Life's A Riot.
Twenty Three.
JC POV.
I warmed up, stretching out to the steady beat of the music. It was a lesson that I preached and preached to my students and Lindenshield; warm up, and warm up properly or suffer. I’d learnt the hard way over the past few weeks that life went on without Jimmy, even mine. I’d taken two weeks off all of my jobs to get myself together, and now I was realising just how much I’d missed. I sighed and shook my head, shaking the thoughts from my head. I completed the final stretch of my warm up and headed over to the docking system to change the song. I listened the song through a couple of times, letting my rough idea of choreography take shape and mould itself into something more solid before moving out into the centre of the studio and starting to develop the routine. I felt all of the tension within me melt away as I started to dance. This was one of the few things in my life that could calm me, relax me and allow me to forget everything that was bothering me. At least for a little while.
~*~
Johnny POV.
I sighed as I headed down into the basement. I was confused. I’d felt lost ever since we’d buried Jimmy. It was as if I didn’t know who I was anymore. Everything that had made me Johnny Christ of Avenged Sevenfold had disappeared. There was only one person that I knew could talk me out of my current state; JC. She was more than just my twin sister. At times it was like we knew exactly what the other was feeling. We were closer than just brother and sister, it was almost like, sometimes, we were the same person. I know that sounds weird, but it’s just how it is. I shut the door at the bottom of the basement stairs. The house was old, it had been old when Gran had bought it however many years ago, and had a huge basement area that Gran had just used for storage. When Gran died and JC and I inherited the house, we’d had to clear the basement out. The sheer size of it set JC’s artistic mind to work. She’d seen what Matt and Val had done with their basement and decided that this one was far too nice and had far too much potential to use as a storage space. She’d used some of the money that Gran had left to us in her will to revamp it. She’d made sure that all of the foundations were secure and divided it up into several rooms; two main ones and some smaller storage rooms. One of the larger rooms she’d turned into the gym/dojo, the other she’d made into her own private dance studio. With the amount of work that she did with Lindenshield, having her own studio that she could use at any time was a huge benefit to her. It was there that I was heading for today. I walked through the gym and slid open the sliding partition that separated the two rooms. 10 Miles Wide by Escape The Fate was playing in the studio. I stood silently in the doorway, just watching my sister dance. In all the years that I’d seen her dance, I never got over how good she was. She could have made it, if she’d wanted to. She could be professional, competing worldwide, performing in the Lindenshield musicals on Broadway and in the West End. But she didn’t want that life, she was happier combining her passions in life in several different jobs. She’d tried that life, back when she was teenager. She competed at Junior and Amateur levels locally to worldwide. She’d won too. At 16 she’d won the World Junior Girls Singles trophy at the Lindenshield Championships. Her success was unbelievable, but she wasn’t enjoying it as much as she should have. She got sucked into the “Popular” scene at school simple because she was a Lindenshield Dancer. She hated it. She hated it so much that she started to self-harm. Thankfully, Ash and I managed to pull her out of it before she did any major damage. She turned her back on the competitive lifestyle of Lindenshield Professionals and chose instead to tutor younger students. It suited her better. She was happier. Sometimes, we both wondered what would have happened if she’d gone Pro. How would we be both be different? I shook the thoughts away and stepped into the room properly as she finished the routine. The song started again, obviously on repeat, as JC took a break and grabbed her bottle of water.
“Hey sis.” I greeted, declining the offered sweaty hug. She shrugged and took several large gulps of water.
“What’s up?” I sighed and began to explain what was bugging me. She never interrupted, never judged, she just stood there and listened as I got everything out. That was why I loved her so much. She never complained about being talked to, or about listening to you. She was a rock. She had been a rock to all of us since Jimmy’s funeral. She smiled gently as nodded as I finished.
“Babe, everything has changed now and there’s nothing that we can do but adapt to it.” She was right. In the past month since Jimmy’s funeral, everything had changed. Before everything happened, none of us had ever thought about death, it was something that would happen in the future. Way in the future. But not it was constantly on our minds and in our thoughts. Even though it had only been a month, all of us had changed slightly, especially JC and Syn. They still bickered and argued like an old married couple, but they were getting on better than they had before. It had surprised all of us, but it was a pleasant surprise, on that we’d all wanted for a while, it was just a shame that it had only happened after Jimmy had died. “You’re still Johnny Christ of Avenged Sevenfold, bro. Nothing is ever going to change that. And nothing has disappeared. Yes, Jimmy may be gone, but the rest of us, the rest of you guys are still here. Sevenfold still exists and it will as long as all of you are still breathing. Just give it a little more time and you’ll see that.” I smiled at her, surprised all over again how much Jimmy’s death had changed her. Her outlook on the world had changed. And that could only be a good thing. Maybe now she’d see how much Syn really cared about her.
“When did you become so wise?” She glared at me, making my smile turn into a grin.
“I have always been wise, than you very much.” I snorted but didn’t reply. JC just sniffed at me. “Now, if you’ve finished being a lost soul then I’d very much like to get back to my choreography.” I held my hands in the air and walked of the room.
“Alright, alright, I can take a hint!” Her laughter followed me as I slid the door shut and headed back across the gym. It had been a while since I’d heard her laugh like that and hearing it sent me a little further on the way to recovering from losing Jimmy.
