Losing the Feeling of Feeling Unique
One
I walked down the busy road, enjoying the gentle breeze and the feel of the sun’s rays on my face. After a hard days work, I was looking forward to curling up on the sofa, and catching up on all of my favourite TV shows. It was something I hadn’t done for a long time.
I arrived at my building and saw the familiar form of George, the doorman, who was dressed, as usual, in his green jacket and black top hat.
‘Thanks George’ I said as I walked past him and made my way up to my third floor flat.
Home sweet home I thought to myself as I reached my door and pushed the key into the lock. I opened the door before bending down and picking up the several white envelopes that littered the floor. I walked further inside and dumped my bag on the floor and put my keys down on the side table.
Bill, bill, bill, bi- ‘What’s this?’ I said scanning the unfamiliar letter. No company name, no logo, no stamp, but scrawled on the front were the two words Ruby Ross .
Whoever this letter was from knew where I lived, that thought slightly unnerved me. After staring at the letter, debating whether to open it or not, I carefully tore the letter open.
On the page the words were carefully, professionally printed. They read:
Go to the Camden Roundhouse.
At 6:45pm today.
Outside, there will be a line, ignore it.
Go to the front and tell them
Your name.
They will let you in.
Inside
A surprise waits
The letter made my mind reel. A surprise? What could it be? And, the Roundhouse? I knew it was gig venue, but I’d never been there, although it was only around five minutes away from where I live.
I became curious. My curiosity always gets the better of me. Before I knew it, I found myself walking to the Roundhouse.
As I neared the venue, I saw a long line of mostly females; the ages seemed to vary, so it didn’t give me any indication as to who was playing.
I noticed the line was slowly, but surely moving. I checked my watch; the time was now 6:44.
I walked over to the security guard by the door. I took in his large frame; he had broad, muscular shoulders and a tattoo on the back of his neck that said ‘Live and let live’ in cursive, elaborate script.
He was faced away from me, so I tapped him on the shoulder, without turning around, he harshly uttered
‘What do you want?!’
‘My name’s Ruby Ross’ I said uncertainly, for the first time thinking how ridiculous this whole thing was, how stupid I was to think that the whole charade would actually work and this guy would let me in. Me being ticketless an’ all.
As soon as the words left my mouth, he whipped his head round and looked me up and down. He then smiled; you know one of those smiles that say ‘I know something you don’t know’. This made my curiosity grow ten-fold.
‘Go through’ he said moving himself out of the way, so I could squeeze past him and make my way through.
I walked through and reached another security point. A guy with a similar build manned this door, I walked up to him. He gave me the same smile as the guy before did. Why are they smiling at me like that? What do they know that I don’t?!
Once again, at the mention of my name, he let me through. As I entered the main show area, I was surprised to see how few people were there. In fact, there were so few people there, that there was space on the barrier available.
I took a spot at the center of the stage, but slightly to the right. The girls around me kept looking at me and whispering and giggling. I think I actually saw one girl take a picture!
The rest of the venue gradually filled up, after 20 or so minutes of waiting, the lights went down. A band took to the stage; I had absolutely no idea who they were. But after a minute or so the lead singer squashed my queries as to what they were called, by saying
‘Hello London, we are Gym. Class. Heroes!’
I immediately took to their hip-hop sound, it was easy to dance to and real catchy!
Gym Class Heroes’ set lasted for around an hour, after they had finished, there was another break as they set up for another, and I’m guessing headlining band. The wait gave me time to think a little. While I was thinking, I realised, I still had no idea what my ‘surprise’ was. Was it the concert? Was it something else? Was it someone else?
It was beginning to get to me, not knowing what I was here for, and then the lights went down once more. The girls around me all screamed. Loudly. I think they made me partially deaf. No joke.
The stage was in complete darkness, then, a spotlight came on and a young man stood in the light and sang the words;
‘Oh, how it’s been so long,
We’re so sorry we’ve been gone,
We were busy writing songs for YOU!’
When he said the word ‘you’, the rest of the stage lights went up and the rest of the band began playing. My sights first fell on the bass player; the way he grooved around was adorable. My eyes then swept across to the lead singer, he had a beautiful face and gorgeous brown eyes. I let my eyes linger on him for a second before my gaze fell upon the guitarist.
My mouth fell agape. He looked exactly like me – minus the boobs! My eyes didn’t leave him for the rest of the show. The crowd was getting a bit antsy and slightly annoying, they began pushing and shoving. By the third song, I had been pushed completely to the left side of the stage in front of…the looks stealer.
I didn’t take my eyes off him, and during one song he looked out, his eyes surveying the crowd, he stopped on me, our eyes met and his mouth fell open too.
We continued to stare at each other for the rest of the set, which it total, was about an hour and a half. At the end of the show, as I was at the very front, I had to wait for everyone to leave before I could.
As I left the venue, questions flooded my mind.
