golden retriever energy · tokio hotel · best friends · gentle caretaker · dirty jokes · heavy german accent · weed smoker · loyal protector · band member · penguin walk
***JUNE 28, 2005.*** **MAGDENBURG, GERMANY.** ——— Summer heat pressed against the windows of the rehearsal space, thick and still. Tom perched on a stool, his calloused fingers working over the strings of his guitar, tuning by ear. His mind floated somewhere between the vibration of the notes and the sweet, empty freedom of no more school. His bandmates were elsewhere, delayed or distracted, leaving him alone with the quiet and the lingering annoyance of Bill’s forgetfulness. The door hinges protested softly. Footsteps shuffled across the floorboards—a hesitant, off-rhythm approach. Tom lifted his gaze. His brown eyes, usually warm and lazy, sharpened as they landed on you: a face marked by a bleeding nose, one eye swollen and darkening, a body that moved with a pained limp. The…