Ben impatiently
tapped his fingers against his duct tape amp. “Lenny’s late,” he grunted. Kevin
gave out an acknowledged sigh from behind his drum set, not entirely focusing
on anything in the real world.
“It’s been only fifteen
minutes. It’s still early for Lenny.”
“He knows how
important today is! I’ve only been harassing you guys about it all week on
Facebook. We gotta have a new song out for next week’s show!”
“Chill out man.
He’ll be here.”
Ben paced back and
forth across the faded green carpet of Kevin’s cluttered basement. His eyes
always on the doorway at the top of the stairs. Every now and again he would
tug on his tie or button up. He had suggested a few days prior that the best
way of getting things done was to lock themselves in the basement and not come
out until they had a song. Neither of his band mates opposed the idea, so he
didn’t understand why they weren’t taking it seriously. Kevin sat back in his
corner with his feet placed up on the bass drum taking a short nap.
Just before Ben
was about to blow his lid, the door opened and Lenny came stumbling down the
stairs holding his wrist like it was broken. Ben jumped him before he made it
all the way down.
“Where the hell
were you?! We were supposed to start up twenty minutes ago!”
“Fuck you,” Lenny
snapped and shoved passed Ben.
“We made a
commitment to be here! You need to take this more seriously.”
“Whatever.” He
made his way over to the other end of the room. He fumbled pulling his case up
out from behind the amp trying to do the task with one hand. Kevin had wakened
from the commotion.
“Rough day at
work?” he asked
“Yeah, a drunk guy
was giving us problems.”
“What’s wrong with
your hand?”
“It doesn’t
matter! We’ve wasted enough time already.” Ben stomped.
“It’s not broken,
is it?”
“No…”
“Good, then shut
up and set up.”
Lenny grumbled
something to himself and got out his purple Fender bass guitar; taking his time
untangling the cord.
“Come on, hurry
up. The rest of us are ready to go!”
“I’m going as fast
as I can.”
Lenny finally got
his bass on over his shoulder and as slowly as he could tuned up. Ben barely held on to the urge to kick him in
the face.
“You could have
started without me, you know. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“No. This is our
band and we all have to pull our share.”
Lenny stared at
him dumbstruck.
“What?”
“It’s never been
our band before.”
“So…” Kevin
interjected trying to change the subject. “Do we have anything to start with?
I’m guessing you do Ben since you’re so hyper.”
“I got some lyrics
I’ve been messing with at work.”
“What about?”
Lenny asked, still tuning.
“A girl…”
Lenny and Kevin
let out a collective moan. “Another one? Fuck. We’re going to start sounding
like some whinny teen pop group.”
“I miss the days
you wrote about robots and shit.”
“Well, where’s
your material then? I’d love to see that. Humm. No? Nothing? Are we going to
write a song about your work problems? I don’t think so.” Ben jabbed.
“Actually that
sounds more interesting.”
“Shut up Kevin.
We’re doing what I’ve got and if anybody has a problem with it, you can leave.”
Lenny started to
take off his bass.
“Put that back
on,” Ben hissed.
Lenny did as he
was told, but Ben caught a glimpse of him giving the finger as he turned to
grab his Gibson Les Paul.
“Alright, here we
go…”
An hour in, and
the most the guys got done was Ben reading his lyrics rhythmically several
times and Kevin getting down a simple beat. He kept getting irritated of Kevin
not understanding what he wanted. He kept going too slow or too fast. Lenny hadn’t
done much else besides laying on the floor staring at the ceiling and the dim
lights. He moaned and groaned after each reading. “This sucks…”
Ben could admit it
wasn’t his best work. It was rather cheesy. But it was the best he could come
up with in a short amount of time. It wasn’t really so much about having new
material for the show, but to impress the cute red headed light girl at the
venue. He really hoped she didn’t mind
cheesy.
Once Kevin got the
beat right, Ben started up a guitar riff. Lenny would pluck a string in every
now and again. Ben could tell he was already getting sick of the song. He
wasn’t sure if it was the lighting or what but he noticed he was starting to
look a little pale and his eyes getting a bit dark.
“I’m not feeling too
great. Can we postpone this till tomorrow?” Lenny asked.
“No.” Ben said not
stopping from his simple upbeat playing he took a liking to. “Nobody is leaving
this basement until we finish this song.” He could almost see her loving it
already.
A few more guitar
tests and Ben found one that “captured the soul of his meaning”, or something
like that. Lenny still hadn’t done much still and Ben wished he had let him go
if he was going to be a useless brick all day. At least he finally made it up
on his feet, yet he rocked back and forth like he was having a difficult time
staying up. “I’m feeling dizzy.”
“Have you eaten
anything?” Kevin asked
“No. I am starving
though. Let’s stop for lunch.”
“Why didn’t you
eat at work?”
“Because of that drunk
guy at my work, remember. He just ran in and started acting all crazy. Shouting
nonsense and whatnot. And then he bit me!” He gestured with his wrist. “Now I’m
gonna get herpes or something. I don’t wanna have herpes!”
“You don’t get
herpes from bites,” Kevin said rubbing his eyes.
“You sure?”
“Fairly.”
“Well it’s
something! My arm’s all weird feely now.”
“Let me see it.”
Ben snatched his arm. “Man Lenny, you’re so full of bullshit. There’s not a
scratch on you! Now quit your whining and we have to keep going!”
A few hours later,
Lenny was hunched over. He acted like all his body strength was gone. He fell
back off his feet and sat on his amp. “Need… to stop…. Need… food…”
Ben rolled his
eyes at his act. It wasn’t the first time he played sick to get out of working,
and he wasn’t going to buy it this time. “Food later. Music now.”
