"But, Da" I said. "It's their last show before they go back. I have the tickets so why can't I go?"
My dad crossed his arms over his thick chest and stared down at me. "No daughter of mine is going to go to a concert like that. I have heard that people drink and fight."
I threw my hands up. "We live in Ireland, Da! Everyone drinks! You drink, Ma drinks, Liam drinks. I'm not going to, I promise. I only want to listen to their music!"
Da pointed a finger at me. "Don't you dare bring your brother into this! Liam is a good lad. He does what he's told."
"When you are around, yes. I've seen him sneak out to be with Monica." I said, but I knew it was futile. My brother was Da's favorite and nothing would destroy his perfect vision of Liam.
"Liam is making something out of his life," he said. "He has the right to go out and be with Monica. You on the other hand, know nothing about that! You spend all your time playing with that guitar of yours, you barely ever did your school work, and you want nothing to do with Ricky."
I groaned. Ricky was the boy my parents had decided I was going to marry. He was rude, nasty, and a jerk to women. "I'm nineteen, Da!" I yelled. "I shouldn't need your permission to go to a concert that I have tickets for!"
"I don't care!" Da yelled back. "You are not going and that is final!"
I looked to Ma for help but she only shook her head. "I knew you'd be trouble when we adopted you. Why can't you just listen to your father?"
I stared at her, hurt. "You wish you had never gotten me?"
When neither of them answered me, I screamed and stomped to my room. I opened the door, turned and before I slammed the door, I yelled out, "I'm not going to live here forever! And it's a bass for your information!"
After I slammed the door, I threw myself onto my bed with a loud groan. My father held me down because I wasn't the perfect child he had wanted. He had wanted his kids to take over his business for him and Liam was already in training to do that. Da didn't need me. I hated it here. My father wanted me to be what I wasn't and my mother agreed with him. Daily they would try to get me to be with Ricky and daily I would say no.
And now they had regretted ever adopting me. I had known I was adopted at a young age when they had lived in America for a short time, but it had never bothered me. I was happy living here in Ireland with them up until now.
I couldn't live here anymore. I was the constant disappointment and both of my parents made a point to tell me almost everyday.
"Why can't you be more like Liam?" They'd ask or, "We'd be happy to claim you as our own if you were more like your brother."
My own parents hated me because I loved music, because I wanted to do something other than run a dirty, broken down old pub.
I looked over at the Avenged Sevenfold poster I had on the wall. It was because of them that I had begun to learn how to play. Johnny Christ was my inspiration for playing bass and The Rev was the reason I could dominate on the drums. I could do almost every song of theirs, drums or bass. It was their last concert in Ireland before they went back home to California and I had spent everything I had on this ticket and now I couldn't go because my Da said no.
I was tired of him saying no. I was tired of being the disappointment around here. No longer was I going to live in Liam's shadow. I had to get out and be the person I knew I could be. Beginning with going to that
concert.
I jumped off my bed and grabbed my old backpack. I threw some clothes, a few pictures, my laptop, my favorite CDs, my passport and ID into the bag. I took down my poster, folded it up and put it in there along with everything else.
I wrote a note that said: I'm sorry I was never the child you wanted. I'm sorry that I can't be what you want. But you have Liam so what would you need with a disappointment? I'm leaving tonight and I'm not coming back. I do love you, but don't come looking for me because you won't find me. Love, Eliza.
After I placed that on my desk in plain sight, I opened my window, took one more look at the room I would never see again, and ducked out into the fading daylight.
I had to hitch a ride a few times to get to the show but I finally got there in time. I even had time to buy a shirt before joining the crowd in front of the stage. I managed to wriggle myself through the crowd somehow and was almost front row.
I joined in with the chanting of "Sevenfold!" and soon the lights went down and the first opening chords of "Critical Acclaim" played out. I screamed along with the rest of the crowd as M. Shadows came out onstage in his usual cap and aviators.
"Shhhh quiet you might piss somebody off!"
I sang along with every single song they played, laughed at the jokes, and raised my cellphone up when they played "Seize the Day".
During a break they were taking, a drunken girl crashed into me from behind making me fall face first onto the ground and I got my hand stepped on twice. I screamed out in pain and I heard M. Shadows' voice come through the speakers.
"Hey I think she's hurt. Will somebody please see if she's ok?" he said, talking about me.
A security guard helped me up as I held my hand to my chest. I looked up at the stage and saw Zacky Vengence, Johnny Christ, and M. Shadows leaning over to see if I was hurt.
"Are you hurt, sweetheart?" Shadows said into his mic.
After I got over the shock that he was actually speaking to me, I nodded slightly and held up my hand. I didn't think it was broken but I knew it was swelling up badly.
Zacky leaned back and spoke into his mic. "She hurt her hand, Shadows. What should we do?"
"Go ahead and bring her up here guys," Shadows said.
The whole crowd screamed as I was helped over the bars and onto the stage. Shadows wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into the middle of the stage. My face was burning so bad and I knew that 50,000 people were staring but I didn't care.
I WAS ONSTAGE WITH FUCKING AVENGED SEVENFOLD!!
"What's your name, sweetie?" M. Shadows asked me, holding the mic up to me.
"Um...Eliza. It's Eliza" I said after finding my voice. I couldn't believe I was up here with my favorite band ever! I almost forgot about the pain in my hand.
"Listen to that accent, Shadows," Synyster Gates said into his mic.
"It's adorable," Johnny added.
"Well yeah," Shadows said. "We're in fucking Ireland!" he yelled out to the crowd and they screamed. This man really knew how to work them up.
He then turned to the side and motioned for somebody offstage. A man I recognized from the internet as Jason Berry walked out onto the stage and grabbed me gently by my arm.
"Eliza," M. Shadows said to me. "Jason here is gonna take you back there and see if your hand is ok. After that you can stay up here and be with us ok?"
I nodded vigorously. He smiled, causing his dimples to show, as Jason lead me offstage. I heard them start playing "Scream" while Jason was looking at my hand.
"You're lucky," he said. "It isn't broken but it is swollen up pretty bad. You stay here and I'll get you some ice."
While he was gone, I closed my eyes and mouthed the words of the song and played the beat on my leg with my good hand. When Jason got back, I knew he saw how intently I was paying attention to the music flowing in from the stage.
"You must really be a big fan," he said handing me a baggy full of ice.
I nodded. "I can play almost every song of theirs."
Jason nodded as he moved me back to the stage where we stood watching them play. I grinned as I watched my favorite band play right in front of me not twenty feet away.
I knew it had been a good decision to run away from home.

Notes

Ok here you Johnny lovers go. This is the first chapter of my Johnny story :)
Please comment and give me cookies, my loves <3