Texas is Forever (Tony Perry's Daughter)

Chapter 8

I follow Tony inside. "Hi!" I give a small smile but stay behind Tony. "C'mon, you could sit next to me on the floor." I nod. He sits on the floor after grabbing a few pillows and I sit as close to him as possible. He puts them under my leg.

"Do you know them all?" "Um, I think so. I know all the guys for sure." He nods. I hear Andy. "I like your tattoos." "Thanks." "How old are you?" I look at the date and time. "17." It's only a few minutes after midnight.

Tony looks confused and looks at the time. "Happy Birthday, honey." "It's your birthday?" "I don't want to celebrate it. A lot of- Am I allowed to swear?" They all nod. "A lot of shit happened between today and a few days after Easter last year, it isn't a happy time of year for me."

I look at the tattoo on my wrist I only got about a month ago. "What is it for?" "Kinda a tribute for the people I had or believe I would've had a strong connection to in my family that passed away. One bird for each person." He looks over it and reads it out loud. "1996. 2001. 2021." He looks more directly to me. "2001, was that related to 9/11?" I shake my head. "My mom's dad had severe heart problems. March 12th, 2001. My mom's brother was supposed to be in one of the towers on 9/11 but ended up going on a cruise."

"2021?" "Two days after Easter. April 6th, 2021. My mom's mom's sister passed away from lung cancer. She was only diagnosed less than a month prior. 4 inch tumor in one lung, cancer cells all over the other. Pancreatic cancer as well. Her husband passed away a month later from overdosing or prostate cancer, I'm not sure which, but I didn't know him at all."

"Wow." They go back to talking about tour. I stand up and venture upstairs. I find a room with my guitar and amp in it. I see Copeland behind me. "Come here." She comes over after closing the door.

I take out my August Burns Red pick. "I was told how your brothers and you were going to play in a band. Are you the guitarist?" She nods. "Go grab my other guitar and amp from over there." She does so. "Do you know songs or do your dad and his bandmates just teach you as you are going on?"

"More teaching." I nod. "Have you ever heard or played this song?" I begin playing the rhythm guitar part for The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. "I've heard it." I begin teaching her how to play the rhythm guitar part.

Once I'm satisfied with her ability to do that, I am ready to play it with her. "Go ahead and begin. I'll sing and play the other guitar part." I tap out the beat on my leg and she begins playing. I begin singing and join in playing when it's my turn.

I go flying through the guitar solo and finish the song strong with Copeland. I hear clapping and look up. They are all crowded around my door. "That was awesome. Any other songs?" "Sure. Um, I'm gonna take Andy to do vocals since I am going to hurt myself if I do the screaming and Jinxx to do rhythm guitar 'cause it would take a while to teach especially since I would need to replace it in my memory first."

Jinxx and Andy both come over towards me. "I'm assuming it's one of our songs?" I nod. "Knives and Pens. Off Re-Stitch." They both nod. "Jinxx, you want to look for the best fitting guitar for your part of the song?" He nods and Tony leads him out of the room. I grab the other guitar from the corner of the room and make sure it is in tune.

I realize it's in Open G. I tune it back to Drop D and Vic looks at me. "You found the tuning really fast for not having a tuner." "I have a tuner, I just wasn't using it. I have pretty good relative pitch after years of playing instruments."

"How long have you been playing guitar and what other instruments?" "I got my first guitar in August 2 years ago; although, I didn't begin playing it much until I began taking lessons in December of the same year. He said I was learning really quick. Like, a lesson that normally took an hour took me 5 minutes. I began being able to learn things on my own and basically began only really going to him to learn the easiest ways to move my fingers for songs." They laugh.

Jinxx comes back. I watch him tune the guitar. "Are you ready and tuned?" I nod. "Andy, you ready?" I had already gave him a mic I bought. He nods. We begin playing and I go straight into playing lead guitar like I have been playing for years.

I go through the solo and have a lot of fun. We finish and I smile. They all clap. "Holy shit, that was amazing." "Most people your age can't figure out the proper way to do that, especially people that have been playing for less than 2 years." Both Jinxx and Tony look at me shocked.

"She's gonna take one of our jobs." "Don't worry, I want to create my own band." Rowan and Liam pop into the room. "Want to come over to our dad's house and we could all play together?" "You guys live down here?"

"We moved in next door a few months ago." I nod. "Okay. I have a few things I need to bring though." I put away the guitars I played and grab a notebook. I put my small amp in my bag as well with my tab book, laptop, mic, and picks.

"You want to bring the two guitars you put in cases?" I nod. "Okay." Rowan and Liam each grab one. "Remember it is pretty late. Don't be too loud because we do have neighbors besides just the other people here." I give a curious look.

"Our street has 26 houses. Alex lives on the very end with a big property. 24 out of 26 are in bands. 6 of those 24 are other bands besides the bands here though." I nod. We get inside their house.

"Is there any other kids besides us that live on this street?" "Yeah. 9." I nod. They lead me down to the basement. "Do you know Hold On Till May?" I nod. "Copeland knows the rhythm guitar part." I nod. "Could we do the live version?" They all nod.

"Like playing guitar solos?" "Always. I live for them." I set up my laptop to record. Rowan clicks the drum sticks together and I begin playing. We play through the song and I do the guitar solo. We finish and I turn off the recording. "That was awesome. What about our dad?"

"Better Off Dead or If I'm James Dean, You're Audrey Hepburn?" "Back to back?" "Sure! That order." I start the recording and we play through them. I stop it and I smile. "I love it. Have you guys created any songs?" They shake their heads. "How about you?"

I take out my notebook. "A ton." I hand the notebook to Liam and he reads through it. I see the note I created less than a month ago. "Rachel-" "Please don't tell Tony." "I have to. Why don't you play some songs for us?"

I play and sing about 3 songs before I hear noise upstairs. "Either someone is upstairs or you have ghosts." "Ghosts?" "Not mean ghosts, I don't think ghosts could be mean. They could be ghosts like my grandpas."

"Your grandpas are in heaven?" I give her a small smile. "I would like to believe so." I know both Liam and Rowan could tell I don't, but I don't want to ruin Copeland's faith. "What happened to them?" "I don't know what happened to my dad's dad but my mom's dad's heart didn't work as well as our's do."

She nods. I see Kellin poke is head downstairs. "Hey, what are you guys talking about?" "Rachel's grandpas." Liam leans over to me. "What about I tell my dad and he can determine if we tell your dad?" I bite my lip and nod.

"Rowan, Copeland, can you guys go upstairs so Rachel and I can talk to Dad alone?" They both nod and go upstairs. Liam hands the notebook to Kellin, open to the page. "I was going to tell her dad but we decided we would talk to you and see if you thought I needed to."

"Honey, when was this?" "A month ago." He looks shocked. "I do need to tell your dad so he can make sure you stay safe." I nod. He picks me up. "Everyone else left besides Vic. Liam, could you help bring her things back to her house?" He nods.

Kellin carries me inside. "What happened?" "Honey, are you okay with me telling him in front of Vic?" I give a small nod. "Tony, Liam found a suicide note in her notebook. She said it was from a month ago."

I feel panic cross through me. "Kellin, please put me down." He puts me down. "Hey, Rachel, breathe. You're not in trouble. We're not going to hurt you. We're not mad." I go into the corner of the living room and pull my one knee up to my chest.

A pill bottle rolls towards me. "Rachel, take one." I take one out and put it in my mouth. I'm trying to keep my breathing under control but I'm hyperventilating. As I feel my body begin to relax, I let my leg straighten and lay my head against the wall. Everything fades to black as I fall asleep.