Footycore

“Dinner’s nearly ready, Kyle, come out please!” shouted his Mum.

“Shut uuuup MUM!” Kyle screeched back.

He almost had the riff down on this tune and he wasn’t going to let that old bag distract him from it.

“Don’t you dare speak to me that way, young man! You get out here and eat your dinner right now!”

Kyle trailed out and sullenly pushed his steamed chicken breast around his plate. God he hated steamed chicken but Matty said the boys had to eat as much as possible of it. Marinated in coconut juice. Said it would ward off the damaging effects of the sun’s rays. Very concerned about the sun is Matty.

Kyle began running the song over in his head.

I’m always leading into space
But you never find me
I’m always bursting on the lead
But you never honour them

He hated when people called his music emo. Emo was so like 2006. No, what Kyle and his mates in The Reckoning played was nothing other than footycore. And tonight was there first gig – playing at a pub in Fitzroy as part of a benefit bash to raise money for the West Melbourne Wombats.

He’d known Jimmy Goodfellow from way back, playing juniours and when Jimmy had rung to see if The Reckoning would be interested in playing, he’d jumped at the chance.

Only mistake he’d made was telling the boys at training. Most of them were supportive. They knew what his music meant to him. But the bloke they’d taken with their first rounder, Jarkyn, predictably he’d been a knob about it.

Lockheed seemed to have taken an instant dislike to Kyle. Ever since he’d arrived, things had started going missing from Kyle’s locker. And in recent weeks, more ominously, things had started appearing.

Just the other day he’d gone in and opened it only to be confronted by a vile stench and a perfectly coil of faeces. He’d looked around but there was nobody in the grin save for Jarkyn, grinning like a Japanese soldier wanking onto a nurse’s uniform.

Kyle cleared his mind of the thought. He didn’t want anything distracting him from his performance tonight.

He wanted to put in a good one. This could be his break. Even Sam from The Era had texted to say she was coming.

He hadn’t expected that.