Short Story Thingies

Live Forever

Oasis were in New York. Touring again. Where better to film their next music video?

They were all in a meeting, everyone but Tony. They were locked in, huddled together, speaking rather quietly. It was boiling hot in that room but they barely noticed.

"How do we get rid of him?" Marcus Russell, their manager asked.

"I was thinking bury the drums, all his power is in that kit." The director suggested.

"Bury him." Noel piped up. "Bury the drummer alive."

No one would dare speak his name. They were all absolutely terrified of him, of what he had become. Noel was certain that it would be more efficient to bury him, separate him from his drum kit and his band.

"I'm stoned and I know that this is mad." Guigsy spoke up, reluctant to accept any of this. "He isn't..."

Tony was his best friend, he'd known him for ages. There was no way any of this could be real, they were all having a bad trip and he was the sane one, for once.

Liam grabbed Guigsy shoulders and looked him right in the eye. "He is! We have to do it before he fucking kills us!"

The terror in Liam's eyes couldn't have been any more obvious. Guigsy had never, ever seen him like that. Liam Gallagher wasn't scared of anything but he was shitting himself over this.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"How are you all so sure though? What if we just kill our friend for nothing?" Guigsy questioned.

"I saw it." Bonehead said, scared to recount what he saw. "He attacked a groupie, she wasn't the first, I know it. He's not human anymore, Guigs'."

"How the fuck did this happen?" Guigsy asked.

"Does it fucking matter?" Liam asked. "He's a monster, we had to kill him before he kills again, before he kills any of us."

Liam had been there too, he'd witnessed Tony forcing the life out of some innocent bird who just wanted to see their gig and get lucky with the band. She wasn't lucky at all.

"How are we going to convince him to get in a grave?" Bonehead asked. "None of us could overpower him.

Even all of them working together wasn't as strong as Tony was now. He would have to go willingly or he wasn't going at all.

"I could make it part of the video." The director suggested. "Add some surreal shit and he won't know until it's too late."

"What surreal shit?" Noel knew they needed to solve the Tony problem but he still didn't want a shit video.

"Liam sat on a chair somewhere?" Was the director's first idea. "Shots of water, weird colours and then the mock funeral."

Everyone nodded again, no one could think of anything better so they went with it.

...

Filming started the next day and Noel had completely forgot about it. He never forgot about this stuff and he definitely wasn't avoiding it, he wasn't the type that avoided dealing with his problems.

He went to get drunk last night, worried it wouldn't work and he was still drinking now without knowing why.

Elsewhere the band filmed the whole thing, they dug the hole with pick axes and shovels as Tony stood watch. Tony didn't question it, it was just another mad idea of a music video director. He laid with his arms crossed in his shallow grave and the band covered him in soil until the grave was completely filled in.

He showed up for filming the next day. He had a massive hangover so he made sure to keep his sunglasses on and avoid anything that made his head worse. He was kitted out entirely in Adidas, a track suit. He wished he had a hood to pull over his head to block out even more of the New York sun.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Liam asked with a harsh tone as soon as he saw his brother.

Liam couldn't stand it when it was Noel who was being the irresponsible one. He'd always been there for him and now the whole band needed to stick together he'd fucked off leaving them with no idea where he was.

Liam had spent the previous day worrying out of his mind. What if Tony had already got to him before they could go through with the plan? He didn't mind getting rid of Tony but he couldn't live without his brother.

"Forgot, alright?" Noel mumbled. "Thought first day was today."

Liam didn't believe him but there was nothing they could do about it. Tony was buried, they just had to finish the funeral ritual and it was over.

"You have to put the wreath and his drumsticks on the grave." Liam told him, trying to sound nonchalant when he was worried as hell.

"Why me?" he asked, scared. "This shit could have been over by now!"

He didn't want to go anywhere near the grave. He hadn't exactly treated Tony nicely and he was sure he'd happily take revenge given the opportunity.

"You're the strongest it has to be you." Liam insisted. "And we did everything else."

The director gave him instructions and then they went to film the final parts of the video. Noel saw the grave and thought his band had made a good job of it, Tony was truly buried and he wasn't coming back.

He was given the massive pink flowered wreath and drumsticks and went to the grave. He crouched at the foot of the grave and threw the wreath to the middle of the soil as directed, praying the director would be happy with the first shot. He thought for a minute, looking mournful before throwing the drumsticks into the middle of the wreath too.

"Rest in hell, vampire." he said as he stood up and walked away thinking it was all over.

With his back turned he didn't notice Tony's hand rise from the soil and take back his drumsticks. He didn't notice him rising from the grave either.

The plan had completely failed.

They hadn't realised that this wouldn't stop Tony, a night buried in a shallow grave was nothing to him. Giving back his drumsticks had given back his power. He was going to live forever and Noel was right, he would come after him first...