A door swung open, smacking into the wall. A handful of paint chips fell down, soon crushed under the heavy boots.
"Jus' who do you think y'are?"
A guitar slammed against the cold concrete floor — a ginger hand tightly gripping its neck — and a harsh thud resonated across the backstage.
"You have simply outdone yourself, darling!"
A trace of glitter followed a pair of shoes clomping across the room; they halted in the corner, where the body slumped down.
"Yikes, that was a bummer!"
Two drumsticks hit the floor, sending sweat drops in various directions.
"It... was actually pretty bad."
The steps came to a stop.
The gazes of the group settled on but a single girl, standing lonely by the entrance, leaning on the door frame, toying nervously with the sleeve of her jacket. Her head hung low, and for a while, the room was filled with a static buzzing of a fluorescent bulb that dimly lit its surroundings.
The girl finally raised her head, refusing to break the silence. She was met by a pair of emerald eyes, which were narrowing slowly, sending shivers down her spine. She clenched her fists — forcing herself out of the furious stare, which threatened to burn a hole through her body, — and turned away sharply.
She found upon herself a different look: that of a bewilderment and hurt. Her body was trembling; instinctively, she searched for the familiar face lit by round green eyes, hoping to grasp a twinkle of reassurance that had lifted her spirits many a time in the past. The coldness that she saw in them froze her blood. Her vision blurred, and the room fell into harsh spots of glaucous colors layering over each other, soon absorbed in darkness.
Rainbow gasped and jolted awake. She panted heavily, stopping teeth from chattering frantically and giving a pounding heart a moment to steady. Not a trace of sleep was left in her eyes; they darted around, desperately searching for someone, something to hold on. Surrounding her was but a black, endless, filled with eerie silence, void. The body ceasing to stop quivering, she rubbed her arms and squeezed her eyes shut. Running a hand through her messy hair, she sighed in relief and went on disentangling it.
After a while, Rainbow's tired hand dropped to the floor. Yet again, she opened her eyes, and squinted, finding herself in a circle of her slumbering friends, their chests peacefully rising and falling. She cautiously got on her feet, rocked unsteadily, and began to stagger across the room, wincing at the loudness of her sloppy steps.
The girl's jaw clenched, tensed muscles throbbing with pain. A drip of water rang in her ear. The lump in her throat moved down, tightening her chest. A drip of water rang in her ear. Her arm was tingling with irritation. She scratched it with a vengeance. A drip of water rang in her ear.
In the corner, dense fabric crunched. No sooner did footsteps reach the girl than an arm lightly touched her shoulder. Feeling her cheeks burn, her eyes moisten, she lowered her head... A forceful push threw her into the wall. She squealed, hopeless, biting her lip as the pain rushed through her body.
Muttering not a word, casting the sobbing wreck not a glance, the group left the room. The last one to exit paused upon nearing the door and took a few steps in the girl's direction, hesitated — brows furrowed, — lowered the head and whispered, "How could you?"
The girl kept quiet, absentmindedly looking at her sneakers.
"How could you?!"
A ferocious yell made her sight waver. She felt a sharp sting, and glimpsed a hand advancing toward her face. In a moment, it was gliding across her cheek, soon disappearing in a gray mist. A smacking sound echoed off walls, eventually getting lost in an empty, incomprehensible noise.
Rainbow winced as her cheek hurt. Finding herself resting against a wall, she rubbed her sore eyes and proceeded to drag her feet across the floor, minding neither the darkness surrounding her nor her frazzled state. Her hand was gliding along the wall, barely touching the tacky wallpaper, cracks in its surface soothing her mind.
A stomping sound of forced steps, interrupted occasionally by the squeaks of the wood boards, reached the kitchen. A stream of water hit the sink. Rainbow turned the tap off and brought a glass to her lips. A shade of doubt crossed her face as she looked at the liquid. She shook her head and tossed it back, letting the ice cold water quench the thirst.
