"Here's to River Styx's First Performance!"
The four girls clash their soda cans together as a celebration to their new life as a band and their upcoming gig in a small time bar inside of the busy mall. The four girls opened their cans and took a drink out of it. Each of the four members of the band had their own reasons to forming a band in order to fulfill their goals. The singer and guitarist (and self proclaimed leader) of the band is Danielle Willow. A young girl who considers herself to be the leader of the group with her strong attitude and support to the other members of the bad. The bassist is Meredith Laslow, A crazy girl who enjoys to party and have fun. The Drummer is Adrian Griffin, the silent, yet tough as nails woman with a mean attitude and soft spot for cute boys, especially boy bands. And lastly, their keyboardist and backup singer alongside Danielle is Valerie Miller, A quiet, yet optimistic woman who has a passion for creating such wonderful music. As the four of them giggled and conversed with each other, They noticed a clothing store close by to them.
"Sooo....Shopping Spree anybody?" Danielle gleefully asked her band mates
"Aww yes!" Meredith jumped up from her seat and finished her soda.
"Gotta see if the new shirts for the Bonas Brothers are in." The inner fangirl of Adrian Griffin started to squeal from inside of her. As the three of them got ready to go, Danielle looked back to Valerie, who was pulling out a paper from her backpack.
"What about you Valerie?" Danielle asked to Valerie, who was just about the start writing before Danielle got her attention.
"I'm good. I actually thought of a new melody I want to pitch tomorrow for the band. You guys have fun." Valerie got stuck listening to a very catchy pop music on the speakers in which she could take it and develop it into a melody with a soothing and upbeat flow for a rock song.
"You're no fun." Meredith teased. "Leave that for the practice room and have fun." She went over to grab Valerie's hand before being interrupted.
"Now Meredith. You know she's a girl with an eye and ear for music. If she has any ideas for a great song, she'll write it down." Danielle explained the situation to Meredith, "Besides she hasn't been well herself after what happened a few weeks ago. Best to leave her be and try to figures things out on her own." She was about to start arguing with her, but ultimately decided not to press on.
"...Alright." Meredith gave up on trying to make Valerie come with them to spend some quality time. She knew Valerie was suffering from her mother's pain and she was only trying to help get her mind off of it, but she didn't want to cause any more trouble to her band members. The three of them went off on their adventure while Valerie stayed behind.
Valerie was writing down some music notes on a lyric sheet she was working on for quite some times, writing down some catchy melodies and words that would work well for their next song. As she was focused on writing music. Her mind wanders off into somewhere else.
Six Months ago
Both Valerie and her father were rushing insides the hall of the hospital after hearing about about their family member's sudden stroke. Valerie was at band practice when she got a text from someone who was an employee of her mother and her father heard the news while at work. As they reach the room where Valerie's mother was staying, a doctor was just leaving the room with a concerning look in his face.
"Please tell me my wife is alright." It's been some time since Valerie noticed the fear and despair in his father's eyes as he pleas to the doctor about her mother's fate. Valerie was also curious too and wanted to know if she was alright. The doctor wasn't sure what to say to them, knowing the fate of Valerie's mother. But he gathered the courage to speak to them.
"I have good news and bad news." The doctor softly spoke out. Valerie's father seemed to be tensed up, ready to explode at any moment. "The good news is that your wife, Amber Miller, survived the stroke attack she had." There was a sigh of relief from Valerie's father, knowing that his wife was still alive. It would've been painful for him if she died there without being by her side. But it was too early for celebration. Valerie knew there was bad news too. One that would worry both of them.
"What about the bad news." Valerie spoke softly to the doctor, to which the doctor felt a bit hesitate to reveal the news to both of them.
"The stroke that Amber suffered was a severe one." The doctor said while trying to hold back the sadness. "It damaged most of her brain and because of it, she won't be able to perform basic functions. She will have to life the rest of her life in the hospital connected to a machine in order to continue living." It was then that her father broke down on that spot, knees on the ground, crying on the floor.
"Why?! Why did this have to happen?" Yelling at the top of his voice, his father continued to curse the fates for what seems like minutes. Valerie stood there in disbelief over what happened today.
Hey.
"I'm truly sorry for what happened." The doctor could only give Valerie and her father symphonies for what happened to their family members. Her father, now feeling the anger in his heart, went up to the doctor and grabbed his shirt.
"Why can't you fix her? Surely you doctors can do something rather than just be the bearer of bad news." He was shaking the doctor in a uncontrollable rage trying to plead to them to fix their broken mother and stop being lazy.
