Angelina was a hauntingly beautiful girl with dark auburn hair and deep chestnut eyes. She grew up watching her big brother and his buddies in the garage banging on drums and ripping out guitar strings as they made her feet move almost magically to their music's rhythms.
Her brother Denny, who was the lead guitarist in his band called "The Ones", was her hero. He had started teaching her guitar when she was nine years old. The first song he taught her was "Cat Scratch Fever" by Ted Nugent. She sat in the garage before and after 'The Ones' practiced, and she would practice long and hard to make Denny proud of her. He always gave her encouragement and tips on how to get better, and she did get better.
By the time she was 14 she could keep up with most of the songs that her brother's band practiced and played at local 'gigs' that they found at school for birthday parties, anniversaries and graduations. She kept bugging Denny to let her play with his band at one of those gigs. He always said she wasn't ready, but Angelina knew that it was really because the other band members saw her as a little sister nuisance that they had put up with for too many years.
As she matured, they began to tease her about her breasts and call her names like 'doll' and 'squeezebox'. She didn't really like it and she would complain to Denny. He just shrugged it off and said she didn't have to come into the garage where they practiced if she didn't want to. She tolerated their teasing and attitudes because she wanted to learn more about being in a band and being a lead guitarist.
One day while she was in the garage before The Ones practiced, Harold, the second guitarist, came in a bit early. He asked her to play something for him. When she did, he seemed to be really impressed by the sounds and told her how much he liked her style. He even apologized for how the band had teased her, and he asked her if she would be interested in taking his place at the band's next performance. It would be a local prom.
Angelina was so excited. She jumped up and then dropped low toward the cement floor with her guitar in hand. She carved out her best rendition of the beginning chords to Aerosmith's "Walk This Way". She laughed and said, "In case you didn't know, that was a resounding YES!"
When she told her brother what had happened, he was angry and called Harold right away to meet and discuss what was going on. They met at a favorite coffee shop. "I can't make the next gig, and I think 'Angel' would be my best stand in." Harold said.
Denny became even more angry and said "Her name is Angelina, and she is my little sister. I don't want her coming to the next gig! If that is what you think is best for The Ones, then we are minus one of The Ones as of now!" Denny kicked his chair across the coffee shop as he got up from their table to leave.
Harold, in shock, just sat there and watched him leave without saying a word.
When Denny returned from his meeting, Angelina was waiting at the door with questions in her eyes and tear moistened cheeks. Denny didn't look at her twice, but bounded up the stairs and into his bedroom, slamming the door. Angelina did what she usually did when she was upset, she grabbed her guitar and hugged it to herself. She had gotten her guitar for her 16th birthday. It was the same color as her hair, only a little bit darker. In the six months that she had owned it, she'd began to call it "Forest", because it responded to her deepest feelings like a magnificent tree in a beautiful forest sways to the emotions of wind.
Angelina was huddled in the corner of the garage with Forest when she heard a faint tapping on the garage door. Opening it just a bit, she saw familiar boots; it was Harold. She opened the garage door further so that he could stoop under. Once inside, he saw that she had been crying and told her that he really wanted her to be his replacement for the band's next performance. "I have a plan." he said with a broad grin. "I am going to talk to Denny again and get myself back in the band." Angelina gasped. "What?" You mean Denny kicked you out of the band over this?" Hanging his head a bit, Harold said "Yeah, but don't worry, I will just tell Denny that I took care of the problem, and I can make it to that performance after all."
Angelina looked even more hurt when Harold looked at her, so he quickly added, "But I won't really do the performance. I will show up so it looks like I am going to play, and when we take our break from warming up before the show, you will slip in to take my place! When you show up on the stage at the beginning, there will be nothing Denny can do but let you play the gig!"
Even though Angelina loved the idea and wanted to play, she still was hesitant. "Are you sure this will work?" she said.
"Oh I am positive it will work out for both of us, and your big brother will get a chance to see you the way you are meant to be seen." Angelina smiled and said "Okay then, let me know what time and where to be. I will definitely be there. I'll make sure that I get a copy of all the songs you will be rehearsing for this prom and I will shock Denny like he has never been shocked before!! Thanks Harold!" She hugged him and reopened the exit for him. He slipped into the darkness as quietly as he had come.
