My Empire of Dirt

Go to Sleep I wish You Well

'I regret to inform you all...' No, too formal.

'Sometimes when two people love each other and go through a tragedy...' Fuck no, he isn't telling them where babies come from and he's not telling his kids that mommy and daddy are getting a divorce... ok maybe it was kinda like the latter.

Johnny sat at the kitchen table, glaring down at his phone as he tried to write a tweet over and over again.

To announce that he and Gretchen were no longer together.

This was not a tweet he ever thought he would be making. He glanced outside and watched as gallons apon gallons of rain water poured down from the sky, pelting against the window almost violently.

It was four in the morning, he really should be sleeping, but he couldn't. He needed to say something, he needed people to stop asking why he hasn't posted anything about Gretchen and why her accounts have gone private.

'I'm fucking sick of you all asking where Gretchen is...' Yeah, no. Way too aggressive; damn, this was harder than he thought it would be, not that he ever thought it would be easy.

The singer sighed heavily and sat his phone down on the table with a resounding thud, propping his elbows on the table and running his fingers through his hair.

What the hell was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to word it in a way that wouldn't send hoards of fans after her and didn't reveal just how brokenhearted he was?

Maybe he should just keep his mouth shut? Let the fans come to their own conclusions.
They would probably just turn to the rest of the band and Gretchen for answers if he did that.

"Damnit." He whispered to no one, lifting his phone back up to try again.

He was trying to be quiet since Lily was asleep upstairs and he didn't want to wake her. Someone up there truly hated him for sending a fucking tropical storm their way.

His withdrawals were getting worse, his head throbbed painfully and his body shook violently as shivers shot through him. He was pretty sure he was running a fever too. Maybe he should just go upstairs and shoot up? The plan was to wean off it, not cold turkey.

'You guys have been asking a lot of questions about my relationship and...'

"Fuck it, maybe I should just have the social media team draft something for me?" He said out loud, deleting the tweet once more.

He had no idea what to say, how does someone announce to millions of people that the love of your life is no longer in your life?

'Just speak from the heart, you dumb fuck!' A voice that sounded like Vic said in his mind and he sighed.

"From the heart." He mumbled before he started typing again.

'Gretchen and I have decided to end our relationship, I have nothing but love for her and I'm so grateful to have had her as a partner and have her support in my life, she made me a better person and I wish her nothing but the absolute best in life. Please respect our decision and privacy, and specifically respect Gretchen's privacy🖤.'

That...actually sounded pretty decent. He took a screenshot and started to send it to the head of PR at the label, but then deleted it; if he was going to do this, he was going to do it completely authentic without any input or edits from 'experts'.

Johnny took a deep breath and slowly let it out through his nose before he hit post. He couldn't back out now even if he wanted, so many fans had post notifications on, so even if he took it down immediately, at least a few fans would still see it, and they would most definitely take screenshots and repost it.