In the next morning, with a killer headache intensified by his heartache, Matt grabbed his empty suitcases stuffed somewhere in the back of his closet and started to fill them with all the clothes he could find. That routine was so automatic for him that his head was flying distant from there. He was actually trying to decide the place he would go to.

When he was just a kid, he never thought he would be travelling the world more than once and playing his music with his friends. And now, without Jimmy, it makes no sense to go to a place he already knows. Everything would remind him of his friend. So he needed to go somewhere they never been before, cause he needed new memories, new landscapes and new faces to at least try to find the power of recovery he was determined to think that was gone from his insides.

He was just trying to follow his broken heart and Jimmy’s advice.

When his luggage was all done, he made a few calls and the only person he called from the band was Brian.

“Hey man, we were all damn worried about you last night. You didn’t come back neither answered our calls. Are you... at least feeling a little better now?” Brian was too talkative and that was the last thing Matt wanted to bear now, so he would make that conversation a really short one.

“No… in fact, I’m not. I’m calling you cause I want you to know I’m taking a plane to somewhere I don’t even figured out yet and I don’t really know when I’m coming back.” he was surly as hell, it didn’t even sound like he was talking to one of his best friends.

Brian’s reaction was none. He was mute to Matt’s statement.

“I just wanted you to know that, okay? Don’t wait for me or…”

“Wait, wait, wait. We are supposed to be together now, Matt! Do you really think this is the best way of handling your grief? Running away?”

“Yes, I do, cause when I look at all of you, you remind me of Jimmy. And when I remember him, I think about all the places in the world he… he still had to meet. So that’s where I’m going, to a place we’ve never been before.”

Brian sighed in weariness. He was too sore to fight over this with Matt. He knew he would probably go back to Cali in a week, dying of homesickness.

“Okay, if that’s what you want now. Can you at least tell me where?”
“I’m still deciding. I’ll keep you posted.”

“What about… the band, the tour, the new album. Did you talk to Larry already?”

“Yes, I… kind of solved it all with him a few minutes ago. We’re gonna postpone everything, I hope they can understand our reasons. Our fans, I mean.”

“Yeah, me too. Well and… what about Val? I heard she’s a mess.”

“We broke up four months ago, Brian. She will be fine without me. In fact, all of you will be fine. You’re strong enough.”

“I don’t agree with this Matt, I really don’t. But I hope you can find peace of mind, wherever you’ll be, man.”

“I appreciate that.” Matt paused a bit to gulp the knot on his throat. God, it felt like he was leaving his friend for good. Before he could have second thoughts, he decided it was time to hang up. “Look, man, I gotta go to the airport now. Call me if you need anything.”

“You too. Take care, bro. Be safe.”

A very disguised in black sweatpants and sweatshirt Matt sat on one of the chairs in the Los Angeles International Airport with a map in hands. The time had come, he had to choose his destination now. And that was the hardest part since he didn’t make a previous research about the places he could go. Hell, he just wanted peace. Is that too much to ask?

After staring at the walking crowd several minutes, he decided his plan. He was gonna simply close his eyes and let his fingers run across the map. When he open, there’s gonna be the right place.
He did as he thought, concentrated and thought about Jimmy, the only thing he could think about for the last hours.

“Hey, man… tell me where to go… just… send me a sign.” he mumbled to himself while moving his index fingers around the paper. He counted to three and stopped to look.

“Hmm… okay. Interesting. We definitely never been there before.” he whispered again, having a small recollection about the time their manager wanted to book concerts for them in that Asian country and they told them rock bands were banned from there. “That’s it then. Malaysia it is.”

Luckily, the next flight would be going in an hour. He tried to stay away from people who could recognize him and waited.

He knew it would be a long fifteen-hour flight and when he first heard a lot of voices starting to chat unstoppably on his ears, he thought it was best to take his earphones on. He tried almost all the songs in his list, every single one of them triggered one memory, most of them from the innumerous tours they had been all around the world. He noticed how bad he was when he wanted to cry listening to the heaviest Metallica songs he had on his playlist.

His grief was taking its toll.

