Daniel was in an unusually grumpy mood today. He almost pushed Darren onto the floor as soon as Darren woke up. He skipped his meals and spent the rest of the day sulking, refusing to record. Nobody could explain his sudden change of behaviour.
"Hey Daz, what's got into your friend?" whispered Walter. He didn't want to get Daniel suspicious.
"I have no clue," replied Darren. "Maybe he got up on the wrong side of the bed or something."
"I suggest you go ask him," said Walter. "We're way behind schedule already just coz your friend ain't willing to do a bit of recording." Walter was right. If Daniel didn't record today, Savage Garden's schedule will really go way off. They have to coax Daniel into recording, somehow.
"I'll go check on him," assured Darren. "Don't worry too much." Yeah right, thought Darren. Look who's talking. He looked for Daniel and found him lying on his bed, a face which seemed to only contain a frown.
"Yo Daniel, you okay?" asked Darren kindly as he sat next to Daniel.
"Go away!" yelled Daniel, who turned away from his friend. "What is it you want anyway?"
"I just want to talk," said Darren. "No need to yell!"
"Just want to talk, eh?" said a very sarcastic Daniel. "Well, that's all they say...just want to talk..."
"What do you mean?" asked a confused Darren.
"Everybody here says they just want to talk, but all they want is to use me!" said Daniel, sitting up. "Even you're one of them!"
"Daniel Jones, what the hell are you talking about?!?" asked Darren angrily. He couldn't understand what Daniel was up to now.
"Come on, admit it, you think I'm some strange toy," said Daniel. "Ever since I got those special powers all of you have been using it to YOUR own benefit!"
"Where's the proof?" asked Darren.
"ALL of you are the proof!" replied Daniel. "Everyday it's 'Daniel, can you please conjure up this-and-that' or 'Daniel, how is my future', Daniel this, Daniel that. You're even worse!"
"ME???" asked Darren, pointing to himself.
"Yeah, YOU!" said Daniel. "You're always going 'Daniel, back-rub please' and 'Daniel, sing for me please' and the most painful part is that whatever YOU'RE thinking about at that time always enters my head, whether I want it or not. Other people's thoughts, I can control - yours, I can't!" Darren was feeling really guilty. Of course, everything Daniel said was true. He had been demanding a little too much. And what was on his mind wasn't something worth treasuring as a memory.
"Still...it can't be THAT bad, right?" asked Darren, losing confidence in himself.
"Bad? Why, it's terrible!" said Daniel. "Besides the pain of being used, everytime I use my powers I lose energy. Sometimes I even get a headache from too much effort. Just like today. Everyone's thoughts today were in my head all at once that it gave me an immense headache. I felt so terrible that I just didn't have the energy to do anything worth doing. All I could think of was how to release my pent-up anger!"
Darren was silent. He didn't realise the extent of what he and everyone else was doing to Daniel. Daniel was like a bomb waiting to explode - maybe it has already exploded. The problem now was - what was he going to do?
