𝕲𝖎𝖆𝖓𝖙 𝖜𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓

Emigrate

God knows she hated flying. It was the worst. There was no room anywhere for her legs and the seat only reached to her neck so if she leaned back her head would rest on top of the seat. Rest in pieces neck.

Almost 10 hours in flight because the management thought it would be a good investment to get a bigger fanbase over the pond. Sofia couldn't argue with the money aspect but fuck did she hate small spaces. Joakim and Gustav was sat beside her. Gustav was of course asleep but Joakim was reading a newspaper that he had brought with him from the terminal in Gothenburg.

Sofia nudged him on the shoulder and he looked up from the papper to her. A stray hair from his brown locks falls in his face and he quietly swats it back in place behind his ear.

"Yeah?"

Sofia points at his paper and ask if she can read it after him.

"Ja, that's fine."

After maybe half an hour she receives the paper and Joakim to, falls a sleep. Sofia reads the sensationalization of satanism in Norway and the new black metal scene. Sofia fell a little sorry for the boys, a lot of them were in the early adulthood and just needed an outlet. Sofia herself was two year away from being 30 years old.

When she stands up from her seat and tosses Joakims newspaper to his lap she still has to bend down to not hit her head on the shelf above the seats. She opens up the compartment to her hand luggage and finds her walkman. She had bought a cassette with nirvana with her becouse she too had been swept away by their song "Smells like teen spirit" when it was dropt the year before and grunge had inspired their band enormously.

With some music she was lulled to sleep and didnt awake until Joakim woke her up when they were about to land in New York. She rubbed her neck when she put away her Walkman and returned to her seat to fasten her seat belt.

After the tidious part of being welcomed to a city with the people who arrived with them, checking up with the visa they had and finally getting their luggage, Sofia was annoyed, Joakim was tired and Gustav was restless. They did not match good when Gustav ran around with his new bag with stupid plastic wheels like a child and just made Sofia more and more annoyed. If their maneger had not been their she was afraid she would become a murderer.

After getting herded into a taxi with instruction of what apartment complex to enter and where they lived now they could all take it easy.

The apartment was on the older side. Not more then four different levels and that generic brick orange. In a way it had a soul and fitted into this Brooklyn vibe Sofia felt when she looked around the street. The three childhood friends had each an apartment on floors two to four and Sofia got the one at the top, she was contempt with that.

She threw her duffle bag on the generic couch and started to look around. The apartment was smal and had a living room and kitchen in the same room, a little bathroom with a shower and a bedroom. That was it. There was no bedsheets so she had to go find that somewhere in the town and paint, because damn was the white walls strenuous. There was not to much in her new home but she could work with it, she didnt plan to spend a lot of time here. Maybe she could get a job so she had things to do when they didn't record or do shows. That way she could meet acuall people who would be friends with her, Sofia thought.

The time was only noon but her internal clock still said Swedish time so she beirly felt like doing anything and being Thursday she thought it would be best to try and get used to the time difference. Stuffing her keys and wallet in her back pocket she excited the apartment to go and knock on Gustavs door one floor down.

Of course the door got flung opened and she took a foot in to an appointment very simular to hers. Gustav had opened his suitcase and started to make himself at home. I.e letting his things explode out of the crammed luggage all over the living room. Sofia looked down to meet Gustavs eyes an got met by a dorky smile.

"What can I help you with?" Gustav asked as he leaned back on his couch and dragging his left hand thrue his messy ginger hair.

"I was thinking of exploring a little bit, if you wanna come with."

Gustavs face shone like the sun and he bounsed of the couch to her.

"Of course I wanna come with you!" He exclaimed and going passed her to take his lether jacket, with by some miracular luck had landed close to the door. When Gustav and Sofia got down to Joakims floor Gustav took the lead and knocked and invited him too to come with, Sofia took her time to tie up her hair into a bun so it wouldnt sway with her when she was out.

Joakim didn't want to follow them out, like usual and the two comrades made their way out on the sunny street of Brooklyn. They walked around their neighbours and looked at different buildings and tried to scout out pubs and clubs in the area. Gustav was tuning a few steps ahead and Sofia cruzed behind but her being at least one head above everyone else she could follow without any problems.

She didn't know the time but she guessed it was around afternoon judging by all the people passing her on the sidewalk. The buildings in brooklyn seemed to be more alike then different which made Sofia worry that it would take along time to get a good sense of direction it this place.

After another 15 minutes of following Gustavs bouncing around she had completely given up on knowing the path back to the apartments and decided to enjoy the scenery of a park they had discovered. Granted it was no forest of her standard but it had to do.

Gustav slowed down and they strold around on the path and they felt a calmness come over them when they strolled together in silence. After a while Gustav had had enough of the lack of words and pointed out that this was probably going to be hers biggest problem with living in a city as big as this one. Sofia was reluctant to agree, she valued natured and privacy.

Along the path in front of them stood two men. Speaking aloud about sound of beats or drums what Sofia heard and being accompanied by her favourite ginger drummer he had to throw his hat into the ring and strolled right up to the two strangers as he knew them.

"Hello brothers, you talking drums?" The question killed the conversation between the two who stared at her friend. The man who had a slight mustach cleared his throat.
"Yeah, I'm a drum tech." This answer doomed Sofia because Gustav could talk himself to death if it was about drums.
"Dude that's so cool. I'm a drummer myself! I work with her over there." Gustav threw out and pointed at Sofia, who cursed inwards. Taking a few steps forward to join the little circle that had been made in the middle of the path. She just nodded at that two men. Getting up close she could see the one who hadn't said anything was a bit shorter then the other and the drum tach was maybe up to her nose.

"You sound strange, where are you from?" Drum tach asked them and Gustav quickly answered where they were from and they had arrived today.

The drum tech did looked her down and up. "They make the lady's that big over there?" Sofia took a deep breath and gave him a death glare.
"Sug min kuk."

"That was not nice! We're making friends."

"We? You are."

"You clearly don't know how communism works."

Gustavs remark made the short man breath out a laugh. "Anyway my name is Gustav and that bitch is Sofia." That provoked a shove on the shoulder that made him stumble to the side.

The shorter man nodded and introduces himself as Sal and drum tech was aparently Johnny.

Sofia pointed out that Gustav and her should try to get back but Sal cut in by giving out his number and asked them to meet him and his band at a place named Palladium on Saturday, Gustav agreed for the both of them.

It probably took the tall woman and the ginger twice as long to get back to their home because the got lost many a times. Gustav quickly disappeared into his apartment to write down Sal's number before he completely forgot and Sofia spent the rest of the evening looking at her map of New York trying to figure out where this Palladium was. But for all that was holy she couldn't.

That would be a problem for one of the men that lived below her.