Danger Line

Two Years Later

There wasn’t a single day when Matt didn’t think about Kari. There were the good days and there were the bad days,

On the good days Matt could go on a whole without thinking about her, that would because he would be so involved in the band that he would almost completely forget about her.

On the bad days, when he didn’t tour or had music to do, he felt that desperation. It would hit him the worst on days like these: Damien’s first day of Kindergarten.

Kari always talked about how she wanted to take Damien to his first day, and how she wanted both of them to be there for their son. It made Matt’s heart hurt and ache. Damien, on the other hand, was happy to go back to school.

He did very well in pre-school. The teachers said he was a very sociable child, maybe a little too much because he liked to talk during nap time.

“Dad!” Damien snapped Matt back to the present. “We are go-gonna learn our ABC’s but I already know them, watch A, B, C, D, E,--” and he finished them, but got a little stuck between M and N, so Matt helped him.

They arrived at the school. Matt parked the Expedition. He got out and then took out Damien from the car seat. Once the little boy was on the ground, he went straight to his friends.

Matt watched with a grin on his face, and then it slowly faded as he thought, I wish she could see this. and then he would raise his head up to the sky and knew she was watching along with her brother.

“You must be Damien’s father,” a female voice spoke.

Matt straightened his head and looked at the woman. She was young, younger than him probably. She had olive colored skin, brown hair and eyes. She also had a pleasant smile.

“I am, I’m Matt,” he introduced himself.

“I’m Penelope, Damien’s new teacher. I’m introducing myself to all of the parents.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” they shook hands.

“Nice to meet you too. I feel like I know you from somewhere. I think on TV, wait… Matt Sanders, as in M. Shadows?”

Matt smiled. “Yes.”

“My niece is a big fan of Avenged Sevenfold,” and her cheeks blushed. “So am I, actually, just recently.”

“Ah, welcome to the family,” he grinned.

She covered her mouth in awe. “I’m sorry, it’s just I never thought this would happen.”

“I don’t expect Damien to get special treatment,” Matt joked.

They laughed together, and it was rare for Matt to laugh sincerely.

“Don’t worry,” she raised her hand, “I promise to treat Damien equally as the others. He’s already a great kid, I know he’s going to be fun to have.”

Matt spent the next ten minutes talking to Penelope. They talked about the band. How she heard of them, and what were her favorite songs. Then, the bell rang and it brought Matt back to reality. He said goodbye to his son with a tight hug and a kiss on the forehead.

“Grandma is going to pick you up after school, all right?”

“Okay, daddy,” Damien grinned.

Penelope took his hand and led him inside of the school. She glanced behind her and waved at Matt. He waved back and let out a small sigh. He turned back to his Expedition and headed towards the studio. It was the band’s first self-produced album.

It was so much fun, but it was also a lot of work.

He was also writing some songs on the side, but so far nothing was concrete. The traffic to get to the studio allowed him to think of songs. It was the only way to avoid thinking about Kari, but sometimes he would compare Kari to other woman.

Kari’s hair was shinier in the sun.

Her eyes were more lighter.

Her smile was more contagious.

His friends told him a thousand times it was time to date. Two years was long enough, but Matt just wasn’t ready. He couldn’t move on, and it was driving nuts that his friends were trying to set him up on blind dates. He just wanted to focus on music, and he would move on when he was ready.

He wasn’t ready.

He arrived at the studio half an hour late than what they agreed on, but then again, they never actually got there on time, but Matt was the last one to arrive. Everyone else were already talking.

“What took you so long, man?” Brian asked from the couch, he had his guitar across his lap.

“Sorry, I had to drop off Damien to kindergarten, and his teacher is a fan of the band, so I talked to her for a bit.”

“A woman?” Zacky raised an eyebrow.

Matt nodded. “Yes, I did say ‘she’, right?”

“You barely acknowledge women nowadays,” Jimmy chimed in.

Matt scoffed. “I do not.”

“You kind of do, especially brunettes,” Johnny added.

Matt looked at his friends in shock. “You’ve got to be kidding me! You guys are fucking crazy.”