At the band's next rehearsal, Angelina watched intently for Harold's appearance, indicating that he was back in the band. He was, so Angelina watched and listened even more closely to the songs and methods the band would use for their next performance at the prom.
Harold had slipped Angelina a note telling her to be ready at the backdoor to the gymnasium at West High School on Saturday following the band's final rehearsal.
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That night finally arrived. Angelina dressed in her favorite pants, with pinstriped checks that matched the amber hues in her hair, her eyes and in her deeply loved Forest too. She added a splash more of warmth with her dark brick red court shoes. She cooled it off a bit with a white sleeveless top, hung her good luck charm around her neck, then tied it all together with a dark brown belt. She was ready and could barely wait to do her first show.
Since her Mom and Dad had not seen fit to buy her a car yet, she left the house on her bike. Her parents didn't seem too concerned that she was leaving right after dinner. She explained that a girlfriend wanted to learn a few guitar chords. "Please don't wait up for me. I will call at eleven if I plan to stay any later. OK?" Okay it was, so Angelina encased Forest in a soft guitar carry-all and slung it over her shoulder.
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The wind felt good against her face as she pedaled toward the gymnasium humming the first part of "Stairway to Heaven".
When she arrived at the school she chained her bike to a pole at the back of the gymnasium and leaned up against the wall to catch her breath. She could hear the prom kids coming in and the first sounds of The Ones starting their warm ups. Her mind drifted off to the first day she had met Harold. He was at least 3 years older than she was and he had never really showed her any nice attention like this before, just teasing like all the other members of the band. Angelina thought, wanting to be forgiving, "At least he did apologize for his part and even for the others too."
The warm up inside continued and so did the noise level of talking, laughing, and shuffling of feet in and out of the gymnasium. Angelina felt lucky that no one had come in or out of the entrance where she was waiting. She slid down the wall a bit and plucked at a tuft of grass. She was anxious to see Harold's face at the door.
Angelina strained to listen to most of the band's warm up, but the evening air cooling the perspiration on her skin relaxed her, so as she allowed herself to drift into a light sleep, she told herself that Harold would wake her when the band was finished.
While Angelina napped, she dreamed that she was trapped inside of the gymnasium wall and wanted to get out, but her ears were too big to get through the vent opening in the wall. She could see the inside of the gymnasium through the vent, but she could not go through because her ears had grown to the size of an elephant's ears. The sound of the music coming through the wall was so loud that it shook the floor where she crouched, and it rattled the wall around her. As she tried to pull herself toward the vent, her ear got caught on something behind her and was pulling her backwards so she could not bend far enough to crawl through.
She started to scream, "Help me Someone" and suddenly realized she was awake and not inside of a wall after all. She kept screaming "Help me Someone" as she felt a strong hand pulling her by her hair across the back parking lot of the school. Looking as far around her as she could inside his grip, Angelina saw Harold's familiar boots behind her. He was headed toward the deep bushes beyond the trash dumpster at the end of the parking lot. She thought "I must be dreaming", but still she yelled Harold's name.
Fully awake now, she pleaded with him to stop and to tell her what he was doing and why this to her? She received only silence except for one thing. He grunted... "Stop screaming or I will kill you right now." He kicked her in her back and kept dragging her toward the bushes. Angelina did quit screaming, but she kept fighting for her freedom. It was dark now, and oddly, she took time to ponder how long she had slept. She could not break free, no matter how hard she tried.
Harold pulled her into the bushes. He beat her brutally with his fists then picked up a brick and smashed it against her skull. As she blacked out, she heard him laugh as he got very close to her face to say, "Denny will see you the way you were meant to be seen now, huh Angel?"
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Since that night, during prom week, West High School's newspaper prints the article about how Angelina was found dead behind their gymnasium. Discovered by a janitor on the Monday following prom night, she had been beaten and raped. Angelina was hugging Forest. Her bike was still chained to the post where she had left it. Her attacker was never found.
Many West High students swear that they have seen Angelina's spirit just inside the back entrance of their gymnasium during prom nights. She's wearing her favorite pants with the pinstriped checks and her brick red court shoes. Her white blouse has blood on it, and her good luck charm is gone; but they can hear music when they see her and Forest. The students are always sure of the song they hear. It is definitely "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin.
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