I warmed up, stretching out to the steady beat of the music. It was a lesson that I preached and preached to my students and Lindenshield; warm up, and warm up properly or suffer. I’d learnt the hard way over the past few weeks that life went on without Jimmy, even mine. I’d taken two weeks off all of my jobs to get myself together, and now I was realising just how much I’d missed. I sighed and shook my head, shaking the thoughts from my head. I completed the final stretch of my warm up and headed over to the docking system to change the song. I listened the song through a couple of times, letting my rough idea of choreography take shape and mould itself into something more solid before moving out into the centre of the studio and starting to develop the routine. I felt all of the tension within me melt away as I started to dance. This was one of the few things in my life that could calm me, relax me and allow me to forget everything that was bothering me. At least for a little while.
~*~
Johnny POV.
I sighed as I headed down into the basement. I was confused. I’d felt lost ever since we’d buried Jimmy. It was as if I didn’t know who I was anymore. Everything that had made me Johnny Christ of Avenged Sevenfold had disappeared. There was only one person that I knew could talk me out of my current state; JC. She was more than just my twin sister. At times it was like we knew exactly what the other was feeling. We were closer than just brother and sister, it was almost like, sometimes, we were the same person. I know that sounds weird, but it’s just how it is. I shut the door at the bottom of the basement stairs. The house was old, it had been old when Gran had bought it however many years ago, and had a huge basement area that Gran had just used for storage. When Gran died and JC and I inherited the house, we’d had to clear the basement out. The sheer size of it set JC’s artistic mind to work. She’d seen what Matt and Val had done with their basement and decided that this one was far too nice and had far too much potential to use as a storage space. She’d used some of the money that Gran had left to us in her will to revamp it. She’d made sure that all of the foundations were secure and divided it up into several rooms; two main ones and some smaller storage rooms. One of the larger rooms she’d turned into the gym/dojo, the other she’d made into her own private dance studio. With the amount of work that she did with Lindenshield, having her own studio that she could use at any time was a huge benefit to her. It was there that I was heading for today. I walked through the gym and slid open the sliding partition that separated the two rooms. 10 Miles Wide by Escape The Fate was playing in the studio. I stood silently in the doorway, just watching my sister dance. In all the years that I’d seen her dance, I never got over how good she was. She could have made it, if she’d wanted to. She could be professional, competing worldwide, performing in the Lindenshield musicals on Broadway and in the West End. But she didn’t want that life, she was happier combining her passions in life in several different jobs. She’d tried that life, back when she was teenager. She competed at Junior and Amateur levels locally to worldwide. She’d won too. At 16 she’d won the World Junior Girls Singles trophy at the Lindenshield Championships. Her success was unbelievable, but she wasn’t enjoying it as much as she should have. She got sucked into the “Popular” scene at school simple because she was a Lindenshield Dancer. She hated it. She hated it so much that she started to self-harm. Thankfully, Ash and I managed to pull her out of it before she did any major damage. She turned her back on the competitive lifestyle of Lindenshield Professionals and chose instead to tutor younger students. It suited her better. She was happier. Sometimes, we both wondered what would have happened if she’d gone Pro. How would we be both be different? I shook the thoughts away and stepped into the room properly as she finished the routine. The song started again, obviously on repeat, as JC took a break and grabbed her bottle of water.
“Hey sis.” I greeted, declining the offered sweaty hug. She shrugged and took several large gulps of water.
“What’s up?” I sighed and began to explain what was bugging me. She never interrupted, never judged, she just stood there and listened as I got everything out. That was why I loved her so much. She never complained about being talked to, or about listening to you. She was a rock. She had been a rock to all of us since Jimmy’s funeral. She smiled gently as nodded as I finished.
“Babe, everything has changed now and there’s nothing that we can do but adapt to it.” She was right. In the past month since Jimmy’s funeral, everything had changed. Before everything happened, none of us had ever thought about death, it was something that would happen in the future. Way in the future. But not it was constantly on our minds and in our thoughts. Even though it had only been a month, all of us had changed slightly, especially JC and Syn. They still bickered and argued like an old married couple, but they were getting on better than they had before. It had surprised all of us, but it was a pleasant surprise, on that we’d all wanted for a while, it was just a shame that it had only happened after Jimmy had died. “You’re still Johnny Christ of Avenged Sevenfold, bro. Nothing is ever going to change that. And nothing has disappeared. Yes, Jimmy may be gone, but the rest of us, the rest of you guys are still here. Sevenfold still exists and it will as long as all of you are still breathing. Just give it a little more time and you’ll see that.” I smiled at her, surprised all over again how much Jimmy’s death had changed her. Her outlook on the world had changed. And that could only be a good thing. Maybe now she’d see how much Syn really cared about her.
“When did you become so wise?” She glared at me, making my smile turn into a grin.
“I have always been wise, than you very much.” I snorted but didn’t reply. JC just sniffed at me. “Now, if you’ve finished being a lost soul then I’d very much like to get back to my choreography.” I held my hands in the air and walked of the room.
“Alright, alright, I can take a hint!” Her laughter followed me as I slid the door shut and headed back across the gym. It had been a while since I’d heard her laugh like that and hearing it sent me a little further on the way to recovering from losing Jimmy.
7/16/13