“And you’re so touchy too when we tell you the truth,” Zacky placed his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “We’re your friends. We need to tell you the harsh truth.”

“You want truth?” Matt spat. “I’m not fucking ready to be with someone else. You try losing your fucking soul mate and try to move on!”

“Kari would never want you to never be happy, Matt,” Jimmy’s voice was soft and his usual humor was gone.

Matt blinked.

“I just can’t,” he exhaled and it was painful because memories rushed back like a tidal wave and it almost knocked him out. “Are we going to make music or what?”

Everyone looked at each other uneasy and sighed.

“All right, so I have an idea about an awesome song!” Jimmy took out his notebook and showed them the lyrics to a song about murder and love called A Little Piece of Heaven.

At the end of the day, Matt was exhausted, but content with the work they got done. Before he went home, he picked up Damien from Priscilla’s and Martin’s home. He chatted with them for a few minutes and then took Damien home.

Matt had to learn how to cook. He didn’t mind.

His first couple of tries almost burned down the kitchen, but he managed to learn how to avoid any more fires.

He cooked Damien macaroni and cheese. Damien talked about his first day of school. How he met new friends, and how he liked his teacher so much.

It was an ordinary night.

After they ate, Matt let him watch an hour of TV before it was time for him to go to sleep. He gave his son a bath, tucked him in, and read him Peter Pan, his favorite bedtime story. Damien fell asleep shortly after Wendy was taken by Captain Hook.

Matt closed the book, kissed his son good night and left the light on. Damien was afraid of the dark.

Matt went to his office where he would continue to write songs.

“I wake up every morning bright and early. I roll out of bed but never quite alone…” he hummed the song lowly to himself and fixed some of the words and continued to write.

The next morning was pretty much the same.

He woke up early to take Damien to school.

He talked to Penelope a little more than usual, and he was glad to talk to someone like her. She was down to earth, and didn’t let his fame get in the way to get to know Matt Sanders instead of M. Shadows.

When he was at the studio, he was a lot calmer because his friends gave up on trying to talk to him.

For the next couple of weeks, everyone noticed the improvement in Matt.

No one knew how or who made the difference, only he knew.

It was Penelope.

Her kindness, her patience.

She didn’t judge him, and when they eventually got to the topic of his dead wife, she just told him she was sorry for his loss, and didn’t treatment like he was a china doll.

One morning, Matt decided to invite Penelope over for dinner at his home. He told her she cooked, and she was surprised. He said he could prove to her he could cook.

She accepted the offer.

Matt spent the day preparing the dinner. Damien helped and he was also a lot happier.

Penelope arrived in a wonderful Sunday dress.

“Ms. Penny!” Damien exclaimed in happiness. “Look, I’m cooking!” he showed her the apron Matt bought for him.

Penelope giggled in delight. “You’re a true chef, Damien.”

He gave her a tooth grin. “Yay!”

Matt and Penelope laughed and headed to the kitchen where the food was served.

“We wash our hands first!” Damien held out his hands. “It’s the law.”

Again, Penelope giggled.

“You are right, let’s wash our hands.”

Dinner went by smoothly.

After dinner, they watched Shrek 1 and 2 together.

Damien was fast asleep after the second one ended. Matt took him to bed and joined Penelope downstairs. They talked together as they had a beer.

He talked about funny stories about being on the road.

She told stories about her family. She was the only girl, so her father was protective of her.

As expected, there came a moment where it was so right to kiss.

So Matt leaned in and so did Penelope. Their lips touched. The kiss was slow and gentle. There was no tongue involved. He knew he didn’t love Penelope, yet, but she was the kind of woman he could definitely fall in love with eventually. He was about to ask for entrance when his house phone rang.

They jolted in surprise and laughed at each other. He got up from the couch and picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Matt, why won’t you answer your phone?” Martin asked with a slight growl.

“It’s off, why, what is it?” he asked.

“They found her,” Martin’s voice was about to break. “Kari.”

Matt’s throat formed a lump. “Her dead body?”

Martin let out a humorless laugh. “No, alive, she’s alive!”