The Shrieking Daffodils

The sound of screaming fans rattled Madison Square Garden as The Shrieking Daffodils retreated backstage. A smoky haze filled the room and various bottles of alcohol littered the tables. Daphne Ovid, the band’s lead singer, wasted no time popping open a bottle with her guitar pick and tossing it back. Her vocal chords instantly relaxed as the icy beer funneled down her throat.

Out of the entire group, she was the best looking. half of her head was shaved while the other half was shoulder length and hot pink. She had a loop in her left nostril and a rod in her right eyebrow. She wore a black leather jacket with spikes on her left shoulder and a missing sleeve on her right. Under the jacket was a hot pink sports bra. She also wore a pair of matching leather pants and black combat boots. Two chains dangled from her back pocket and rattled as she bounced around the room.

“I fucking killed it tonight,” yelled Daphne.

Juno, the band’s drummer, rolled her eyes. She had a similar getup but instead of pink, her accent color was lime green. She had buzzed hair and she had heart shaped earrings that brushed her shoulders when she moved her head.

“We were fucking awesome,” corrected Juno.

As she downed another bottle, Daphne waved her hand and said, “Yeah, yeah. We were awesome.”

Linnea, Daphne’s younger sister and the band’s bassist, was Daphne’s opposite. She wore a leather jacket with sleeves on both sides but her leather pants were cut off at the thigh, but she wore knee high socks to make up the difference. Her hair, bra, and socks were light blue. She plopped down on the chair across from Daphne and said “Easy, Sis, you keep this pace and you won’t even remember the greatest night of the tour.”

Daphne shrugged and proceeded to guzzle the Tequila she just opened. Melody, the band’s back up singer, plopped down beside Daphne and took a beer from the bucket on the table. Melody’s hair was jet black and pulled up in a ponytail. Her leather uniform consisted of a sleeveless jacket with a purple sports bra and leather pants. She didn’t have any piercings but her face was covered in specs of purple makeup.

After finishing her third drink, Daphne looked each of her band mates in the eyes and lifted another bottle of tequila before toasting “To us, the most successful all female screamo-punk band to ever exist! We had a hell of a run!”

The others raised their drinks but shared puzzled looks. Linnea broke the awkward silence by asking, “What do you mean had? Sure, the tour is over, but we’re just getting started. I think for our next album we can include some more stops and prepare more merch since we keep selling out.”

Daphne shook her head, “I’m sorry guys. There isn’t going to be a next time. I’m going solo.”

Juno’s bottle shattered on the floor, “What the fuck, Daph!? You’d be nothing without us. Sure, you’re hot and you gotta voice, but you said it yourself, we’re the most successful all female screamo punk band to ever exist. Why ruin that?”

Daphne laughed, “Because I am the band. Listen to them,” everyone stopped to listen to the crowd chant Daphne’s name. Daphne’s smug grin widened as she added, “I don’t hear them chanting your name. Plus I’m the best looking one, the best performer, and singer. Why should I keep letting you feed off of my success?”

“Your success!?” Scoffed Juno, “We all contributed to this. Fuck, Daph, Linnea looks just like you, so that throws a wrench in your best looking argument. You also forgot that Melody wrote the songs. How do you expect to continue without her? Linnea handles the business side of things and I engineer the songs and albums. You couldn’t possibly do this without us.”

Daphne reached for another bottle and said, “Melody loves me, she’ll never leave. Right Mel?” Melody opened her mouth to answer but Daphne interjected with “Besides, she’s too quiet for the limelight. She’ll have more fun behind the scenes, won’t you Mel?”

Again Melody opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Linnea. “So you are going to kick out your own flesh and blood? We’re sisters, Daphne. You didn’t even consult me? You also forget, we signed a contract.”

Daphne snapped her fingers and a small man with a briefcase scurried into the room. He placed the briefcase on the table and left without making a sound. Daphne opened the briefcase. Inside were stacks of hundred dollar bills.

