Eclipse

ECLIPSE - CHAPTER 1: The rehearsal studio at Black Box Records smelled like new wood, cold air conditioning, and sweat. It was 3:17 PM. Soundcheck for the comeback show was at 8 PM. The show itself at 10 PM. Twelve thousand tickets had sold out in four minutes. It was the first Eclipse show in eight months after their world tour. And the lead singer did not want to sing. "From the top," Kayden said, without looking up from his pedal board. His Fender guitar was already tuned. "Marcus, verse two." Marcus stood in front of the microphone. White polo, black jeans, the silver chain that fans had tattooed on their arms. He was Eclipse. The voice that had sold forty million records. But his eyes were somewhere else. The track started. Dev counted in. One, two, three, four. Luca's clean rhythm guitar came in, then Kayden's lead, then Marcus was supposed to come in. He did not. He just stood there, holding the microphone stand like it was holding him up. The music stopped abruptly when Dev hit a crash cymbal. "Yo!" Dev snapped, throwing his drumsticks down. They clattered across the floor. "What is that? What was that? Are you even here?" Marcus blinked. "I was listening." "Listening? We are rehearsing, not having a listening party," Dev said, standing up from his drums. He was shirtless, his chest heaving. "We have done this song a hundred times. You wrote the chorus with all of us. So sing." Kayden looked between them. He knew this energy. It was pre-show tension, but worse. "Dev, calm down," Luca said quietly. Luca was sitting on an amplifier, his guitar on his lap. The youngest at twenty-two. He never raised his voice. "He said he was listening." "Do not tell me to calm down," Dev turned on Luca. "Every time you tell me to calm down. I am the only one who cares if this show is good tonight? We have press outside. We have a new portrait that is supposed to go in the lobby. We are supposed to be Eclipse, not some lazy cover band." "I said I was listening," Marcus said, his voice flat. And that was what made Dev angrier. Marcus did not shout. He went cold. "You are not enthusiastic, Marcus," Dev said. "You have not been enthusiastic since we came back. What is wrong? Are you too big now? Is the leader tired of us?" Kayden stepped in. "Okay, enough. Both of you-" "No, let him talk," Marcus finally looked at Dev. "Say it." "You are acting like you do not want to be here!" Dev shouted. "We all bring the lyrics. We all wrote this album. But you act like you are doing us a favor by showing up. You are the leader, yes, but without us-" Marcus laughed, a short, humorless laugh. "Without you what?" That did it. Dev crossed the room in two steps and shoved Marcus. Marcus stumbled back into the microphone stand, which fell with a loud screech of feedback. Luca jumped up. "Dev!" Kayden dropped his guitar and grabbed Dev's arm. "Do not. Do not do this." Marcus pushed Dev back. Hard. Now they were chest to chest, two men who had known each other since they were kids, who had shared hotel rooms and hospital beds and stages the size of football fields, now breathing like boxers. "You want to go?" Marcus said quietly. Dev swung. It was not a clean punch, it clipped Marcus's jaw. Marcus hit back, a real punch to Dev's shoulder. They crashed into the drum kit, cymbals falling, hardware clattering. "STOP! STOP IT!" Kayden was shouting, trying to pull Marcus off. Luca tried to pull Dev. It was chaos. Shouting, cursing, two grown men who were supposed to be brothers throwing punches over nothing and everything. Dev, trying to get free from Kayden's grip, swung his elbow back hard. He did not mean to. But Luca was right behind him. Luca did not even shout. He just made a small sound. "Ah." And fell back. He fell straight into the new portrait. The portrait had arrived that morning. A huge, framed canvas, six feet tall, Eclipse in black suits, shot by a famous photographer in London. It was meant to be hung in the main lobby tonight to announce their new era. It was leaning against the wall, still wrapped partially in bubble wrap. Luca hit it with his full weight. The glass cracked. The wooden frame splintered. He fell to the floor with the portrait on top of him, his left arm trapped under it. For a second, no one moved. Then Luca screamed. Not loud. A sharp, pained gasp. Blood. On the white bubble wrap. Coming from his elbow. "Luca!" Kayden let go of Dev and ran to him, lifting the frame off. Dev froze, his hands over his mouth. Marcus knelt, his own lip bleeding now. "Luca, hey, look at me. Do not look at it." Luca's elbow was open. A deep gash from the broken glass, maybe two inches long, blood running down his forearm onto his new Eclipse tour t-shirt. His face was white. Kayden was already on the phone. "Get a car! Now! Medical! Studio A!" Two security guards burst in. Within seven minutes, Luca was being rushed out, a towel wrapped around his arm, Kayden holding his other hand for a second before letting the medics take him, Dev standing in the doorway like a statue, still shirtless, blood on his knuckles, not his own. Marcus stayed behind. He looked at the shattered portrait. Four guys in suits, now with a crack straight through Luca's face. His phone buzzed. Then buzzed again. And again. Blog notification: *BREAKING: ECLIPSE FIGHT - Is The Biggest Band In The World Falling Apart? Video Inside* Another: *Eclipse drummer attacks youngest member before comeback show - blood on stage* Twitter: #EclipseIsOver trending. A blogger had been in the building. Someone had filmed the shouting through the studio window. By the time they got Luca to St. Mary's Private Hospital, there were already three vans of press outside. The doctor said it was not too deep, but he needed stitches, maybe eight, maybe ten. He could not play for at least a week. No show tonight. The show was canceled. Official statement: "Due to an unforeseen injury." Dev sat in the hospital hallway with his head in his hands. Kayden paced outside Luca's room, then left to check on Marcus. Marcus had left the hospital. He did not say where. He just walked out the back entrance, pulled