Reconnected//Julie And The Phantoms

Chapter Four

At The Orpheum Sound Check

After the sound check was over, all the guys complimented each other and were relishing the idea of getting to perform here. Luke was feeling a little weird but anyone other than the guys and Skylar wouldn't have noticed. It felt wrong with her not here but there was nothing he could do about it now.

Then Bobby went up to a girl who was working at The Orpheum. Her name was Rose and she was really nice. When the guys went to get street dogs, Bobby used the excuse that he's 'vegetarian'  to stay and talk to her. As the boys left, Bobby and Rose began talking.

They talked for about 30 minutes until Skylar burst into the Orpheum sobbing. She ran up to Bobby and collapsed into his arms, a broken, crying mess.

"What's going on?" Bobby asked frantically as he pulled Skylar aside. "T-t-t-there...uh...dead," she choked out, still sobbing. Bobby put his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down and said, "Wait, what? Okay, take a deep breath and once you catch your breath, you can explain." Skylar took a deep breath before she began telling her ex-bandmate what happened.

"Well I was getting ready to leave to come here, you know to watch, when there was a knock at our door. I went to check who it was and a police car was in our driveway and an officer was standing in front of me. He asked if I was related to Reggie and I said yes. Then he asked if my parents were home and they weren't which meant he had to tell me. H-he told me that him, Alex, and Luke all got food poisoning and died," before she could continue Bobby interrupted her.

"It was those stupid street dogs." Skylar's face fell. "You let them get those!?" Skylar questioned raising her voice at Bobby causing Rose to walk up to them.

"Is everything okay over here?" she said looking at Bobby. "Um actually we have a little problem. My bandmates just died," as these words left his mouth he finally had the realization that they died. They're gone. His second family no longer exists.

Skylar began sobbing again and he knees gave out. Bobby put an arm out to help her support herself. Rose felt terrible for Bobby and Skylar and didn't know what to do. She did her best to comfort them but she asked, "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't think we have a choice. I'm going to go on by myself." Bobby said which surprised Skylar. She immediately looked up at him, absolutely stunned by the words that had just left his mouth. Before she could audibly question him, he continued, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and they would have wanted someone to go on. We worked our butts off to get this gig and I'm sure they would agree we shouldn't waste it."

Although his words made sense, Skylar didn't agree with it. "I'm not going on with you before you even think about asking. It's not right to do it without them. Your best friends just died." she replied sharply.

"They were going to do it without you so what's the difference." he retorted. Skylar's anger was now through the roof. "The difference is that I didn't die Bobby!" Before he could work her up anymore, she left. She knew no matter what she said, there was no chance she could talk sense into him. She stormed out of the Orpheum and broke into a sprint towards her house.

She got back to her house to find her parents on the couch, fighting and crying. She didn't want to talk to them, or even look at them for that matter, so she went straight up to her room.

She walked in and slammed her door. She saw the hoodie Luke had given her a mere few days ago sitting on her bed. She sluggishly grabbed it and slid it over her head. As soon as she put it on, she was overwhelmed by the smell of him. The smell that she would never smell again from the person she could never see or hug again. She slid onto the ground against the foot of her bed. She kept herself wrapped in Luke's hoodie as her brain wandered to her brother. The same brother she was mad at an hour ago, she could now never forgive because she had lost him.

Finally she thought of Alex. Her second brother who helped her through the hardest time in her life. He was there to guide her through a situation she had no idea how to handle and knew just how to help her be comfortable with herself. He was supportive and caring and the more she thought of each of them, the more she realized how each of them had affected her life, 100% for the better.

She had completely sunk into the floor as she kept crying and crying, until her body just couldn't take it anymore. She shakily pushed herself off the ground and went downstairs to find her parents. She couldn't make out most of their words, but one word she was able to hear consistently was divorce.

Both her and Reggie knew one day that was going to happen, but Skylar didn't know she was going to have to go through it alone. Without her brother. Without her best friends. Without her band.

They were there for her for everything and now they're just gone.

Normally when something like this would happen, the first place she would go was the studio. Now that place would just be filled with the reminder of the greatest parts of her life, that was no longer in reach for her.

After much deliberation, she decided to go there anyway. It was better than being back in her house, but when she got there she was surprised by what she found.

When she walked in she saw Bobby sitting on the couch, looking through Luke's notebook.

"What are you doing with that?" Skylar yelled at Bobby who didn't know she was there. "Don't you knock," Bobby said as Skylar ripped the notebook out of his hands.

"Well while you were crying at home I went on stage and played, and there is a record company who wants to hear more songs." Bobby seemed like his three best friends didn't just die. He's acting like everything is normal, which seemed like a perfect example of denial to her.

"So you went on played the band's songs," Skylar stared as Bobby nodded. "And now you are stealing our other songs, LUKE'S other songs so you can live out your dream, and don't even stop to think about how your best friends just died? As in no longer living? Have you yet to grasp that?"

Bobby nodded as he the tossed the notebook at her, "You can keep that, I don't need it anymore. I got what I need." Skylar rolled her eyes at him and then went to look at what was left of Luke's legacy.

She started to flip through the pages; missing playing with them, missing writing with them. The longer she looked through the notebook, the more she realized that she would never have friends like them again.

The Next Day

Skylar woke up in the garage, where she had crashed the night before. Not long after she woke up, Bobby came and was surprised to see her.

"What are you doing here?" Bobby asked. "Well let's just say I can't stand the fighting anymore and I needed a break. What about you?" Skylar replied, her voice scratchy. "Well after preforming last night I thought I might as well get the rest of my stuff from here and take it back to my house."

"You're seriously moving on? Already?" Skylar asked Bobby. "What choice do we have? Honestly they're gone and not coming back. The sooner we accept that and move on, the better" Skylar scoffed at his bluntness.

His words made sense logically, but she wasn't exactly thinking logically and she didn't want to believe it, she couldn't. She knew they were gone but were they really?