July, 1995
SEPH CARDIN BOBBED HER head to the beat of Sunset Curve as they ran through their finale song. Her fingers danced around the soundboard with ease, upping and lowering volume where it seemed necessary. She stuck ripped up sticky notes under the lead and rhythm guitar to remind herself later that night where the max volume should be. More were added to three of the four vocals, but she decided she needed a moment with Alex and Reggie to fix vocals and bass volume.
A girl cleaning the tables of the venue started cheering and clapping for the boys. Seph smiled and jotted notes down on a notepad as the boys conversed about their soundcheck. She lifted her gaze and saw Reggie hand the girl a CD and shirt which she gratefully took and threw over her shoulder. Reggie, Luke and Alex made to leave the venue, leaving Bobby with the girl, before Seph called out to them.
"Hey before you guys leave real quick!" The three curved their path to stand in a line in front of the ginger. "Alex and Reggie I need you two back a little early so I can do an extra check. Just for Alex's vocal's and the bass."
"Aye aye captain." Reggie mock saluted the girl, so she reached out and slapped him lightly with her notebook.
"Get back here two hours early okay? You all need a long shower."
"Aw what's wrong, Josephine?" Luke reached round and enveloped the girl in a tight, sweaty hug. "We don't smell that bad."
"That's debatable." Seph wrinkled her nose and twisted out of the hug that had now turned into a playful headlock. "Now go fuel up, you've got a big night."
The three whooped and ran out, practically floating on Cloud 9 with the euphoria of what was to come. Seph shook her head and went back to checking the cables, moving them out of the way so Reggie, Luke and Bobby wouldn't trip over. Alex's cable was decently neat, though she wound it a little higher around the mic stand, just in case.
She decided to nip out to a local small shop to get a sandwich and smoothie as her fuel before the concert. She grabbed a simple BLT and an strawberry and banana smoothie, deciding to throw a chocolate bar on top of it all when she got to the till. Fans were already lining up outside the venue, even though it was still two hours before the show.
An hour passed and Seph had finished her food, now sitting on the edge of the stage swinging her feet while waiting for Alex and Reggie. They should have been there thirty minutes ago.
They were a pain but never late when she told them to be somewhere.
"Rose?" She called out to the girl from before. "I'm going to check where the guys are."
"I'll let Bobby know." The girl smiled warmly at Seph.
The ginger exited through the back of the building to where the fans were. A great crowd had formed at the entrance of an alley, with people jostling to get a view.
"Excuse me?" Seph tapped a girl on the shoulder. "You wouldn't have happened to see Sunset Curve here?"
The girl said nothing, but pointed to the alley. Seph felt her stomach drop and the night air get cold when three ambulance sirens cut through the noise like sharp blades. She moved further down the crowd to catch a glimpse of what could be happening, hoping the girl hadn't meant her boys.
Flannel.
Blond hair.
A leather jacket.
Josephine Cardin's heart fell to her feet as the vehicles sped past the group en route to the hospital. Her feet started moving on their own accord and followed the ambulances through the busy streets, her vision going cloudy with tears she refused to let fall. If she cried her worst thoughts would become real. If she didn't cry then they would all be fine, just mild food poisoning from whatever they'd been eating.
Everyone was in slow motion.
They were coming up to a rail crossing. Her left foot caught uneven ground and she went tumbling to the concrete, hearing a door of the ambulance slam shut again. She looked down between her hands and saw a black plastic object that must have fallen from the ambulance closest to her as the door shut.
Reggie's pick.
Seph's numb fingers picked up the item and cradled it to her chest, lifting her head and scrambling to her feet to catch up with them.
She wasn't going to let her boys leave her.
It started raining. Fat droplets of freezing water slapping every surface it could reach, making Seph almost lose her footing a few times. Her grip on the pick was so tight her knuckles turned white.
The rail crossing was there. A train was approaching and she prayed with every atom of her body for the ambulances to speed past.
They didn't.
And that was when Josephine Cardin felt her heart shatter.
Her tears joined the rain as she fell to her knees. Her sobs of agony were drowned out by the sound but the pain was clear on her face. Her back curved as she hunched over Reggie's pick and her body shook with the sheer force of her sobs. The bodies of three of the most important people in her life were mere feet away from her and she had still been too late.
Too late to say goodbye.
"Honey? Oh come here let's get you out of the rain." A middle aged woman walked out to the sobbing girl with an umbrella. As she helped the teen to her feet, she looked at the ambulances that had now begun to move and rubbed Seph's back in a kind gesture.
"I'm so sorry sweetie."
Sorry wouldn't bring them back.
Seph thanked the lady and walked back home, now in possession of an umbrella, though she didn't use it. She knocked on her front door and was greeted by Janet Cardin in an apron and the smell of roast beef.
