Dear Unknown

“Tom!!” I hear Bill yell from farther up on the tour bus. He’s been flipping out on us all day. It started with Georg at the sound check, then Gustav during the concert, and now me. I really have no clue why he’s yelling, I don’t remember doing anything wrong, and . . . I don’t know.

I had been fighting with him but I just got sick of it and retreated to the bathroom on the tour bus with my lap top. I first check my fan email but decide that there’s way too much there to go through right now so I pull up my personal email. I’m waiting for an email from one of my friends back home and when I search my inbox the first time I don’t see it. I sigh and am about to close the computer and go face Bill when an email from Lynny catches my eye.

“Tom!” Bill yells again this time closer to the bathroom door.

“I’m not coming out until you calm down figure out what crawled up your ass today” I shout from my hiding spot making it not so hidden. I check the lock on the door to make sure it works so Bill can’t burst in here and yell at me some more for what I just said.

I turn around behind me and put the toilet seat lid down to make a seat out of it. I sit down and semi-comfortably rest my lap top on my lap. I start to read Lynny’s email and this time, instead of making me smile or laugh her words make my face fall. I continue reading hoping it would get better and it does. Not by much but it does. I smile to myself when she mentions that her sister is a fan of Tokio Hotel but decide not to mention it in my response because i don't want to give myself away to easy. I get into the last paragraph and my smile fades.

I notice a soft knocking at the door that turns into a pounding. “What?!” I snap not wanting to be distracted right now.

“Jeez, sorry that I’ve been knocking politely for the last five minutes” I hear Georg say.

“It was not five minutes Georg” Gustav says faintly as he slides by.

“Shut up” Georg retorts.

I roll my eyes at the two of them because I swear they should be brothers, “What do you want Georg?”

“Just to tell you to hurry up and get out here because Bill’s pouting and not talking to anyone and that scares us” he says the last part as a joke, but when I don’t laugh or anything he adds, “Just hurry up.”

“Okay” I say returning to my email. I finish the last few lines of Lynny’s email and start my response.

Dear Lenny,

I’d say sorry about the whole family thing but I doubt you want to hear it. I can tell from how you wrote it that you don’t resent the fact that your mom left and that your dad couldn’t handle her leaving. I wish I could put it all behind me like you did but I’ll admit that I’m still mad at my dad for leaving my mom like he did.

I understand what you mean when you say that your sister is your other half. My twin brother, Bill, is the same to me. Unlike you and your sister though Bill and I dress nothing alike. He’s more into what you would call the emo style, but he’s not emo. He likes tighter clothes while I wear clothes that are three sizes to big. He’s also more into alternative rock than I am. Personality wise we are a lot alike. The two other people in out band, let’s call them the G’s, complain that when me and Bill have the same opinion in an argument there’s no way to win against us.

Even if we’re a lot alike we are so different at times. Bill is more sensitive and hopeless romanitic-ish where I on the other hand am known for being a one night stand sort of guy. I like to party and have a good time while Bill is more serious when it comes to stuff like that. I guess it’s the lyricist in him.

If you couldn’t tell from earlier in this email my real dad really is no longer in the picture for me. Bill still holds out some small bit of sorta hope, but I gave up on our dad by the time I was twelve. Our step-dad Gordon, who we treat and love like a real dad, is amazing. He’s the person that got us into music. He’s a music teacher and also the guitarist for his own band. Then you have our mom, Simone, who is a tad crazy and all over the place at times, but always knows what to do and when to do it. Bill and I get our creative side from her because she’s a free-lance tailor and really into the fashion creativity thing.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Tom

“Tom will you please come out now?” Bill whines from outside the door.

“I don’t know are you calm now?” I say sending the email.

“I don’t know, I’m not yelling anymore” he whines and whispers at the same time.

I shut my computer down to save the battery till we get to the next hotel because I don’t trust the outlets completely on this bus. I unlock and open the door to be tackled by a large mass of black.

“Bill get off me!” I say as he hugs me.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” he says repeatedly.

“Yeah, you’re gonna be sorry if you don’t let go of me” I joke grabbing his arms from my body.

“Don’t hurt me?” he says flinching back. Just then Georg walks by and punches Bill in the arm lightly. “Hey!” Bill yells looking at me, “I said don’t hurt me!”

“I didn’t touch you” I say raising my hands in innocence. I then move my raised hand to the side of my mouth and point with my other finger in the direction of where Georg had gone mouthing Georg’s name.

“Got it” Bill whispered and he winked at me as he crept as quietly as his clunker boots would allow.

Georg had his back to Bill and Bill wasn’t even near him when I heard Georg, “Don’t even think about Bill.”