You're All I Need

It had been two months. Two months since she had called us. Did she forget we were even alive? Was she stabbed in a dark alley? Questions much like these rotated through my mind as I sat by the phone, hoping to hear the shrill ringing break the silence. I made my way to the living room to watch some music videos to take my mind off of everything. The TV crackled on and the images slowly appeared.

A Rod Stewart video had just ended and one I had never seen before popped on immediately after it. I looked at the words in the corner:

Artist: Motley Crue
Title: Looks That Kill
Album: Shout At The Devil

Motley Crue... why did that sound familiar? I hadn't ever seen them before or heard any of their stuff, and none of my friends liked this kind of music.

Then the actual band appeared. Who were these guys? More importantly-- were these even guys? They paraded around in nothing but scraps with their long hair flipping around. I was just about to change the channel when some girl jumped out of no where. I looked closer and just about had a heart-attack.

Imogene.

I was happy and infuriated at the same time. She was alive-- but she was wearing practically nothing. These were the guys she had been living with? She spent all her time with them? It was enough to make me sick. Then it went to her close-up. Yeah, that was my sister all right. I finished the video and absorbed all I could from it.

"Mom, can I borrow the car?" I called upstairs.

"Go ahead sweetie." Mom replied.

I grabbed the keys and walked out to the car. I sped down the road as fast as I could to get to the record store. Once I had arrived there, I ran in and scanned the shelves for the "Shout At The Devil" album. When I found it, I snatched it and looked at the cover. A pentagram. Ugh. Then I remembered that only Imogene had a record player and she had taken it with her. So I reached for the tape instead. The tape's cover had all of the guys on it. They all looked like women you would find on a street corner. The blonde singer was the most womanly dude I had ever laid eyes on. I marched up to the counter and purchased it as quickly as I could.

I strapped myself into the car and looked at the song titles. These guys were totally deranged. Who names a song "Bastard?" That's what I would like to know. I drove home and sat by the phone, looking through the liner notes and reading the vulgar lyrics.

Then the phone rang. I lunged forward and picked it up.

"Hello?" I sighed.

"Hi, Ralph." I recognized the voice as Imogene's.

"It's about time you called!"

"Sorry. The guys and I have been so busy with recording and stuff, and then we have the tour starting in two weeks so we've been preparing for that." She sounded exasperated.

"Whatever happened to visiting us like you promised you would? You said you'd be here in February." I remembered another thing she hadn't done.

"Oh yeah! Sorry, I completely forgot. See, it was Vince's birthday..."

"You forgot about your own family?"

She didn't respond. I just heard some background noises and one of the guys yelling about how bad his shoulder was hurting and some other one telling him to suck it up. "Sorry." She mumbled. "You know, we were actually planning on being there in just a few weeks. No lie. The boys wanna meet you." I heard some glass shatter in the background. "TOMMY, YOU PUT THAT DOWN! THIS IS MICK'S HOUSE AND HE HATES MESSES!" She yelled.

I smiled at that comment. "I want to meet them too."

"Great! They're really nice guys..." More breaking noises. "And well behaved, too."

"That's awesome."

"Yeah, you'll get along with them real well... TOMMY, I WILL NOT TELL YOU AGAIN." This Tommy kid giggled and broke something else. Imogene sighed. "Vince, help him clean it up."

I heard Vince loud and clear. "No, I didn't make the mess. And I'm busy planning domination!"

"On what?"

"Report to our bedroom and I'll show you."

"Ralph, here's our number. Call us whenever." She gave the number to me and hung up after yelling at Tommy one more time.

So she would come to visit with the guys in a few weeks, and I would be able to change her mind and get her to stay here. It was gonna work out perfectly.