Mornin'.
I don't own the song, characters or locations. They all belong to their respective owners.
( * * * )
"Not... much... further...heh..."
An ominous figure waded wearily through a rusted sewage pipe that had a tiny diameter of less than two feet. It was filthy, and the smell was enough to knock someone off their feet.
But none of this mattered to him. For this pipe was his escape. He clawed his way through it, his blood red eyes staring forward. Looking for an exit. Looking for his escape.
Then, he saw it. It was difficult to see in the night, but after crawling through a half-mile of hell, it was there. Right in front of him.
His mouth curled into a terrifying smile. He dove head first out of the tube, into the river where the raw sewage would be deposited. Clambering onto a river bank then on to dry land, he lay flat on his back. Then he grinned. Then laughed. He laughed uncontrollably. He was free. He was liberated. He was unleashed.
( * * * )
"You are the voice of reason that I can't escape,
Cut me down a thousand times a day,
I don't need you anymore,
I don't need you anymore.
I trusted you and there was no one else,
All you did was make me doubt myself,
Don't believe you anymore,
Don't believe you anymore.
You bled me out,
You tore me down,
Your time has come,
You can go -
'Cause you're a liar, liar
Lie!
All my faith's been wasted, wasted
'Cause you're a liar, liar
Lie!
I don't need you to save me anymore!
I'm fragile, but I'm not a fool,
I won't hear another word from you.
You won't hurt me anymore,
You won't hurt me anymore.
The hand I held just held me down,
It took so long, now I know -
'Cause you're a liar, liar
Lie!
All my faith's been wasted, wasted
'Cause you're a liar, liar
Lie!
I won't sit here and take this anymore!
You can say anything that you wanna say,
But my attention's long gone and turned away!
You're such a lie,
You were only the enemy,
Everything you are, I will deny!
'Cause you're a liar, liar
Lie!
I'll just come out and say it, say it,
'Cause you're a liar, liar
Lie!
All my faith's been wasted, wasted
'Cause you're a liar, liar
Liar!
I don't need you to save me anymore -
I don't need you to save me anymore -
I don't need you to save me anymore!"
( * * * )
Wow, that was hard. Damnit, I'm spent. Sonic thought we should do a cover for our time on the stage, so here we are. The fact we got through it was a miracle; we'd barely practised.
I was in a band known as the Rising Quills. Don't ask me what the hell it's supposed to mean. Sonic was the lead guitarist, and my twin brother - even though we looked nothing alike. It's weird, I mean I don't think either of us is adopted. The jokes we made about that were countless. He'd always stand up for me - or anyone else who he saw in trouble. I always made sure to do the same for him; he was my only brother after all.
On the mic was Scourge, who had a comically large ego and is the guy who came up with our name. You'd be forgiven for thinking he was a dick if you'd just met him, but he meant well deep down. Even he doesn't know what it means, but I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with my spiked up hair. Maybe it's not and I should stop being so self-conscious. I dunno.
On bass was Shadow. His role suited him pretty well, as he wasn't the loudest of individuals. It's not like he didn't know to socialise, but you'd have to talk to him first most of the time. Saying that, you certainly wouldn't have to punch him first if you wanted a fight. He was quick to temper, and often had a scowl on his face. Still, he was funny when he wanted to be, especially when denting Scourge's ego.
Finally, there was me, Manic, on drums. There was just something so entertaining about beating the shit out of something and have it make such a satisfying noise in return. That's how I started anyway. Now that I know how to properly beat the shit of them, it's even better.
"Hey Sonic, I heard that chord you missed out there." exclaimed Scourge in the back.
"Hey come on man, I got four hours of sleep last night. Cut me a break"
Scourge laughed. "You have a midnight smack?" That was the phrase where we lived for... you know what, you can figure it out for yourself.
"Actually, it's supposed to be a really good tranquilizer." I pointed out.
"You'd know this?" Scourge replied.
"Heh, he'd know that" Said Shadow, grinning.
"Anyway, getting back on topic, I never miss notes when I play lead guitar, Sonic"
"Yeah, just a shame you're missing a pair of balls" Sonic responded. Shadow and I laughed hard, and thinking quickly I grabbed my drumsticks to create the "badum-tishhh" noise on my set.
"Yeah, whatever" was Scourge's only response.
