A Thousand Words -
Chapter 6

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"Daniel, come back!! Stop!!"
Daniel skidded to a halt as soon as he reached the railing. He looked down at the crowded street below him and immediately felt dizzy. Something was holding him back; not letting him jump. Michelle ran up beside him, trying to get her breath back.
"Daniel, what stunt are you trying to pull?!" she said. "You're not seriously thinking of throwing yourself over the balcony, are you?" Daniel remained silent for a few seconds.
"Is he hurt?" he finally asked, referring to Darren.
"He'll be fine," she replied. "He's still breathing, at least." She looked into his eyes and held his face in her hands. "Are you frustrated because of the fight you and Darren are having?"
Daniel nodded, his head throbbing. He pounded his fists against his thighs and bit his lip to keep the tears from flowing. "I can't forgive him, but I have to do something before I kill him like I almost did a few minutes ago. This scares me, Michelle, it really does. I'd ever do ANYTHING to hurt Darren. But something's just growing inside my head and it's making me lose control. This has all become too much...I just want to die..."
Michelle wrapped her arms around her beloved and held him close. The fighting was getting worse. If she didn't do something - and soon - she feared that she would lose Daniel forever.

"Okay, June, we'll tell him for you...we'll see you in a few days. Bye-bye."
Colby hung up the reciever of the payphone in the John Hunter Hospital and turned to Michell, who stood behind her.
"What did Darren's mum say?" Michelle asked. Colby sighed.
"She and Robert can't get down here. All the flights from Brisbane to Sydney are booked out. So are the flights to Newcastle. But they're gonna give him a ring."
"How about you? How are you handling this?"
"I'm hanging in there. How's Daniel holding up?"
"I don't know. He's barely talking to anyone." Michelle looked over at Daniel, who was sitting in a chair on the other end of the corridor, leaning forward with his face in his hands. "God, he's taking this really hard."
"Well, he tried to kill himself last night. He's really losing control."
"I jut wish there were something I could do."
"The best we can do is talk to them. Make THEM talk to EACH-OTHER."
"Gee, that should be easy," Michelle said, not sparing the sarcasm in her voice. She sighed deeply. "I'm so scared."
"Of what?"
"Of what's going to happen to those two. They're seriously depressed, Colbs. What if we wake up in the morning and they aren't there?"
Colby choked back a sob. "I can't even bear to THINK about it. That's it - we have to do something. Whether Daniel leaves the band or not - which I hope he changes his mind about - we don't want their friendship to collapse. A bond like that only comes once in a blue moon. It's too sacred to lose."
"Just like they're sacred to us. And to many other people."
They both looked over to see a doctor squat down beside Daniel. They began talking in low, serious voices. A few minutes later, Daniel stood up and walked into the ward where Darren was resting. Colby and Michelle walked up to the doctor worriedly.
"Is something wrong?" Colby asked. The doctor removed his prescription glasses and smiled.
"Nothing's wrong," he replied. "Darren's condition is nothing short of a miracle. Nothing more than a few cuts and bruises. He's a very lucky man - it could've been much more serious. He should be able to go home by tomorrow night." The girls heaved a sigh of relief.
"Then why did Daniel walk off like that?" Michelle asked.
"I told him that Darren was ready to have visitors. Only one at a time, though. Let Daniel spend a bit of time alone with him. I have a gut feeling that they have a lot to talk about."

