A N G E L (Roger Daltrey)

Thirty One

Roger's POV

I turned Heather's hairbrush over and over in my hands, inspecting the coppery brown hairs wound through the bristles. I hadn't seen her in days. She had called yesterday, saying she needed to be alone for a while. The conversation had started fairly calm, but ended with screaming and arguing and the slam of the phone into the cradle.

I missed her.

My bed was empty and cold without her warm body in it. The house was so quiet without her squealing laugh. To top it off, tensions were high as ever in the band. Part of me blamed myself, part of me blamed Keith.

I sat the hairbrush down on her nightstand, knocking over a tube of lipstick as I did so. I watched it roll off the table, onto the floor, and under the bed. I didn't have the energy to go after it.

How long I sat on the edge of the bed staring at the wall after that, I don't know. All I know is that eventually my stomach growled, and that was enough to propel me down the stairs and into the kitchen. I assembled a ham and cheese sandwich and ate it in silence, glancing occasionally at the blood stains on the linoleum where I had smashed Keith's face in. I had tried to get them up, but they had only faded into sickly, pinkish splotches.

After I satisfied my stomach, the longing for love in my heart tugged me to the phone. I dialed the new number Janice had given me. It rang a couple times before someone picked it up.

"Hello?" Came the tiniest voice I had heard possibly ever.

"Hello...is Janice there?" I asked.

"No, she's at work. You sound funny, how come?" The little voice returned.

"Because I—" I started, cut off by a more grown voice interrupting in the background.

"Annie, I told you not to pick up the phone, it could be bad guys. Let me have it." It grew closer as it talked. "Hello?"

"Hello." I stifled a chuckle. "I was just calling to see if Janice was home, but I've been told she's at work. Could you tell her Roger called and to give me a call back? She should have my home number."

"...Okay. I'll tell her when she gets back. Have a good day." The woman said.

"You too, goodbye."

I hung up the phone and wandered outside, walking a lap around my house before settling in a sunny patch of grass like a cat. I stretched out and watched the fluffy, white clouds crawl overhead until my eyelids got heavy and I fell asleep.

The sun was almost starting to set when I woke up to Heather standing over me.

"Ah!" I exclaimed, scrambling into a sitting position.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," she spat sarcastically, "I only called you, like, ten times."

"What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"I came to get some of my shit. Give me the key." She demanded.

"It's unlocked." I replied. I sat there dumbfounded as she stalked into the house and out of sight.

I walked in after a couple of minutes to one of the most horrifying scenes out of all the recent events.

Heather was on the phone.

And I immediately knew who was on the other line.

Janice's POV

Annie met me at the door as usual when I got home from work. I sat my things down and gave her a big hug.

"I got something for you today!" I handed her two brownies wrapped in a paper towel. "Run into my room and eat them before your mom sees."

She giggled and sprinted off to inhale her treat and badger Nancy.