Shards of a Star || Reggie Peters

02 | Those Damn Hotdogs

I open my eyes, in a room, despite being pitch dark, I could see my bandmates in a heap clear as day, no obvious light source, and no edges of the room. Suddenly a thought pops into my head, 'I'm dead, WE'RE dead' I don't know what made me think that thought, but I immediately knew it was true. My legs collapse underneath me, and I sit on the floor, tears rolling down my cheeks. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I turn around the see Luke, I push him away angrily

"tonight... tonight we were meant to play in the Orpheum, tonight, we died! Gone, no second chances!" I yell tears of anger now streaming down my face. Luke opens and closes his mouth a couple of time before saying

"Lex, please, you think I'm not upset, you think I don't want to take back that last bite of the hotdog because I do! I really, really, really do!"

I stop and take a deep breath, roughly wiping the tears off my face.

"You're right. I'm sorry" I step forward and embrace Luke, which he gladly leans into.

"I know you would take everything back if you could... and I know you hate when other people cry," I say, a teasing note in my voice.

"And we have the old mean, Lexi back again" Luke grins. I turn around as I hear another sniffle Alex is standing in what seems to be a corner of the room, Reggie awkwardly standing off to the side.

"We're dead..." He whispers the half question, half statement through his tears. I just sadly nod and pull him to the floor with a hug. We stay like this for the next hour, me and Alex holding each other on the floor, Reggie sitting cross-legged a little way from us, and Luke pacing.

•••

My ears prick up as I faintly hear the opening guitar notes to our song 'now or never'.

"does anyone else hear that?" I ask. Luke strops pacing, and Reggie sits up straight, I jump, as they both disappear. I turn to Alex who opens his mouth to ask something, but before he gets the chance, his question turns into a scream, as we too get magically pulled from the dark room.

•••

"AHHHHHHHHH" My screams are lost amongst the yells of my bandmates, as we fall into a heap in our studio. We all scramble up, gasping for air

"How did we get back here?" Luke asks turning to Alex. I whip my head around as I hear a loud scream. I see a pretty, girl, with dark curly hair, brown eyes behind a pair of glasses, wearing a bright orangy-yellow top, which in my opinion didn't suit her. She continues to yell, freaking us out, and we start yelling. Not pausing for air she runs out of the garage, still yelling. I untangle my self from the boys who had all grabbed onto me of fright when the girl had started screaming.

"What was that?" Alex gasps starting to freak out. I grab his hand and start rubbing my thumb around in circles, trying to help calm him down. "I don't know man, but she was pretty!" Reggie exclaims, still staring out of the garage door, in both fear, and curiosity. I turn to tell Luke something, to find him gone, then inform of my very own eyes with a slight whooshing sound, Luke pops back into the previously empty space next to me.

"How?" I ask not being able to string together a sentence from pure shock. Luke grabs onto me and Reggie's hands, I grab onto Alex's, and with a slightly weird feeling, we reappear a few feet away from where we were before, now in the nook under the loft. The girl from before creeps back into the room, a wooden crucifix, adorned with pretty little metal charms, held out in front of her.

"Are you still here..." she asks tentatively, "whatever you are?"

"We're just humans" Alex hisses in my ear, "Well now ghosts but-" I nudge him to be quiet