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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 3, 2015 12:12:52 GMT -5
Inside the Chimney Stack, a long-time abandoned factory between the train tracks and downtown Spokane, Magnum Opus was making their debut. After struggling to piece together a second album they had finally struck what felt like gold. Halfway into the show the crowd seemed to love it, really earning them a place in the underground band community.
Allison Cooper, the youngest of the band was on the microphone and her sister Alex Cooper was the lead guitarist. Will Tanner, the oldest and lead writer, was on drums. Jerome Monday, one year Allison's senior, played bass. Together they were Magnum Opus, one part throw-back to the classic age of Rock 'n' Roll, another part modern without the dubstep.
As they transitioned from the fifth song in their album to the sixth, Alex moved across the stage and bumped her sister's shoulder with her fist, right after ruffling the girl's hair and screaming in delight at the crowd. She had been back for two years but that was certainly the happiest she had been in that time. Joining the band was great for her, and great for Allison as well. She had her sister back, a woman she idolized and could only see in photographs for five years of her life. When she came back nothing had seemed to change (except for Alex's hair), they were still close and off running around like little kids.
"You're killing it," she said, leaning into Allison's ear to speak over the crowd. She was just about to step back into her spot when something in the crowd caught her eye. A man, dressed in a heavy coat, grabbed another shorter one and seemed to hit him square in the chest. Fights weren't normal during their shows, even ones as big as this. A good attitude was maintained by all, so the sudden violence caught Alex off guard. That and the unsettling feeling like something terrible was about to happen, a feeling only known to her by the hairs on the back of her neck standing upright.
Time stood still as it all happened. She could have sworn she saw a light in the man's hand―maybe it was the screen of his cellphone?―just before he hit the other. Then the strangest thing followed. The shorter of the two disappeared. Just gone. One second he was there, then the next . . . did he have horns? Alex couldn't process what she saw, but she could have sworn he had horns and bright yellow eyes, like jack-o-lanterns on Halloween.
Then time started up all of a sudden, like a rubberband snapping against the skin. A bright flash consumed the building and the man in the trenchcoat was gone. As was most of the building's support, which caused the ceiling to come crashing down on top of the crowd and on the stage. Alex was knocked out cold shortly after the flash, her last action having her wrap her arms around Allison in an attempt to protect her from whatever was going on.
Three days later.
Alex winced as she bumped her shoulder into a bookcase, the pain from the accident still catching her sometimes. She was lucky to have only gotten a few scrapes and bruises. Her and Allison both were the fortunate ones. Will and Monday, along with over three quarters of the crowd, were not so lucky. The number of survivors could have been counted with the digits a single person had. It was a dark time for everyone, and Allison had been pampered by the family. Alex was included, but she didn't need the emotional support. She left Daniel and everyone with Allison to get air, then decided against crashing at Daniel's place, opting to return home the following day.
She stopped by to check in on Allison, but the visits were hard when everyone else was there, too. Daniel's mother refused to leave the house, wanting to make sure Allison was well taken care of. Alex respected that, but three days was more than enough. She had texted her sister to meet her at Auntie's, a book store downtown, so that they could finally catch up after everything that had happened. Auntie's was close enough to everything else that it made a good meeting place for the band.
She was dressed in her usual up-to-no-good punk rocker clothes. An oversized blue flannel shirt, black distressed skinny jeans, worn black combat boots, a knitted black skull cap beanie, and a necklace with a Pisces medallion dangling from it. She had picked up a few different tastes in the five years that she was gone, but had toned it down in the past two years.
October 1st, 2015. 11:56 AM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 19:09:17 GMT -5
The scene replayed itself in her mind as she walked down the sidewalk of Main Ave. The cheers, the lights, the music. Everything going as perfect as it could have gone. She felt on fire as adrenaline pumped through her veins to the cries of the crowd.
"You're killing it." Alex had to be right next to her ear to be heard over the noise but as Allison turned to shoot her sister a goofy grin the older sibling had already turned away, distracted by something in the crowd. Following the gaze, she saw what had her sister so distracted. For a split second there were two men in the corner, then a light and-- just as quickly as she saw it there was only one of them. What happened next was too fast and too jumbled to make sense of. A flash of light, Alex tackling her. The ground shook and then things went dark.
Alex hadn't been around much since then. She'd stopped by but never stayed for more than a few minutes. Even after two years, there was still some strain in the family with her and the whole family was all over her house for the past few days. At first the attention and concern had been sweet, but after three days cooped up in the house it felt good to finally escape. Even now she'd barely made it out of the house without an escort, something that felt like overkill given how relatively unharmed she was after everything. A few bruises and some scrapes, but no broken bones or concussions or anything.
Allison was dressed in one of her more 'rocker' outfits, something that she'd often worn when out with the band. Her walk came to a stop as she finally reached her destination. It felt odd to be coming here without Tanner or Monday, and she couldn't help but wonder why Alex had to choose here of all places to meet.
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 19:23:49 GMT -5
Alex wasn't one to mourn, instead she got angry. When her mother died, instead of grieving she took that rage out on Daniel and blamed him for everything that had happened. It was her way of coping. Taking all the bad, bunching it up in her gut, and releasing it at everything and everyone around her. Everything except for Allison. She wouldn't have been able to live with herself if she did something drastic to her little sister.
To Alex, coming to Auntie's was honoring their lost friends. It was a way of keeping the band together, despite their passing. That and it was still a good place to relax, surrounded by books and good attitudes. She couldn't imagine never coming back because Tanner and Monday weren't around anymore. They wouldn't have liked that.
