Chapter One - Look At This Photograph
A photograph. A memory preserved in time.
I sit on the hard wood floor of my London apartment, a large photo album open in my lap. There's silence, except for the distant sound of cars outside. I turn the page of the album, and my eyes fall onto a long-forgotten photo. The memories come flooding back, as if they only happened the day before yesterday.
**
"Chad? Chad!" Kim calls, poking her head into an old wooden shed. Nothing. She sighs, flicking her red-brown hair behind her shoulder.
"Not there?" Joey questions and Kim half shrugs, in a gesture that the others have come to realise means she doesn't know. Joey sighs.
*
The shed is small; it can only comfortably fit five or six teenagers, but it is their shed. Chad, Kim, Joey and Eric commandeered it for their hang out eight years ago, and it still remains just that.
Joey and Kim leave the shed. It's time to go to school. Kalamunda High School. They all hate it, Chad in particular he insists he has better things to do with his time. Like work on his and Joey's band. He knows that one day, they will be famous.
Eric always says he doesn't believe them; they'll end up working in some dumbass nine to five job. Kim doesn't care either way. She just wants to get her nose pierced and screw the consequences, but Chad won't let her.
"Kim?" A voice brings Kim back to reality. It takes her a moment to remember she's in math class. Supposed to be doing math.
"What?" She says, still slightly dazed.
"Tonight. The shed. Eric's bringing beer, I've got the radio and Chad I don't know about Chad. You can bring something with sugar in it. Like marshmallows." Joey nods, drawing circles on his paper.
"Why, what's the occasion?" Kim questions, watching Joey scribble.
"It's exactly two months today." Joey replies simply.
"Until? Or since?" Kim raises an eyebrow. Joey sighs dramatically.
"What's the date?" He questions. Kim rolls her eyes, but pulls out her pocket diary and flicks to the current week.
"The third of June."
"We can get out of this place on the third of August. Get me?" Joey said, a small smile on his face. The group hated the school they were in, simply because it was a case of "us and them". And unfortunately, there was a lot more of "them".
*
That night, the four teenagers sat outside their shed, a small fire lit on the dry ground. It was almost nine but the light hadn't entirely faded, casting its dying rays onto the earth, turning the vast field a glowing orange.
"I love summer." Kim sighed, leaning back on the picnic blanket, her golden brown hair catching the fading light. Eric merely grunted in agreement, his eyes half shut as he breathed in the evening air.
"Holy hell, how old are you two seventy five? Summer evenings are supposed to be lively and fun." Chad raised an eyebrow at his two friends while he prodded the fire with a large stick. Eric said nothing but raised his hand in an offensive gesture. Joey stood up, fixing his orange and blue cap securely on his head.
"Back in a mo." He said, and then disappeared into the shed. Two minutes later he returned with a small portable FM radio and a six-pack of beer. Instantly Kim sat up and Joey handed the radio to her.
Rest in Results!
Black Opium
After a moment of fiddling with the tuning, she found the local radio station. The group would often sit out at night until late, listening to the radio. It was the mid-seventies, and Led Zeppelin ruled the radio stations. Punk hadn't yet broke out onto the mainstream radio.
"Guys, say cheese!" Eric said a while later, a camera in his hand. After much complaining, everyone stood together in the darkening evening light, the bonfire to their right. Eric took the photo, and then picked up another beer. Everyone else followed suit.
***
It's out! New story, yay! I don't know what the reaction of readers will be, but feedback/ratings/random comments are always appreciated. Cheers!