---

From the window of the plane, he observed the beautiful structure of Kuala Lumpur International Aiport landscape and the vivid blue sky surrounding it. Not a single cloud could be seen. His eyes even hurt with the brightness.

“Finally.” he gasped. His legs were begging him to walk on steady land.

As he waited for his bags, he took the time to observe the people. Even on that incredible hot weather that could make Californians melt, most of them wore long tunics with colorful drawings on it. Women were covered from head to toe.

Although he could see a lot of people wearing occidental clothes like him, he assumed he was in a Muslim country.

He wanted to take off those hot clothes he was wearing so bad but he felt weird about the idea of showing his tattoos and arms around, since no one was doing that there.
Now he had to find a place to stay but the sleep deprivation and intense sun heat were standing in the way of his thoughts. He scratched his head and thought that taking a cab could be a good choice instead of walking aimlessly through an unknown country for starters.

“Sir… can you… speak english?” he asked bravely for the first person he would talk there. The taxi driver. For his relief, the guy nodded through the mirror.

“Great! Well… I’m new around here so… can you tell me where’s the best place to stay? Like, somewhere far away from this big city chaos?” Matt asked sincerely, watching the crowded surroundings through his black aviators.

He thought that place reminded him a lot like the things he was trying to escape. But he didn’t wanna feel regretful before he could meet Malaysia better. There’s gotta be somewhere a bit more secluded.

“There is a place not too far but a little less crowded, sir. Thirty minutes from here. Shah Alam.”

“Perfect, take me there.” Matt breathed heavily and decided it was time to take that sweatshirt off. He couldn’t take it anymore, he was sweating through everywhere.

The driver watched him on the mirror and grinned but not like he was enjoying the sight of Matt’s body. He was probably amazed with the amount of tattoos.

“Vacation trip, sir?”

“Yeah… let’s say it is…” Matt had forgotten about his headache but now it seemed to be back with full strength just by thinking about his reasons of being on a foreign country all by himself.

All he needed was some really quality rest now. Rest from his own thoughts.

---

A decent bed. I wouldn’t trade this for anything.

Staying at this humble hotel this time was the perfect idea. He wouldn’t be bothered by any paparazzi or fans that would eventually recognize him there. Besides, he didn’t need anything fancy like when they were on tour. All he needed was a comfortable mattress and…

What the fuck is that noise? – as his body was fully stretched on the bed, his super sensitive ear captured a voice echoing not really distant from the place he was. It was a girl singing. And then, drums started pounding along with his aching head.

“Are you freaking kidding me, right? People here don’t know something called silence?” he raised in a jolt and didn’t care to pay attention if it was good music or not, he was more than determined to at least try to talk to those people and convince them to go rehearse somewhere else or with a little less volume.

If they ask for money, he would give it to them. That’s how desperate he was to get a little quiet peace for his soul.

He was shirtless since the time he rented the room so he put on his black tank top and stormed out of the room with fury running through his veins.

The music sound was getting clearer and clearer as he approached the sidewalk. Then he looked at the houses across the street. There was an opened garage facing his room window, and he finally found the source of that music that was annoying his brain so badly.

With closed fists and large and angry steps, he went closer to the little amount of people that formed in front of that garage. As he was really tall, he could see the band pretty clear standing behind. His fists relaxed when he saw an all-girl band playing what sounded like an Avril Lavigne’s tune or something. They all had their hairs covered but one, the guitarist.

They were actually pretty good, in tuning and rhythmically speaking. Especially the vocalist, who seemed really passionate about what she was doing and she was wearing an A7X shirt, not typical clothes like the others.

A fan…

If it was other time, other circumstances, he would definitely bow to them. But now he couldn’t stand that noise, he wasn’t sure for how long he wouldn’t be able to hear music and that was terrifying, but for now he needed to get rid of that constant headache first.

He knew he would make trouble if he demanded them to stop playing. They had the right to do what they want, it was their country after all. But he would go mad with all that noise. So he decided to take extreme actions.

He walked back to his hotel with his phone on hand, looked for the Malaysian Police Department and pressed the green button.

Notes

hahaha mean Matt!! :P

<3