We were just some garage band, really. We wrote songs, some of them even had meaning, but we were in it just for a hobby. None of us thought we'd become big time musicians and no one planned it to be that way (except maybe Scourge).
Hell, Sonic was the only one who owned his own house; I still lived with our parents. Well, parent, our dad died while we were young. I still think our mother did a great job in our upbringing on her own, despite that.
( * * * )
I was on my way back to Sonic's house after our gig, walking through Station Square City. I wasn't in the huge and densely populated CBD unfortunately, I was in its suburbs. Jesus, this place was run down. I'd been here before, but I was always taken aback just by how rough it was. I thought where I lived was bad.
Moving on, I came up to the more rich households. Detached houses were everywhere, and because there was a lot of work on offer in Station Square, it meant that the house prices would have been through the roof. Huh, I wish I lived he-
Shit, I bumped into someone.
"Watch where you're going, you dick!"
"Sorry dude, I - oh, it's you."
Silver the Hedgehog.
"Manic, just watch where you're walking. Jesus Christ," He said, mockingly.
"Shut up Silver, who the fuck do you think you are?"
"Yeah, keep walking or I'll break your legs, you scum."
"Try me, ya piece of shit," I replied aggressively, spreading my arms.
"Get lost. Get out of my neighbourhood, valley boy" Silver said back, walking off and mocking my accent.
"Your neighbourhood? Everybody here hates you!" I shouted after him. He flipped me off in response.
There was no secret in the animosity between me and Silver. Ever since I first met him, he held something against me. I don't really know why, but he always treated me differently to everyone else. Was he jealous? Why would he be jealous of me? His parents are rich as all hell, and I'm nothing special to be honest.
He'd do things like hide my clothes after P.E, draw dicks on my coursework, or create insults that targeted my personal being. All petty stuff, yet I always tried to be nice to him.
It all boiled down to one of our final days in high school, when he effectively ruined my chances of getting a girl I'd been after for ages. He spread a rumour that I was stalking her on Facebius. Simple, but effective.
When I found out it was him, I had no intention of physically attacking him. Verbally, definitely. He had other ideas. He slapped me straight across my face. What did I do? I headbutted him, broke his nose.
I was allowed to finish my exams, but both of us were banned from the high school prom. I was pissed about that. So was he. It was his own fault.
To think, that was four years ago. He still hasn't gotten over it, clearly. So long as I never see him again, I'm fine.
( * * * )
We met back up in Sonic's house later on. Sonic was on his phone, Scourge was watching football [Soccer, sorry I'm English] on TV and Shadow was sat laid out on the sofa using a pair of hand grips.
"Hey bro, I thought you'd never turn up!"
"Sorry man, I got caught up in somethin'."
"Woah, you looked pissed, what's up?"
I sighed. "I had an argument with Silver"
"Silver?!" he replied, taken aback.
"That bastard" Said Shadow, without moving. A few seconds later, he sat up. "If anyone here sees him again, tell me where he is and I'll beat the shit out of him"
He was being serious. Silver was a dick to Shadow too, before he got a gut punch for his troubles. Shadow never respected him and probably never will.
"What did he say to you, huh?" asked Sonic.
"Well, I bumped into him, he started-"
"OH, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Scourge screamed. "SHIT!"
Me and Sonic jumped out of our quills.
"What the hell, man?!" Sonic blurted out.
Scourge was an avid supporter of Westopolis United, and by the looks of things they'd just conceded a cheap goal in the 90th minute. It had cost them the match, not to mention against their rivals, AFC Central City. Scourge was well within his rights to be annoyed.
"Hell with this, see ya guys" said Scourge. Wow, he was angry. Shadow was laughing his tail off.
Sometime later, Sonic was watching the news at ten. It was part of this weird routine he had, he couldn't not do it.
"Hey guys, seen this?"
"What?"
"There was a murder after our show not too far from where we were"
"What happened?"
"Oh man, that's terrible, it was a little kid"
I winced. I always liked playing with kids, and I couldn't stand child cruelty or paedophiles or anything like that.
"Have they caught him yet?"
"No, not yet..." Shadow answered, now paying attention.
"Hey wait, look, breaking news, there's been another! In east Station Square!" Sonic exclaimed.
"Wait, that's..."
"Where Scourge went" Shadow finished my sentence.