A Thousand Words -
Chapter 9

---

Finally the day had come. The day they had been dreading but they knew it had to happen, things had to be done. Daniel stared out the window of the Brisbane International Airport and watched as their plane arrived.
“Daniel!” Mrs. Jones called as she ran up to him, Daniel’s father and brother Oliver in tow.
He turned in her direction and she hugged him. Oliver and Mr. Jones stopped behind her, Mr. Jones dropping Daniel’s hand luggage to the floor.
Daniel held tightly onto his mother and a tear rolled down his cheek. “I didn’t think you were going to make it.”
His mother stroked his hair. “Well we’re here now. We wouldn’t let you go without saying goodbye to us first!”
He pulled away and sobbed “I know, but I can’t face the fact that I’m going to be away from my family for such a long time without making any trips back home.”
His mother noticed another tear roll down his face and asked, “Daniel, are you crying?”
He wiped his face with the back of his hand and weakly smiled. “No.”
She smiled and hugged him again. When she let go, Oliver held out his hand for Daniel to shake.
“I’ll seeya later bro.” he said and pulled him in for a hug. Darren, Colby and the rest of the band arrived, placing their luggage near the Jones family. Darren turned to Colby and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“Look after Obi, okay?” he said. She laughed.
“What… is the dog suddenly more important than I am?” she replied with a cheeky smile.
He kissed her cheek. “Of course not. I love both of you equally.” She stared into his face, the side of his mouth curving up in a smile.
“All passengers flying to Los Angeles, boarding gate Seven is now open.” came the announcement over the PA system.
Colby brushed Darren’s left cheek with the back of her fingers.
“You look after yourself okay?” she said. He nodded in reply. She kissed him. “Now get going will you…before I cry!”
He laughed, picked up his luggage, and called as he left “I love you!”
“I love you too, honey!” she called back, raising her hand from her crossed arms in a small wave.
“C’mon Dan, we better get on there.” Darren said tugging Daniel’s shirt as he passed. Daniel hugged both his parents and picked up his luggage.
“We love you honey! Take care!” Daniel’s mum called.
He smiled and pointed at them as he said, “Right back at ya!”
Daniel made his way into Business Class. As usual, Darren had claimed the best seats for himself. Darren turned to see Daniel fighting his way down the aisle. He waved his hand in the air so Daniel could see where the band members were seated.
Darren patted the seat next to him. “Daniel, sit here.”
Daniel looked around for another seat but the rest of the band had taken them up and did not look in the least bit willing to move. Daniel reluctantly seated himself next to Darren.
“Can you see out the window?” Darren asked. “I wouldn’t want you to miss any of the scenery!”
Daniel glanced at Darren sitting in the window seat and the window next to him. He turned his head back to face the seat in front of him, his body stiff and rigid against the back of the chair.
Darren put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Hey mate, RELAX! I thought you were over this fear of flying by now!”
Daniel laughed nervously and relaxed a little. “You’re right, I’m being silly.”
Darren smiled. “There you go, I knew you’d be okay.” he paused. “Hey, do you want my Pop CD to listen to?”
“Yeah okay.” Daniel smiled. Darren reached into his bag and pulled the CD out. He handed it to Daniel. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. I think I’ll listen to a bit of Sarah myself.” Darren grinned as he pulled out his ‘Surfacing’ CD.
Daniel wondered why Darren was being so nice to him. Maybe they had made up. Perhaps Darren had left all their problems back at home. It was a good idea, Daniel didn’t feel like carrying on with the fight anymore. He slipped his headphones over his head and pressed the play button. Glancing next to him he saw Darren had already moved the seat back, laying with his eyes closed and quietly singing along to the music playing through his headphones.
A few hours later, Daniel glanced up from his laptop to see the dark sky outside. He switched the laptop off as the plane on his flight simulator crashed. It was beginning to bore him anyway. He looked around to see what the others were doing. Anna-Maria and Lee were both fast asleep. Nicole was tossing and turning restlessly. Karl and Ben were playing some kind of card game on one of the tables. Daniel looked to his left. Darren was fast asleep, music still playing through his headphones. Daniel removed Darren’s headphones and put them over his own ears. It was still playing the same Sarah McLachlan CD. Daniel had never really listened to this CD before, he’d only heard “Building A Mystery” since Darren always wanted to sing it on stage and did the duet with Sarah at their Melbourne show. He heard the next song start - a soft piano intro and then Sarah started singing. For once he listened to the lyrics and not the music.
“Spend all your time waiting for that second chance
For a break that would make it okay
There’s always some reason to feel not good enough
And it’s hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
Oh a beautiful release
Memory seep from my veins
Let me be empty and weightless and maybe
I’ll find some peace tonight
In the arms of the angel
Far away from here
From this dark, cold hotel room
And the endless nights that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You’re in the arms of the angel
Where you find some comfort here.”
Darren stirred next to him and opened an eye. Once he saw Daniel’s face he instantaneously sat up and gently touched Daniel’s arm. Daniel spun his head to face Darren. His face was wet with tears.
“Daniel, what’s wrong?” Darren asked.
Daniel pulled the headphones off and shoved them in Darren’s direction. Seeing they were his headphones, Darren raised them to his ear to hear the final lines of ‘Angel’ being played: “You’re in the arms of the angel, where you find some comfort here.” Darren was alarmed at what he heard.
“Oh Daniel!” Darren sighed compassionately. He put his arm around Daniel’s shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. “Don’t think about things like that! You’re still needed in this band. We all care about you, Daniel. We don’t want you to leave but it’s your decision. You just remember that you're still wanted, okay?”
Daniel smiled weakly and closed his eyes. Darren held him for a few minutes, then moved Daniel’s head back onto his seat and placed his blanket over him. Darren decided he’d stay awake to keep an eye on Daniel. He switched off Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Surfacing’ CD and put on her previous album ‘Fumbling Into Ecstasy’ as he settled back into his seat.

