Tender (A britpop era fiction)

The Swamp Song

Im so sorry for having to split another chapter yet again, but the good thing is, the next will be uploaded tomorrow because it's almost finished! And the chapter after that I'm SO excited about, because we're gonna change to a new POV that hasn't played a big part until now. Any idea's who that could be?

And then a little time jump. I honestly can't wait.

Lately, writing has been the only thing that kept my spirits up. I'm a bit lost in the moment, somehow hanging in there, doubting all the choices I made lately, being sad a lot. I don't wanna bother you with any of my personal crap, but in case I go MIA very quickly and don't upload for a while, please know there's a reason. 

But reading your comments and knowing how passionate you're all about this story gives a lot of confidence in my writing and my way to tell a story and I couldn't thank you enough for that, even if I tried. It held me up for the last days and it's good to know people care about what you do, because I haven't had that feeling in other areas of my life (I'm looking at you, university) for a while now.

Lots of love as always. I hope you all stay safe and sound,

Sally, x.

I close my eyes for a moment. The pounding behind my forehead becomes stronger, more punctiform behind my left eye. I rub over my eyebrow and then look back to Matt.

"After the fight, I stayed in Rockfield. Liam fucked off with Michael Spencer Jones and went to Manchester then. Noel had driven off with Whitey. That poor bloke must've thought he's landed in the midst of the most ludicrous bunch of dicks on the island. Two weeks in and the singer and the songwriter almost kill each other."

"Why did you not go with one of them?" Matt asks.

"I didn't wanna see either of them" I say. "I was dead furious."

"But if I recall right-" Matt looks at his note. "Everyone left the farm. Why not you? A week alone in the middle of nowhere can be long."

It felt like a lifetime.

"I wasn't alone. The sound engineers were still there. And Kingsley and his family" I disagree. "I spend a lot of time with Nick, the sound engineer that helped with the album."

"Claire" Matt says quietly. "Again, your try to distract from the question."

"Because they'd hurt me" I simply say. "Seeing my brothers beating each other up like that, it hurt me. And it shocked me."

Matt leans back. He seems to think about his next words.

"You must've witnessed them fight quite often before that."

"Not like this. This was different."

No matter that it's mid-May, in the morning it's still cool. I get up and start putting some clothes on that lie around. Liams clothes, Noels, maybe Boneheads, I have no idea. They basically dropped everything when they left and I spent the morning after amassing everything that hadn't been damaged or destroyed in the fight and now it's all piled up in the room Noel and I shared.

I get over to the kitchen and make myself a cup of coffee. The quietness in the house still unsettles me and so I start rolling myself a joint while the smell of freshly brewed coffee fills the kitchen.