"Darren?" Daniel whispered as he walked into the room. Darren was sound asleep. Bruises covered his arms and face, and Daniel felt even worse - how could be have done such a thing? He was such a fool.
He sat next to the bed and sub-consciously drew patterns on Darren's upturned palm with his index finger. All of a sudden, Darren's hand clamped shut, trapping Daniel's finger.
"Oi!" he hissed as Darren opened his eyes and smiled. He pried his finger out of Darren's grasp and playfully poked him on the arm. Darren tensed up, and Daniel realised he had accidentally poked a bruise.
"Sorry," he said. "How are you feeling?" Darren shrugged and sat up on in his bed, wincing as the bruises pushed up against the mattress.
"I'll live," he finally replied. "How about you?"
"I'm hanging in there," he said. "But then again, i'm not the one who was thrown down the stairs."
"You've got a point there." Darren gingerly massaged his back. "God, this hurts."
"It's hurting ME just seeing you like this. I shouldn't have gone out of control like that."
"Hey, I went out of control too," Darren pointed out.
"I know, but you're different. You kicked me in the balls...I threw you down the stairs. There's a big difference there."
"Another good point," Darren giggled. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Jonesy. I wasn't exactly a picture of mental health either."
"Are you going to be alright for the rest of the tour?"
"Dunno. Probably. Check out my back." Darren turned his back to Daniel and lifted up and back of his night-shirt. Daniel gaped at the number of bruises he saw there. He ran his finger along one of them, and Darren flinched slightly.
"Did I really get you THAT badly?" Daniel asked. Darren nodded as he settled back down in his bed.
"Are we still fighting?" Daniel asked, raising his eyebrows. Daniel shrugged. "Come on. I don't want to fight anymore. This has gone way too far. We're supposed to be best friends - we're not supposed to be killing each-other."
Darren was silent as he thought about this. "...It's almost as if you don't want to know me anymore, Daniel. You really hurt my feelings when you said you wanted to leave the band. I can't do this on my own. It's like you're deserting me."
"You can do this on your own. Look, you're the most wonderful, gifted person i've ever known. You can do whatever you want to do and you'll do GREAT at it. I was always destined to walk two steps behind you, anyway."
"It sounds like you're reciting from Wind Beneath My Wings!"
"I'm not. I'm saying this because I mean it. You'll be fine without me, Darren. I promise you will. It's just that I need time to get my life sorted out."
"But I don't want you to go," Darren said, looking down at his hands sadly. Daniel sat on the edge of the bed and lifted Darren's head up. He leant forward and embraced him in a hug. They sat there for about five minutes, then there was a knock on the door. Colby entered the room.
"Feeling any better, Daz?" she asked. Darren and Daniel broke apart and Daniel stood up.
"I'd better go," he said to Daz. "I'll see you later. And we'll talk about it later, alright?"
Darren nodded. "Thanks for coming, Daniel."
Daniel tapped Darren's nose lightly, then turned and walked out of the room.

Daniel hated driving in heavy traffic at night. It made him feel uneasyt for some odd reason. But having the radio on made him feel a bit better. Music did that to him.
"That was the Spice Girls with their new single 'Stop'. Aren't they just amazing?" Daniel rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at the radio, then laughed at himself. "It's time for your requests, and we happen to have Kirri on the phone! How are you, Kirri?"
"Pretty good, thanks!"
Daniel glanced at the radio. The name. That voice. Was this the same person that he met with Melanie after the concert last night?
"OK, Kirri, what song would you like to hear?"
"'Jealousy Is A Curse' by Noiseworks."
"And who is this song for?"
"Darren and Daniel from Savage Garden."
"Daniel looked at the radio again and smiled. "Aaw, how sweet!"
The song began playing, and Daniel was immediately caught up in the rhythm, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Everytime I get the feeling i'm sane
Jealousy walks in and cuts me down again
Just like the enemy in my brain
Just like the enemy in my brain

It's driving me insane
Jealousy, jealousy is a curse
The enemy in my brain

It's coming on just like a poison in my brain
A suicidal sweat and teardrops fall like rain
Just like the enemy in my brain
Just like the enemy in my brain...

Daniel turned up the volume so that the drum beat was pounding in his ears...The song had grabbed his full attention.

Like the enemy in my brain
Makes me feel so strange
When it's in my head
I get confused, I abuse
And I don't know what to do...
He was amazed at how the lyrics described exactly how he felt inside. He decided that he had to talk to Kirri. Sure, she was a fan, but she knew about the fight, she was living not too far from their hotel, and she seemed pretty nice when he talked to her after the concert.
When the song ended, he turned down the radio, pulled his mobile phone out of the glove compartment and dialed Melanie's number.

