A Thousand Words
Chapter 2

---

“Darren, what’s the point of-” Daniel began. Darren held up his hand to silence him.
“Just do it, Daniel. I mean it.”
Daniel sighed, rolled his eyes and did as he was told. He looked straight into Daz’s eyes, and all the memories flew into his mind. The relief of finally getting their album finished. The triumph of having the album and one of their singles at the top spot on the charts. The joy of Darren’s wedding day. The excitement of their first worldwide tour. But most of all, the memory of first meeting each-other and knowing that, together, they would be successful.
But despite all this, Daniel knew that he couldn’t remain in the band. He wanted to get out there, on his own, and be a success while going solo. Sure, he would still be best friends with Daz-that’s one thing he didn’t want to lose-but all this time he’d been known as “the music maker from Savage Garden”. He didn’t like that. He wanted to be known for his OWN talent, and not for being Darren’s musical ‘guide’.
“...I’m sorry, Darren,” he finally said. “I don’t want to be in your shadows anymore.”
“Daniel, what are you talking about? You were never in my shadows!”
“Oh, bullcrap! Remember that interview we did this afternoon? I nearly killed you! I don’t ever want to do that again, you hear me?”
“What has that got to do with this?”
“A lot! Do you wanna know what started it? Every time I tried to say something, you would always butt in. It’s like you’re the only one there all the time, and i’m just a wax dummy or something. And every time I would try and make a name for myself, instead of being “that Savage Garden music man”, you’d completely tower over me! It’s a ratrace and it sucks, Darren. So which do you want--a trophy or something to hang around your neck?”
Darren shook his head, in complete shock. He had no idea that Daniel felt that way. Usually when something was bothering one of them, they would both sit down and talk about it. But not this time. What was happening between them? Were they drifting apart?
“So that’s why I want to quit the band,” Daniel continued. “I’m sick of being ‘the second half’. I want to be able to make a name for myself and be just as successful as we are now while i’m at it. Darren, you have to understand, I can’t do that while i’m with you in this. I mean, you’ve always been better than me at everything. I won’t be missed much, anyway.”
“Yes, you will,” Darren said instantly. “I’ll miss you. Don’t you realise how important you are to this band? If you cleared out on all this, I don’t know what i’ll do. And neither will John, Charles, Michelle and everyone else that’s involved in this band. Savage Garden will totally crumble at our feet, we’ll go broke...and all because of your petty jealousy.”
“Me? Jealous? Don’t make me laugh!”
“I’m only saying it because it’s true.”
“What would you know about the truth? Hey?”
“A lot more than you obviously know! I am working my buns off day after day after day, trying to get this whole band thing on the rails. And now you’re going to throw a spanner in the works because you’re supposedly standing in my channel! It’s totally stupid!”
“Hehe. You’re telling me it’s stupid. Look, Darren, I didn’t call you in here to start another fight. I was hoping that we would talk about this like civilised adults, and not little children.”
“You’re the only one acting like a kid around here! I’m making extremely civilised conversation here and you’re chucking a wobbly at me! Just calm down, alright? You’re the one who doesn’t want to start another fight.” Darren suddenly had a thought. “Does this have something to do with Michelle?”
“Don’t you dare bring Michelle into this, Darren! She didn’t do anything! Maybe you should think about Colby-she’s the one who’s sticking her nose into our business!”
“I don’t like you talking about my wife that way,” Darren said through gritted teeth.
“Well, I don’t like you talking about Michelle that way! We’re even now!”
Darren sat back against the couch and ran his hand through his hair. Daniel could be so difficult at times like this. Secretly, Darren wondered if Daniel was right. Was Darren really taking over the band? Before the band even started, they made a verbal agreement that there would be no ego inflations. But Darren couldn’t help it if he liked being in the spotlight. It was who he was. He shouldn’t change himself just to satisfy Daniel. But Daniel was his best friend...
“You can go now, Darren,” Daniel said in a quiet voice, looking down at the floor.
“Huh? What?”
“I said you can go now. It’s obvious that I can’t reason with you anymore. Just face it, man...I have to leave the band.”
“No, you don’t,” Darren said, standing up. “You don’t have to leave the band. You just can’t hack it that I’m getting your attention! I can’t help it if they like me more than you!”
“Shut up, you blabbering idiot,” he thought. Daniel also stood up, balling his hands into a fist.
“Get out of here! I mean it! Right now! I don’t have to listen to this shit you’re giving me!”
“You HAVE to listen to it because it’s the TRUTH! Sorry if you can’t hack the truth, but that’s just too bad!”
“Darren, what IS the truth? Huh? Tell me! If you know so much, tell me!”
Darren paused. Now this was something he was going to have to work out, as well. What was the truth? He knew he was worked up and saying crazy things, but he couldn’t help it. He was angry at Daniel for wanting to leave. And in his opinion, without a good reason. Darren took a deep breath and calmed down.
“OK, Daniel, just calm down and we’ll-”
“Don’t tell me what to do, you asshole! That’s all you’ve been doing ever since we formed the band! Telling me what to do! Well, i’m sick of it, Darren. I’m sick of being pushed around and treated like something you dug out of your ear! If I want to leave, then that’s my decision. This is the one time when you’re not making any decisions for me!”
“I never make any of your decisions for you! God, you’ve made me out to be some kind of maniac!”
“Well that’s what you are, Darren, a big maniac! Now get out of my hotel room!”
“No, wait, Daniel...”
“What?!”
“What are we going to do about Savage Garden?”
“Oh, WE’RE not going to do anything. You’re doing this on your own. As soon as this tour is over, i’m outa here. I’m leaving.”
“...Huh? Daniel, you can’t be serious.”
“I’ve never been more serious in my life. Now get out of here.”
Darren opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by the enraged look in Daniel’s eyes. Slowly he turned and walked out of the hotel room. The second he got out the door, Daniel opened the door wider, said angrily, “Savage Garden are finished” then slammed the door.
When he got back to his hotel room, he collapsed onto his bed and looked up at the roof. All that he and Daniel had just talked about, especially the “Savage Garden are finished” bit, were playing in his head over and over and over. It was like Daniel’s voice was haunting him. Could Savage Garden really be finished? After all they’ve been through, it was just going to end like that?
This can’t be happening,”Darren said to himself, and he was half-expecting to wake up and realise that this was all just a bad nightmare. But when he didn’t wake up, the cold reality, the sadness and the emptiness that Darren now felt inside brought a lone tear to roll down his cheek.

