A Gift or A Curse

“Hello, Matt. Yeah. I found Jimmy.”

“Arin? Why are you calling me this late? You found Jimmy? Who’s Jimmy?”

Arin stunned hearing that voice. He looked at his caller ID and saw that he had mistakenly dialed his girlfriend’s number instead of Matt.

“Uh, Ann! Sorry, I thought I was calling Matt. You go back to sleep now. I’ll hang up.”

“Arin, do you still believe in that bullshit Matt told you? A dead person coming back from grave. Seriously?”

Arin sighed heavily and rubbed his neck. “I don’t wanna fight right now Ann. Just go back to sleep.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, stop being so naïve, baby! They are fooling you into this insane theory and you believe them blindly. Stop mixing with them, babe.”

Arin shut his eyes in anger. His fingers curled up into a fist. He couldn’t take her badmouthing about his friends anymore. Yes they were vulgar and rough but they were also the kindest group of people he’d ever met. They were the ones who supported him through thick and thin during his first moments of becoming the band member.

“Fuck it, Ann. Just don’t start tonight.”

“I’m just stating the truth, Arin. You deserved to be in a better band with better crowd. These guys will tear you apart-”

“SHUT UP! Just fucking shut up okay, Ann?! They are my friends and family! I’m gonna stay until the day I die and came back as a ghost like Jimmy! If you don’t like it, you can go fuck yourself!”

He hung up the phone with trembled fingers. That was the first time he ever yelled at her during their 2 years relationship.

“Well, I guess I’m single now.”

He buried his face in his palms for a while before realized that it was way too late and he needed to pack for Vegas. Not forgetting to copy the recording of Jimmy’s voice earlier, he decided to hold on to it and just let the secret stayed between him and Jimmy.

*******************************************************************************************************

Vegas’ street was lively, and colorful. Almost every sign were made from neon lights and they flashed brightly passed Blake’s view each time she landed her gaze on them. She wasn’t talking much ever since the day Jimmy went missing and the band including the twins had done everything they could to cheer her up. She couldn’t thank them enough, these beautiful and kind strangers. They went into her life and stayed just like Jimmy barged into her heart and refused to leave.

“Hey, how are you doing?”

Blake glanced up and saw the warm and friendly gazes of green eyes that belonged to Zacky. He was always there to bring her to life and he even offered his bunk to share with but Michelle and Valerie forbade it.

“Hey, Zack. I’m fine.”

Zacky took a seat next to her and they both gazed out the window while the massive bus was still moving on.

“Have you ever been to Vegas?” Zacky started.

Blake smiled politely and shook her head.

“Shame. You should’ve come sooner. Anything can happen here. It’s basically a sin city.”

Blake frowned at him. Zacky blinked fast and mentally kicked himself. Why would he say something about sin to someone as innocent as her? He scratched his neck and let out a nervous cackle.

“Uh, what I meant to say is, you’re gonna see Matt lose control while playing poker, Brian dancing on the table, and the twins going to strip clubs.”

Blake laughed softly and it made Zacky smiled. His attempt in making her laugh today was achieved.

“And you?”

“Hm?”

“What will I see you’ll be doing?”

Zacky stared at her, his lips dropped into a slow smile. After a while of not answering and only staring, he shrugged.

“I dunno. Maybe get married. Who knows?”

Blake widened her eyes and blinked rapidly at him. “You’re getting married? With who?”

Zacky laughed aloud. “No, no. I was just kidding! But that’s my point exactly, anything can happen here. So be careful.”

Blake took a deep breath and sighed heavily. “If that chance includes Jimmy coming back, I’d do anything, Zacky.”

Zacky’s smile faded, his eyes fell onto his own sneakers. He wished Jimmy would come back too but he wanted to spend more time with this girl as much as him. Both of them had a special place in his heart.

“Me too, Blake.”

“I feel sorry for Johnny though.”

Zacky tilted his head up. He glanced around, looking for that short guy but didn’t found a trace of him as all of them had been inside their bunks since two hours ago.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s mending. You should worry about me.”

“You? Why? Is there something wrong?”

Zacky bit his lower lip watching her blue eyes expressed her concern towards him.

“I’m unloved.” He drew nearer, and his green eyes hooded down, making her startled for a bit.

“What is this, you guys lost your partners all at the same time?”

Zacky burst out laughing. She looked so innocent that he couldn’t keep his face straight.

