Collide To The Sound Of Our Heartbeat.

Mikey’s Point of View
After we ate at Subway, it wasn’t too late – just past four. But the sun was beginning to set; making it cast small rays of light at our eyes. It was cold, forcing us all to wear jackets.
“Hey… are we going to leave today?” April asked Gerard, who shrugged.
“I’m not sure. I was hoping to,” he said, turning to Sydney.
“Are we leaving tonight?”
“You’re the boss, babe,” she said, “but I just wanna see my ‘rents if we leave. Hey, they should’ve rung me…” she pulled out her phone, as we all traipsed around the vast mall.
“Hey, Mikes!” Frank called, bounding up to me.
“Yeah?” I said, still bummed that I didn’t get to see where Dawn of the Dead was shot. I mean, yeah, I was in the mall, but none of it had been recognisable yet.
“I saw the escalator in Dawn of the Dead!” Frank boasted, grinning wide.
“No fucking way! Where is it?!” I cried, turning to face Frank properly.
“In JC Penney, wanna go see?” I nodded at him frantically, and he laughed.
“Who wants to go and see the escalator in Dawn of the Dead-”
“Hey, hey, hang on. Who wants to see places where Dawn of the Dead was shot? Because then I’ll take you around to show you-”
“Me!”
“Me!”
“Fuck yeah, I love you, Han!”
“So, Gerard, Mikey, Frank… Bob?” Hannah asked, giggling softly. He nodded; his eyes wide.
“What about the girls?” Hannah said, “You can’t leave me with all the guys.”
“Hey!” Ray called, his brow creased in mock distress. Hannah laughed again.
“Sorry, Ray! Okay, Ray and Sydney are just gonna stay… what about you guys?” Hannah asked Sazzy, April, and Ani.
“I’ll stay with Ray and Sydney,” April said, Ani nodding along with her.
“I’ll come,” Sazzy said stepping towards Frank. He linked his fingers with hers, kissing her cheek.
“See you later, babe,” April whispered to me, before placing her lips against mine. I smiled at her as she pulled away, and we arranged to meet up after an hour outside the mall.

The tour was awesome. Hannah was awesome for showing us around. I was literally awe-struck. I love Dawn of the Dead, and having been in the Monroeville Mall, where the film was fucking shot, it was like a privilege.
“Mikey!” April called, bounding up to me. I grinned, kissing her on the cheek as she twisted her fingers around mine.
“Where do we go now?” Ray asked, slouching as he stood, with a brown paper bag in his hand, and scanned the logo.
Guitar Centre.
That bitch.
“You whore!” I cried, pointing at the bag and my eyes glued to it, mouth agape. He laughed.
“Sorry, Mikes. If it makes you feel any better, I just got some picks, strings and a new strap.”
I huffed, making April and Sazzy giggle at the face I apparently pulled.
“Anyways…” Frank started, turning to Gerard, “what happens now?”
“Back to Sydney’s place, then Hannah’s to get our stuff, then we’re off towards West Virginia,” he stated, as everyone nodded in agreement.

“Momma, Poppa!” Sydney yelled as we entered her house for the second time, all trailing behind her and Gee. We heard some rustling, and then a small, petite figure emerged from the kitchen door.
“Sydney! I thought we’d had some liquor missing!”
“I’ve missed you!” she cried, grinning as she threw her arms around her. She pulled away, her arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“Mom, these are my friends, Frank, Bob, Ray, Sazzy, Ani, April, Mikey, and Gerard, m-my… err… boyfriend,” she mumbled, gesturing to each of us. Her Mom just gave her a funny look, smiling at us.
“It’s lovely to meet you all! Do you want to eat anything, or-”
“Nah, we just ate Ma, but listen, we only came to stop by because we’re-”
“Sydney, god, you talk too much sometimes, come on, lets sit in the living room.”