Who is he? Why does he look exactly like me? Who is he?! Why does he look exactly like me!?
I was so out of it as I left, I didn’t realise where I was walking, until I felt an ice-cold gust of wind, which pulled me out of my thoughts and caused me to pull up my hood. I looked around; I hadn’t the slightest clue where I was. I carried on walking, after a few minutes; I heard the excited screams of girls. So I followed the noise, hoping that there was someone who could give me directions.
I reached the source of the noise, around 20 teenage (and a few middle aged) girls crowded around a chain link fence.
I heard shrill screams of ‘Brendon!’ and ‘I love you!’ I decided to hang back, not wanting to get mauled by a 13 year old over some guy named ‘Brendon!’
After around 10 minutes, the group dispersed and I saw the lead singer from earlier standing on the other side of the fence. I closed the distance between us.
‘Ross!’ he called.
‘Yeah’ I replied…at the same time as someone else.
I heard a second voice, not that of ‘Brendon’
‘Did someone else just answer when you called ‘Ross’, or was it just me?’ he asked the
man I now knew as Brendon.
‘Yeah someone did’ they both began peering through the fence. I decided to make my presence known, and with a bout of boldness, I said
‘It was me’ I said stepping into the light flowing from a nearby street lamp.
I stood there as I saw the guy who looked exactly like me. We stood there, just staring at
each other until Brendon said
‘Oh my god! It’s girl Ryan! Come through’ he said opening the gate in the fence for me. ‘Ah JWalk and Spence have to see this!’ He said obviously finding the whole situation amusing, before skipping off, to find ‘JWalk’ and ‘Spence’
‘I’m Ryan’ he said, holding out his hand.
‘Ruby’ I said shaking slightly at the weirdness of the situation.
‘This is crazy’ he said in disbelief.
‘What are your parent’s names?’ I asked him.
‘Paul & Christine Ross’ he answered. They were my parents names, although, I lived with
my mum and didn’t know my father. ‘When’s your birthday?’
‘August 30th’ which is the same day as mine.
‘What’s your age?’ he asked me.
‘22’ I replied.
‘The only believable explanation for this is that we’re twins’ I said, voicing my thoughts.
Silence washed over us, only for a few minutes, until we heard.
‘Ryan does not have a twin!’ a mystery voice said.
‘Yes he does!’ Brendon shot back; I could hear more than two pairs of feet making their way towards us.
‘Brendon! For the last time, Ryan does not have -’ the man stopped mid-sentence, when he saw Ryan and I standing next to each other.
‘Okay maybe he does’ he replied, defeated.
I arrived at my building and saw the familiar form of George, the doorman, who was dressed, as usual, in his green jacket and black top hat.
‘Thanks George’ I said as I walked past him and made my way up to my third floor flat.
Home sweet home I thought to myself as I reached my door and pushed the key into the lock. I opened the door before bending down and picking up the several white envelopes that littered the floor. I walked further inside and dumped my bag on the floor and put my keys down on the side table.
Bill, bill, bill, bi- ‘What’s this?’ I said scanning the unfamiliar letter. No company name, no logo, no stamp, but scrawled on the front were the two words Ruby Ross .
Whoever this letter was from knew where I lived, that thought slightly unnerved me. After staring at the letter, debating whether to open it or not, I carefully tore the letter open.
On the page the words were carefully, professionally printed. They read:
Go to the Camden Roundhouse.
At 6:45pm today.
Outside, there will be a line, ignore it.
Go to the front and tell them
Your name.
They will let you in.
Inside
A surprise waits
The letter made my mind reel. A surprise? What could it be? And, the Roundhouse? I knew it was gig venue, but I’d never been there, although it was only around five minutes away from where I live.
I became curious. My curiosity always gets the better of me. Before I knew it, I found myself walking to the Roundhouse.
As I neared the venue, I saw a long line of mostly females; the ages seemed to vary, so it didn’t give me any indication as to who was playing.
I noticed the line was slowly, but surely moving. I checked my watch; the time was now 6:44.
I walked over to the security guard by the door. I took in his large frame; he had broad, muscular shoulders and a tattoo on the back of his neck that said ‘Live and let live’ in cursive, elaborate script.
He was faced away from me, so I tapped him on the shoulder, without turning around, he harshly uttered
‘What do you want?!’
‘My name’s Ruby Ross’ I said uncertainly, for the first time thinking how ridiculous this whole thing was, how stupid I was to think that the whole charade would actually work and this guy would let me in. Me being ticketless an’ all.
As soon as the words left my mouth, he whipped his head round and looked me up and down. He then smiled; you know one of those smiles that say ‘I know something you don’t know’. This made my curiosity grow ten-fold.
‘Go through’ he said moving himself out of the way, so I could squeeze past him and make my way through.
I walked through and reached another security point. A guy with a similar build manned this door, I walked up to him. He gave me the same smile as the guy before did. Why are they smiling at me like that? What do they know that I don’t?!