“How do you keep up with Jimmy, honestly? He’s so fucking crazy and you – just hard wood naïve!”

Blake chuckled and let out a heavy sigh after. She couldn’t help but feeling depressed when she reminisced about their short adventure together. If it wasn’t for Jimmy, she wouldn’t step out of that book store and knowing that she had this ability to see ghost. If it wasn’t for him, she might still be alone, without any friends to talk to – like she was talking to Zacky right now.

She thanked God quietly for sending Jimmy back to her, and wished that he would never fade away. That he would remain being a ghost forever. But who knows what the afterlife had planned for him, and nobody really knows what will happen to him after he’d done all his deeds in this world.

“Blake? Are you still here with me?”

Blake winced when Zacky touched her shoulder lightly. She saw him waving in front of her, and she smiled silly.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about Jimmy.”

Zacky gave her a small smile and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay. He will come back. I know that fucker. He won’t miss our show.”

Then Zacky slowly kissed the top of her head, making her brows scrunched in confusion. What’s wrong with Zacky tonight? She thought to herself.

Arin eavesdropped their conversation from his bunk, and grabbed tight of his iPod, which contained the recording of Jimmy’s voice. He hesitated whether he should tell them about it or not. He felt privileged, being the only member that can talk directly to Jimmy eventhough they all had conversations with his possession before.

He couldn't sleep a wink that night.

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“Johnny, that is drop D. Won’t be using it tonight. Here’s a standard tune.”

Johnny was about to strap on his Schecter Hellraiser bass guitar when he heard Kevin, his guitar tech hailed from behind him.

“You’re sure?”

Kevin scanned the setlist in his hand again. “Pretty sure. Here, let me have that.”

Johnny had no choice but to hand back his favorite bass guitar with ash body and a sticker of Jimmy’s Deathbat on it. He was losing it from the first sound check today. Not because of the excitement of meeting Metallica again but because of his girlfriend, Lacey. He didn’t blame anyone but himself for this. He didn’t know what to do besides being quiet about it. He tried dialing her number but in the second ring he would hung up.

“Here.” Kevin lured out his arm, holding a camouflage bass guitar and Johnny took it lazily.

“What’s the first one on the setlist again?”

Kevin gawked at him in dubiety, wondering where the hell did Johnny dazed to because they had always opened with Nightmare first.

“Johnny, are you alright?”

Johnny raised his eyebrows at this silver haired man. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re all over the place tonight. You look quite out of focus.”

Johnny can’t really tell Kevin anything. His problem with Lacey and missing Jimmy and a sulky Blake all combined into one, making his forehead even more creased into worry.

“I’m just fucking excited that’s all.”

“Yeah right. Hey when you meet Syn, tell him not to get his red and black gear first. I need to retune that. He fucking messed up with it in sound check.”

“Will do. I’ll head first. Going in 15 minutes.”

Johnny paced towards the backstage and found all of his band members were talking leisurely to a bunch of legendary rock stars that was Metallica. Johnny felt excited, deep within his heart but his mind just couldn’t wander off from the thoughts of Lacey. He pulled out his phone and stared at the wallpaper for a moment.

“Heyy there he is! The world famous bassist!”

Johnny looked up from his phone and saw that the whole swarm was eyeing him and Kirk fucking Hammet was the one talking to him.

“Hey guys!” he gritted his teeth, trying to hide away his phone. He hugged briefly with the lads from Metallica and James was the one who noticed the change in his expression.

“You’re okay dude? You look tired.”

He ruffled his mohawk and straightened up his guitar.

“Nah, I’m just-”

Suddenly his phone buzzed, with incoming text appeared on the screen.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

The rugged and rough men frowned at him for being polite all of a sudden. His band members knew he would become like that only in front of Lacey. And they guessed right, it was Lacey’s text that caught his attention away from them.

Good luck for the show tonight, John. – Lace.

“That’s it?” he whispered. “THAT’S FUCKING IT?!” he yelled.

They turned their heads to him, but only Matthew approached him from behind.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Johnny glanced at Matthew intently.

“She’s here, Matt. I knew it. I knew she would come.”

“What? Who?”

“Do we have Seize The Day in our setlist Matt?”

Matthew looked taken aback by his question. “I…think so. Why?”

“Let me sing it.”

“WHAT?”

Notes

A/N: sorry it's so short and sooo laaate :(