Wake Me Up Forgotten Faces

Michelle DiBenedetto chose the wrong time to enter Johnny's bar. She glanced round in confusion as all hell broke loose around her.

"What the fuck's going on?" The petite redhead next to her frowned.

"I dunno, but I bet I know who it involves," Michelle replied with an eye roll, she had spotted the group as soon as she had entered the building "Guys!" She exclaimed, wandering - closely followed by Nico - to the corner of the building "You know not to start anything at Johnny's! What were you..." Her voice trailed off when she finally looked at her friends properly.

Her sister - Val, Gena, Lacey and Leana were all silently crying, their faces pale with worry and fear whereas Zach, Jimmy and Johnny were trying their hardest to keep it together but she could tell by their trembling frames they were failing.

"What's going on?" She asked, slowly and in confusion.

Val quickly moved to her twin's side, grasping their hands together as the guys all took a step to the side.

What Michelle saw was something she never expected or never wanted to see.

Brian was lay in the corridor which housed the toilets. He was pale, a film of sweat on his skin despite all the shivering he was doing...a knife protruding out of his abdomen.

The young girl sat with him didn't even look up as she kept - what only could be described as - a light jacket pressed hard against his wound, softly speaking soothing words to him.

"What the fuck happened?!"

*

"Then we'll go pick Kenna up and head to the beach," Emily chatted away, blinking back the tears threatening to fall "Brian? You still awake?"

"Mmm," He managed to reply, the look of pain on his face caused her stomach to twist with worry and guilt.

Keeping the pressure on his wound she leant over and gently stroked his face with her hand "I'm so sorry," She whispered before a new pair of voices grabbed her attention.

"Okay! Paramedics coming through!" The man called as they made their way over to Brian.

"Are you okay sweetie?" The woman asked as they knelt down next to Emily and Brian.

"I-I'm fine," Emily managed to splutter out "Help him - please. His name's Brian Haner, he's 28 and..." She attempted to swallow the guilty lump in her throat "M-my ex boyfriend stabbed him."

Everything seemed to move as a blur from there as the two Paramedics fixed Brian up the best they could before lifting him - with a groan of pain - onto a wheeled bed and rolled him to the ambulance.

"E-Em..." He groaned from beneath his oxygen mask, his eyes desperately searching the space above him for her.

"I'm right here," She called, jumping into the back of the ambulance after him, grasping his hand in hers.

*

The 10 friends - including a very dishevelled looking Matt - burst into the hospital.

"How may I help you," The receptionist asked calmly, not seeming fazed by either the size of the group or the 4 incredibly famous rockstars stood before her.

"Uhm, they just brought our friend in," Val answered softly, seemingly the only one able to string a proper sentence together "Brian Haner?"

"Of course," The woman behind the desk smiled "If you'd like too just follow me?"

And so they did, down endless corridors - nurses, doctors, patients, visitors and many other assorted people rushed around them, going unnoticed.

Michelle, unsure of what else to do with herself, linked her arm through Nico's; glancing round all the couples - her friends - walking beside them.

Zach had Gena cuddled close to his body, almost holding her up as they walked. Jimmy and Leana stared straight ahead, unnervingly silent, their fingers interlaced with Johnny and Lacey close behind, both of them housing horrified expressions.

Matt was filling Val in on the events that happened when he had run out of the bar in an angry whisper; it turned out the man who had stabbed Brian had got away.

"Okay," The receptionist announced, stopping outside one of the rooms "Mr. Haner is still in the ICU but you are more than welcome to wait in her with Miss. Newell."

Gena broke away from Zach and burst into the room to comfort and look after her younger cousin "Emz," She whispered crossing the room to where the young girl was sat curled up on one of the chairs; all the blood washed from her hands.

She sat beside her and pulled her into a close, tight hug, Gently rubbing Emily's back soothingly.

"I'm sorry," She sobbed into her older cousin's t-shirt "This is all my fault."

"Emmey," Zach said softly, sitting on the arm of the chair and running his fingers softly through her hair "None of this is your fault okay?"

She nodded, daring to lift her head up to glance around the room which was now full of pacing, worried looking people.

A confused frown descended on her eyes when they landed on the two women she hadn't met before, an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

"That's Michelle, Val's twin, and her friend Nico," Gena whispered, noticing the apprehension in the younger girl's body "They came into the bar just before the Paramedics."

Emily nodded her head, trying to relax.

He once dated my sister on and off a while back... Val's voice echoed in her mind. As if she didn't have enough to worry about.

Enter Michelle DiBenedetto.

Brian's ex.