The Black Rose

Chapter Five

It was the night of the show, and backstage I could hear the band that was playing before us. They were called Point Blank Or Nothing and were really nice people. And they really knew how to get a crowd pumped.

During sound check, I just had to sit on the stage and observe the space when we were done. I loved how the crowd area was just a floor. No fancy seats, no expensive viewing area, just $10 general admission tickets for a maximum occupancy of 326 people.

The walls were jet black except for an emergency exit door in the front next to the stage.

The floor was littered with scuff marks of shoes and I even saw some blood, most likely from moshing.

The ceiling was not very high up, though high enough for a lighting room above, where guys would work the lights if needed. On the stage, was a built in drum riser about 3 feet high. The sides of the stage was where the amps would go and the guys working the instrumental effects.

There was one backstage door with a curtain in front which is where you'd go through when you go on and go off.

During the last song of Point Blank Or Nothing's set, a crew member told us that we were on next and to get ready. I downed another coffee and double-knotted my faded Converse. I was ready. I couldn't wait to show the crowd why they came out tonight.

"1 minute!" a guy shouted as he hurriedly walked past our room, clipboard in hand and headset on.

I gathered everybody for a quick talk, interrupting Alex's nervous smoke, "We got this guys. We're gonna get on that stage and kill it. In a good way of course!" I said, nervously laughing. "They've come here for one thing only: to have a good time. And we're here to give them that. To take them somewhere to escape for the night. Somewhere in Neverland. Somewhere...in Wonderland!!" and with that, we rushed on stage and Oliver began playing the intro to our song, ironically, yet very cleverly titled, Waiting For Wonderland.

The crowd was jumping, fist pumping, and moshing the whole time. I could see many of them sweating after just the first few songs.

"You guys seem to be having a great time, yeah!?" I yelled into the mic.

They roared back.

"Well, this next song is called Stage Freight! Here we go!" I shouted, jumping up and down.

I could feel the crowd's energy surging through me, powering me to attack each lyric and guitar note with extreme force. I've never felt this way on stage before.

During the solo of the song, I could see the entire front moshing - except for one guy I observed standing attentively to the side, just watching us perform. God, he looked so good there. Of course I observed him more.

He stood straight up and confident. His sweeping blonde bangs, malachite green eyes that could pierce your soul and make you feel guilty just looking into them. At the same time having such compassionate, brave, gleaming eyes.

His hands solemnly relaxing on his sides, I observed him observing me. Or was he observing me observe him?

He was tall, definitely over six feet. But maybe just 6'1 or 2. He was dressed nicely, better than most everybody in the whole building. He did one of those sexy half smirks, only half of his mouth smiling.

For some reason, just acknowledging each other's existence and knowing he was right there gave me the strength to end the set on it's highest note. But that didn't mean the whole day was over.

As I walked off stage, I glanced at him, only to see his back. He was leaving.

No, I thought. It will not end this quickly. But nothing even started? I decided right there that one way or another, I was going to have a spot his life.

Damn.