Ghouls

The next morning I found myself led on my own on Cameron’s couch, drooling all over the seat. I quickly picked my head up and wiped my mouth, conscious that someone had seen me but it didn’t look like anyone was up yet; the only movement in the room was Hud in the middle of the big, black rug in the centre of the cream carpet, chewing on one of his toys. I pulled myself up and managed to get a few photos of him before I heard footsteps padding down the stairs. I twisted around, looking over the sofa, to see Cam walking towards the kitchen in just his pyjama pants.

“Shit. Did you really sleep there last night?” he groaned rubbing his face.

“Yeah, it wasn’t a problem though; I ended up crashing here in front of the TV anyway. That and Hud was led on me sleeping and I didn’t want to disturb him.” I said, smiling at him.

“So, it had nothing to do with us being ridiculously crap hosts and leaving you all by yourself all night without even showing you where your room is?” he said quizzically.

“Oh, well, yeah, it was a little bit but not that you’re bad hosts! I’m really..really grateful you’ve taken me in and I’m sure I could’ve found my own room but I didn’t want to go snooping into yours and I didn’t want to disturb Hud when he was led on me so...”

“Hmmm, if you’re sure..” Cam said, looking down, not entirely sure.

I got up from the sofa, Hudson taking his attention from the toy to watch me cross the room, making my way over to Cam I sat beside him on the counter so that I could see his face. I stroked his arm asking, “are you okay?”

“Not really, I got another call from the vet this morning...” tears were coming to his eyes, this was bad.

“Okay, what did they say?” I said, trying to comfort him.

“They said they’re going to have to keep him in a few more days; he doesn’t seem to be getting any better...” he was on the brink now; despite being a big, strong, tough-ass he really loved that dog, but most of all, he really..really loved Jade and Maxi meant almost everything to her.

“What am I going to say to Jade? She was a mess coming in last night, and she’s barely speaking to me..” he looked up to me, asking for guidance.

“Tell her the truth, I’m sure she’ll understand..”

“I’m not so sure..” he looked back away from me, rubbing his hands. (Another trait we both held; when we were nervous or upset our hands got warm and sweaty and we’d rub them.)

“Look, why don’t we do something this weekend? All of us! Lift your spirits! I need to get to know some people anyway.” I suggested, jumping off the counter, turning him to face me.

“We could do, I’ll have a think..”

“Okay, well, while you do that, I’m going for a quick shower, if you don’t mind, then I’m going to take Hud for a walk along the beach, up to the boardwalk, have myself a look around,” I smiled at him, trying to cheer him up.

“Yeah, of course, you go; I’ll make breakfast for when you both get back..” he said giving me a small, sad smile.

It broke my heart seeing him upset. I lunged forward, hugging him tightly. Hudson, as Hudson is Hudson, got a bit jealous and started barking at us, making us both laugh trying to shush him.

“Okay, well, I’m going to go, I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Yeah, sure, the showers the one next your room; take the right around the corner at the top of the stairs and there’s a mini corridor, your room is the second door, the shower’s the first,” Cam said, turning away, rifling through the cupboards for some food.

“Okay, thank you,” I turned away, grabbing my suitcase and dragging it upstairs and to my room. I pulled out some clean clothes; an old Iron Maiden shirt with the sleeves cut off and a pair of blood red shorts, accompanied by a new pair of black vans.

I took it all into the shower room next to my own room, turned on the shower and got myself undressed making sure to brush through my hair before I got in. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I walked past, it made me heave. Ever since school I’d been sick to the stomach at the site of myself; it followed years of torment and bullying during my teens. To make it worse, it was all done by older boys making me terrified to even speak to men, it then amplified a few years ago after something...indescribable happened. I couldn’t even bare to think. My thighs and back were littered with scars, none of which were my doing. I pulled myself out of my own thoughts as I felt tears streaming down my face, stepping into the shower. I quickly washed my hands and body, shaved what needed to be shaved and stood out, getting myself dressed as quickly as possible before I gagged. I finished up and stood in front of the mirror, blow drying and straightening my hair before washing my face and making myself look presentable.

Once clean, I made my way downstairs to find Jade sat at the island, clumped over the counter. Her hair was everywhere and had huge bags under her eyes; she was obviously taking it pretty hard.

“Hey, Jade! You okay?” I asked, trying to make some conversation; there was such an atmosphere you probably could’ve cut it with a knife.

She barely responded; she didn’t even look at me, she just nodded.

“Ooookaay then, well, Cam, I’m off for that walk, I’ll talk to you both later,” I said, grabbing some spare keys and grabbing Hud’s lead and putting it on him.

“Alright, Lau, I’ll see you later,” Cam said, trying to smile; it looked like he’d been crying again.

I locked the door and turned left, straight out onto the beach. I felt bad that both Cam and Jade seemed so upset but at the same time I didn’t want to be near them and be in the way if they were struggling a bit so I figured the best thing to do was to take a walk, maybe even make some friends so I can get myself out the house a little. We walked for a few minutes, gradually passing more and more people as I threw Hud’s ball for him and neared the main town.

As we approached halfway along the beach, parallel to the boardwalk, I threw Hud’s ball only for him to get completely distracted and bolt off towards the steps leading up to the walk. I immediately chased him, as I neared the steps I realized where he was...and who he was with. It was them. Avenged Sevenfold.