“I am buying you out.” Answered Daphne.

Juno screamed in frustration, “No! I don’t want to be bought out, I want to play.” She looked at Linnea and said, “Then we’ll kick you out. The Shrieking Daffodils don’t need you, and if you are so dead set on making it on your own you don’t really need the name anymore do you?”

Daphne shook her head as she polished off her sixth drink. “I guess not. You can keep the shitty name. Daphne Ovid will be the only words people are going to say anyway.”

“You are an egotistical freak, you know that, Sis? I can’t believe I’m even related to you. We’re leaving.” Juno and Linnea got up to leave and were shocked to see that Melody didn’t stand with them. Linnea asked, “Mel, are you coming with us?”

Melody scooted closer to Daphne and shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak but Juno yelled “Dammit Melody! Daphne doesn’t love you. She only loves herself and how your music makes everyone else love her. Quit wasting your time with her and come with us. The band is nothing without your songs and once Daphne is gone you can be the lead singer.” Melody shook her head again and Juno added, “Fine. Be Daph’s echo for the rest of your life. If you ever end up getting your head out of Daphne’s ass you know where to find us.”

Juno stormed out of the green room. The door slammed shut, and the entire room shook. Daphne looked at her sister and said, “Are you going after her or are you going to stand around looking like an idiot?”

Linnea growled, “Go fuck yourself.”

“Someone else will do that for me.”

Linnea rolled her eyes and stormed after Juno, leaving Melody alone with Daphne.

Daphne placed a hand on Melody’s thigh and said, “Let’s fucking change the world!”

Melody smiled and said, “Let’s fucking change the world!”

The two friends continued pounding drinks. As the night burned on, the green room transformed into different bars, which turned into different clubs. Eventually, their body guard took them back to the apartment where all of their belongings were scattered across the floor. A large Fuck You was written in red lipstick across all of their luggage and the walls, but the two women didn’t care. They were too drunk and tired to even notice. They both collapsed into bed, but before falling asleep, Melody wrapped her arms around Daphne and kissed her. Daphne yelped in disgust and pushed Melody away from her.

“What the fuck, Mel! I get you have a crush on me, and I can’t blame you for that, but I don’t like you. Maybe if you were prettier and more talented I would think about it, but there’s a reason you sing back up.”

Melody started to cry as she tried to take Daphne’s hand but Daphne quickly pulled it to her chest and added, “Quit the blubbering. You have always known you aren’t good enough for me. You’re the weakest performer. Sure you write a catchy song but they’re all about me, so it’s kind of like I wrote them anyway.”

Melody’s face was redder than the lipstick that stained the walls around them. She pushed Daphne off the bed and screamed, “I wrote them!” She then gathered what she could quickly shove into her suitcase and stormed out of the room leaving Daphne alone on her spinning floor.

All of a sudden Daphne’s chest felt hot and her stomach was tumbling. Pulling herself off the floor, she half crawled, half pulled herself into the bathroom where she caught her reflection in the mirror and all the discomfort she had vanished.

“I am fucking gorgeous.” She said to no one. “Why hadn’t I realized this sooner? I am disgusted by everyone else because they aren’t me. If I want to be happy, I have to be… hiccup, with me!” Putting her hands together, Daphne added, “I know I don’t pray often, but if you are up there make it possible for me to be with the stunning woman in the mirror.”

No divine voice or figure came, but Daphne did throw up. She watched her reflection mimic her movements and wished she could hold her hair back for her. She knew she needed to get up, turn her reflection on her side, but she couldn’t move. The room was spinning and everything hurt.

Hours passed as Daphne continued to expel the night’s memories. She could feel her lungs burn as the liquid was becoming harder and harder to push out. She watched her reflection sputter and convulse but laid there in fear. She knew there was nothing she could do. She prayed one more time to be with this woman but as she uttered amen the world went dark.