The second that Carla got the phone call, she flicked on her computer and got connected to the Internet. She was in desperate need of some help. Colby had just phoned her to say that Daniel was leaving the band when the tour was over. She sounded sad. Not surprising.
Carla got into her E-Mail account and decided to get in touch with her friends Kirri and Alisha. Since they both craved Savage Gossip, they would pass the news on to their other friends on the Net. But Carla had thought of this as she was connecting...she would tell them to keep the bad news ONLY between them, their friends in the IRC chat channel #savagegarden and a Savage Garden Mailing List that Kirri was a part of. She couldn’t let the whole world know about it, because she didn’t want to start a whole Stress Fest.
“There,” she thought to herself as she clicked Send Message. “Let’s hope they’re online right now.” She knew that Kirri was almost always on the Internet, so there was more of a chance of immediate reply from her than there was from Alisha. She’d worked out the list of people that should know about the situation: Kirri, Alisha, Julie, Cessy, Megan, Eva, Michelle, Heather, Thio, Shaz, Becky, Autumn, Sam, ‘Peaches’ (she still had to find out her real name), Karen, Kurt and Dwaine. Sure, a bit of a long list, but Carla trusted these people and besides, they had a right to know. These were TRUE fans.
After updating her #savagegarden website that she created with her friend Dale Murray, she checked her E-Mail. She had never been so relieved over an E-Mail before. There, waiting to be read, was Kirri’s response. Carla opened the message and read it thoroughly. It said:
Dear Carla, You’ve gotta be joking!! Daniel’s leaving the band?! Now why the hell would he want to do that?! (You already explained, but I still don’t understand it.) Ohh God, this is terrible! Who else have you told about this, apart from Alisha? If you haven’t let anyone else know, then here’s what I think we should do. I can get in touch with all of them except Kurt. (We’re having yet ANOTHER fight right now, so we’re not e-mailing each-other anymore while this is going on.) Maybe you and Alisha can work on Kurt...? Thanks darls! But seriously, listen, we HAVE to do something!! We can’t let Savage Garden break up!! They mean everything to us!! If I knew them personally, like you do, i’d be able to tell the this myself, but unfortunately I don’t. I tell you what-we should hold a ‘Savage Meeting’ as soon as possible, for all of us on the ‘list’ to meet up in one place and discuss this. Because right now, my head’s all fuzzy and I can’t really think about what we can do to help SG stay together. So do you want us to start organising that? I think it’s really important that we act FAST, though, because by the time we think of something it could be too late. Please get back to me soon. C U L8R--Kirri.”
After replying to Kirri, she checked her E-Mail again to find an E-Mail from Alisha, basically saying the same thing that Kirri had said. By the end of the hour, all the people on the list had been contacted and were sending many E-Mails back and forth to each-other. Everyone had agreed to meet up in a private chat room on the Internet that night at 8pm, and in the meantime they would start thinking of ways to help save Savage Garden.

