Monster Band Part Two: Pope the Mothman (special preview)

Pope’s home is beautiful, it’s a stone house completely covered by vines with tons of pretty trees and foliage all around. It looked like some little fairytale nook carved out after rows and rows of apartment buildings and cookie cutter subdivisions.

Inside I could hear music playing and when I wrung the doorbell it stopped. A moment later Pope was at the door. 

“There you are,” he smiles. “Come on in.”

My stomach has joined my heart in doing gymnastics. “Your house is gorgeous!” I reply. 

“One of the first things I did when our first album sold well,” he chuckled. “I bought a house for my mom. I moved in after we broke up and took care of her until she passed.”

“Oh,” I gasp. “Wow.”

“It’s not much,” he says as we walk inside. “But it’s more than enough for me and the girls.”

I look around, hearing a strange and unnerving silence. “Where are the girls?”

Pope’s antenna raise up and twitch, fluffing out a bit. “Still in the backyard. They decided since it was going to be nice we would have the dinner party outside.”

I chuckle, noticing bags on the kitchen counter from take out places. “Seems quite the spread.”

“I admit, I let them walk all over me,” he huffs. “But I also thought, whatever doesn’t get eaten I can eat myself while they’re away.”

“Oh?” I turn to him. “Where are they going?”

“Marla is taking them to visit her family over in Paris. It’s a yearly trip. She’ll be picking the girls up tomorrow.” He walks me over to the sliding glass door. Outside there is a picnic table with an umbrella. The girls have it decorated with fairy lights and have all the food loaded on the top.

“Oh boy, they’ve really gone all out,” I giggle.

“That’s one thing I wish I had, one hundred percent into everything.” He turns and grins at me. “We should move. They want it all to be a surprise. If they catch us staring they could ban us for life.” He puts his hand on the small of my back and my spine melts into pudding. “Let me give you a tour.”