The Screaming Banshee

One of the problems in the world today is the wilful blindness people exhibit. Take fairies for example, all around are images of pretty, dainty fairies with diaphanous wings and little pointy faces and people believe that they are sweet and good flittering around the flowers all day. Then you have the other people who emphatically deny that fairies exist. They each hold firmly to their belief, wilfully choosing their world and never the twain shall meet. I can in all honesty tell you they are both wrong.

You ask how I know this, I am of the Sidhe commonly called Fae or fairy. I am not one of the dainty, delicate fairies. You wouldn’t know if you passed me in the street and you have very probably passed me by without a second glance. Your belief or disbelief doesn’t matter because some things are beyond belief they just are. Death is my master and I am compelled to keen when death is in my vicinity. I am the Bean Sidhe or as you say it Banshee. You may even have heard me sing, my stage name is ‘The Screaming Banshee’, and sometimes when I let loose on stage I can even shatter glass.

I moved quickly down the street. I was due at the stadium ten minutes ago, normally I was very punctual but I could not manage to get myself into a rhythm today, I was all out of kilter. Something big was coming, Death was strumming the cords of the alterverse and I was being strummed along with it and it was making me irritable.

I arrive at the stadium just as Rick, my manager, came out the side exit phone in hand, hearing the crunch of my boot on the concrete he looked up.

‘Where have you been? You have kept everyone waiting,’ he yelled.

Rick is a yeller; normally I can handle it but today.

‘Fuck off, it’s only been fifteen minutes,’ I snarled in reply.

‘What’s gotten into you? Is it that time of the month.’ he shot back.

I swear steam was starting to come out of my ears. I don’t have a time of the month but on behalf of every other woman I know I was ready to slap him down. Before I could get a word out he turned on his heel and pulled open the exit door and yelled over his shoulder.

‘Get in here; we need to get the rehearsal underway.’

I stalked in behind him a fury was building up inside of me. My skin was crawling as if spiders were creeping all over me.

Entering the stadium proper, I saw the band all set up, working through the rundown for tonight. They could easily do it without me; we had done this setup so many times we could all do it in our sleep. Rick was the one who insisted we do a pre-show run.

Brendan, our drummer, and my lover looked up and caught my eye.

‘Hey Kaylin, what’s up.’ he asked ‘you’re lookin a bit ragged.’

‘Just a bad feeling,’ I replied walking over and jumping up on the stage.

‘You right for tonight?’

‘Yeah, let’s get on with it.’

We ran through the rehearsal, without a hitch and broke for refreshments before heading back to the hotel my skin was crawling the whole time. Whatever was coming was bad. I couldn’t pin down if it was going to occur at the show or somewhere else.

Candice wandered out of the bedroom she shared with Rick into the suite’s lounge. She loved the feel of the plush carpet under her feet, the smell of the lilies blooming in the tall crystal vase. She looked at them reflected in the mirror as if there were double the number of blooms creating a sense of abundance. As she gazed towards the big plate glass windows admiring the wide expanse of the city laid out in front of her Kaylin and Brendon entered the lounge.

Brendon’s eyes did a slow sweep of the room. ‘Hey Candy, how’re you doing?’ He drawled.

He threw himself down on the large black sectional sofa and casually put his booted feet onto the solid wood occasional table; the buckle on his boot scratching across its gleaming surface.

‘You and Rick ready for the show tonight,’ he asked.

I let out an irritated huff as I threw myself into the chair beside the sofa and slung my leg over the arm. The tension was strumming be like a banjo. I watched Candice give Brendon doe eyes.

‘I think we should cancel the show, something bad is going to happen; something big, something bad.’

Candice watched with wide eyes their casual acceptance of the luxury surrounding them. They accepted it as a right; to them, it was nothing special.

‘Candy grabs us a coffee,’ Rick ordered as he strolled in.

Brendon lazily watched Rick as he strolled around the room.

I abruptly sat up, bringing my foot to the floor with a muffled thump. ‘I want to cancel the show tonight.’

Rick stopped his wandering and spun on a heel to stare. ‘What the hell has gotten into you? Cancel the show? It’s in two hours, we can’t cancel.’

I levelled my gaze. ‘Tonight is not a good night, something bad is coming.’

‘it obviously is that time of the month,’ he said. ‘You are supposed to be a professional, get over yourself and do your fuckin job, I don’t have time for this crap.’

He grabbed the coffee Candice was holding and slammed out of the room.

‘The show’s starting in two hours you get down to gates and sell those tickets,’ Rick said without looking up from the ledger in front of him.

Toby slouched by the door. ‘I think Brendon is onto us’ he said. ‘We should keep a low profile for a while.’

Rick looked up. ‘Brendon doesn’t know shit, he can’t see past Kaylin hot tail to rub two brain cells together’ he replied. ‘You just sell the fucking tickets and not for less than $200 a ticket. Last show you cost me money.’

‘Jeez man, I can’t sell if people won’t buy. I was lucky to get all the tickets sold last time.’

‘Just remember if you want to stay outta jail you need to be of value to me. You need to bring in the cash. So get your arse down to the gates and get those tickets sold’ Rick said.

Toby straightened up and grabbed the door

handle. ‘Yah know what? I hope Brendan does know and that he wipes the floor with you’ Toby replied as he walked out the door.

The opening act ‘The Fleeters’ completed their session and everything was going well. Rick was happy with the packed stadium. It was our turn to go up. We got into place; I was still feeling irritable but I was a professional so I went on stage ready to give my best. Things were going well; we were into our third number when the call hit me. Death was here, ready to collect large numbers. A catastrophe was going to occur in the arena. Before the call took me over completely I signalled Brendon “DEATH” in the old sign language. It was up to him to sort something out all I could do now wa

s give in to the call. My voice began to rise in an eldritch wail, under set with a haunting keen. The decibels swarmed up the range as my scream rang out; the band kept the music twining around my scream.

Other screams join mine as the earthquake hit. The building shimmered and shook, people began running in every direction. As I screamed and the band played on, the building began to collapse. My scream pierced through the noise the earth made as she shrugged off her years of sleep. I could hear the voice of the earth a low counterpoint to my eldritch wail. Time expanded out and contracted in, the band members

were scrambling off the stage looking for safety. But there was no safety anywhere.

My scream faded out as Death, glutted, moved away. The earth’s voice continued to rumble deeply through my bones. I picked my way from the stage out through the area that had been backstage. My gaze snagged on Rick's body twisted in the wreckage. I didn’t try to identify anyone else. At the back door was my stalwart Brendan, I ran into his arms. “Take me home” I wept.

I have been among humans too long; I have lost the detachment I needed to return to the distance, to the cold disinterest of the Fae.