Rock For The Ages

I went through the garage using my own key, and walked in to blasting Aerosmith music. Otto and I had entered the rock music industry fresh out of high school. We were bringing the band back together.

I walked out of my house and into the limousine waiting for me. I turned my red baseball cap around so it was backwards on my head, and put on my shades. Not much later, the limousine pulled up to my friend and band mate's mansion. I went through the garage using my own key, and walked in to blasting Aerosmith music.
It was something I'd grown up on- rock music. I've been playing the guitar from age eight onward, and though I can't remember what the first song I learned was, I've written countless others.
Nodding my head along with the music, I went to find Otto. He was in his studio working on his ten-minute solo for our upcoming concert. I gave him a wave and he promptly stopped to greet me.
"Cooper, my bro, how's it hanging?" He took his headphones off and we shook hands. We practiced a ridiculous handshake that we'd made up and perfected since we were about ten, and had started off every music gig with it since we were eighteen.
"Not much," I replied, and grinned, "Ready to go on tour again?"
Otto and I had entered the rock music industry fresh out of high school. In a way, we were too dumb and did too many stupid things to last long in the business. But as our popularity sharply rose, we evened out and became wiser. Our band Millennium had suffered through several break ups and losses with our backing band members. Otto and I had even split into two solo careers with our own bands at one point. Through it all, after fifteen years, we were bringing the band back together again.
Our so-called "farewell tour" was probably the hardest one of all.

Last stop: New York City. Where we were born and raised to raise hell. With a flash of light and smoke billowing across the floor, we entered the stage via a lowering platform coming from the ceiling.
The crowd started screaming the minute they saw us. I gave Otto a grin, and we shook hands. With a slight adjustment to our microphones, we were on.
"Hello, New York!" Otto yelled. I laughed as our thousands of fans rejoiced.
"How's everybody doing tonight?" I greeted the crowd, and the cheering grew louder. "Well, Otto, we might as well start this concert out right, right? Am I right, or am I right?"
"Why yes, I believe you are correct, Cooper. Let's hit it!"
The drummer we'd been working with for the past year started up on one of our most popular songs, to the crowds delight. A nearby assistant handed me my cherry red Fender Stratocaster, the one I'd had for a decade or so, that had flames licking up the side. I pulled a guitar pick out of my pocket and started playing.

"…Man, what a world, right?" I laughed and took a drink of my Coke. Otto nodded. "The rise and fall of how many times the band fell apart…that was a maze in itself to navigate."
"Yeah, it was, but can we blame people for not wanting to work with us?"
I scoffed. A younger Otto would have said a whole bunch of not very polite things about them.
My friend and band mate sighed and smiled. "Even if not for our last concert, I think we would have ended up right back here again."
I smiled back. "You know, I think you're right."

Much later, when the concert was coming to a close, Otto and I decided to wrap up the show with a cover of "Parental Guidance" by Judas Priest. Another one of our traditions, was to end a great show with the song.
Once we finished the song, we knew it was going to be hard to leave. The crowd knew that this was the end, and that it was our last performance. They cheered so loud for an encore, chanting our names loud and clear. Otto and I stood at the edge of the stage, awed. It was a bittersweet moment. So many years of our lives, we had lived a rock and roll lifestyle. Now, we were leaving it behind us as something to look back on…
…I heaved a sigh. The crowd had dispersed completely, and our crew was somberly packing up our equipment. Otto and I sat on the edge of the stage, our legs dangling over.
Do you think we'll ever come back? I asked myself.
Then the building started to shake. It sounded as if it was pouring rain outside, but we knew the weather was fine. The lights above us flickered, and we scrambled to our feet, afraid the stadium would collapse. Smoke, too much of it, billowed out from stage left. I knew for a fact the fog machine was put away.
And then… "Do you hear that?" Otto stammered. "It sounds like-"
"Horses hooves."
As if our show was beginning again, with sparks and light and fog, four horsemen galloped onto the stage. All four men were hooded, but all four horses were different colors. The one on the far left was white, the one on the far right was a mossy green, and the two in the middle were a pitch black and a blood red.
"Dude…" I whispered. "The four horsemen of the apocalypse…"
"Who?"
The black horse pawed the ground and the man upon it spoke. "The rock leaders of Millennium- I have become informed that this is your farewell tour…"
We gulped. The four horsemen were formidable and grand in stature and demeanor. We nodded.
"You've caused problems by making that decision." The man on the green horse noted.
"And we're giving you a proposition." Said the man on the white horse.
"What kind of proposition?" Otto questioned carefully.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Why exactly are you here?"
"By choosing to quit the rock music industry, you have made a crack in the space-time continuum." The man on the red horse explained. "If you do not rejoin your band together in some way or another by December 21st, 2012, the world as we know it will end."
"Make your decision wisely," The man on the black horse warned.
And then as soon as they appeared, the four horsemen of the apocalypse faded away into the fast-dissipating fog.
Otto and I looked at each other and talked it over in hushed voices, all the way back to our hotel. Could we possibly go back to this life in fifteen years? Who knows what we'd be doing by then. Neither of us were sure, even with all of humanity at stake. Only time could truly tell.

"Well, Cooper," Otto remarked to me fifteen years later. "I'm bored."
I laughed. We both knew we missed what we did for over a decade of our lives. And in the end, there was only one thing left to do. We shook on it.

"Now, we're back and ready to rock!"
The crowd cheered. I laughed because we'd all gotten older and gained more weight. Otto nodded at me and I started a song up on my guitar. "I think you guys know this one. The good ones never get old. And the best of times are never forgotten."

Author's Note

a short story we had to do for English. I'll add the "Notes" for it later, and link it.

based off of, a little, of DnD, but for the most part it's what I did when I was a kid. sort of.

'cept my name was Max Cooper, and also some other things. lol.
actual story never happened.

The idea of going to concerts and playing rock music was from what my neighbor and I used to do when we were kids. The names of our characters were a little different, though, but Millennium was the name of our band. I don’t know how to play guitar, though my neighbor could a little bit. We were, however, masters at air guitar. we’d run around the neighborhood playing at different places- places in our backyard became different cities.
I didn’t exactly grow up on rock music- I grew up more on eighties or barely any music at all; I got into music starting around sixth grade. My neighbor was the one who listened to rock music a lot, mostly Aerosmith, KISS, Alice Cooper, AC/DC, and Judas Priest. Though my neighbor’s tastes did influence mine a little bit in the genre of hard rock. “Parental Guidance“ was the most over-sang by us, and I feel bad for our parents who undoubtedly had to listen to it. The cheers of the crowd were definitely exaggerated.
The four horsemen of the apocalypse show up to give the story mystery. They also provide a catalyst for the main characters to think upon their decisions some more.
Otto and Cooper in the story, however, probably symbolize what we leave behind in life. Often we give up on things we love to do, whether its because we lose interest, we think we’re not good enough, or something else. I’ve seen several friends stop doing things they loved for no reason. It’s hard to understand exactly why, but like at the end of the story, the two characters go back to what they love doing. I think no matter what we do, in most circumstances we can’t abandon things that make us happy in life.
story (c) me, faydescape / bunkeatpotatoes
picture from http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/conceptual/?qh=§ion=&q=rock+music#/d3a5z7o