Will It Be Forever

”Promise me that’s we’ll be together forever…”
“I promise.”

And yet that hadn’t been a promise that he had been able to keep. Together forever, eh? What a crock. Matt Sanders didn’t believe in forever anymore. He had only ever loved one person and now she was gone. Taken away by a cruel fate by a sadistic God. Things just went down hill after that. He had belonged to a band once… Avenged Sevenfold had been big, and it had allowed him to do what he loved with the best of his friends. But with her gone his motivation and inspiration for all of it left with her.

Valerie DiBenedetto… His angel. His muse… Call her what you want but she had been his world…

Matt still remembered the day she left his life like it had just happened. They had been out at a promotional party for an upcoming tour that their record company had wanted them to go to. It was there that they had gotten into an argument over what now seemed to be a stupid thing to argue over. It was that classic situation of a couple’s fight. He had drunk too much and she didn’t like it.

Val had left upset in her own car, driving with some alcohol in her system (even though she had scolded him for it), and it had been raining which made her hydroplane into another car on the highway. The driver had died instantly on the scene while Val had died two days later in the hospital from internal bleeding.

It just wasn’t fair. Matt was convinced that it wasn’t Val’s time and that it was his fault. If only he had listened to her, she wouldn’t have left. He had stayed by her side the entire time she was in the hospital. Honestly, he had thought that her family would’ve hated him after everything but that hadn’t been the case. They had tried to be supportive, asking him if he was alright. But wasn’t he the one who was suppose to be asking them that?

What the hell was wrong with him?

Yeah, that was something he’d like to know.

The worst day of his life had been Val’s funeral. He had been to funerals before but none had sent him spiraling downwards like that had. Matt had sat there listening to the preacher go on with his sermon about how Val was in a better place, a peaceful place, where she’d be looking down to watch over her loved ones.

Matt wished that he could believe that. He looked to his side to see the girls, who were best friends with Val, clinging to the guys who were just as torn as them. Val had been a part of all their lives. A big part. It was just that now it seemed that the world around them had dimmed down. Matt could see Michelle, Val’s twin, looking as torn as he was with tears flowing down her cheeks as she clutched onto Brian’s arm.

Matt sucked in a deep breath, feeling the pain in his chest as he did so. His heart had hurt, feeling like it was shrinking each moment that had passed by. His body had froze and a numbing feelings had taken over. As he watched Val’s casket lowering into the ground, he could hear her voice ringing in his head again…

“ I love you.”
“Will it be forever?”
“What?”
“Our love.”
“Of course…”

Would it ever stop? Would he always be haunted by the voice that he had known for so long? Was God just toying with him? Was there even really a God?

Questions ran through his head and Matt knew that they’d never be answered. A clicking sound brought him out of his thoughts, and it was then that he had realized that her casket had been fully lowered into the ground. Sobs echoed around him and his vision blurred. Salty tears stung his eyes and he felt a hot tear rolled down his cheek. He knew it was over, and there was no changing things.

She was gone.

----

It had been two years since he had first walked into her bar…

Addeline Jones, better known as AJ, knew who he was. She had known what had happened to him the way he was now. It had been all over the internet. AJ had always thought that someone’s personal life should…well be personal. As she stood behind the bar, he had made his way inside and to his usual table.

Matt Sanders, formally known as M Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, looked like a wreck. He looked worse than she had ever seen him before. AJ knew that he had only come to her bar because for the simple fact it wasn’t his usual hang out spot in Huntington. His girlfriend had died and he needed a new change of scenery. Understandable but still, it affected AJ in a way that he hadn’t even realized. She felt sorry for him and she wanted to help.

Addeline bit her lower lip for a moment and looked away. She didn’t want to be rude. It was his life, and it wasn’t her place to judge him for anything he wanted to do. Hell, if she would’ve lost someone like that, she’d probably be doing the same thing.

Her hazel eyes glanced back over toward him as she watched a waitress approach him to take his order. Everyone. Long ago when he first made a stop at the bar, had learned not to bother him. You could say he had let his temper rule over him that night. Now mostly people left him alone because they didn’t consider him famous anymore and it was just a sad thing. AJ had felt bad for the guy, he was unable to get out of his slump and he seemed even more unhappy. She just hated to see him that way.

Personally, she had been a fan of his music. She had felt the power behind his lyrics. They had been meant to reach out to people like her. Now it was gone. She shook her head, and looked up to see the waitress coming towards her. “What’d he order?” She asked her. Jessica was her name, a new hire of hers. That girl gave her a nervous smile as she looked down at her note pad.

“Jack Daniels and a coke,” she replied. His usual. AJ let out a small sigh.

“Give it too him,” she told her, “Tell him it’s on the house.” She smiled a bit and Jessica nodded, leaving to get his drink. After she got it, AJ watched her take it back too him and the look on his face had been surprised. Had he not expected someone to be nice to him? She watched his lips move, obviously asking Jessica something.

AJ just assumed it was about who said it was on the house because Jessica pointed at her. She gave them both a small smile, and a matching wave after. Oi, this was going to be a long night.