In Trench I'm Not Alone

Lowkey, I'm Alright

"Um, ok, so this isn't actually the setlist, I'm still uh- working on that, this is just the album," Clancy explained, the lump in his throat making it harder to speak.

"Are we going to get the setlist in time to learn it before the show?" The bassist asked, looking down at the papers in his hands.

"Hopefully, um, yeah. The show isn't for probably six months, so we have time to prepare and record everything. I have a lot of other songs that aren't from this album, and I was kinda-" Clancy paused, his heart pounding so hard he thought he might pass out. Or maybe throw up. He wondered where this information was coming from, because he couldn't remember anything that wasn't related to the show or the album for the life of him. "I was kinda thinking that I could put some of those songs on the setlist to make it a little more interesting. So uh-" Or maybe he might cry. "D- does anyone want to help me come up with the setlist?"

Silence, total and utter silence. Definitely throw up, but only after he cried.

"I'll help," the drummer offered, and Clancy wanted to cry again but now from the relief.

"You will?" He squeaked out.

The drummer nodded like before, flashing Clancy a grin. "Sure, sounds fun, and I had some questions about the drums."

"Yeah, sure! Um, yeah, I can- we- you can do kinda whatever you want, I'm not really... I don't know anything about drums so I don't know if the things I wrote for the drums even make sense," Clancy stammered, his breath sticking in his lungs. He really couldn't even remember anything about what he had done for the sheet music anyway.

***

After their first few run-throughs of the album, the rest of the band felt confident enough to be able to play it on their own, and started packing up to leave. The sun was setting, dipping in the horizon, and Clancy was starting to relax. His hand pushed through his pink hair, and he let out a breath. It was a good day, he thought. Despite the overwhelming anxiety he had felt the whole day, but that was normal.

"Hey, can I talk to you real quick?" The drummer asked, as the last band member left the studio.

Clancy nodded quickly, wondering if he was in trouble.

"Are you- Clancy, are you ok?" The drummer whispered.

"Yeah, I'm alright, why?"

"You're not... acting normal."

"What do you-" Clancy paused, his stomach sinking slightly. "I- I'm sorry, I don't think I'm normally this anxious, if that's what you mean..."

"No- well, that, kind of, but-" The drummer took in a thick breath, rubbing his eyes quickly, like he was thinking. "No, sorry. Nevermind. See you tomorrow, right?"

"Oh, um-" Clancy's eyes widened, nodding in surprise. "Yeah, sure-"

"Ok, awesome. We can go over the album more, and- you know how to play a few instruments, right?"

Why would he know that? "Yeah, I mean- yeah, I do."

"Ok, great! We can start recording tomorrow, if you'd like. I think the album's great, it sounds super good, and I think it's going to be a hit."

"Really?" Clancy breathed, his eyes still wide.

"Of course man! See you tomorrow!" The drummer grinned. Clancy blinked and he was gone, and now he was alone.

***

Breakfast two days in a row was really pushing it, Tyler was gearing up to not eat it, how could he trust it when it seemed too good to be true? But he was so hungry and the food looked so good, and nothing bad happened yesterday anyway. Maybe he had lost several hours of the day, he blinked and it was almost sunset, but that wasn't that strange, sometimes things like that happened.