The Long Road

On Tuesday, Joey and I hardly looked at each other at all. He was such a dickhead, actually believing that my dad would do something like that to me. Sure he was slightly angry and sad that Mum had left him, but that didn't mean he would want to hurt her and me! Joey was just being a ridiculous fuck-head.

Luckily, Joey left to go over to a friend's house. He was in a band called Emily's Army, and they were getting back together for practice after some members had left for holidays. Rowan came over and since we didn't have a show today, decided to take not only me, but the band out to a small punk joint he knew in San Francisco.

It was a squalid looking building, with fading painting and crap lighting, but once we went inside, the place seemed to be exploding with life. Tons of people were squashed around a small stage, while a band performed. They sounded pretty decent, because the crowd was jumping up and down and cheering. There was a small bar squashed into corner of the room, where some of the people sat, red faced but smiling. It seemed so similar to Gilman Street, and yet it couldn't be any more different.

We got talking to all these different people, all whom questioned us about our music. They promised they would check our MySpace page and gave us good luck.

After a couple of hours, Rowan took us back to his apartment, which was in a dodgy part of town. Rowan forced the stuck door of his apartment open, and let us inside. It was indeed a bit squalid, with second hand furniture, dirty carpet and faded walls.

'Leslie, this is where you lived for the first two months of your life, believe it or not.' Rowan said, giving me a small and sad smile.

'Whoa, really?' Hamish gasped, looking around the small living room. 'Kinda weird, ain't it Leslie?'

'Yeah . . . weird.' I mumbled, looking around. I felt a sense of protection as I looked. This was really where I had lived at the beginning of my life. Just knowing that felt so unbelievably weird.

Rowan walked into the kitchen and fixed us all a cup of tea. 'I'm sorry this place isn't very - well - liveable.'

'We don't care about that.' Katie reassured him, taking her cup. 'Just as long as we can hang out somewhere.'

'When does Armstrong - Billie - expect you lot home?' Rowan asked, looking around at us.

'Oh, any time really. I think the limit would have to be two in the morning.' Harry joked, sipping his tea.

'So, Billie Joe was nice to let you guys stay at his place.' Rowan said, pulling on a smile.

'Yeah he was! I thought he would have said no, but Joey convinced him. They are really nice to us.' Justin said, swallowing his tea in one gulp.

'Y'know, I actually used to know Billie Joe.' Rowan said.

I looked up from my tea in surprise. 'Really? You knew Billie!?'

'Sure did. We went to Pinole High School together. Of course, he and the guys dropped out while I did the whole college thing. Then I heard they were major rock stars. I hung out with them during Dookie, but after that we lost contact. That's Billie and I got on so well.'

We all nodded in interest. 'Maybe we could all hang out together sometime!' Hamish put in excitedly.

'But we are leaving for Phoenix this Sunday. We still have our tour to think about.' I said quickly.

'Oh, yeah right.' Hamish said, a little sadly. I looked around at everyone, who looked really sad.

'It's just - I really don't wanna leave. I'll be so depressed when we have to leave Green Day back here.' Katie said, sipping her tea.

Suddenly, Justin put a hand to his head and groaned. We all looked over to him in surprise.

'You okay buddy?' Harry questioned, putting a hand on Justin's back.

'Ughh, Rowan? I don't feel so good.' Justin moaned, bending over. We rushed to his side and put him on the lounge. I started to panic. What was wrong with him? One minute he was normal and the next he was feeling like shit.

'Justin, just lie down and relax. I'll get some aspirin.' Rowan sped off to the kitchen and left us. Suddenly, Justin was snoring loudly. Typical Justin, falling asleep in the middle of the day. Harry, Hamish and Katie sat down on the armchairs.

'You know what? I think it was the tea, cause I don't feel right either.' Harry said slowly. Suddenly his eyelids drooped and he was fast asleep as well. Hamish just fel to the ground with out warning. Katie and I looked over at each-other.

'What the hell is going on?' I asked, my voice going high pitched. I was panicking, and I had no idea what the fuck was going on.

'Leslie - I feel really tired now -' But Katie fell asleep before she could finish talking. I looked around at all their sleeping figures. What the hell?

'Rowan?' I yelled, panicking more as I started feeling sick and sleepy. Rowan emerged from the kitchen. His face was emotionless as he stared at me. My legs buckled under me and I collapsed. The last thing I saw was Rowan's mouth spreading into a wide grin. And then it all went black.