Faith Will Save You (Dolores O'Riordan fanfic)

FOUR

Sophie just stood rooted to the spot, perplexed, as she gazed directly in front of her at what gave the appearance of a rusty old garage. She knew that Dolores was not hugely into the glitz and glamour, by any means. However, she was stunned at the concept of something so casual and ordinary potentially becoming part of an unreleased piece of art. The music video was obviously intended to be simplistic-looking, but with an intelligent and symbolic message behind it. 

Glancing up at the sullen sky, she noticed the clouds were turning greyer by the minute, and the air in the atmosphere was starting to feel rather damp. The breeze slapped against Sophie's skin, brushing against the hair follicles on her arms; it felt as though the heavens were about to open and the clouds were to cry a flood of tears. Hardly surprising though, for Ireland, Sophie thought to herself nonchalantly. She glanced across the yard, which was embalmed with a carpet of red gravel stones to prevent the ground from getting any boggier with mud than it already was in some places. She observed Dolores talking to her band members, Mike, Fergal and Noel. Her face appeared pained, Sophie noticed, which could possibly be linked to the suspicion that Sophie had about her earlier that morning, that something was definitely 'off'. Curiosity was no sin, but rather just part of being human. Sophie knew that in the pit of her mind, of course, but that did not stop her from  feeling guilty about theorising all the possibilities for Dolores' sudden mood swing from the night before to that very morning. She hated herself for it. She was not entitled to know what was going on, she had no right. It was no business of hers, and she knew that, whatever it was, it was evidently a discreet band discussion that was not meant for her ears.

She spent another minute or two serenely disassociating and merely staring absently ahead of her, until distant voices pricked at her ears, causing her to once again look in the direction of the band. Fergal jogged over to his car to grab some equipment that was loaded into his car boot.

"Hey can one of you lads give me a hand here?" Fergal grunted hoarsely as he tried to lift something that looked incredibly heavy out of his car boot. "There's some guitars and thimbles in here too as well as this damn drum set."

"Ay, hang on a sec," Noel called back as he, Dolores and Mike were walking back to where Sophie stood like a waxwork. "Gotta go help Ferg. Won't be a minute." And with that, he ran over to provide assistance to his struggling bandmate trying to unload the equipment.

"Well don't break any bones, will you?" Mike called after his brother, and laughed slightly before Sophie saw his face suddenly turn more sombre. She grew even more curious and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry Dol. Truly. But don't worry, your new idea will work fine too. We can do this. Everything will be okay, that's a promise."

Dolores nodded gratefully at Mike before her previously-pursed lips trembled slightly, but through all of that, she still managed to crack the tiniest, faintest smile, like a solitary flower springing from the soil on a battlefield. It was barely noticeable from Sophie's distance, and did look downturned, but it was still a smile all the same. The pair of them eventually reached where Sophie stood waiting for them.

"Are you okay love? You look a bit chilly." Dolores remarked airily, addressing Sophie. She sounded merry enough, but Sophie could tell it wasn't entirely natural and that to some extent she was putting on a brave face. 

Sophie nodded hesitantly in response, trying not to shiver from the foul breeze. 

"I'll survive." she laughed, and Dolores smiled wearily in response, but did not hesitate to link Sophie's arm with her own. 

"It won't take long to set everything up, don't worry. Noel and Fergal have got the technicians onto it. We should be good to go inside in five minutes."