"Kirri! There's someone at the door for you!" Mrs Liepins called to her daugher in her room, hiding a smile. She knew that Daniel was at the door - how could she help but recognise him when Kirri had pictures of him and Darren all over her wall - but she also knew that Kirri would flip when she saw her surprise visitor.
"Who is it?" Kirri called in reply, turning off her stereo.
"A surprise visitor!"
Kirri groaned - she wasn't in the mood for surprises. She opened her bedroom door and walked into the lounge room. When she saw Daniel talking to her mother, her heart skipped about two beats. But she took a deep breath, remained calm and smiled.
"Hey Daniel!" she said cheerfully.
"What's he doing here?"she thought. "What reason does he have to go out of his way just to visit me?"
"Hey Kirri!" Daniel greeted her. Is this a bad time?"
"No, not at all! I'm just sorting through a whole heap of letters. Come on in!"
Kirri and Daniel headed down to her bedroom. Mrs Liepins gave Kirri a smile.
"You two had better behave in there!" she said jokingly. Kirri rolled her eyes, smiled and closed the door to her room. Daniel's eyes popped out of his head when he saw all the posters on her bedroom walls.
"Holy hell!" he exclaimed, and he started counting the number of posters. Kirri laughed.
"How many girls can say that they've actually had Daniel in their bedroom?"she thought.
"So what's up?"she said out loud, sitting on her bed opposite Daniel.
"I heard you on the radio last night," he replied.
"God, I sound bloody awful, don't I?!" she said. Daniel laughed.
"Do you have that song that you requested?"
"Yeah. Do you want me to put it on for you?"
"Actually, do you have a spare tape? Cause i'd really like a copy of that song."
"I think Mum has some blank tapes. Wait here."
Kirri jumped up and ran out of the room. When she returned, Daniel was looking through Kirri's CD collection, displayed on her desk in a corner of the room. She closed the door behind her and cleared her throat. He looked up and smiled.
"You have quite an impressive CD collection here," he said.
"Well, I love music," she replied, slipping the tape and CD into the stereo. She pushed a few buttons and it began to record. "I can't make music, but I love listening to it." Daniel sat bak against her bed, sitting on the floor, and looked at the song lyrics from the CD sleeve.
"This song reflects my situation perfectly," he said, rather to himself than to Kirri, who planted her bum beside him.
"What situation?" she asked, although she already knew the answer.
"This fight between Darren and I."
"Oh. I was hoping that that'd blown over by now." Kirri looked disappointed. "Why can't you just say that you're sorry?"
"I can't. The harm's already been done."
"What harm?"
Daniel sighed. "After the concert, Darren and I had a massive fisticuff. I threw him down a flight of stairs.
"You WHAT?!" Kirri exclaimed. "Is he alright?"
"Well, he's got heaps of cuts and bruises, but otherwise he's alright. He's lucky he isn't dead!"
"YOU'RE lucky he isn't dead! You'd feel pretty crappy then, wouldn't you?" Daniel nodded in agreement. "Why can't you two make up? I mean, I know it's going to be hard to forgive and forget, but it's going to be one hell of a feat if you manage to pull it off."
"Pull what off?"
"Pretending to be the best of chums when in reality your hands are around each-other's throats."
"We're managing."
"No, you're not. You should see yourselves onstage. You're like little 10-year-olds fighting over a Power Rangers figurine!"
"Blame Darren for that."
"I'm not blaming either of you. God, do you know what this is doing to your fans? It's killing us! You guys are the best thing that has happened to us. We don't want Savage Garden to crumble just because of a little magazine article. Come on, it's really childish!"
Daniel nodded as he tok this all in. Kirri was right. It WAS pretty childish. And they were being immature in front of everybody. It hadn't affected album sales, but it was upsetting a lot of people.
"OK," he finally said. "I'll tell you waht. Darren comes out of the hospital today. I have to pick him up. On the way back to the hotel, i'll apologise to him and make him see how stupid we're being. We'll make up and everything will return to normal."
"Sounds good," Kirri said, taking out the tape and slipping it into its case. She handed it to Daniel.
"Thanks," he said, putting the tape in his shirt pocket. He got up off the floor, and Kirri did the same.
"Are you going now?" she asked. He nodded, checking his watch.
"I've gotta pick him up from the hospital. It's getting late, anyway."
"Let me know how everything goes, alright?"
"Hey, i'll give you my E-Mail address. Do you have the Internet?"
"Yeah. I only use it, like, every single day!"
