Tyler sits in the dressing room with his daisy warming up his voice. Today's the show.
"I love youuuu..." Tyler sings to the daisy. Jenna playfully
hits his arm.
Josh enters. "Time to get onstage Tyler."
Tyler nods and engages in a long kiss with his daisy.
He takes the white ski mask from his friends hand.
Blurry peeks out from the corner. Tyler punches the air where Blurry stands, the devilish figure dissipating into the atmosphere.
The lights go black. The crowd screams. Josh walks onstage, followed by Tyler. The broken boy forms his hand into his a gun shape. He points it at his best friend.
"time stands still, time stands still,
there's a metaphor at hand,
a metaphoric blast,
which only few will understand.
under clothes, under skin,
underneath we're all the same,
for when you remove the tricky tricks,
Only skeleton bones remain."
The sound of two gunshots go off. Tyler shoots his "gun" first at Josh, then at his own throat.
He shivers, remembering the airplane gunman as the lights go black and he falls back. The fans scream and he is reminded of the many children screaming, and a wife screaming at the sight of her bloodied husband riddled with bullet holes.
My back slams to the ground, just as my body had weeks before. I spring up, Josh starting to play the drums. Dash to the piano. Sit on the seat, the lights illuminating my face a strobe-blue.
Scream.
"Lets go!!" I shout into the microphone, giving it my all.
"I-I-I-I've got a migraine!" The crowd screams to me.
Later on in the show, I stop. I fiddle with the keys on the piano.
Tell them.
Tyler grabs the microphone, his hands becoming more clammy by the second.
"I'd just like to say thank you. To my wife, to you guys, to Josh. I was with some really serious health concerns and issues in the past months, and you all stuck through it. I'm not gonna lie, it's quite emotional to talk about it. But I knew you'd stick with us, with Twenty One Pilots, because we are the few and the proud."
Everyone cheers.
I stop and think. I smile at a fan, her hair buzz cut, whether by choice or from disease I won't know. She made me think.
"The few, the proud, and the emotional. I like that." I say, smiling. Everyone cheers.
"This ones for my wife. Jenna come out here."
The daisy comes onstage, so happy, she almost skips. I live for her smile.
"You say things with your mouth, cobwebs and flies come out..." I sing.
Never had I been to happy to play a show.
About an hour later, I need to play a last song. I choose Car Radio.
Grab the microphone.
Put on the ski mask.
Climb.
"I ponder of something great, my lungs will fill and then deflate, they fill with fire, exhale desire, I know its dire my time today." I sing, tearing up, climbing into the rafters of the small venue. I sit on top of the rafter, swinging my feet high up in the air. I shake my head back and forth rapidly. Something to calm the nerves.
I stand on the rafter, the thin beam making my feet shift.
"'Cause somebody stole my car radio. and now I just sit in silence. I ponder of something terrifying, cause this time theres no sound to hide behind, defined over the course of existence, one thing consists of consistence, and its that where all battling fear, oh dear, I don't know if I know why I am, Oh my, too deep, please stop thinking, I liked it better when my car had sound!" I sing into the microphone, swaying my arm up and down, I take off my ski mask and throw it into the crowd.
A slight breeze blows my hair, I grip onto the rafter bar.
Turn towards Josh.
The beat drops and I shake my head once more. The crowd is going wild.
I begin to violently scream the lyrics. I let go of the rafters pole.
"And now I just in silence! And now I just sit in silence! And now I just sit in silence!"
Time stands still.
Let yourself fall off the high rafter. Backwards.
I scream louder than I ever had before.
"And now I just sit!!!!"
The wind pushes my shirt and hair in the opposite direction I am falling. Time seems to slow. Josh stops drumming and stands up. Jenna shrieks. The crowd gasps.
The fans catch me right as the tempo returns to its original form. The crowd screams and cheers in my arms. I sing out the song, crowd surfing back to the stage.
I climb onstage to finish.
"'Cause somebody stole my car radio, and now I just sit in silence."
The song is over. Silence. A momentary pause of shock.
Ear-deafening screams and cheers.
We put on quite a show.
"We're Twenty One Pilots, and so are you. Goodnight everybody!"
Success.
