Achromatic

Chapter Five

The weeks that followed 2D's funeral were generally uneventful: After Russel had finally finished the last of 2D's legal documents, he went back to his job and returned to his almost daily cycle of late night shifts and moderate pay. He made the transition to a nocturnal schedule, sleeping for most of the day and getting up at sunset to drive to the pub.

Noodle spent most of her time endlessly cleaning the flat from top to bottom. It started with casual everyday chores such as picking up garbage, washing dishes and sweeping the floors. But when Noodle began to realize how filthy her surroundings were, the light chores turned into a daily spring cleaning. It ranged from an endless cycle of scrubbing bathrooms, polishing silverware, alphabetizing Russel's record collection and dusting every object within sight until Murdoc would eventually find her passed out on the couch with a broom in one hand and a spray bottle in the other.

As for Murdoc, his days mostly consisted of an relentless cycle of drinking, smoking and sitting alone in 2D's bedroom. When he and Noodle finally finished organizing his stuff, Murdoc stumbled upon a shoebox under his bed that was labeled; 'Music and Shit'. With a small smile, he opened the box, which immediately overflowed with a mountain of notebook paper scribbled with words and music notes.

The first piece of paper that Murdoc picked up from the box was covered in writing, which most of it was scribbled out in black pen. On the top, it read: "Untitled song for the best band mates in the world: Murdoc, Russel and Noodle. I miss you guys."

Murdoc read the tangled mess of lyrics and notes over and over again, tracing his fingers along the writing that was both visible and scratched out.

Once he thought he had memorized the paper, Murdoc looked at the box and began to dig out more paper. Just like the first song he discovered, all of the sheets were covered front and back with endless writing and scribbling.

There were sheets of every shape, size and color, from white notebook paper, pink sticky notes to yellow legal pad paper. Some of them were torn in half, or clumsily stuck back together with glue or tape.

Murdoc looked at 2D's alarm clock, which read 9:30 P.M.

"Murdoc?"

Right on schedule.

"You finished cleaning, Noodle?"
Murdoc replied.

"Yeah. I'm just...going to bed,"

"Alright,"

Noodle didn't even bother to enter the bedroom: she stood outside the door clutching a dusting rag in her hand. Every day she was covered in soot and bathroom cleaner and too exhausted to function.

Noodle and Murdoc hardly ever spoke to each other, even when 2D was still around.

Murdoc stayed up for another hour in 2D's bedroom gazing upon his written works. Some of them were very early and poorly written attempts at songs from back when the band still had no name. Murdoc recognized a bunch of drafts, along with endless rhyming lists. But the one that stood out most was the unfinished song 2D had written for them.

"I miss you guys."

"We miss you too, kid," Murdoc said.

Murdoc put the paper on 2D's nightstand, and fell fast asleep on top of his bed.