We chilled with Sydney’s parents for a while. They were actually pretty cool, and, as Sydney and Hannah had said, old. We left just after half an hour, going back to Hannah’s to pick up our stuff and we left for West Virginia.
Because Gee had driven all the way to Pennsylvania, Ray agreed that he’d drive next. It would take us about four hours to get to Charleston, WV, so we were only going to stop for gas once after two hours.
“Mikes, get in the back!” Frank yelled, after I dumped the last of the bags into the back of the van. I climbed in after them, shutting the white doors as the van moved swiftly forward, off of Hannah’s drive.
I tumbled over the bags, prompting Ani and Sazzy to giggle at my weird handstand-type move. I pouted, making April peck me on the cheek.
“Let’s play that game, Ani! Show them how to play!” Hannah called, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the van.
Sazzy and Frank were sitting on the seats, their heads turned towards us, looking over at us on the floor. April, Sydney Hannah and I were sat on the floor in the back, and Gee was up in front with Ray. Bob and Ani were sat in the seats on the left hand side to Sazzy and Frank.
“Oh yeah, okay! Well, it’s like a state game, you have to think of your first name and middle name and put the two first letters together and see if they come up with a state. If they don’t, then you have to think of any letters from both your first and middle name to see if they do,” she said, twisting in her seat.
“Han, you go first,” she said, grinning. Hannah nodded thinking.
“Um… HE? That’s not a state, is it?” she asked, starting to think again.
“What’s your middle name? We could help,” Frank said, shrugging.
“Elizabeth… Oh, HI! That’s Hawaii!” she yelled, excited. Ani nodded, writing it down.
“It goes around in a circle. Once a state is said, it can’t be used again,” she said, nodding at me to go.
“Okay… err, MJ? Middle name is James,” I said, realising that I was so close to NJ.
“Aw, if you were called Nikey you could be NJ!” April said, giggling. Sazzy burst out into laugher, making everyone give her a funny look.
“I thought she said nakey, as in naked!”
Everyone burst into laughter, making Gerard look over at us, a grin on his face.
“Okay, okay, let’s carry on,” Sydney said, wiping away the tear of laughter from her cheek.
“Alright… M… S! Mississippi!” I cried, throwing my arms up in victory. Ani nodded, chuckling.
“AR! Arkansas, oh yeah!” April said, taking her turn, “middle name is Rayne, baby!”
“You’re the first one with the actual first letters of your name!” Ani said, grinning, “Sydney, your go!”
“Uh… SA? No, SD! South Dakota!” she said, grinning.
“Middle name?” I asked, curious.
“Adrianne-Valentina,” she said, grimacing, “a little long.”
“That’s a hefty name! Sydney Adrianne-Valentina Smith,” Bob said, wide-eyed. Sydney shrugged.
“Alright, Sazzy?”
“Uh… SA, too,” she said, her brow scrunched, “my middle name is Alexandra.”
“There’s only South Carolina, nothing else apart from South Dakota starts with S,” Frank explained, “do you loose the game or something?”
“Nah, she can use any letters from her first and middle name now,” Ani replied, looking down at the map and paper in front of her,
“I think there’s one possibility you might get… you have to guess it on your own.”
“Uh… What about AL, Alabama?”
“Yup, that’s alright,” Ani said, writing it down, “Frank?”
“FA, but there’s only FL, Florida. So… my middle name is Anthony, so… New York, NY, baby!” he said, proud.
“Alright, my go! AS… Annabelle-”
“Whoa! You’re full name is Annabelle?!” Gerard called from the front seat, making Ani nod, gritting her teeth.
“I hate it!” she groaned, putting her head in her hands.
“It’s not that bad,” Sazzy commented, shrugging, “I actually think it’s quite nice. What’s your middle name?”
“Skye,” she replied.
“Wait, so your middle name is Skye and hers is Rayne? That is pretty cool,” Hannah said, gesturing to the twins. They nodded.
“Anyways… Nova Scotia?”
“That’s in Canada!” Ray called from the drivers’ seat, almost laughing.
“Alright, alright…” Ani said, thinking of any others, “Alaska, AK! Okay, Bobber, your turn.”
“Hmm… Rhode Island, RI,”
“What’s your middle name?”
“Nathanial-Cory,” he said.
“Dude, where did the R come from?” April asked, confused.
“…My name’s Robert!” he said, a little shocked, “didn’t you guys know that?”
“I did,” Frank said, Ani nodding along.
“Alright, anyways… Gerard, it’s your go!”
“Georgia, GA. Suck on that,” Gerard said, proudly.
“Shit. Middle name Arthur… April, you have competition,” Ani said, giggling, “Ray!”
“I can’t go,” he said, his eyes glued to the road.
“Why not?” I asked, confused.
“You can’t make a state with Ray Manuel,” he explained, shrugging.
“Whoa, he’s right,” Ani said, looking over at her list.
“Have you got the full 50 states there?” I asked, baffled.
“Yeah, it’s for the rest of the game. Ray’s out, now. Actually, everyone is out apart from April and Gee, because they got proper state names.”
“Aw, shit!” Sazzy said, a mock look of disappointment on her face, “what happens now?”
“Well we’ve already named nine states, so they have to battle it out with the rest and try and guess ‘em all,” she explained, looking over the list again.
“We’ve named Georgia, Hawaii, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Mississippi, New York, Alabama, Alaska and Arkansas, so they have to name the other 41 by taking it in turns. Gee goes first because he went last.”
“New Jersey!”
“North Dakota,”
“Delaware.”
“Uh… California!”
“Connecticut,”
“Err… shit! Shit, ah…”
“Three seconds!” Ani shouted at her sibling, excited. April’s face fell,
“Fuck!”
“Gee wins!”