There was a face. Creamy skin turned a shade lighter, deep wrinkles cutting into the silk texture; lips trembled, remaining slightly agape; eyes, completely frozen, were staring into nothingness. Slender hands stretched out to the chin; the fingers folded together, while the palms covered the mouth. A raindrop slid across the cheek as the eyelids squeezed shut; together with the furrowed brows, they mutilated the petite figure.
Rainbow threw her arms in front of her and, failing to get a grip on anything, fell, a blanket of unconsciousness gradually extending over her mind, seamlessly numbing her senses.
A soft blanket swished, and a drawn-out yawn interrupted the peaceful silence that was filling the room a moment earlier. A silhouette appeared on the wall lit by a pale moonlight. It froze for moment, then hastily moved in the direction of the door left open.
There were no lights in the house, and yet not only the prominent thuds of heavy steps could be heard across the hallway, but a couple of swears, muttered under the breath now and then, as well. The racket reached the stairs, where it turned into a rhythmic tip-top. For a moment, a gust of icy wind blew through the lower floor. When it was gone, everything returned to its previous, frozen, state.
The blades of a lone fan, occupying most of the ceiling space, were slowly rotating; too slow to push any air through the room, and yet noticeable enough to grab Rainbow's attention for so long. Her back felt cold. She shifted, groaned, noticing the hard surface of kitchen tiles underneath the body, and forced herself to get up. Her hands locked around the neck as she stretched, her eyes lazily wandering across the surroundings.
She slumped to a door and opened it, gasping as the fresh air blew into her face. She moved to the edge of the terrace and leaned on the short fence. The intoxicating flowery aroma, coming from a garden, wrapped around her; she greedily inhaled it. Blinding was the dim light of the stars and the moon as it descended from the pitch-black sky; she blinked, lowering herself to the cold wooden planks. The celestial body slid behind the roof.
Left to her to thoughts, Rainbow hugged her legs, bringing the knees close to the face. She began to rock herself as images, once forgotten, stood fresh in her dizzy, stumbling mind.
Her heart thumping, the girl clutched the volume knob, turning it to the limit. She inhaled deeply. The smell of sweat hit her nostrils. She smirked and pushed her leg back. The instant the player thrashed at the drums, she had wind knocked out of the lungs. She dug her fingers into the fretboard and leaped forward, landing into an empty spot, her legs spread apart. The light flashed above her and set the polished body of her guitar aflame. The sparkles blinding her, she lashed hungrily at the strings.
"Awesome!" she sang, wildly moving fingers across the instrument, steel caressing her flesh. "As I wanna!" she shouted, violently banging the head, hair whipping back and forth. "Be!" she screamed, forcefully throwing the guitar up in the air, the strap tugging at her neck.
She rushed toward a lavender girl, stopping in front of her and jumping into her face. A loud yelp met a snicker. With a vigorous duckwalk, the guitarist came within inches of a ginger girl, and blew her into the face, chortling as she wrinkled her nose, missing to play a note.
"I'm so good that you can't defeat me!" she cried, pushing everyone in the way aside. A familiar tingle overwhelmed her. She was rising to the top, higher than the sky, above every dummy she had meet—
"That bad, huh?"
Rainbow gulped, her stomach immediately tightening. Frozen, she watched as a figure settled beside her, remaining stood on the knees. Feeling warm breath near her ear, she stirred and shifted away, facing old trees — their twisted branches, enveloped in a mass of leaves, forming hideous, sinister figures. Rainbow chewed on the inside of her cheek, sucking on the drawn blood, pondering. "I am dangerous, ain't I?", she began.
As it strengthened, the wind howled, and veered, cutting into Rainbow's face. She flinched and babbled on, hoping to provoke a reaction, "I steal the spotlight. Always. Hurting everyone in my way."
A gentle squeeze on her shoulder startled the girl. "Hush, it's not like that," replied the voice, its tone full of concern.
