livE & dooG

Terrific Ties

     Ross had been relaxing on his bed, listening to a random comedy show; while writing about a story he was studying for extra credits. He heard his phone chime, including the custom notification he had selected for Joe. When Ross checked his phone, it read: "Hey, are you up to join us in our band? Steve left for no reason." Ross had been surprised when he heard that news. He immediately agreed to participate in the quintet. Meanwhile, he gave up analyzing the story and paid attention to the film.

     Joe was partially hurt by Steve, for at least an hour. Till' he played his purple GameBoy, which was intentionally Rob's, but he took it. He was playing Tetris, which he was insanely great at.

     Meanwhile, Rob was cleaning his home. He enjoyed cleaning, most of the time. Zubin was in the other room, blasting his headphones with music while playing Candy Crush. Both of them had not known about Steve leaving, because Joe didn't bother to tell them. When Rob was done cleaning, he asked the group chat, which included: Joe, Zubin, Him, & Ross if they wanted to go to Marvin's in half an hour. Everyone agreed, but when Rob saw Ross's message, he was confused. 

"Where's Steve?" Rob sent 2:01

"He left." Joe sent 2:03

"And I joined! 😄" Ross sent 2:03

"What?" Zubin sent 2:05

"Oh." Zubin sent 2:06

     After half an hour passed, they all arrived at Marvin's. Joe arrived first, and then Rob, Zubin, Andrew, and Ross came. Joe went to the door and tugged/pushed on it. The store was closed, but the boys found no evidence for why whatsoever. "Let's go through a window!" Joe suggested. Andrew shook his head, slightly. "Wouldn't that be breaking in?" "Of course not." Rob looked at him, confused, "Yes it would." "Nuh-uh." Rob rolled his eyes at Joe. "Fine, but the place has cameras." Joe put a cocky grin on his face because he got his way. Zubin found a window, that was slightly cracked open, most likely someone forgot to close it. Joe lifted it, and climbed in, the other boys followed. They all kept quiet, slowly walking around, alert. Then Ross heard some whistling, he walked faster, trying to find where the noise was coming from, he looked around a corner and saw plastic birds with the title, "The Zimbabwe Song Birds" Ross thought, 'I swore I heard it from over here.' Then he asked, "Hello?" his voice echoed around the room, he looked around, and after he glanced back at the birds, they were... different. They had his friends' faces on them and they were alive. They had makeup color coordinating paint on their face, and fake eyeballs.

      Ross whispered, "Jesus Christ!" he froze, not knowing what to do. He realized that Steve was one of them, too. Ross looked back and walked away, hoping not to see those things again. Meanwhile, Zubin tripped over something that fell off one of the shelves, knocking over something in a closet. "Ow," he mumbled, Zubes went to see what he knocked over, then found a door, opened it, and saw red, blue, yellow, green, and grey ties spilled on the ground. "I just found the craziest thing!" Ross announced to Zubin. "AA- oh! What is it?" Zubin asked, "These birds! They- They were alive! With your faces!" Zubin looked at Ross, "That's...bonkers?" Zubin did not believe Ross, that was sure. Ross looked at the ties, "A-and... those birds matched those colors!" Zubin laughed, "What color was I?" "Blue." Zubes looked a little surprised, not expecting to get an answer. "Well, I guess I get the blue one," Zubin assumed. "What color are you?" "Grey, I think."  Then Zubes handed over the grey tie. After everyone had their ties, their vision flashed, and they blacked out.

     After a while, they woke up on the porch of a house. "Are you boys awake?" an unfamiliar voice asked. The boy's vision was still foggy, they looked at the man, confused. Joe slightly nodded. "ekawa era ew." Joe explained, "ssoR dna, boR, nibuZ, werdnA, si sith dna, eoJ m'I" The man looked at him, confused, "Yeah, uh... I'm Farmer Jim." Andrew looked at Joe, "You alright?" He asked, Joe nodded. 

