Such a Surreal Place

*Weeks later*

I couldn’t believe it. My previous cancer test was a false positive. I didn’t have cancer! According to the doctor, my pregnancy hormones had reacted during the test and given a fake result. I wasn’t going to die of cancer! I was ecstatic when I returned home, and Brian was too when he found out. It was the best news he had received in a while; I wasn’t going to leave him. I was going to live.

*5 years later*

Charlotte was about to start kindergarten. She was such a smart child and she was more excited about this event than Brian and I were. Charlotte gripped onto my left hand tightly, her other hand holding onto Brian’s jeans. For some reason, she wasn’t too fond of Brian’s hands because of his tattoos, and she had a habit to tell Bri off and tell him to wash his hands until the dirt came off. She was so sweet... One day she’d grow to accept it, but for now she was going to stay persistent.

“Go on, baby,” I urged her gently, trying to get her to move forwards. Earlier today, Charlotte had insisted that she would walk herself in. She didn’t want her parents to do it, which was fine by us; just another thing to add to the list of cute things that she says and does.

“Okay,” Charlotte said before taking in a deep breath and letting go of my hand and Brian’s jeans. I flashed Brian a quick excited smile before she started walking forwards into the play area.

“What about saying goodbye to your little brother and sister first?” my husband called out to her and Charlotte quickly spun around to run back to us, her dark brown hair flowing beautifully behind her. She jumped in the back of the car to where the two car seats were that held the latest (and last) additions to the family.

“Bye, bye Katelyn Jamie and Kevin James,” Charlotte squeaked while waving her hands frantically at the two twins.

“Uncle Jimmy’s watching over you, bub. Have a good day,” Brian said as he helped our daughter out of the car and onto the footpath. He kissed her forehead before she took off to greet the other children. “I really miss him, Ash.”

“I know. Me too,” I said as I looked up at the sky. Just like in the movies, the grey clouds were parting slowly to give way to a small patch of blue sky and sun, as if Jimmy had heard Bri. Life had never been the same without his presence. The band just couldn’t repair itself. They continued to make music and found replacements, but no one could ever really take the place of Jimmy. It was heartbreaking.

I continued to help Avenged Sevenfold out with their music, going in to the studio whenever they needed me. It was no problem to help out friends who were so close to me I may as well call them family. Working with them was always a pleasure, and always full of laughter and so much fun, even though Jimmy was no longer around. The band had such inspiration to continue; Jimmy. ‘Jimmy would want us to keep on going without him’, they always said, so they did. Their fans respected them so much and supported them like crazy too. It was great.

When I wasn’t in Avenged’s studio, I was working on other projects. Lots of other bands requested me for producing their album or a few songs, which I gladly accepted. The bands continued to get bigger and bigger, thanks to my work with my husband’s band, and I ended up working with Slash (both producing and singing) which was such an honour. The look on Brian’s face when I brought him to work with me one day was just indescribable. Slash had always been his idol, and because of me, he met him. I worked with many other bands, but Slash was just one of the biggest highlights.

Ronnie got out of jail, too. He started a new band and they’re pretty successful. Ronnie called me up one day and asked me out to lunch, just to talk about everything, and after that day we remained mutual friends, despite everything we had been through. He was a good guy now that he was sober. Craig never made up to me, which didn’t bother me, but the rest of Escape the Fate stayed in contact, forever grateful to the help I’d given them in the early days.

Once I got the okay from the doctor, we started trying for another baby. Luckily, I ended up having our sweet little twins, which meant we were both satisfied with the amount of children we had and we decided to call it quits. Of course, we had to give them names that somehow were a remembrance to Jimmy, but since calling out ‘Jimmy’ everyday to our child was going to be too painful, we settled on giving them middle names relating to our beloved best friend.

Everything was going great in life. I still had a loving husband who never forgot to tell me he loved me each day, three amazing children that helped hold the family together, my mother was still alive, Brian’s family loved me as one of their own, Mel and Zacky were doing great with their child too, Matt and Val were starting their own family, Johnny was settling down... The list really goes on and on. Of course, the only thing missing from this practically perfect life was Jimmy.

“Ready to go?” Brian asked after a few minutes of watching Charlotte talk and play with other children. I nodded but didn’t take my eyes off the sky. I swear Jimmy was watching over our daughter right now. He wasn’t missing out after all... I gripped onto Brian’s hand.

“We’ll live happily ever after, foREVer,” I whispered to the sky.