Nightriders The Kidnappings Part 10

    Never had a shower ever felt so refreshing as Axl, let the warm steamy water run over his scaly green body. He immediately felt a renewed sense of strength as the warm water increased the temperature of his cold reptilian blood. He flicked his tongue, as it poured over his face quenching his thirst. After bathing, he struggled to find a bath towel so he instead grabbed the decorative towel hanging near the bathroom’s entrance.

    Axl then walked into his bedroom wearing only his bath towel. He eyed his drenched muddy jeans sitting laying crunched on the floor, knowing that if he were to put them back on, it would make his shower meaningless. As Axl reluctantly picked them up, he heard a knock at the door.

    Axl walked over to the door and opened it a crack to see Titus holding his old brown suitcase.

“Your luggage, sir! Rolf said you would be needing a change of clothes.”
Axl chuckled. “You came just in time! Titus, you’re my savior!”

Titus awkwardly stared at Axl’s bath towel. “So it would seem.”

Axl grabbed the case and set it to the side of the door. Just as Titus was beginning to walk away, he whistled for him.

“Now wait a second, Titus! I got somethin’ for yah!”

Titus turned around. “Is that so, sir?” Axl threw his muddy wet jeans onto the front of his tux.

            “Wash these for me, will yah, Torty?”

            Titus crinkled his nose while dangling them grotesquely in front of himself before walking away grumbling. “With pleasure, sir…”

            After closing the door, Axl threw the large suitcase onto his bed and opened it. To his surprise, it was not the suitcase where he kept his normal attire. Instead it was the one filled with articles of clothing he had purchased from music stores and festivals over the years and forgotten about. Spiked wristbands, spiked cover jacket, skull bedroom slippers. A black executioner’s mask with a guitar imprinted on it? Axl broke into laughter. “What the heck was I thinking?” Eventually, he found an old worn set of gray shorts and another skull belt buckle. Axl flicked his tongue as he smelled the suitcase scented clothing. Looks like I’m good to go!

            After dressing, Axl stared at himself in the mirror, crossing his arms. “Time to kick some pirate butt, Selena!” Axl’s fashion show was interrupted by another knock at the door. As he turned to face the door, he felt himself twist his ankle the wrong way causing it to flame up with pain again. “Augh! Come in!” shouted Axl remaining by the window. Expecting Titus or one of his band mates, Axl was surprised to see Marilyn enter the room.

    “I hope I’m not disturbing you,” she said timidly.

    Axl grinned. “Not at all! What’s on your mind?”

     Marilyn returned the smile and closed the door behind her. “Well, I just thought it would be nice to finally get to meet Rolf’s band friends.” You’ve been traveling with my son for a while now, haven’t you?”

    “Yeah, I’ve been touring with Rolf for well over a year now.”

    “What is Rolf like?” asked Marilyn, her eyes now glistening with excitement.

     Axl scratched the back of his head. “Well…, he’s… ambitious, takes his work seriously, a hard worker. Smart.”

    A look of concern came over Marilyn’s face. “Is he happy?”

    Axl sighed as he struggled to form an honest, but polite answer. “Yeah, I’d say he’s happy in his own way.”

    “In his own way?” asked Marilyn appearing worried. “Does he have any friends?”

    “Yeah, he has friends,” answered Axl. “Heck, I’m pretty sure he considers me a friend. The thing is, life as a touring band keeps us pretty busy so it’s hard to make time for relationships, but we’re lucky in that everyone in the band is a pretty good guy. We’re a close knit group like a family, I guess you could say.”

     Marilyn nodded her head as a smile of relief came over her face. To Axl’s surprise, he saw a tear begin to form in one of her eyes. “I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to hear this. I’ve worried about him so much since he’s left. Does he ever mention us?”

     Axl chuckled nervously. “Yeah, about that. He actually had left us the impression that both of his parents were dead.” Axl watched as Marilyn buried her face in her paws. “I’m sorry,” answered Axl only to have Marilyn wave him off. Axl watched her as she dried her eyes only this time a look of despair covered her face rather than joy.

    “It’s his father,” she answered. “Please don’t misunderstand, Axl. Richard loves his son very much. It’s just that…” Marilyn sighed as she struggled to explain. “Well, it’s just that… I suppose the best way to say this is Rolf and Richard are too much alike. Richard wanted nothing more than for Rolf to succeed in music as he did. He pushed him when he was very young, buying him a violin when he was only five years old. Poor little Rolf. Richard just wanted him to be remembered as the famous composer as he was. I tried to talk him out of it, but Richard would not hear it. Once he sets his mind to something, there’s no changing him.”

     Axl nodded his head. “Sounds like somebody I know.”

    “I’m sure it does,” answered Marilyn. “And as you can imagine, the harder Richard pushed Rolf, the more Rolf pushed back. He wanted to play guitar not the violin. He even managed to smuggle a guitar in his room once only to have his father discover it and throw it in the garbage. These type of incidents happened all the time throughout Rolf’s childhood, but it was when his father sent him away to the music academy that things really began to fall apart. Rolf quit the orchestra and began playing guitar with a few friends he met from school. Richard was furious and declared he would not have his classical legacy trashed by becoming the father of a ‘barbaric metal band.’ This hurt Rolf deeply and despite my efforts to reach out to the both of them, they became estranged.” Marilyn began to sob. “He wouldn’t even speak with me, anymore.”

    As Axl stared into her sorrowful eyes, he could feel himself empathizing with her ‘caught in the middle’ predicament between two strong personalities like Richard and Rolf. As he listened to her, he felt the sensation of a large veil disappearing from his perception of Rolf. Having become accustomed to living with Rolf in close quarters, Axl was familiar with every little personality trait and quirk of Rolf but never could draw any information from him concerning Rolf’s life growing up. He felt as though he was rediscovering his wolf friend all over again.  “I… I’m very sorry to hear about what went down with your family, but I have seen Rolf change throughout my time with the band.”

    “Really?” asked Marilyn raising an eyebrow.

    Axl nodded. “Absolutely! I think life on the road has really forced Rolf to mellow tremendously.” Axl chuckled. “Ya know, he can’t exactly run from personalities like Lonnie and I when we live in such close quarters.”

    “That’s very encouraging to hear,” answered Marilyn.

     Axl gave a consoling smile. “I think if you two were to ever give Rolf another chance, I really believe he would open his life up to you.”

     Axl watched Marilyn silently stare into space for a moment before returning the smile. “Thank you, Axl. It has been very nice meeting you.”

    “Likewise,” answered Axl sending her a thumbs up. Axl opened the door for Marilyn watching her disappear into the dark hallway. After she was out of sight, Axl began making his way through the hallway. He could hear the light sound of a violin playing coming from one of the rooms ahead. The tune was peaceful and serene. When Axl had approached the room, he peered in through the open door to see Rolf sitting on the edge of a bed with his back turned while playing lightly on the violin. He appeared to be in deep concentration with his eyes closed as he did not notice Axl’s presence. A smile formed on the face of Axl as he observed Rolf in this unusually peaceful stature before continuing on his way.

Illustrations by Bluepisces97

Thanks for reading!


Nightriders: The Kidnappings Part 11

 

Nightriders: The Kidnappings Part 1