My Immortal

They reached the house, everyone except Bam, he had decided it was a private thing that they needed to go through. He wasn’t part of the band, he knew the past. He didn’t need to sit through it again, even though he played a major part.

Matt carried James with no problem into his room and put him to bed. He looked around the room, there were pictures everywhere, but what caught his attention was a big poster of Avenged Sevenfold. “He loves the band,” Roxy said from the door way.

“He’s five,” Matt said in disbelief.

“I know, she used to play the music all the time, over and over again.” Roxy said as Matt stepped out of the room and into the hall.

“Where did she go?” Matt asked. Roxy grabbed his hand, everyone was settled in the family room in the basement. It was comfortable, 3 couches so everyone had somewhere to sit. Sam recognized that, since Jo had always hated not having enough places to sit.

Roxy went to the big book shelf and pulled out a box. It was black with white writing on it. Lyrics to Jo’s favourite songs, “Matt asked me where she went,” Roxy said opening the box. She pulled out a graduation picture or Roxy, Steph and Jo.

“She came to Waterloo, and finished her psychology degree. Steph finished Social Work, and I went to medical school,” they all passed the picture.

“When did we first meet her?” Matt asked giving the picture back after everyone saw her.

“Florida?” Steph looked over at Roxy.

“No, not there, I think it was at a concert in Toronto,” she looked through the pictures and pulled one out. She handed it to Brian and Sam. Sam gasped.

Sam walked with Brian towards the stage, she saw a flash of pink and turned to look at where it was coming from. “Oh my god, you guys are like so awesome,” the girl said jumping up and down a smile on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Brian asked, realizing Sam had stopped walking.

“That’s girl is annoying the fuck out of me,” Sam said.

“Holy crap she has a lot of energy,” Brian looked at the girl, at the moment she saw them stare and stopped jumping. The smile disappeared but she shook her head and started jumping again.

“Can I have your autograph?” the girl asked Jimmy.

“Sure,” Jimmy said smiling at her and taking her pen to sign a CD case.

“Thanks a bunch,” the girl said.

“What’s your name?” Zacky asked, taking the case and was about to sign it.

“It’s a mystery,” the girl said flashing him a smile.

“Really?” Matt asked, curiously, something about the girl’s voice made him look at her more closely but she wouldn’t stay still long enough for him to look at her. An image of Jo popped into his head. It has been a year and a half since she died and she would beat this girl to a pulp, just for fun.

He caught her eye and noticed something that looked like pain, but the girl looked away and started chatting with Jimmy about this and that. She looked in her element, the only thing that was off about her was the laugh and the voice.

“Well, I should go,” the girl said taking her CD case. She disappeared into the crowd.

“Man, she was pretty,” Jimmy said.

“Don’t let Lauren hear you say that,” Johnny said.

“Yeah, yeah, wasn’t there something familiar about her?” Matt asked.

“You mean, the annoying bounce and voice? She’s just like all the crazy fans,” Zacky said as a girl came up to him and asked for an autograph.

The girl ran through the crowd she didn’t stop till she reached the car and climbed in. She pulled off her wig and took a breath. “Did you have enough?” the driver asked.

“Just fucking drive Roxy,” Jo said as she let the tears slide down her cheeks.

“Why?” Johnny asked.

“This was her torture, she loved you guys, she saw you in concerts, and meeting you was reminding her that she had done what she had thought was best. But it’s eating her apart,” Steph said as Johnny pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“What do you mean?” Matt asked, as Roxy gave him the CD case they had all signed except for Brian.

“We’re her for another reason, we want to bring her back to the states, we will take James for a while and she’s going to go away for a little bit,” Roxy said looking through the box.

“What?” Jimmy asked suddenly.

“Steph runs a rehab facility, Jo has agreed to go to it,” Roxy spoke in a soft voice.

“She’s doing drugs?” Johnny asked, that received a smack from Steph.

“No, she’s too stressed she needs to relax,” Steph said as she rubbed the spot where she had smacked Johnny.

“So she agreed to this?” Sam asked.

“Not 100%,” Roxy said.

“How do you get her to agree 100%,” Brian asked.

“That’s where Zacky comes in.” Roxy said as she picked up another picture and a tear escaped her eye.