The plane touched down in Los Angeles airport and the band climbed out, hurrying to the car so that they could arrive quickly at the hotel. In the lobby, Anna-Maria stopped next to Darren and put his bag down.
“You know you two are a complete contrast of each other!” Ben commented with a chuckle. Anna-Maria and Darren looked at him questioningly. “One of you looks refreshingly lovely like she’s had plenty of sleep and the other looks like he hasn’t slept in WEEKS!”
“Oh yeah!” Nicole said and the others laughed.
“Don’t be so harsh on Darren!” Anna-Maria said, draping her hand over his shoulder. “It’s not his fault he’s sick.”
“Couldn’t get any sleep either.” Darren grumbled with a sideways glance at Daniel.
Daniel yawned and scratched his ear. He hadn’t slept much either.
They made their way up to the hotel rooms and Daniel flopped onto his bed as Darren went into the next room. Darren was soon joined by Anna-Maria.
“You okay, Daz?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Tired.”
“I thought so.” she replied with a smile and sat on his bed. “So how are you feeling about tonight? Nervous yet?”
“That’s the advantage of being tired-my brain is running so slow it doesn’t even realise that we’re going to a big awards night in the US.”
She glanced at the clock. “It starts in two hours you know.”
Darren shuddered. “Don’t remind me.”
“The soundcheck is on in 25 minutes as well.”
“Gawd, is it THAT soon?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I am just gonna crash on this bed right now. Could you please bring me back from the dead in ten minutes? No matter HOW much I bite!” he joked.
She laughed. “Okay Darren, rest up now.”
She closed the door behind her as she left and entered Daniel’s room with a tap on the door. Spread out on his back across the bed, Daniel lifted his head slightly with one eye open to see who it was.
“Oh. Hi Anna.” he said and dropped his head back onto the bed again.
She sat on the chair nearby. “I guess you’re tired as well.”
“Mmm.” Daniel mumbled back. “Darren’s looking worse off than me though.”
“Yeah he is.” Anna-Maria nodded in agreement. “But I think that’s cause he’s sick as well.”
“Recovering.” Daniel said. “There’s a difference.”
Anna-Maria sighed. “Whatever. He still has the flu.”
“Mmm.” Daniel mumbled again. “Just as long as he doesn’t give it to me.”
Anna-Maria smiled. “No, not you. Maybe Lee though, he’s looking a little under the weather.”
Daniel lay in silence and Anna-Maria stared out the window, trying to think of something else to say.
“So you ready for tonight?” she asked.
“As always.”
“Good.” she said in a pleased tone. At least SOMEONE was enthusiastic. “We have a soundcheck in 18 minutes as well.”
“Yeah, I guess I can pull myself off the bed for that.” he replied. Anna-Maria laughed. Daniel paused before saying quietly, “Did Darren tell you what happened in the plane?”
“No, what?” she asked eagerly with a smile.
“Oh, nothing.” he replied.
She playfully pushed his shoulder. “C’mon, tell me! You can’t bring something up and then just leave it at that!”
He sighed. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. I just wanted to know if Darren said anything.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Okay then.” Daniel rolled ver to read the clock and groaned. “Twelve minutes. Better get up and get moving then.”
“Oh no, I forgot about Darren!” Anna-Maria cried, jumping out of the chair and running into Darren’s room.
Darren was curled up on the bed, his back to the door. She ran to his side and shook him hard.
“Darren, wake up!”
“Go away Colbs, I’m trying to sleep.” he murmured.
“Darren, it’s Anna, you have to get up.”
“Why? What for?”
“The soundcheck Darren, for the Blockbuster Awards. Remember?”
“Oh, SHIT!” Darren shouted, leaping off the bead. “Go and get the others ready, will you?”
Anna-Maria nodded and went to collect the rest of the band. They all met outside and quickly made their way to the awards venue for soundcheck.
“Where have you guys BEEN?” asked the production manager as they came through the stage door.
He hurried them towards the stage where Boyz II Men had just finished their soundcheck. They set up their equipment as quickly as they could and stared out at the sound engineer.
“Okay guys, I’m ready when you are!” he called.
Karl began to bang on the drums to get his level right and to make sure all the microphones were working so they’d pick up the sound properly. The other guys started fiddling with their guitars - tuning them and getting their sound levels as well. Ben thought he’d get cheeky by turning his level of his guitar louder than the others. Lee jumped 2 metres in the air when the sound blared out and blew the amp behind him. A new amp was quickly brought out to replace it.
Darren headed over to Daniel and hissed “Play it faster.”
Daniel did and Darren still kept on demanding he play the song faster again.
“Bloody hell Darren! You’re gonna make my arm fall off!” Daniel yelled.
“Play it RIGHT then!” Darren argued.
“We are playing TRULY, Darren, not I Want You! It doesn’t NEED to be fast! You’d know that if you weren’t still half asleep!”
“Well, yes, I wonder why?” Darren snapped back sarcastically.
“Daniel, you’re out of tune.” called the engineer.
“Great!” Daniel grumbled. “Thanks a lot Darren!”
“My pleasure.” Darren said storming off in the other direction. “Can we PLEASE do vocals now?”
“Yep, sure Darren. Just don’t get too close to…” the sound engineer began as the ear-piercing feedback shrieked through the sound system. “that speaker.” he finished with a sigh.
“Can I have my vocals louder please? Anna’s still riding over my voice!” Darren called to the engineer.
Darren’s vocals were turned up on the foldbacks. There was so much noise that Daniel couldn’t hear himself tuning the guitar and, in frustration, he pulled the bottom string a little too hard as he tightened it. The string snapped in half and Daniel glanced down at it. He was so angry that he just wanted to throw the guitar… preferably at Darren who was still whining about the vocals.
Finally the engineer decided they should do a little run-through of the song. Daniel had managed to replace his broken string while convincing the sound engineer that Darren didn’t really need his vocals as loud as he was trying to get them since he was already loud enough through the foldbacks. Darren’s shredding of Daniel had quickly turned to Nicole who either wasn’t keeping up with the speed which they were singing, or was completely forgetting the words. The latter infuriated Darren more than anything because he then had to take time out to teach her the words again.