     Joseph was looking at a scarecrow. He thought it was staring at him, maybe because he was still woozy, or just plain craziness. He was studying the scarecrow. Zubin asked when they could go home. Farmer Jim said that Marvin's was 'over there'. He made a hand gesture to where Marvins was. "Well, I guess we'll be leaving," Ross said. Jim nodded, walking back into his house. Rob nudged Joe. "?hE" he paused, "!hO" The boys went to the museum and hopped into the car. ".yadretsey sananab fo tuo nar eW" The Tallies frozed, in confusion. "Someone fix him." Zubin demanded, "How exactly, Zubes?" Rob questioned. "I don't know, hit him in the face or something." Zubin assumed. There was a loud bang, and it sounded like a pan. Rob looked back, "Where did you get that?" He asked Ross. "I DON'T KNOW, BUT YOU DID NOT HAVE TO DO THOU' ACTS!"  Joe screamed. "It worked!" Ross exclaimed while Joe was making random noises at Ross. "We're here!" Zubin said. "Finally," Andrew murmured. They all went to Joe's dorm and sat on the floor. "Why'd these ties do that to us?" Rob asked, "I have the magical answer!" Joe exclaimed, sarcastically. Rob rolled his eyes. "Maybe we should go back tomorrow?" Ross suggested, and the Tallies agreed. After a while of random practicing, they all went back to their dorms.

      The next morning, at 8:55, Ross woke everyone up. "The f*bleep* do you want, sh*bleep*face?" Joe asked, "I- uh...wake up." Ross quickly slipped out of his dorm and rushed to Rob's, Zubin's, and Andy's. They jumped in the bumping SUV and went to Marvin's. When the boys arrived, they went inside. Ross was acting very paranoid. (because of the birds) "Hi!" The worker greeted them, with a friendly smile. "Hello, we might've put these ties on, and passed out," Andy explained. "O! You have the goods. Come with me." he gestured to come. The Tallies followed him. "Well, I'm Jeremy, and must I ask who y'all are?" "I'm Joe, and this is Rob, Zubin, Andrew, and Ross."  "Well, I must explain these ties now, so, y'all will have to say this odd poem kind of thing." The boys nodded, "It goes like I know a lady, good & evil, showed me that I was a gentleman, wait for the girl to blossom into colors that grow where you can." When they repeated him, thy' Tallies eyes' colors changed, matching their ties. "Woah! Rob! Your eyes are yellow!" Zubin exclaimed. "And yours are blue!" Rob responded. "Now, I don't want to be in here forever so, explore the shop if you may." Jeremy politely explained. The boys walked out of the room, looking at the machines. Ross went to check if the birds were still there. When he got around the corner he asked, "Hello?" No response. Ross looked to where the birds were, but nothing was there.

     Joe, Rob, and Zubin were looking at the spaghetti bath machine. Joe was muttering something about a ruler of something. "Please, stop being weird Joe," Zubin begged. Joseph didn't bother to look at him, his face looked like he was being hypnotized. "JOE!!!!!" Rob yelled. "AAAH- Oh, what?" Joseph asked. "Just checking if you are alive." Rob playfully answered. "Hmmph..." Joe looked back down, staying paralyzed-looking. Zubin whispered to Rob, "What's wrong with him?" "No clue," Rob said. 

     Andrew was looking for Ross, but couldn't find him. "Ross?" he echoed, Andy even checked outside. "Guys, Ross is lost." He explained to the Tallies minus Ross. "uuhhhhggggg..." Joe mindlessly said, he now looked like he had gone to another reality. "What's wrong with him?" Andrew asked, pointing at Joe. Rob and Zubey shrugged.  "Anyway, Ross is missing," Andy repeated. "Normal," Zubin said, Rob nodded in agreement. "I'm serious," Andrew reassured them sternly. "Wait- really?" Rob asked, "Yes." "Well, we need to find him," Zubes said, "No duh," Andrew remarked.

     Meanwhile, Ross went to look for the birds. He found a cage, and a painting, "Found y-" Ross felt a bag over his head, and fainted. When he woke up, he was seated at a drumset. "Uh..." He slowly grabbed the drumsticks that sat beside him. He shrugged and started to play a random tune. And that's how Black Rainbows was created.

Ross was confused, reasonably. 

        Authors Note: he was forced to drum against his will.

                                                                                        1439 Words.