Well, three of them anyway; less than 5 feet away stood Matt, Zacky and Brian, the infamous M Shadows, Zacky Vengeance and, of course, Synyster Gates. My breath caught in my throat as they all stood just at the top of the stairs. I had to act cool oh my God. I jogged up the steps to find Hudson getting rather overly friendly with Zacky’s dog which I already knew was called Majesty. Pinkly and Bella, Matt and Brian’s dogs, were there too but as Majesty was a Great Dane much like Hudson was, he took particular liking to her.

They all looked unbelievable, undoubtedly, Syn most of all; he stood to my right, his long, waved black hair erupting out of the black and white cap that sat at an angle on his head. He wore a red, House of Syn tank top with a pair of dark wash shorts. Matt, standing to my left, had an old-ass Guns n Roses tank top on and a pair of brown shorts whereas Zack, who was stood in front, was donning an old Misfist shirt and a pair of khaki green shorts. It was so strangle, I immediately felt right at home, wearing my own Iron Maiden tank.
“Oh, my life I am so so sorry guys,” I said apologetically as I stood in front of them all.

“Oh, no, don’t worry, he’s fine! He’s a Great Dane too, I take it, What’s his name?” Zacky asked, petting Hudson’s head.

I went a little bit fish-out-of-water for a second, not knowing what to say, “sorry, yeah, his name’s Hudson and he’s not entirely Great Dane; he’s part Husky too,” I said, smiling. Our eyes met for a moment and, I’m not going to lie, I got a little lost; he had the most fantastic set of bright green eyes, slightly lighter than my own. After a moment, I was surprised to find that he was staring back at me too, looking directly into my eyes.

“Aaah, nice! He’s awesome!” Zacky finally said.

Matt, who was stood to my left, coughed, breaking the trance between Zack and I. It made us both chuckle nervously, making a little atmosphere.

“So, I haven’t seen you around before and you definitely don’t sound local, what are you doing here in sunny California?” Matt said, chuckling as I turned to look at him.

“Uh-“

“Yeah, what’s a pretty girl like you doing out here on your own? I’d assume you had a boyfriend or something but maybe not, ay?” Zack said, butting in. I laughed to myself a little as, for the first time since I’d been stood there, Syn took his eyes off of me to give Zacky the biggest death glare, to which he just replied with a small, “what?”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. Um, well, originally I’m, obviously, from England but I got kinda sick of it there so I flew over here just yesterday to come and live with my brother and his girlfriend and no, Zacky, I don’t have a boyfriend and I’m not all that pretty, really,” I said, blushing slightly.
“Oh, yeah you are..” Zacky said with a smirk. I blushed even heavier and was saved from a reply as Brain finally spoke up.

“Sorry, I don’t think I got your name,” he said, kind of bluntly as if he was a bit pissed off. Anyway, I took it a little personally and assumed he just didn’t like me.

“Oh, sorry, I haven’t even said, I’m Lauren,” I said, smiling to cover up how uncomfortable I was becoming stood next to Brian.

It was then, of course, Zacky stood forward and extended his arm, “well, Lauren,” I gave him my hand and he kissed it, “I am Zacky Baker but, ha, everyone calls me Vengeance. Zacky Vengeance.”

“Oh, cool,” I smiled taking back my hand.

“Yeah, and I’m Matt, Matt Sanders and this is Brian,” Matt smiled, holding his arm out, signalling to Syn.

When I turned to look at him he was already looking at me, a deadpan expression on his face, “sorry, do I have something on my face?” I said, trying to make a joke of him staring at me.

“No, no, sorry, you just look like someone I know,” he replied, snapping his head away from looking at me to look out t the sea, except his eyes weren’t looking at the water; first they were looking down to the ground but then, just as I was looking back round to Zack and Matt confused, he shot another look at me.

“Oh well, okay then... –“my phone began to ring in my back pocket, “- sorry guys, I’ve got to take this.”

“No problem.”

I turned around to take the call from Cam:

“Hey, Cam, what’s up?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine! How’s you?” he sounded a lot cheerier than before and I was very very glad.

“Yeah, I’m good! You’ve cheered up some!” I told him, smiling.

“Yeah, I’ve just got some good news ‘tis all! Where abouts are you?”

“Oooooh, goodie! I’m on the boardwalk, near the sundae stand second closest to yours.”

“Okay, fancy a sundae?”

“Um, you bet I do!” I said, beaming, the guys must’ve thought I was a loony... that or thought I actually did have a boyfriend. I know which’d be better.

“Okay, I’ll be there in 10.”

We hung up and I turned back to the guys. Then, out of nowhere, Brian said what I half expected Zacky to:

“Boyfriend?”

“Oh, no, my brother; I told you, I don’t have a boyfriend,” I told them.

“Well, I guess you’ve got to go and, to be honest, we better be going too. It was lovely meeting you, Lauren,” Matt said, shooting me a dimpled grin, making me smile.

“Yes, it was lovely meeting you all! Sorry again about Hudson! I’ll, um, see you around,” I finished, putting Hud back on his leash, looking directly at Zacky at the last part.

“Definitely,” he said to me, our eyes locked again, making me blush.

Hudson barked and brought me back round so I said some final goodbyes and turned to walk away. My face was burning and my palms had gone sweaty and my heart was racing a mile a minute. I wasn’t sure whether it was because my anxiety was playing up a little or that they were all so much hotter they were in person. Either way, Zack was obviously making his move and, to be honest, I was enjoying it; I’d always thought Syn was a lot more attractive but then he seemed like a bit of a creep, watching me the whole time and it’s not like Zack isn’t attractive. Anyway, I was left smiling like an idiot, walking to meet up with Cam. I got to the sundae bar and ordered myself a Pepsi and sat and waited for him to turn up.

Notes