Once again, at the mention of my name, he let me through. As I entered the main show area, I was surprised to see how few people were there. In fact, there were so few people there, that there was space on the barrier available.
I took a spot at the center of the stage, but slightly to the right. The girls around me kept looking at me and whispering and giggling. I think I actually saw one girl take a picture!
The rest of the venue gradually filled up, after 20 or so minutes of waiting, the lights went down. A band took to the stage; I had absolutely no idea who they were. But after a minute or so the lead singer squashed my queries as to what they were called, by saying
‘Hello London, we are Gym. Class. Heroes!’
I immediately took to their hip-hop sound, it was easy to dance to and real catchy!
Gym Class Heroes’ set lasted for around an hour, after they had finished, there was another break as they set up for another, and I’m guessing headlining band. The wait gave me time to think a little. While I was thinking, I realised, I still had no idea what my ‘surprise’ was. Was it the concert? Was it something else? Was it someone else?
It was beginning to get to me, not knowing what I was here for, and then the lights went down once more. The girls around me all screamed. Loudly. I think they made me partially deaf. No joke.
The stage was in complete darkness, then, a spotlight came on and a young man stood in the light and sang the words;
‘Oh, how it’s been so long,
We’re so sorry we’ve been gone,
We were busy writing songs for YOU!’
When he said the word ‘you’, the rest of the stage lights went up and the rest of the band began playing. My sights first fell on the bass player; the way he grooved around was adorable. My eyes then swept across to the lead singer, he had a beautiful face and gorgeous brown eyes. I let my eyes linger on him for a second before my gaze fell upon the guitarist.
My mouth fell agape. He looked exactly like me – minus the boobs! My eyes didn’t leave him for the rest of the show. The crowd was getting a bit antsy and slightly annoying, they began pushing and shoving. By the third song, I had been pushed completely to the left side of the stage in front of…the looks stealer.
I didn’t take my eyes off him, and during one song he looked out, his eyes surveying the crowd, he stopped on me, our eyes met and his mouth fell open too.
We continued to stare at each other for the rest of the set, which it total, was about an hour and a half. At the end of the show, as I was at the very front, I had to wait for everyone to leave before I could.
As I left the venue, questions flooded my mind.
Who is he? Why does he look exactly like me? Who is he?! Why does he look exactly like me!?
I was so out of it as I left, I didn’t realise where I was walking, until I felt an ice-cold gust of wind, which pulled me out of my thoughts and caused me to pull up my hood. I looked around; I hadn’t the slightest clue where I was. I carried on walking, after a few minutes; I heard the excited screams of girls. So I followed the noise, hoping that there was someone who could give me directions.
I reached the source of the noise, around 20 teenage (and a few middle aged) girls crowded around a chain link fence.
I heard shrill screams of ‘Brendon!’ and ‘I love you!’ I decided to hang back, not wanting to get mauled by a 13 year old over some guy named ‘Brendon!’
After around 10 minutes, the group dispersed and I saw the lead singer from earlier standing on the other side of the fence. I closed the distance between us.
‘Ross!’ he called.
‘Yeah’ I replied…at the same time as someone else.
I heard a second voice, not that of ‘Brendon’
‘Did someone else just answer when you called ‘Ross’, or was it just me?’ he asked the
man I now knew as Brendon.
‘Yeah someone did’ they both began peering through the fence. I decided to make my presence known, and with a bout of boldness, I said
‘It was me’ I said stepping into the light flowing from a nearby street lamp.
I stood there as I saw the guy who looked exactly like me. We stood there, just staring at
each other until Brendon said
‘Oh my god! It’s girl Ryan! Come through’ he said opening the gate in the fence for me. ‘Ah JWalk and Spence have to see this!’ He said obviously finding the whole situation amusing, before skipping off, to find ‘JWalk’ and ‘Spence’
‘I’m Ryan’ he said, holding out his hand.
‘Ruby’ I said shaking slightly at the weirdness of the situation.
‘This is crazy’ he said in disbelief.
‘What are your parent’s names?’ I asked him.
‘Paul & Christine Ross’ he answered. They were my parents names, although, I lived with
my mum and didn’t know my father. ‘When’s your birthday?’
‘August 30th’ which is the same day as mine.
‘What’s your age?’ he asked me.
‘22’ I replied.
‘The only believable explanation for this is that we’re twins’ I said, voicing my thoughts.
Silence washed over us, only for a few minutes, until we heard.
‘Ryan does not have a twin!’ a mystery voice said.
‘Yes he does!’ Brendon shot back; I could hear more than two pairs of feet making their way towards us.
‘Brendon! For the last time, Ryan does not have -’ the man stopped mid-sentence, when he saw Ryan and I standing next to each other.
‘Okay maybe he does’ he replied, defeated.
♠ ♠ ♠
So, new story.Comment?
Love,
Lola and Emma
xx