Upon seeing Allison through one of the big windows of the store, Alex stepped outside to greet her sister. "Hey, Alli," she said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and giving her a half-squeeze. "Nice skirt," she added, eyeing her up and down.
October 1st, 2015. 12:04 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 19:54:25 GMT -5
Allison gave a grin as her sister grabbed her. "She says like she's never seen it before." Her tone was teasing, Alex had always made her feel comfortable. Safe. Even when Alex was the one getting them in trouble.
"How're you doing Alex? You know the family's all worried for you, even if dad doesn't show it well. You really should stop by for more minutes than I can count on one hand." She returned the hug as she spoke before pulling back and looking into the shop. "Read anything interesting while you were waiting?"
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 20:26:18 GMT -5
Alex made a face, the same kind of face she used to make when she was little, and their grandmother tried to force feed her potato salad. "Yeah, yeah. I'm sure they're all super glad they're not paying for any medical bills on my end, either," she said, complimentary eye roll included.
"I was looking at a few books, but mostly wasting time. Checked my phone for any new posts on Opus' page," she started, referring to the Facebook page for their band. "Lot of well wishes. There's a service planned for Tanner and Monday next weekend, if you didn't know already." It wasn't hard for her to talk about. Not visually. She spoke matter of factly, her tone ever the same when around Allison. She hadn't moved on, it was too soon for that, but the pain just wasn't in her voice. It sucked that their boys were gone, but the girls survived, and that was worth being happy over.
October 1st, 2015. 12:05 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 20:36:42 GMT -5
"You know that's not what they think Alex." Allison shot back, "They care about you. They just... don't know how to show it all the time." It was about as close as Allison came to admitting that things probably weren't going to get fixed between what was left of her family.
The shorter girl slumped at the mention of the service. "I... I saw. Yeah. I mean I check in a bit on the page. It's..." She wasn't as composed as her sister managed about the accident. The loss hit her hard, "I can't stay on the page though, you know? For every person wishing well, there's... well. Internet comments. ...People are horrible."
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 20:43:14 GMT -5
She made another face, this one much less disgusted, just saddened. "We should track their IPs and beat them up. You must've met plenty of nerdy hackers in college, right?" She always did her best to distract with humour when it came to Allison. When they were kids, and Alex had played a little too rough, or something had happened to get the dam cracking, Alex did everything in her power to cheer Allison up, usually through laughter, to avoid having her cry. If she cried it broke her heart. And upset the folks.
"Wanna grab a coffee? Catch up a little? Did grandma bake those oatmeal cookies for y― . . . us?" she asked, already leading the way down Main Ave to the Starbucks across the street from the mall.
October 1st, 2015. 12:05 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 20:50:59 GMT -5
"It was an art school Alex. Not a tech school. Our nerds just talked about Leonardo and Van Gogh. ...Actually I guess that makes me the computer geek." The distraction worked, and the talk of cookies and coffee only served to take her mind further from the funeral. "Yeah. Gram made them. I have some in my bag for you."
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 20:53:56 GMT -5
Alex placed her hands over her heart, bent her knees while they waited for a crosswalk light, and finished the gesture with a third face. A happy one. "Oh God, grandma's cookies were the best. She hasn't made them since before I left. Does she still use too much sugar?"
The crosswalk light changed, and they continued walking.
October 1st, 2015. 12:06 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 20:59:54 GMT -5
"Well I mean. One of us has had grandma's cookies over the past seven years. The other hasn't." Allison reached over to give her sister a soft poke on the shoulder. "And I think the results speak for themselves there." She grinned as they started across the crosswalk, continuing. "So please by all means take some of these cookies off of my hands."
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 21:04:24 GMT -5
She held her hand out, expecting a cookie to be there despite facing away from her sister, holding her hand out in blind faith and trust in her little sister's ability to supply her with grandma's cookies. Such a burden of responsibility. "Hey, you don't get this good lookin' on a diet of cookies and college food. I'm a street fed, lean, mean chicken."
October 1st, 2015. 12:07 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 21:08:57 GMT -5
Allison rolled her eyes at the extended hand, understanding Alex's intent and digging into her bag for the cookies. "Hey I don't think I can complain about where cookies and college food got me. You know, lead sing...er... uhm... here." She held over a ziploc of cookies, at least a half dozen.
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 21:12:30 GMT -5
She took the bag and immediately paused once she grabbed it, bringing her arm back to her front so she could survey her prize. "Iwasonlyexpectingonethisisamazingyou'renotgettingthemback," she said rapidly. Too fast to really register. At the same speed of her voice she broke apart the ziploc seal and stuffed a cookie in her mouth, getting crumbs all over her nice, oversized boyfriend shirt.
October 1st, 2015. 12:07 PM.
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Post by Allison Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 21:16:49 GMT -5
"That's... fine." Allison responded, after parsing through the words that had shot out of Alex's mouth. "Gram's made more than enough. I think she bakes to help keep calm or something, dad's house has smelled of these for the past two days or so." Adjusting the strap of her bag as they walked, she turned to look up at her sister. "So you're... really alright? I mean, you're not gonna freak out or anything after a few weeks of being quiet?"
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Post by Alex Cooper on Oct 4, 2015 21:21:41 GMT -5
Alex perked a brow, eyeing her sister curiously, now walking backwards. "Of course I'm all right. You know me, I've always handled stress well." Except for those hundreds of times she didn't. "I'm more worried about you, kiddo. I was terrified you were going to get hurt. When I woke up at the hospital I panicked and thought I might've crushed you under the might of my muscles or something."
October 1st, 2015. 12:07 PM.
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