Time, She Will Be Your Living End (David Bowie Fanfiction)

Something Happened On The Day He Died

Although what you are about to read is based on some real events this is purely a work of fiction, and should always be played at maximum volume...

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January 11, 2016 6:54 AM

I normally wake up at half past five in the morning. Why, I do not know. I don't go to school anymore even though I am fifteen, but to make up for it I help out in the local record shop that's by the train station. I am always the first up in the morning, except for my father who works the early morning to afternoon shifts.

My life is colourful and very much joyous. My parents and I are huge fans of David Bowie, I play his records every day. It works out well at the record shop too. I go in for my shift every week day morning at nine and David Bowie or the Rolling Stones will be playing. It's a sweet little shop, though we don't get too many customers it's nice to just work in an environment I love: records everywhere, posters and album covers pinned all over the orange walls, music always playing. But I feel as though something is missing; it is 2016 and not the 1970s. People have lost their love for good music, it's all rubbish now. Gigs and concerts are not at all what they used to be. And even worse, I can't go and see all of David Bowie's old gigs and tours from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and early 00s. Although he has released albums since, he stopped touring in 2004. We received a large stock of the Blackstar album just yesterday. I am hopeful that he will release more one day.

I do not belong in 2016 at all. I belong in the 70s! I should be going to see Ziggy Stardust, buying all the new singles and albums, travelling around just to see the worldwide tours, and just living in a time with more 'taste'. Everything is just so dull. The only thing keeping my life colourful is David and the record shop, which feels like the 70s every time I step in there.

Like most Monday mornings, I am out of bed and down in the kitchen getting breakfast first. I usually turn on the radio to listen to the news, but this time I didn't. I was too tired to think or concentrate on anything. Something felt weird this morning. The sky was grey and the clouds were black. Though that is the normal for January in England (if not every month) it has been rather sunny, but cold, recently. I poured a bowl of cereal and the last of the milk in the fridge over it, then dipped in the spoon and began to eat. It was calm, very calm. Perhaps it was because the radio wasn't on, or because something was about to break the silence. Somehow I was right.

I looked down to my phone to see I had thirteen missed calls from my dad. Before I could ring him back, the landline started ringing - it was probably him.

"Dad? Are you okay? I'm sorry I missed your calls. Is everything o-" I said before I was interrupted by my father's heavy breathing.

"Christiane- Annie. I- God, I'm so sorry." I could hear him trembling almost.

"Dad, are you ok, do you want me to go and get mum?" I was worried, he has never sounded like this before.

"Annie. David Bowie is dead!" His voice was breaking slowly. My lips parted and a breath escaped. The phone slipped out of my hand and the batteries fell out of its plastic casing when it hit the floor. There was nothing to think about in the second I stood in silence before gathering a thought or two. I ran to the kitchen and switched on the BBC Radio. At first there was static, then the sound was clear and the voices started.

"It is six minutes past seven on Monday, the eleventh of January. Umm, we've not been speaking for a while because we've been trying to confirm um, reports uh of the passing of David Bowie."

"No." A whisper laced with shock slipped off of my lips. My vision became blurry as tears started to form.

"I can't believe I am even saying this. It's not news that I wanted to be reporting, but we can confirm there's a statement on David Bowie's official twitter and Facebook, confirming that he has died. It reads: 'David Bowie died peacefully today, surrounded by his family after a courageous eighteen month battle with cancer. While many with you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family's privacy during this time of grief.' David Bowie was sixty-nine, he released his final album... Blackstar just on Friday, which was also his birthday."

In that moment everything shattered. Colour turned back to black,
grey and white, and the world felt different and empty. Unable to help myself, I switched off the radio and ran into the living room to turn the news on the TV. it couldn't be true. This wasn't happening. There he was, looking as beautiful as ever on the screen with the years '1947-2016' written on it.

"Uh.. some breaking news in uh... that was announced just now, this morning. It's been confirmed that David Bowie, singer and musician, has died at the age of sixty-nine this morning."

I switched off the TV. This surely couldn't be true. But it was. It was all very real. Nobody could believe it. I couldn't and the radio and news readers certainly couldn't believe it. I needed to clear my mind and just think for a minute.

I took a slow walk through the streets and avenues to the local off licence to get a 'pick-me-up' iced coffee. As soon as I stepped in, I could hear 'Space Oddity' playing on the radio. The newspaper shelf was full of pictures of David's face; everything from Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane to The Blind Prophet. I stood in front of the shelf looking at each and every headline: 'Ashes to ashes', 'David Bowie dead' and finally at the same time as the music on the radio, 'And the stars look very different today'.

"Matt? Could you turn it off please?" I knew Matt, the manager, quite well. He knew I loved David Bowie.

"Terrible day, huh?"

"Very. It's barely been an hour since we found out and I already miss him." I replied.

"I'm uh, sorry. I just got all the papers in under an hour ago." He said as he switched off the radio. I picked up one of each of the newspapers and Matt scanned them through. I reached for the five pound note in my pocket.

"Actually that won't be necessary, it's on me." That was weird, but very kind of him.

"Thank you." I said with as large a smile as I could give. I turned to leave quite quickly and upon my exit I bumped into a man around the same age as me. I dropped all the newspapers on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I didn't look where I was going." I crouched down to pick them all up and he did the same.

"David Bowie huh? I'm a fan too. It was a shock when I heard it on the radio." He picked up the last newspaper and handed it over to me.

"Thank you." I said as I left.

"Any time." He replied with a small smile.

I took another slow walk home to think to myself. The world has turned completely upside down. With David Bowie gone how can the world be colourful and happy? How can I be happy?

The walls of my bedroom brought tears to my eyes. Pictures and posters of David were unevenly displayed over the white walls that were no longer visible. The dear London boy of the 60s, Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, the thin white duke, all of them stared at me; their eyes breaking into my soul as tears streamed down my face. My body sunk into my bed and I was cemented there with only one person on my mind.

What a long David Bowieless day it has been. Sadly there is another one tomorrow, the day after that, the week after that, the year after that, forever. Good bye Major Tom, you've gone home in your tin can, and now you're a starman waiting in the sky. The stars look very different today, as they will forever.

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Hey, I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing this. I might pop in for an author's note every now and then. Something I quite like about this chapter is how I incorporated part of my own experience into Annie's. The way Annie finds out about David Bowie's death is actually how I found out, minus the radio.

Anyway... critique, comment, vote (or even follow if you'd like). Have a wonderful day or night.