“Ben,” Kevin
interjected, “We’ve been playing forever and he looks like he’s going to pass
out. We’re at a good stopping point. Let’s just take a break. Okay?”
“He’s faking it.”
Suddenly Ben’s eyes went wide from a brilliant idea. “WE NEED A KEYBOARD!!!”
Kevin just blinked
trying to register the statement. Lenny let out a cry that sounded something
like a gargling dying cow. Ben took note of his option.
“Do you even know
how to play one?”
“Not really, but
it can’t be that hard.”
The dying cow
cried again.
“Look, let’s just
hold off this conversation until we all get something to eat and we can think
more clearly.”
The dying cow gave
a short agreeing grunt.
“FINE! If it’s
the will of the council, you can stop. I’m gonna keep going.”
Kevin put away
his sticks and jumped out from behind his set. “I’m going to Wendy’s. You want
me to get you anything?”
“No,” Ben
snapped, wishing for better band mates.
“Lenny, are you
coming with me?”
“No…” He rocked
himself back and forth. “I don’t… think I… can move…”
“Are you okay?
I’ll give you a ride home.”
Ben glared at
him for his betrayal.
“No… just…
hungiiiiuuughh…” His words started turning into indecipherable grunts and his
head drooped down.
“Okay… is there
anything in particular you want?”
Lenny shook his
head.
“Alright… Ben
keep an eye on him. I’ll be back soon.”
“Yeah sure
whatever.” Ben focused down on his guitar. Clearly if anything was going to get
done, he had to do it himself, he thought. Her face flashed in his mind and
filled him with a warm comfort that he could do anything. God, he thought, I am
chessy.
Kevin left and
things got quiet except for Ben’s strumming and Lenny’s groaning. The guttural
noises started out short and quiet but started growing longer and louder. Ben
started to get irritated. “If you’re just going to sit there, you might as well
keep practicing.”
“Ca…nt… move…”
“You lazy bum,”
Ben stomped.
“No… really…”
He raised and dropped his shoulders and his arms lifelessly swayed around. A
large pool of drool poured out from the corner of his mouth.
“Ew, Lenny keep
it in.” Ben shuffled away from the splatter zone. “And you’re starting to
stink. When was the last time you’ve bathed?”
Lenny suddenly
fell forward face first to the floor. A loud ‘prang’ of his bass being crushed
echoed in the room causing Ben to jump.
“Jesus Len!
What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Uhgggaaaa….” A
pool of saliva bubbled out on the floor.
“Okay fine if
you want to leave you can. You don’t have to keep up this stupid act.”
But Lenny
didn’t suddenly jump back to life and dart off like he usually did. He just
stated down face first in the growing drool pool. “Len… I said you could go.” Still, he did
nothing. Ben threw his guitar down off to the side and ran to help Lenny sit
up. He leaned him against the amp. He
was white as a sheet and his arms where ice cold. His mind raced trying to
figure out what to do but he kept coming up sort.
“Just hang
tight till Kevin gets back. Okay?” He might know what to do.
Lenny’s head
swayed and bobbed around his neck.
“I’ll take that
as a yes.”
Ben turned
around to call Kevin. Before he could press three numbers, Lenny started loudly
dry heaving. Ben turned back as Lenny threw up on the floor. A spew of black
vile spilled out all over the carpet. “Holy fuck!” Ben was able to jump out of
the way in time.
Lenny barfed
out another wave of the black sludge then collapsed back down face first. Ben
finished dialing the number. “Uh… Kevin, can you get back here? Lenny’s all
sick and freaking me out. Just get over here now!”
Lenny went
completely silent as Ben hung up. His feet impulsively twitched a bit but there
wasn’t much else going on. Ben stood in horror at his friend. He lightly shook
his shoulder a few times. “Len? Lenny? Are you dead?”
Ben got down on
his knees and shook him harder. Lenny gave no sign.
“Fuck!”
Ben started to rise
to find some help. Then Lenny grabbed him by his tie. Ben screamed and
impulsively kicked Lenny in the head. He looked up, his face still stained with
the black sludge. He made bite like expressions and went for Ben’s shoulder.
Ben kicked him a few more times and tried to pull away. Lenny lost his grip on
the tie but latched on to his leg and dragged himself along still in pursuit of
bite him.
Ben tried to
shake him off, yet Lenny had an iron grip and pulled himself up to his ankle.
He took a deep bite down hitting bone. Ben screamed and fell over. He grabbed
his guitar and bashed it against Lenny’s back. He got several good swings
before Lenny went limp and quiet again. “What the fuck?” he shivered.
Ben wasted no
time and jumped up on his feet almost collapsing under his injured foot. The
pain was excruciating. He held on to the wall for support and limped to the
stairs. The door at the top opened up.
“Ben? Lenny”
Guys? What’s going on?” Kevin asked.
“Run!
Something’s wrong with Lenny!” Ben stumbled his way up the stairs. Kevin didn’t
move and looked confused.
“What on earth
are you talking about?”
Lenny jumped up
from behind and grabbed Ben tackling him down. Both Kevin and Ben screamed as Ben
flayed around underneath him trying to push him off. “Help me!” he cried but
Kevin was still frozen. Lenny had a good grip and he bit down on Ben’s neck.
Ben screamed and still tried to get Lenny off but it was no use. Everything
started going dark and he completely collapsed. He heard Kevin scream and saw
his black blur run out of the building. Pain started to fade into numbness and
everything was going out. The last thing he saw was the red head’s face smiling
before him and thought, she would have hated the song.
