Did you see the Flares in the sky?

146

Danny POV
It took me a while to realise my phone was ringing, I felt a dead weight on my lap, Daisy was still fast asleep on me. I grabbed my phone of the sofa arm and slid the bar at the bottom across to shut it up. It was Mark calling me.

Call from Mark
M: Dan where are you? You were supposed to be here an hour ago!
D: Not coming in.
M: What the fuck is wrong with you? You only decide to tell us this now?
D: What the fuck is wrong with me? If you want to know then I'll tell you! My daughter is fucking pregnant and my girlfriend just walked out on me because she's got back in touch with the dad of her child! That's what's wrong!

There was silence on the line, just static noise.

M: Shit Dan, I'm sorry dude.

I lifted Daisy's head off my lap, she mumbled slightly but stayed asleep as I put a cushion under her head and laud her back down. I walked into the kitchen and sat down on the worktop, I bit my lip to stop myself from bursting into tears.

M: Danny are you there. 
D: Yes

My voice was strained and thick with tears.

M: It'll be ok. Just take your time.
D: It won't, I've just lost my girlfriend and my daughter is going through something no teenager should go through, especially not when she's doing her GCSEs next year. Fuck I just want to get hammered and drown my sorrows but I can't, I have to hold it together for the sake of Daisy.
M: Listen to me lad, it's going to be ok, your daughter isn't stupid, and maybe Amber wasn't the girl for you? You'll get over this, just soldier on. You have to keep going, life's like a tightrope, you need to keep walking to stay balanced.
D: She was, she was perfect. I just wish I could have said to her what I'm thinking now, I've got loads of great comebacks now, lots of stuff I could say that would make her stay. 
M: Write it down man, stick it in a song. As your old man said, 'take that rage, put it on a page'.

At the mention of my dad a sob escaped me, I tried to keep control of the floodgates but the water buffering the cast iron was strong. I could barely hold it together as I climbed the stairs into the music room. I sat down at the piano and slammed my hands down on the keys, resting my head in my hands I cried. The tears soaking my hands and making the piano keys damp.

But as you walk away
You don't hear me say
Where's the good in goodbye
Where's the nice in nice try
Where's the us in trust gone
Where's the soul in soldier on

I scribbled the lyrics in my barely eligible writing.  No one was ever going to see it, it was for my own sanity. Instead I crumpled it up and shoved it in my back pocket.

The next day I walked into the studio, 10 minutes late as usual. They gazed at me sympathetically, I looked down at the floor I didn't want their sympathy.

"Hi Dan you ok?" Mark asked.

I knodded.

We sat around in the studio for abit, no one had any inspiration for any songs, or tunes, or melodies, or riffs or lyrics. I stood up to go make another cup of tea, the third one of the day. I came back balancing 3 mugs on a tray. I saw Glen and Mark reading something. As I approached they looked up over their shoulders at me.

"Dan did you write this?" Glen asked raising one eyebrow.

"What is is?"

"Here," he handed me the scrap of paper, I saw it was what I'd written down the day before. It must have fallen out my back pocket, when would I learn not to leave stuff in my back pockets.

"Yeah," I mumbled handing it back, suddenly self concious.

"It's good Dan, honestly it is," Mark took a sip of tea as I flopped into my seat, "you wrote it about her didn't you?"