"Yeah, it is! Don't you remember what I did before? The whole Battle of the Bands thing?" Rainbow said, bitterly chuckling and wiping a tear from her cheek. Her face wore a twisted expression, with a wide, almost uncanny, smile neighboring tightly shut eyes.
"Well, ya had a moment of yours—" Rainbow immediately jerked away, yanking her hand from a light grip and accidentally hitting the other person's face. Standing on the terrace, unable to face the eyes, full of hurt, that she pictured all too vividly, Rainbow was dumbfounded. Her body took upon her mind. Her foot threw itself forward, soon followed by a catching movement of a leg, and touched to the ground.
A step.
"Hey, just dropping by to tell, I dun' need a crybaby following me around. Bad for the image." A cocky smirk flashed briefly in a window of a car. The engine roared, the brakes screeched, the car was gone. A tear silently fell on the pavement. Footsteps neared a pond, a tree branch cracked, the water splashed everywhere.
A step.
"You worthless slave, when do y'think you had to finish this piece of trash?" A denim jacket flew across the room, hitting a lovely, dainty face, part of the zipper's cold, metallic coil stabbing a crystal blue eye. A terrifying bawl escaped a dry throat, writhes of pain evident in its sound.
A step.
"Huh. And I though a moron like you'd be dead by now." A pair of hands torn a streamer to pieces, rose the pink litter above a long, frizzy, disheveled hair of the same hue, and let the pieces descend on the head and shoulders. A soft mewl was drowned in a hysterical, ear-piercing laughter.
A step.
"You dunno? Didn't you parents teach you life or something? Oh, right, they weren't even 'round." An arm swept a picture frame off the table. Countless shards of glass scattered over the floor, burying an aged photograph that separated itself from the wooden carcass. A hand rushed toward it into the sea of daggers, painting the shimmering crystals red.
A slip.
The ground touched to Rainbow's body. The bruises on her knees burned as her breath came in rasps. Her head was twitching from side to side, her ears were filling with white noise, but the images refused to leave the mind. She punched the rough surface underneath her and, savoring the sweet taste of pain, punched it one more time. The sensation was weaker. Rolling over, Rainbow directed the fist toward herself and groaned loudly from the pang. Hardly did she raise her arm again when a strong hand forcibly grabbed on it.
"Stop it, 'bow!" a shout came from behind, "Listen t' me!"
"Get away! I'll only hurt you!" said Rainbow, choking, tugging her hand in vain.
"Y'aren't any monster ya make y'self be!" the reply caught Rainbow by surprise. She sat up, rustling the coarse grass underneath her body. The sleeves of her light pajama top were clinging to the skin. Covered in goosebumps, it looked ghostly pale in the faint light of the moon. She turned her head to the source of the voice, her bleary eyes unnaturally wide. "Oh, really though?"
"Well, like I said before, ya can be mighty... er..." the words hung in the air, each passing second nagging at Rainbow's mind. She crumpled her pants in her fists. Even after a long wait, she was not presented with a spoken continuation. Instead, an embrace locked around her neck; she readily seized the warm arms.
"Nah, forget it. Y'are afraid ya can be a jerk s'times, right?" Rainbow tensed. She nodded, pressing her lips together, and simultaneously clutched harder at the hands tightly embracing her.
"Well, open yer eyes, sugar. We all ain't smooth an' polished. We make promises we dun' keep." Rainbow’s fingers were now involuntary tapping on her hip. "Heck, we hurt each other now an' then, see?" Rainbow sighed deeply.
A hand ran through Rainbow's hair, making her shudder. A soft, content moan escaping her lips, she began to sway from side to side. The motion was subtle, nay, imperceptible; yet, it provoked a drawn-out response from her partner. "We have our ways part again and again, but in the end, we always need each other, 'bow. It's as simple as that." The girl leaned back, losing herself in warm, mushy forms.
"An' we sure need you."
