Necropolis

something going wrong

 13.02.92

Something was off. Dede sensed it immediately upon entering the small conference room of Gold Mountain Entertainment. The air was thick, and the silence hanging in it was far from a pleasant moment of relief for ears. Quietness seemed to take on a physical form and choke everyone around.

Dede cautiously made her way towards the only available chair. She was afraid to say anything and break the silence, which seemed to be deepening. No one paid attention to her; everyone was deeply immersed in their own world of imagination. The girl didn't expect this. She hoped that after leaving the hospital, everyone would greet her with open arms as they always did and quickly move on to continue what they were doing before her hospitalization. But this time...

She didn't even know what was happening. Dede looked around and felt as if time stood still. Ben, sitting across from her, absentmindedly twirled a pen between his fingers, whispering something incomprehensible under his breath. Kristen and their manager, Janet Billig, sat on the right edge of the table, while on the other side, visibly irritated, Spencer stared at the wooden wallpaper and nervously tapped his feet. Dede turned her head and saw Eric looking out the window, his gaze wandering helplessly. The girl wanted to say something, but she didn't even know where to start. Say hello? Tell them she's fine? Ask what's going on and why the hell they're having this meeting in some corporate shit building? Before she could decide, Janet broke the silence.

"Okay, I see everyone's here." She replied in an uneasy tone and reached for the folder standing by her feet. Carefully, she extracted a stack of papers, placed them in front of her, and let out a practically imperceptible sigh. Dede still tried to decipher what was happening, and the voice in her head suggested that it was better not to ask because the answer would, at best, be unpleasant.

„Maybe someone would like to explain to Darcy why we're meeting here?" Janet glanced around the room, avoiding the girl's gaze, who flinched at the sound of her full name. Everyone remained silent, and the manager sighed again, this time much louder and more meaningfully. "Unless someone has already talked to you about it," she added, still not looking Darcy in the eyes. It was starting to annoy her, all this theatrics, as if they couldn't just get to the point, and why hadn't anyone told her about this earlier? All she got was a letter from Janet saying there would be a meeting of the entire "Ghost Domination" crew on Friday with the address attached.

"I don't know anything, and it's starting to piss me off," the girl replied, once again looking around the room. She glanced at Eric, who was now staring straight into her eyes with tangible pain in his gaze. "What's going on?" she asked the drummer. He had already opened his mouth, but as if hesitating at the last moment, he turned his head away, clenching his eyelids.

"What a bitch," Kristen muttered under her breath, as always too loudly and too ostentatiously.

"Kris, calm down" Janet replied, placing her hand on the vocalist's shoulder.

"I am calm" the girl muttered arrogantly. Dede chuckled quietly at the sight. God, how that chick annoyed her, right from the start. Still the same hypocrite who thought she was the best and most important, yet couldn't even fight for the position of frontwoman.

"What are you laughing at?" the vocalist snapped, apparently noticing Dede's slightly raised corners of the mouth.

"I bet you 'broke up' with Spencer again," she replied, widening her smile. Whatever one might say, it was a very possible scenario. The couple often argued, and even though they were married, they acted like teenage lovers, breaking up practically every month, only to get back together as if nothing had happened after a few days.

"You fucking better know," Kristen practically leaped out of her chair and leaned on the table, leaning towards Dede with her arms. "But you know what I'm betting on? That I'll kick your ass out as soon as I tell you that Ghost Domination is no more," she hissed. Now Dede wasn't laughing anymore; she sank deeply into her chair, trying to digest the news she had just heard. How was that possible?