"OK, good. We're going overseas in about a week, so i'll E-Mail you then, alright? I'll give you Darren's address, too, but be careful - people have been giving out his E-Mail address and he's getting really pissed off about it."
They swapped E-Mail addresses and headed out to Daniel's car. When they reached the car, Daniel turned to Kirri with a smile.
"Thanks for listening to me whingeing!"
Kirri laughed. "Hey, if you need anything, just let me know! Good luck with everything!"
Daniel gave Kirri a quick hug, then hopped into his car and drove off.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Darren shouted out as Doctor Higgins and Daniel helped him into the car that Daniel had hired. Dr Higgins had accidentally dug his fingers into Darren's bruised back.
"Watch it, would ya?!" Darren said to Dr Higgins.
"He didn't mean to," Daniel said. Darren glared at him with his eyes burning into Daniel's.
"Was I talking to you, Daniel? I think not! So shut up!" Darren snapped. Daniel looked at him annoyed.
"Yup, he's back to normal," Daniel thought bitterly. He walked around to the other side of the car and sat in the driver's seat. He and Darren thanked Dr Higgins and drove off into the night. 20 minutes into the journey, Daniel grew tired of the cold silence between them.
"The least you can do is talk to me after the way you treated me!" He said, sounding very much like Olivia Newton-John in Grease.
"Excuse me!? Daniel, you treated me a lot worse than-"
"Aha! Got ya talking!" Daniel laughed. Darren rolled his eyes and groaned. The silence becoming even more annoying, Daniel pulled out the tape that Kirri had given him and slipped it into the car stereo. "Jealousy Is A Curse" came on loudly, startling Darren.
"Who the hell is this?" he asked.
"Noiseworks," Daniel replied. "You should hear the lyrics."
"I have no choice - you're busting my eardrums with this rubbish."
Darren became silent, though, when the singing began. The words completely mesmerised him. Somehow, he felt that Daniel was trying to tell him something through this song.
"Where did you get this tape?" he asked, turning down the volume a bit.
"I went to visit Kirri earlier on today. Remember-the girl we met after the show?" Darren nodded. "She requested this song on the radio last night and dedicated it to us." He paused. "She really wants us to make up."
Darren sniffed. "She shouldn't hold her breath over it."
"Why is it that you aren't willing to make up?"
Darren grew silent again.
"I don't know whether i'm going to get hurt again or not," he finallly responded.
"Darren, if anyone is hurt the most, it's me. I was upset about that edit in the magazine, yes, but think about it. We're acting like children!"
"You're right," Darren said, much to Daniel's surprise.
"Eh?"
"I said you're right. We ARE acting like children about the interview."
"Daniel heaved a sigh of relief. Darren understood. They would apologise and make up. Everything would go back to normal.
"About time too,"he thought.
"But this fight isn't about the interview. It's about you leaving the band."
"We shouldn't be fighting at all."
"True. But you started it. It's up to you to finish it."
"Excuse me, Darren. Are you deaf, blind or just a little bit slow?! Because i've been trying to end this fight for ages!"
"Oh, so...your way of trying to finish a fight is throwing me down the stairs? Yeah, very effective, Daniel."
"No, Darren, I only did that because you were driving me insane!"
"Daniel? You might wanna watch the road..."Darren said in a strange tone of voice, worriedly looking at the road. Daniel glanced at the road and wildly spun the steering wheel when he saw the huge truck heading towards them.
"Look out!!" Darren shouted. Their car swerved just in the nick of time, but drove straight into a large field. "STOP THE CAR! STOP THE BLOODY CAR!"
"I'm trying to!" Daniel screamed as he slammed his foot down on the brake. The car squealed to a halt, jolting the boys forward in their seats.
"You idiot!!" Darren exclaimed, grabbing Daniel byt the collar of his jacket. "God, you almost killed us, you cuntrash!!"
"Where did that truck come from?"
"From the other side of the road, that's where! You were too busy arguing with me to pay attention to where the right side of the road was!"
Daniel sighed and tried to restart the car - but it wouldn't start.
"What?" he gasped.
"What's wrong?" Darren asked. Daniel turned the key again. The car choked, then went silent. Daniel muttered a stream of swear words and buried his head under the steering wheel. Darren tapped him on the shoulder.
"What's wrong?" he repeated. Daniel wearily lifted his head.
"The car's stalled," he replied slowly. "We're stranded..."

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Chapter Seven
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