Ghouls

“Caught under wheel’s roll,
Take the leech, I’m bleeding me,
Can’t stop to save my soul,
I take the leash that’s leading me,
I’m bleeding me,
Whoa,
Ooh, I can’t take it,
Caught under wheel’s roll,
Oh, the bleeding of me..”

I awoke to Metallica pleasantly roaring through my ears as someone gently shook my left shoulder. I reluctantly pulled open my eyes to see who had managed to disturb me. As my eyes adjusted, I was met with an airhost, smiling warmly down at me.
“Well, hello, sleepy head. You must be Miss Smith, right? I’m very glad to say, we are finally here at LAX...” soothed the perfect Californian accent of the slightly chubby male who had awoken me.

I groaned and stretched to pull my long, dark brown hair into a lose bun, coming down to rub my tired, leaf green eyes; it’d been a hefty 11 and a half hour flight from London, Gatwick to LAX and I was extremely glad it was over, despite being disturbed from my fairly peaceful sleep. I got up, thanked the airhost, grabbed my hand luggage and sluggishly made my way off the plane, thanking the crew one final time before the doors were closed behind me.

It took me almost 2 hours to get out of the airport, yawning and moaning, dragging my feet and suitcase behind me as I went. I finally made it through to the pickup point as I was greeted by one of the best views I’d had in a very.. very long time. My brother, Cam, and his beautiful girlfriend, Jade, were stood waiting for me at the gate. I was hit by a sudden burst of energy, screeching as my legs moved almost involuntarily as I ran towards the beaming couple.

“Lauren!”

Cam shouted as he groaned, wrapping his arms around my waist, capturing me in a much needed, secure embrace, whilst I tugged my own arms around his neck.
“Oh, I missed you!”

“I missed you too!”

We both held there for a good 5 minutes, making up for the last 4 years, consequently, the hardest 4 years of my life, we’d spent apart. All this while one of the newest members of our huge family, Jade, stood by with a tear in her eye; she knew how close me and Cameron were and how good it felt to finally see each other again.

It was then he lent down, leaning into my neck, hugging tighter, and the words leaving his mouth slowly drifting into my ear.

“Welcome to your new home of California, Lau.”

The smile I found had appeared had stretched from ear to ear. I pulled back from Cam’s body in order to get a much better view of him – Cameron was basically me in a male body. He was only a few inches taller than I but had the same vibrant, leaf green eyes, the same dark brown, ever so slightly wavy hair and the same fairly muscular build. We both had tattoos that lined our arms (although, I’d only had my right arm done, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted any more or not; I knew my Mum never approved of me having any and, to be honest, I liked my one arm...)

It wasn’t just our physical appearances that were almost identical in me and Cam though; we both had the same personalities; we both had a similar senses of humour and the same good, positive qualities (and a fair few bad) but most of all, we both adored our music. We both loved pretty much everything; anything from Eminem to My Chemical Romance to P!nk to Linkin Park to Jack Johnson to Bring Me The Horizon to a bit of the naughties pop; we both secretly loved a bit of Destiny’s Child.. (a group we liked to keep to ourselves; they were quite the guilty pleasure) to the big greats; bands like Guns n Roses and Metallica, Iron Maiden and AC/DC were all bands we were brought up on. Cam, in fact, now worked with a huge, up-and-coming band; (of which he would not name for ‘disclosed reasons’... -_- ) off living his dream of being a big bands roadie and their #1 pyro guy!; we’d both had a passion for both music and science! Cameron had done so so well after getting his qualifications in Chemistry and everyone was so proud of him when he scored the job of his dreams. Whereas I? I was a college drop-out. The family disappointment. All my siblings were out doing well chasing their dreams and becoming successful whereas I had dropped out of college after an un-ending bad cycle. I’d got into the wrong crowd, I’d been hurt, I’d got into trouble and it felt like everyone I knew was against me. They all thought I was a lying, good-for-nothing brat that deserved all the pain she got.. hence why I left..
It was then I was broken out of my trance as Cam spoke;

“So, where’s your baby, Hud then?!” He said excitedly.

Hud (or Hudson was his full name) was my 2 year old dog . He was a mutt; a mix between a Great Dane and a Siberian Husky. He was perfect; his general physique was that of a Husky and had the markings of a Husky but had the enormous size of a Great Dane , and to top it all off, he had an enticing pair of bright green eyes, just like Cameron and I.

“Oh, yes! You haven’t even met him yet!” I said, beaming, “let me just go over to the information desk and ask where I pick him up..”

I began to fuss with my bags and try to make my way over to the preened ladies sat in blue at the huge desk to the left of the hall. Cam, seeing I was struggling, grabbed my bags and followed me as we made our way towards them.

“Hello, miss, what can I do for you today?” That smooth, perfectly American accent again... I was already growing to love it.

“Oh, yes, um, I’ve just come from London and I’ve brought my dog, do you have any idea where I can pick him up?”

“Well, each pet that comes through is given a different ID number and aisle in the loading bay, so, if you just give me his name and age, I can check where abouts he is.” The dark blonde, perfectly tanned woman said, followed by a bright white, typical Californian grin.

“Uh, Hudson Smith, aged 2 years...”

“Okaay, thank you, he’s in aisle 4, so, if you go right around this corner here there’s a sign pointing to the loading bay. If you follow that all the way, there will be someone there to help you find your pet,” she smiled.

“Okay, thanks,” I smiled back.

I turned back to Cam and Jade and told them to wait there whilst I went and picked him up. I did as the woman said and followed the signs. I opened the door to the sound of howling and barking and my heart broke a little, thinking that could be my Hud.

Notes

So, yeah, this is my first go at a fanfic so don't be too harsh guys but by all means tell me what you think! Enjoy! :')