Everybody arrived back at the hotel angry and exhausted. Anna-Maria yelled at Darren for upsetting Nicole, and then had to try and calm Nicole down as she sat sobbing in their hotel room. Darren couldn’t care less - he was angry and tired and he REALLY needed to talk to someone. He picked up the phone and dialed Colby's number...she should be awake if he remembered the time difference correctly.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey sweetie, it’s Darren.” he replied. “How are things? How’s Obi?”
“Obi’s fine. I’m great. I actually just got off the phone with Carla.”
“Oh really? How was she?”
“She’s okay. More to the point, how are things over there?”
“Just fine.”
“I don’t like that tone in your voice Darren. What’s wrong? You haven’t been fighting with Daniel again have you? I’m disappointed in you Darren, I thought you were going to leave all that business at home!” she said in an irritated and rushed tone.
“Woah, slow down! I DID leave that business at home. Anyway, it’s not JUST Daniel this time… it’s the girls as well.”
“What did you do to them Darren?” Colby asked flatly.
“Nothing! Nothing at all!” Darren replied defensively. “Just… forget I mentioned it okay?”
“Sure.” Colby responded cynically.
A tap came at the door. It was Karl. “Darren… we’re leaving in 20 minutes, you better get ready.”
Darren nodded and then said into the phone, “I have to go now Colbs. Love ya.”
“Love you too Darren. Good luck for the performance and PLEASE try not to get into any more arguements!”
“Yes, okay, I’ll TRY. Talk to you later. Bye.”
“Bye hun.” Colby said as Darren hung up the receiver. He pulled his suit on and jumped into the limo with Daniel. As they got out they were met by the American media whose lights flashed at them, blinding them almost immediately. Darren was surprised at the amount of attention they were getting, he suddenly felt like he was reliving the ARIAs, but somehow, as they walked down that red carpet, it felt ten times worse. The performance went off without a hitch… apart from the lighting dropping out at the beginning on the song and their lack of enthusiasm in the performance due to tiredness.

