The Dying Light

7

I woke up to the smell of coffee and complete silence. I slowly opened my eyes as I remembered that I was not in Shields. I then turned around to see that Anna was not by my side. Lazily, I got out of bed and tried to fix my hair the best way I could I walked down the stairs.

"Good morning" Anna greeted me as I walked into the kitchen as she was serving a bacon bap. 

"Morning" I said rubbing my eyes as I came closer to her to kiss her cheek. "Where's everyone?" I asked after noticing that the house was too quiet.

"At the local market. You know, they are all early birds" She handed me a cup of coffee.

"Right. What are we doing today, then?" I asked before drinking a bit of my coffee.

"I was actually thinking about going to the markets ourselves, see if there are any of my friends around there" 

For a small town, the market was quite big. I mean, it occupied all literally the streets of the town and it was crowded. However, something (or someone) quickly caught Anna's eyes just a few minutes after we arrived there. It was a boy busking. Funnily enough, he did quite look like Liam Gallagher in his 1994 era and was singing an Oasis song as Anna's slipped out of my hand before running to him.

"Tommy!" She screamed at the boy. He had almost no time to set the guitar aside before Anna landed right into his arms, hugging him tight, as I was awkwardly standing staring at the scene.

"Jesus Anna, you've blossom love" He commented quite amused when he got a chance to look at her.

"It's been forever since I saw you, how are you?" She asked, a big smile spreading across her face.

"Been alright I guess. Not much to do round here so you know, singing" Tommy lifted his shoulders. "What are you doing here anyways?" He then asked.

"I'm here with my boyfriend for my nan's birthday" She said. Tommy's gaze actually left Anna at that moment and took a look around before it landed on me.

"You're not telling me that lad is your boyfriend, are you?" He said amused as Anna nodded. "Fuck me that's Sam Fender" He carefully left his guitar in its case and closed it as he made his way towards me with his hand extended for me to shake.

"You alright?" I said as I shook his hand.

"Yeah, yeah sound now that I've met you" He turned around, eyes opened in disbelief. "How did you two met? It's mental" Anna rubbed his arm softly to try to calm him down.

"Let's go for a coffee or something, aye? And we'll explain" Anna offered.

I fell silent as I observed how the conversation flowed naturally between them. There was like a special spark going on that I was not sure I was understanding as Tommy was never mentioned before. I mean, I had no clue of Anna's feelings towards that lad but I did notice that he was almost drooling at the sight of her. Which, I mean, I totally get, Anna was good looking and she was easy going so it was easy to sort of hit off with her.

"How's your mam?" Anna asked as I quietly sipped my coffee.

"She's alright I guess, falling every now and then back to the old habits and that but she's trying for Emma, you know" I turned to look at Anna with my eyebrows furrowed, gesture that did not go unnoticed by Tommy. "She's an alcoholic and Emma is my daughter. Had her when I was too young and the mother has not bothered in taking care of her in the six years she has" I nodded slowly. "How did you two meet anyways?" Tommy's right leg was bouncing up and down all the time which was more interesting than whatever lie Anna was about to drop.

"We met at a party that one of friends threw and it was instant connection" She reached for my hand, and I let it slide in mine, offering her a smile. "I felt like it was the right time for my parents to meet him after we've been getting to know each other for a while now" Anna explained.

There was something else getting on my nerves about Tommy. It was the way he kept biting his nails, scratching his arms almost hysterically along with his sunken eyes. At times it felt like he had way too much energy for the catching-up conversation we were having which was rather boring. He then took a pack of cigarettes, as we were seated outside of the cafe, and lit one, not without failing miserably to actually lit the thing up because of his shaky hands.

"You smoke, right?" He asked me, receiving a nod in response. "Get one" He threw me the pack and I glanced at Anna before taking one. I knew it got on her nerves how often I could be seen with a cigarette hanging from my lips but I could not say no to him, right? "I love your music man, it's the best we've had in the music scene since Oasis" He said.

I almost choked on the smoke I was inhaling. "Thanks, that means a lot" I managed to say.

"Tommy has always been a music genius. He writes songs but he never settled down for anything serious with music" Anna explained.

"I have a kid, you know, don't really have much time for music if it doesn't work, do I?" I was distracted looking at the ash hanging from the cigarette before noticing how Anna was looking at me with pleading eyes. So I immediately looked up.

"Do you have anything good that you can show us?" Those words were enough to make him take out his guitar and sing a song. It was rough, the song needed a bit of working to do, but he was good. With a good producer, a good band a good team he could actually go far. "You know what?" I said right after he finished. I then threw the cigarette to the floor and grab a napkin, writing the address of my recording studio with the pen I always had around in case any lyrics became too repetitive in my head. "Feel free to come any day you want if you ever come to Shields" 

Tommy held the paper in his hands and he stared at it before his eyes actually got watery. "Thanks sman, it means a lot" He smiled at me.

"It's alright. The song is good so I'm sure we could work together on something else, aye?" I turned to look at Anna, who was wipping some tears from her face.

When we got home, Anna's brother was the only around and he was sitting down in the living room, playing some videogames. Anna sat down in the sofa besides him and I took it a sign to do the same.

"How was your day?" Ian asked as his eyes were focused on the screen.

"It was good, actually. We came across Tommy" At the mention of the name, Ian turned to look at his sister.

"How is he?" His tone actually sifted, making me turn to look at Anna as well.

"He's great, busking and taking care of his daughter" Ian eyed his sister up and down and quickly glanced at me before mumbling a 'right' and turning to the screen again.

"What did you think about him, Sam?" He asked, catching me by surprise. 

"He's alright, innit? A bit too much at times but his music his good" I said. 

"But" Ian said, after noticing I was not being completely honest.

"But I think he might be taking some habits which are... odd" I said.

"What do you mean?" Anna turned to look at me.

"Rumour has it that he is using" Ian said. "What did he tell you about his missus?" He said.

"That she took off, didn't she?" Anna said.

"Right" Ian stopped the game and set the controler in the table in front of him before facing his sister. "She didn't quite leave, apparently things got a bit too out of control and she ended up overdosing" James explained.

I opened my eyes, taking aback by this situation. "Oh" Anna's tone came as sad. "Well" She cleared her voice. "I'm sure Tommy's not using, he cannot be using, right?" She received no answer from her brother so the turned to me. "Right, Sammy?" I tried to smile at her.

"If he comes over, I'm guessing we'll see, love" I said.