his hood up, and got into his own car. He drove home. His house in the hills was quiet. Too quiet. The air conditioning was too cold. He kicked off his shoes. His white polo now had a small spot of blood on the collar. Something felt off. The air felt used. Like someone had been there. "Hello?" he called. "Mrs. Smith?" Mrs. Smith was his housekeeper. She came three times a week. No answer. But then he heard a giggle from his walk-in closet. His blood ran cold. "Who is there? Security!" he shouted. Two security guards came running from outside. They opened the closet. Two girls. Maybe nineteen. Twenty. In Eclipse merchandise. One holding his old tour jacket like a trophy. Their phones out. "Oh my god, Marcus, we love you so much, we just wanted-" "Get them out!" Marcus shouted, not angry, just exhausted. "Get them out now." They dragged the crying, screaming fan girls out, both shouting, "We love you! Eclipse forever!" Marcus crouched on the floor of his bedroom, his back against the bed, hands in his hair. His lip throbbed. His band was broken. His brother was in the hospital. And strangers were in his closet. Then someone knocked on his front door. Three soft knocks. He froze. The front door opened. He heard Mrs. Smith's voice. "Mr. Kayden is here, Mr. Marcus. He is in the living room." Mrs. Smith appeared in the bedroom doorway with Kayden behind her, holding two bags of takeout and a plastic bag with groceries. "He has not eaten since morning," Kayden said to her, looking at Marcus on the floor. "I brought food." Mrs. Smith nodded. "I am heading home now. My daughter is waiting for me. I will lock the door from the outside, as usual, sir?" "Yes, please," Marcus said, his voice hoarse. She left. He heard the heavy front door lock click. Then the inner gate lock. Then the outer gate. Mrs. Smith always locked three times. Kayden sat on the floor opposite Marcus and opened the food. Burgers and fries. The smell filled the room. "Luca is fine," Kayden said. "Six stitches. He is asking for you. Dev is still there. He is crying like a baby." Marcus did not answer. They ate in silence, on the floor of a multi-million dollar bedroom. "Dev is an i***t," Kayden said after a while. "I know," Marcus said. "He loves you, you know. He just thinks if you are not happy, we will lose everything." Marcus picked at his fries. "I am happy." "You sang off key today," Kayden said, smiling a little. "On purpose? You never sing off key." Marcus looked up. For the first time that day, a real smile. "I wanted to piss him off," Marcus admitted. "He was annoying me since morning talking about energy." Kayden burst out laughing. Loud, real laughter that made his shoulders shake. "Dude, you are such a jerk! You almost killed our whole career because you wanted to piss Dev off?" "You were pissing me off too," Marcus said, laughing now too. "With the way you were ordering us around." Kayden threw a fry at him. Marcus threw one back. Two men, twenty-six and twenty-eight years old, having a food fight on the floor like they were twelve again. Then, without thinking, Marcus started singing. Quietly at first. The song they were supposed to rehearse. The one he had sung off key on purpose. He sang it right this time. > *It was perfect how we had it a couple years ago > Knew we'd find something amazing but we took it slow > But not everything will go how you want it to go > And all the things that made it worth it started getting old...* Kayden looked at him, smiled, and picked it up exactly where Marcus wanted him to. Kayden sang: > *And my mum was always happy when I brought you home > I can't find the heart to tell her so she doesn't know > She'll probably text you on your birthday cause she can't let go > Like I can't let go > And now I wanna know...* Then together, on the floor, harmonizing like they had done since they were teenagers in a garage: > *Are we letting go when we've got no good reason > Anything worth fighting for is never easy > You can't say I'll die for you without the bleeding > And all my friends they can't believe that we're not speaking > Why we giving up? Cos they're all asking me > Do you really think this should be happening > Wish that we were leaving a catastrophe > Why do we have to be such a masterpiece* "You knew the lines all along," Kayden said when they finished. "Of course I did," Marcus said. "I wrote it with you idiots." They laughed again. And then, outside the big windows, the sky, which had been clear, turned dark very fast. Like a cloud covering the sun. Boom. It was morning. Marcus woke up with a jerk. Sun was blasting through the windows. It was bright, nine AM bright. He was still on the floor. His white polo was stiff. He looked down. Blood. Dark red, dried blood all over his white polo. A lot of it. On his hands. His heart stopped. Next to him, Kayden was lying on his back. Still. Eyes open, staring at the ceiling. Mouth slightly open. His light blue shirt was soaked through with blood. A deep, dark red spreading from his chest. A kitchen knife on the floor between them. "Kayden?" Marcus whispered. "Kayden?" No answer. "KAYDEN! WAKE UP!" He crawled to him, shaking him. Kayden's head lolled. Cold. Too cold. "KAYDEN! WAKE UP!" The front door locks clicked. One, two, three. Mrs. Smith walked in holding groceries. She saw them. The plastic bags fell. Apples rolling across the marble floor. She screamed. A raw, high-pitched scream that filled the whole house. "Mr. Marcus! Blood! What happened!" Everything happened in a blur after that. Shouts. Radios. Sirens. Hands pulling him. Marcus was on the porch in handcuffs. His black hoodie was taken off him and used to hold his hands because he was trying to reach for Kayden. Cameras. So many cameras flashing. Bloggers who had been waiting since last night for Eclipse to fall apart had gotten the ultimate story. "Marcus! Did you kill Kayden?" "Is Eclipse over?" He was too shocked to react. He could not remember. He tried to remember last night, but his brain was empty, white noise, except for one thing playing on loop, clear as day: Why do we have to be such a masterpiece... ---