I are finally in a better place. This feels right. Finally.

Jake looks at me as he walks backwards back to his register, smiling the whole way; and I go back to mine. We're working the same shift, so the time seems to go by faster. We exchange glances while we're working and we sit together in the break room during our breaks. He even holds my hand when Kris isn't around watching us.

"Working here is so much easier without the tension that comes along with Christa," Jake says before we walk back to clock out.

"Why'd you bring her up? We were doing so great!" I said jokingly. Jake just looks at me and laughs.

"You know, I heard Drew at register 4 talking about her. He said she got a ticket to tonight's show, but I think he was just joking. I think he knows about what's been going on," Jake says.

"How would he know? They were never friends," I say, confused. Jake shrugs and we walk out of the store to his car.

"You better get changed really fast, you're coming to sound check with me. I'm coming back to get you in an hour!" Jake says as he pulls into my driveway.

"Alright I'll see you in an hour! Thanks for the ride," I say and I get out of the car.

***

I watch as Jake pulls back into my driveway. Since he's not with Christa anymore, there's no reason to try and make me jealous so I bet he'll let me watch from the side stage this time! I'm lost in thought when he honks his horn. I come back to the present and run out the door and into his car.

"Hey, um. Can I ask you something?" I look at Jake shyly.

"Anything, gorgeous."

"I wrote a song yesterday and wanted to know if you'd like to hear it!" I say excitedly. I'm surprisingly proud of this song.

"Of course! I want to hear it soon," Jake says grabbing my hand. He's looking at the road but I still feel like I have his undivided attention. This is such a change from the frustrated Jake I'd known the past few days. Or was it weeks? Jake and I have had so many issues for so long I'm even surprised we managed to start over in any sense. But I'm not complaining now.

We get to the venue and I see a familiar car in the parking lot. It can't be. Jake doesn't see it, but right when I close the car door, Josh and Sam run out breathing heavily. Sam stops right in front of me and puts his hands on his knees. He's too out of breath to say anything. Josh stops in front of Jake. Josh is also having trouble breathing, but his grunts and arm flailing seem to tell Jake all the information necessary. All three brothers have wide eyes.

"Lex, please wait here. Please," Jake gives me a serious look before turning to run back inside with Sam and Josh. Jake is sadly mistaken if he thinks I'm going to stand out here in the dark alone, so no, I decide to go inside like everyone else.

I look around and everything looks normal, until I see Danny shuffle toward me from the other side of the venue. "Lex! Why are you in here? Come on let's go back outside!" He grabs my wrist and we start heading back out the door.

"Yo what's—" I begin.

Danny and I are halfway out the door when I hear a crash and see a shoe on the ground next to me.

"You bitch! Come back in here!" NO. PLEASE NO.