“Dear Kirri, I have to make this short cause i’m going to the SG concert tonight. I’m not quite sure how things are going to turn out, but i’ll keep an eye out for anything suspicious between Daz and Dan. I still can’t believe they’re breaking up!! I mean, have they stopped to think about what this will do to their fans?! Maybe they don’t really love their fans at all...Anyway, if I see anything happen, i’ll let you know about it, alright? I won’t go directly to the concert this afternoon, cause me and my family are going shopping. I heard they have a great new music shop down there, so I want to check it out. I’ll see you later, okay? Bye! Love, Julie.”
Kirri Liepins finished reading Julie’s E-Mail and sighed deeply. She, too, was absolutely stunned that Darren and Daniel were having a fight. Sure, they’d had fights before in the past, according to the press, but this fight must be REALLY big, because it’s driving the pair to break off the best thing that has ever happened to them in the world. Not just to them; to all their fans as well. Because Kirri was a huge fan, she was especially upset. Kirri’s phone rang, and she ran off to answer it.
“Hello?” she said in monotone.
“Kirri? It’s Eva.” The sound of her favourite penpal on the other end of the line made her feel a bit better, and momentarily took her mind off certain circumstances.
“Hey Eva! How’s it going?”
“Not too good. I just got your E-Mail. I couldn’t wait to reply to you, because I thought you were off the Internet. So I decided to ring you. God, who told you that Daniel’s leaving Savage Garden?”
“An IRC friend, Carla, told me about it. Colby rang her and told her. Isn’t it awful?”
“Yeah! I don’t want them to break up!”
“I don’t either!”
“Well, what are we going to do? We can’t just let them break up! We have to do something about it!”
“Are you coming to the Savage Meeting?”
“You bet your life I am!”
“Good. Let’s hope that we think of something then. Julie’s going off to see them in concert tonight, so she said that if she sees anything bad, she’ll let us know about it. Let’s hope she has some ideas as well.”
“Yeah. Well, how about you get in touch with your IRC friend and see if she can talk to Daz and Dan?”
“I don’t want to put any more pressure on her. I think she’s having a major stress-out over it.”
“Well, so are we!”
“Bloody oath, we are! Alright, i’ll talk to her. She should still be online. If she’s not in IRC, i’ll just E-Mail her.”
“Alright. God, I wish there was something that I could do. I mean, I feel so guilty. And I didn’t even play a part in their breakup!”
“I feel just as guilty as you do, Eva. The best thing we can do is to stay 100% supportive of Darren and Daniel. Go out and buy every single little thing on them. Get them played on the radio. Hopefully they’ll realise that we still love them, and they’ll have a reconciliation.”
“Well, a reconciliation has to start with Darren and Daniel themselves. God, they’ve been best friends for yonks. What could possibly make them go to these lengths just to keep their distance from each-other?”
“No idea. Jealousy?”
“I don’t know. Possibly. OK, I have to get to work. I’ll see you at the Savage Meeting, alright?”
“OK. Bye, Eva.”
“Bye, Kirri.”
They both hung up. Kirri walked into her room, collapsed back onto her bed and stared at her walls. She had just recently torn down the Hanson posters on the back of her door and replaced them with just a handful of her many Savage Garden posters. Staring at the fresh, good-looking faces of Darren and Daniel, she wondered if she and her friends could make a difference and bring Savage Garden back together in time before the end of their national tour. Could they really do it?...

Chapter Three
Home