Shadows (In Stereo fanfic)

"1"

Ethan, half asleep, rolled over to the other side of his bed and grabbed his phone. He looked at the time. "Five thirty.", he mumbled, keeping the phone aside, when he realized that he had to leave for the airport in an hour. "FIVE THIRTY!", he shot up straight and panic-stricken, ran into the bathroom to get ready. He could not believe he slept through the alarm for the most awaited trip of his entire life.

Chris, on the other hand, had woken up quite early and was ready from head to toe. His mother wanted him to sleep more as she was worried he would get dark circles just before the shoot of their debut video, but Chris was prepared for that too. "I do facial exercises everyday, mom. There is no way I am getting bags.", he would say every time his mom would confront him.

Jakob couldn't sleep the whole night. Excitement wouldn't let him. "You need sleep! Otherwise you will be drowsy in your very first video.", Mikaila, his elder sister kept saying the whole night, but the adamant Jakob did not let even Mikaila sleep for the whole night. "They say it's the country of extremes. How would food taste there? Where will we be staying? Do they have Starbucks there? I can't wait to go there!", he said, sitting on Mikaila's chair. "Neither can I.", she said, in a tired voice, rolling on her bed.

The boys were to meet at the airport at seven in the morning for their flight from the Sydney Airport to the Chatrapati Shivaji Airport in Mumbai, India. From there, they would take another flight to one of the interior cities. Their mentor and the producer of their very first album, Guy Sebastian, was accompanying them to India, and they would be joined by the entire crew a day later.

Chris was the first one to reach the airport. Dressed in his classic white tee and a pair of jeans with converse and accessorized with black sunglasses, he looked ready enough to shoot the video right there. Jakob came later, dressed in a a black hoodie and a pair of trousers with black shoes to complement his look. After about ten minutes, they greeted Ethan, who were a grey t shirt, some jeans and a grey beanie. Ethan could never leave his beanie collection, even for a trip to a comparatively warmer country.

And then came Guy Sebastian. With tons of paparazzi and cameras. Guy signaled the boys to go in, and then ran inside the airport himself. After waiting for about two hours, their flight was ready to take off. Jakob sat with Ethan, who was on the window seat, while Chris sat right behind Ethan, next to Guy. "Boys,", Guy said, and the boys looked at him. "I have faith in you. Your album will be a success. No other band has done this and I know you guys will be the young pioneers. So are we ready?", he asked. All of them replied in positive.

After a journey of total twenty hours, they reached India. As they stepped out, humidity hit them hard.

"So boys,", Guy said, looking at their excited faces. "This is India."

"This place is humid man.", Ethan said, as he wiped his sweat.

"So what place are we at exactly?", Chris asked, squinting his eyes as the sun shone bright right above them.

"One of the cities away from the sea breeze.", Guy informed.

"Why didn't we choose a city close to the sea breeze?", Jakob asked as he opened up his bottle of water.

"Many reasons.", Guy said. "The big cities are all pretty much the same thing. We are going to go deeper into this state, to a village. There is this big royal palace that has been abandoned for a few years. They caretakers are still there, so we have made arrangements for our stay there. We will be shooting your very first video right there."

"Whoa. Royal living!", Jakob said and the boys started laughing.

Chris's laugh was halted by a girl standing across the street, staring at them. She was all alone, and was holding a doll in her right hand and a photograph in her left hand. Chris couldn't really see the photograph clearly due to the distance. She wore a white dress with bishop sleeves. She had black hair, and a chubby face.

Chris's wandering thoughts were disturbed by Guy's voice. "Remember guys,", he said, looking at them with a serious face. "We are here for work. We need to record your debut video, and also show people that we care about the developing countries. That, my boys, is also a reason as to why we chose an interior village over a big city." he said.    

After pausing to drink some water, he spotted their bus with In Stereo written on it. "Oh, look! Our bus is here.", he said, pointing at a white bus. The bus was more or less a tour bus. It was fully air-conditioned, they had two caretakers at times, washrooms, a small kitchen with a dining area attached to it, a small television set and a bunk beds where they could rest until they reached the village. 

They walked towards the bus. Guy was the first one to climb in. He was greeted with a Namaste from the caretakers. Ethan and Jakob followed Guy and were stunned. This was their first full-fledged tour bus. Even though they weren't going on a tour, this made them completely excited. Their bags were taken care of by the driver and the caretakers. Chris was the last one to climb in.

Before climbing, he looked around once curiously to see if the girl was still there. And there she was, staring at him. He tried to smile at her, but she did not respond. She just kept staring at him. "Maybe she knows us," he said to himself. "Or maybe she is just curious." He climbed inside, with second thoughts.

Chapter 1! Please let me know how you like my story. For more such stuff, follow my Instagram page - lanzonpotato. More coming soon. x