Exit Stage Six: A Contemporary New Adult Romance Novella by A.J. Downey
Authors: A.J. Downey
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Inconsequential in the long run.
I was the bands official photographer. It kept me and Dorian
close while they were on the road and that is what we’d mostly fought about. My
salary. I’d wanted one when Dorian didn’t see the need. He wanted to provide
everything for me but that was not who my father and mother had raised me to
be.
I smiled as cellphone screens appeared in the crowd like
mushrooms after a rain. Dorian sang on, shooting a sidelong glance into the
shadows to where I stood, green eyes sparking with love and darker baser things
that had me unconsciously pressing my thighs together. I snapped a few more
photos.
Our second fight had come when I had looked at my bank
account after accepting the position as Elysium’s photographer. I had been
grossly overpaid. Dorian didn’t want to back down but eventually I had worn him
down to a realistic figure that a photographer of my experience warranted. In
short, I didn’t want anything handed to me. I wanted to earn it.
Carl sighed and shifted his stance beside me.
“Carl.”
“Yeah L.B.?” I smiled, everyone was calling me L.B. now, just
another testament to the force of Dorian’s personality.
“Stop worrying about whatever you’re worrying about and
enjoy the show.” I said dryly. He chuckled.
“You do realize we have something like thirty-eight more
stops on this concert series right?” he asked.
“I know.” Forty-four in all… I smirked.
“You’re incredible sometimes.” He scratched the back of his
neck and wandered away. I smiled to myself. I wasn’t bored yet… I looked at
Dorian crooning to his adoring fans and smiled.
I don’t think I ever would be.
THE END
Author’s Note
On April 8 th , 1994 I was sitting in my seventh
grade English class when a girl across from me with ratty blonde hair in a
stained black hoodie with holes in the sleeves for her thumbs started crying. I
had no idea what was wrong but I wanted to fix it, so I asked.
Turned out she was a huge fan of the grunge band Nirvana and
it had just been announced that the body of its lead singer, Kurt Cobain, had
been found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in his Seattle
home. I was old enough to understand death and its effect on people, old enough
to remember to this day, the outpouring of love and pain from the bands fans. I
remember watching Kurt’s wife Courtney Love read his suicide note to an immense
gathering of his fans on television from Seattle Center.
I’ve been to his memorial bench which stands outside his
home on Lake Washington Boulevard and though it wasn’t until after his death
that I came to appreciate his music, I can honestly say, as late to the party
as I was and am, I am a Nirvana fan too and still remain a fan of Nirvana’s
drummer, Foo Fighter’s front man, Dave Grohl.
The apparent suicide of Kurt Cobain effected fans across the
Nation and across the world and in no way am I trying to trivialize that. My
thoughts on the matter is that this was, is and continues to be a devastating
tragedy that the people closest to Kurt will have to live with for the rest of
their lives.
Exit Stage Six came about when I had a very strange dream
about what it would be to deal with something of this magnitude on a much
smaller scale. To be someone on the outside looking in on a tragedy this
monumental when it came to someone close to the person who’d gone. Dorian’ pain
is a very raw and powerful thing in this aspect but Drake’s suicide reaches far
beyond him and his band mates, their families, their friends and even their
fans.
Suicide is a forever decision made during a singular moment
in time when things feel like they can’t get any worse… Please, if you or
someone you know is having thoughts of suicide seek help. Visit the National
Suicide Prevention lifeline at:
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or call 24/7 at: 1-800-273-8255.
About the Author
A.J. Downey has been a resident of Seattle, WA
her
I was the bands official photographer. It kept me and Dorian
close while they were on the road and that is what we’d mostly fought about. My
salary. I’d wanted one when Dorian didn’t see the need. He wanted to provide
everything for me but that was not who my father and mother had raised me to
be.
I smiled as cellphone screens appeared in the crowd like
mushrooms after a rain. Dorian sang on, shooting a sidelong glance into the
shadows to where I stood, green eyes sparking with love and darker baser things
that had me unconsciously pressing my thighs together. I snapped a few more
photos.
Our second fight had come when I had looked at my bank
account after accepting the position as Elysium’s photographer. I had been
grossly overpaid. Dorian didn’t want to back down but eventually I had worn him
down to a realistic figure that a photographer of my experience warranted. In
short, I didn’t want anything handed to me. I wanted to earn it.
Carl sighed and shifted his stance beside me.
“Carl.”
“Yeah L.B.?” I smiled, everyone was calling me L.B. now, just
another testament to the force of Dorian’s personality.
“Stop worrying about whatever you’re worrying about and
enjoy the show.” I said dryly. He chuckled.
“You do realize we have something like thirty-eight more
stops on this concert series right?” he asked.
“I know.” Forty-four in all… I smirked.
“You’re incredible sometimes.” He scratched the back of his
neck and wandered away. I smiled to myself. I wasn’t bored yet… I looked at
Dorian crooning to his adoring fans and smiled.
I don’t think I ever would be.
THE END
Author’s Note
On April 8 th , 1994 I was sitting in my seventh
grade English class when a girl across from me with ratty blonde hair in a
stained black hoodie with holes in the sleeves for her thumbs started crying. I
had no idea what was wrong but I wanted to fix it, so I asked.
Turned out she was a huge fan of the grunge band Nirvana and
it had just been announced that the body of its lead singer, Kurt Cobain, had
been found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in his Seattle
home. I was old enough to understand death and its effect on people, old enough
to remember to this day, the outpouring of love and pain from the bands fans. I
remember watching Kurt’s wife Courtney Love read his suicide note to an immense
gathering of his fans on television from Seattle Center.
I’ve been to his memorial bench which stands outside his
home on Lake Washington Boulevard and though it wasn’t until after his death
that I came to appreciate his music, I can honestly say, as late to the party
as I was and am, I am a Nirvana fan too and still remain a fan of Nirvana’s
drummer, Foo Fighter’s front man, Dave Grohl.
The apparent suicide of Kurt Cobain effected fans across the
Nation and across the world and in no way am I trying to trivialize that. My
thoughts on the matter is that this was, is and continues to be a devastating
tragedy that the people closest to Kurt will have to live with for the rest of
their lives.
Exit Stage Six came about when I had a very strange dream
about what it would be to deal with something of this magnitude on a much
smaller scale. To be someone on the outside looking in on a tragedy this
monumental when it came to someone close to the person who’d gone. Dorian’ pain
is a very raw and powerful thing in this aspect but Drake’s suicide reaches far
beyond him and his band mates, their families, their friends and even their
fans.
Suicide is a forever decision made during a singular moment
in time when things feel like they can’t get any worse… Please, if you or
someone you know is having thoughts of suicide seek help. Visit the National
Suicide Prevention lifeline at:
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or call 24/7 at: 1-800-273-8255.
About the Author
A.J. Downey has been a resident of Seattle, WA
her
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