Next thing they knew, they were on a plane to New Zealand to continue the tour. They weren’t too far away when they hit some turbulence caused by the recent storms that had been hitting Auckland. Darren looked up from his seat to see where Daniel was. He glanced at the toilet behind them, the lineup hadn’t changed. Daniel had been in there for a while. Darren got up to see if Daniel was okay. The people in the line-up had started banging on the door and yelling at Daniel to get out. Darren tapped on the door.
“Daniel, is everything okay?” he asked. Silence. He tapped again. “Daniel, it’s Darren, is everything alright?”
Daniel stared at himself in the mirror, trying to compromise with his brain to go outside. The plane shook again and he clung to the sink even harder. He looked down at his hands. They’d turned white from the death grip he held on the sides of the sink. He could feel himself shaking slightly. It got worse when he felt the plane suddenly lose a lot of altitude. He was terrified. He could see he face suddenly turn pale in the mirror. In his head he asked himself if he was okay but instantaneously felt his stomach convulse in reply. He lowered his head as he threw up into the sink. Outside, Darren heard him coughing and thanked God that Daniel was still conscious and alive.
“Daniel, do you need me to get you anything?” Darren called through the door.
“No.” Daniel said hoarsely between coughs. At least he could manage one word.
“You might want to go to another toilet guys.” Darren said to the line-up. “I think he’s gonna be in there for a little while yet.”
They grumbled in response and reluctantly moved away. Darren slumped down by the door. Daniel felt weak at the knees and did the same thing to save himself from standing - he couldn’t support himself anymore.
“Darren.” he whispered.
“Yes, I’m here.” Darren said. “You okay?”
“Apart from the regurgitating of food?” Daniel asked.
Darren laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I mean.”
“Well I think… no actually I HOPE I am.”
Darren smiled. “Good. I don’t want you to be anywhere near as sick as I have been!”
“I don’t intend on being it either.” Daniel chuckled. He felt his stomach beginning to settle. “Darren.” he whispered again.
“Yep.”
“Let’s not fight anymore, okay?”
“Agreed.” Darren replied. He wished Daniel could see the huge smile of relief that grew on his face.
Daniel smiled. “Is there much of a line-up still?”
“Nah, I sent them all away.” Darren said. “Why? You coming out now?”
Daniel pulled himself up and ran the tap water into the sink. He put his hands under and washed his face. “Yeah I think so.”
“Good, ‘cause I’m busting for a whiz!” Darren laughed.
Daniel wiped his face and unlocked the door. Darren raced in and pushed him out.
“Thanks a lot!” Daniel laughed. “Nice friend you are!”
“Yeah, well, when you gotta go, you GOTTA go! Now go sit back down before the plane crashes!” Darren chuckled and slammed the door.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Don’t even SAY that Darren!” he paused. “Great, now I’m gonna have to talk to the pilots to reassure myself, otherwise I’m gonna be back in there where you are!”
He could hear Darren chuckling on the other side of the door. Daniel moved up to the cockpit and talked to the pilots for the next 20 minutes before they had to sit back down to land. It finally looked like everything was going to be okay… but how long would it last?

---

Chapter Ten
Home