At first light Melody returned. She didn’t want to be there but no matter how selfish Daphne was, she couldn’t bear being away from her.

When she arrived at the room she discovered Daphne was no longer in her bed. Worry started to bubble within Melody but she reassured herself that Daphne was probably just using the bathroom. Melody waited a few moments in case her friend needed some privacy but when Daphne never came out she decided to check on her. As Melody entered the bathroom, she screamed. There was the love of her life unconscious in a puddle of her own vomit. Melody fell to her knees and cradled Daphne’s head in her lap. She then pulled out her phone and called 911.

The operator spoke but Melody couldn’t hear, she was wailing too loud. Eventually, the operator sent out a dispatch using Melody’s GPS on her phone but it didn’t matter. Daphne was dead and Melody believed it was her fault. Because of this guilt, she swore to never speak again but it wouldn’t matter. The tabloids would end up doing the talking for her.

A week later was Daphne’s funeral. Her parents and Linnea were the only ones there that Melody knew. The rest were crazy fans who thought they knew Daphne and a few reporters who had no respect.

As people went up to Daphne’s closed casket, a choice Melody was still upset with Linnea for making, Melody fumbled with the speech in her pocket. Normally, she would be happy letting others do the talking for her. They would make fun of her but it was easy staying in the background. It was safe. It allowed her to glide by as everyone else made the hard choices in life. That’s why she admired Daphne so much, she always took charge.

Once the visitation ended, Daphne’s mom went up to the podium and tapped the microphone. The sound system popped as the feedback and everyone moaned.

“Whoops, sorry. I should probably leave the sound stuff to Linnea.” She looked at Daphne and choked up a little. “Daphne was my first born. She was always into her appearance, I guess that’s why she became a rockstar.” The crowd chuckled, “Normally I could talk all of your ears off but… I'm at a loss for words today. That’s why I have asked Melody, Daphne’s best friend, to say a few things. Melody, could you come up here, please?”

Melody took a deep breath and made her way to the podium. She gave Mrs. Ovid a hug and then handed her notes to her. Mrs. Ovid smiled, “thank you, Dear. I’ll try to get through it without crying.”

Melody smiled back and stood to the side as Daphne’s mom began reading.

“For most people, Daphne was a narcissistic bitch.” Mrs. Ovid looked to Melody, who nodded for her to continue. “But to me, she was my voice. She was everything I ever wanted to be. I have written songs my whole life, but God has a sense of humor because he decided to give me the worst voice imaginable.” The crowd laughed and Mrs. Ovid continued. “Daphne was the one who told me I had a gift before anyone else. She saw something in my words that I couldn't see and I remember sitting on the bus with her when she told me that she was going to sing my songs and make them speak within the minds of millions. At the time I thought she was crazy. No one could be that confident, but Daphne was and she somehow manifested it. My songs are sung all over the world. She made this nobody from nowhere who never spoke a voice that resonated with everyone and for that I will always be grateful. Even though she isn’t with us, her spirit will live on in our music.”

As Melody was leaving the funeral home, one of the reporters stopped her and asked. “So now that Daphne is gone, who will lead The Shrieking Daffodils?”

“The Shrieking Daffodils?” Asked Melody.

The reporter gave her a confused look but before he could ask again, Linnea came and took Melody’s hand and said, “Melody doesn’t care, and as much as I hate to admit it, The Shrieking Daffodils was my sister. That’s why Juno and I are starting our own band.”

Once the reporter got what he needed, he left the two women alone. Linnea looked to Melody and said, “sorry about that, Mel. I know you hate when people talk for you, but he seemed to be bothering you.”

Melody smiled and the two walked together to Mr and Mrs. Ovid’s car. They followed the hearse in silence but once they got to the gravesite, and Daphne’s casket was lowered into the ground, Melody turned on The Shrieking Daffodil’s playlist and let Daphne’s voice do the talking one last time.