"Thank you," Jay's voice pained, his strong Nottingham accent clear "thank you for everything you have ever done for us,"
Siva nodded, staring into the audience. Staring into the eyes of the girls who had gave him so much happiness, hope. Tears began to sting the corners of his eyes.
Jay continues, "for being here while we did what we love, thanks for staying through the rough times, and loving us with all your heart - even when we did completely 'eff up"
The spotlight was on Max now. The light hitting him perfectly.
"The boys right," Max sniffed, smiling "we love you"
"You made our journey amazing. I know it's something we'll never forget" Jay croaked.
Each boy nodded, one by one, tears rolling down their blushed cheeks.
Tom stepped forwards, almost timidly. It was nothing like the usual big sway in his walk, then of course, in true Parker fashion, he opened his gob. "You're all fuckin' gorgeous! I fuckin' love you all! I hate how this has to come to an end, it's shit, ain't it? But I promise you girls," he forced a smile "you'll always be in here"
He pressed his finger firmly to the left of his chest. Awes filled the arena. Then it all fell silent as a bloodshot eyed Nathan stepped forward. There was no applause or awe or screams, not this time. Nothing like when he was 19. Just silence. The sort of deafening silence that causes ringing in your ears.
"Uh," he put his hands in his pockets "thanks"
He stepped back into the darkness. A few girls just burst into tears there and then. Some were already in tears, and if they themselves weren't crying or on the verge of tears, were trying to comfort those around them. Either way, tears were pretty much flooding the whole concert. Out of disappointment, sadness, anger, I do not know. But they meant something. Something a lot more than "just tears".
"This is it, isn't it?" Siva whispered.
They fell into each others arms, forming a group hug. The screen behind them lit up.
"I'm Seev, Siva Kaneswaran"
"Nathan Sykes"
"Max, Max George"
"Jay McGuiness"
"Ite, I'm Tom Parker"
This was it. No more The Wanted. No more Wednesday mornings waking up to a flip or a mailer.No more laughs, nor cries. Nothing. Each boy put a finger on their lip, and raised it to the audience.
"We're The Wan... I mean, we were The Wanted. Thanks for coming. Goodnight" Max sniffed a couple more times.
Each boy left the stage. Each boy ...except Siva. He stayed firmly at his guitar amp.
"And if you know... how do you get up from an all time low?" he quietly sang, tears falling from his eyes "I'm in pieces, seems like peace is... the only thing I'll never know... how do you get up from a-an all time low?"
And then he got up, and just left. Just like that. You could hear the crowd screaming now. Singing.
"We love you The Wanted, we do! We love The Wanted, we do! The Wanted, we love you!"
But there was no bringing The Wanted back now. No bringing our boys back. This was the end. The end of something so beautiful. So ...amazing. Something that gave us all so much fucking happiness. Somewhere we all finally felt we belonged. I guess even The Wanted, if you jumble all the letters up, has end in it. But I guess it all had a beginning, too. So how about I tell you just that? The beginning of The Wanted?