"Dad!" Valerie shouted
"It's not something doctors can do to..." She tried to get his father to calm down, but it seems he has no interest in stopping and yelled at the top of his lungs to Valerie.
"STAY OUTTA THIS!"
The yell echoed through the halls as the bystanders went outside to take notice of the situation going on. Security was already on their way to apprehend him. Valerie felt helpless in this situation.
Heeeeey...
"I'm sorry sir, but this is not something we can fix. And even if we could, it would take years to fix her." The doctor tried to explain to him about his wife, but it wasn't a good enough answer to him.
"Liar! You guys can fix everything. You must fix her! I demand you to save her from that hellish life she's currently in!" His shaking became more intense, literally causing the doctor to be shaken around like a leaf. Valerie started to feel tears running down her face, scared that she'll lose both of her parents, even though she started to get to know and understand them.
HEY!
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Valerie was brought back to reality when one of her band mates were calling out to her. All three of them returned with a bunch of bags hanging from their hands. Meredith seemed worried while Adrian was shaking her head. Danielle had a sad expression on her face, almost knowing what she was doing when they got back from shopping. Valerie explained her reasoning as to why she was daydreaming.
"Oh...Sorry." Valerie apologized.
"Kinda got into the music in this mall. Gotta come up with some nice phrases for our next few songs." She softly laughed at herself and the band as a way to hide her emotions. But they knew what was happening. They may be in a band, but they aren't exactly dumb when it comes to emotions.
"We know you were thinking about your mother, Valerie. We ain't dumb." Danielle said to Valerie with a concerning voice. "I think you need to go out and get some fresh air. It might help you relax a little. We'll come with you." She smiled as she and the others were there to support Valerie in her long journey of recovery. She looked down for a minute before looking back with a soft smile.
"Thanks." She got up and left with the others as they continued on with the rest of their day. They got back to their trailer, which was their house and base of operations when it came to writing and recording music. Danielle wrote out a loan to the owner of the trailer after reaching London and connected it to their rented truck, which only Danielle drives due to it being the vehicle she rented for the band. The others got dressed in the nightwear and head off to sleep for tomorrow.
Dream World
As Valerie opened her eyes, she noticed that she wasn't in her room anymore and appeared to be floating in a blackened area, where shadows would dare dwell. While this did surprise Valerie at first, she felt father calm about it.
"Could I be lucid dreaming?" She questioned herself. She had full control of her body and she seems to be somewhere where no one could even make it normally. But the feeling didn't last long as a Something manifested in front of her, an shadow taken the form of a elderly woman with some of her body parts snapped and bent in different directions, some which are definitely not normal. Her smile was stuck with a wicked smile as big as Valerie's head and a twisted look in her eyes, as if it wanted to attack her and do all kinds of different things. It jumped at fast speed and attempted to slash Valerie with its long, sharpened nail. Valerie was startled and quickly fell down on her knees to avoid it.
"Ow..." She held her knees where the impact of the fall would hurt the most. She slowly got back up as the creature stood in wait for her next move. It looked at her menacing while it prepare to make its next move. Valerie was scared, she didn't know what to do against this shadowy creature in front of her. She looked around and vastly shadowy area, looking for something to use against the creature.
I need some kinda of weapon. Maybe a sword...
As she thought about it. She figured it would be kinda cool to say some kind of phrase to summon a weapon in here. If she were really lucid dreaming, she could control her dreams and making a sword appear out of nowhere wouldn't be too out of place for her. She put her hand on her chest and shouted
"By my command, appear to me my trusty sword and slash my enemies into nothing!"
Before she knew it, a bright light shined from above her. As she looked up, she realized something formed from the light. A sword brimming with a blue energy. The sword descended down to Valerie as it floated there motionless.
"Yep. Definitely lucid dreaming." she went to grab the sword, but it floated away as she tries to grab it.
What? She continued to grab the sword multiple times as the sword danced around her hands before slapping the back of her hand with the flat side of the blade.
"Ow!" The sword moved up and down rapidly, signaling that it didn't like what she was trying to do. It was then Valerie realized it isn't just a regular sword. It was a living sword.
"I see. This is getting weird now." She felt like asking more questions would make her even more confused.
"But if it is living, maybe I can make it help me by commanding it." She muttered to herself with a smile on her face. The shadowy figure waited long enough from a response and lunged again towards Valerie. Valerie threw out her hand towards the sword as she yelled out to it.
"Go! Attack the creature!" She commanded. The sword charged towards the shadowy figure as it prepares to swing itself upon the creature of the darkness.