"Jo? Come out of the rain!" She mother yanked her daughter out of the bad weather and inspected her. "Why are you back so early? The concert shouldn't have ended yet."
Seph broke down again, clutching onto her mother like she was her life support.
"Jan? Is that Jo?" Mark Cardin took one look at his daughter latching onto her mother and his face softened. The parents took their child to the living room where her older sister Margot was keeping their little brother Seth and baby sister Adeline entertained.
"Jo what's wrong? I thought the boys were meant to be staying here after the show." Janet has set up the sofas for three of them, one having his own bedroom at the Cardin residence.
"I didn't make it in time."
That night, Seph had no idea what to do with herself. She found her hand resting on the doorknob of what was deemed 'The Reggie Room'. He hated it when his parents fought and so went to Seph's house practically every night, so Mark and Janet converted their spare bedroom to the Reggie Room.
Seph twisted the handle and stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her. The bed was neatly made with freshly washed clothes of his folded on the chair by the wardrobe. The girl sat on the sheets, feeling the mattress sink under her. She unfurled her fist and stared at the pick sat in her palm. She wanted to throw it. To destroy every item in this room until there was nothing left of Reginald Peters.
A glint caught her eye on the bedside table. A black necklace chain, one she was going to give back to him after the gig.
Seph's shaky hand reached out and plucked the delicate thing from the wood, holding it in her other hand. Her gaze slid from one to the other, pondering something, the idea flipping round in her head.
She made the pick into a necklace.
Seph slept in Reggie's bed for next five months until his scent was no longer there. The funeral of the three boys was in fact the only time she had seen his parents not fight, though they divorced three weeks later.
December, 1995
"Mom, I'm going to put these out for Luke, Alex and Reggie." Seph was holding a bunch of sunflowers she had gotten from a street stall earlier that day. Every two weeks she would change out the flowers that sat before the headstones of the boys foe fresh ones, pleasantly surprising their parents when they visited.
"Be back soon honey." Janet kissed her daughter on the head. "It's getting dark already, and Connor will be here for dinner soon." Margot's boyfriend of a year seemed to spend more time at the Cardin house than his own in Seph's eyes.
"Yes mom." Margot then walked out of the kitchen and hugged her sister tightly just like she did every time she went to visit them. The younger one found comfort in the tight embrace of her older sister.
It had been the right time to change the flowers it seemed. The cold weather had made the dahlia's from last time droop significantly. Seph didn't spend much time there. She had forgotten her coat and was eager to get home to the warm fire her father had most definitely lit.
She kissed the top of her hand and touched each stone with a sad smile before taking her leave from the cemetery, slipping down the alley she always walked to get there.
Her steps sped up as the sound of heavy footfalls got closer and closer to her. Normally only dog-walkers frequented this area and so she was rightly a bit scared of whoever was behind her. A streetlamp was a few feet ahead of her as the alley merged with the street, so she made a beeline for that.
Seph's heart sped up when she heard the metallic sound of a knife being drawn. Her breath came out in short, sharp pants as she began to now sprint to the streetlamp. A fiery pain exploded from her right side of her lower back as the weapon pierced her skin and entered her right kidney.
A hand clamped over her mouth to muffle her screams of agony as her assailant plunged the knife inter her again and again. Seph fell to her knees and heard her attackers belt unbuckle, though barely registered it as she tried to keep the crimson liquid in her body. The leather of the belt wrapped around her neck, her hands leaving her back to try and pry the leather from her neck. It kept constricting like a snake around her windpipe, her vision getting hazier and hazier as her life slipped away from her.
The belt loosened a fraction for the person to yank it from her neck, a tiny trickle of oxygen slipping past her chapped lips. She could tell from the hands that this person was a man as he forcefully grabbed her and turned her onto her back. The streetlight glimmered in his eyes, the image burning into Seph's retina as she feebly lifted her hands to stop the incoming knife that was aimed for her abdomen. He stabbed her again and again, leaving the teen to bleed out just feet away from safety.
Josephine Cardin would never forget the feeling of her life ebbing away while lying on the hard concrete. That was the day she died.
SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD FOUND DEAD
Local seventeen year old Josephine Cardin was found dead three days ago in an alley close-by to the cemetery. Police were informed that the victim had been visiting the graves of local bandmates Alex Mercer, Luke Patterson and Reginald Peters. Cardin had been the sound technician for the band until the three tragically died five months ago.
Police are asking anyone who was close to the victim who may know any information to come forward. It is suspected that the murderer was someone who was close with Miss Cardin.
The victim's body was found on the morning of the 3rd and family have been informed.
ELLIE SPEAKS!
lol im obsessed with this show and I love reggie so here we are