Life Saver

“G’night mom, g’night dad,” Sarah sighed as she made her way from the living room and towards her bedroom. She heard a chorus of goodnight’s seconds before slamming her black door shut, causing it to echo throughout the hallway. Her family; mother, father, brother, and herself, had just moved into the new house a good week ago, her mother claiming that it was time for a change. She wouldn’t understand though. She would never understand the pain she was feeling. James Owen Sullivan had passed away a mere two months ago, and her pain was still very evident. For the rest of December and the whole of January, she did next to nothing. She cried, and that’s all she could remember. The rest of the days were a blur, and she wanted nothing of them. Sarah wished on a nightly basis that she could’ve saved Jimmy; that she could’ve done something, anything, to save him. She knew, deep down, that there was nothing she could’ve done. Sarah never even met the Rev, and because of this, she felt that she wouldn’t of been able to do anything for him. Besides her foREVer tattoo that a family friend had given her three weeks ago, she had no connection to the Rev what so ever.

Sarah stripped of her clothes, pulling on an extra large Avenged Sevenfold shirt that she would wear every other night when she went to sleep. She walked over to her twin sized bed that was pushed against her wall and laid down, pulling her Vengeance University blanket up and over her body. She whispered under her breathe the same words she would say every night, wishing that one day, this nightmare would be over; “Jimmy, please, please come back. It’s empty and cold without you here, this world you left alone.” Sarah fell asleep moments after, a tear that seemed to fall every night trailing down her cheek.

Sarah awoke in a parking lot right behind a white van, a trailer attached to it. She was in front of a pretty small rock house in Southern California; a rock house she knew very well. This was where she seen her first ever Avenged Sevenfold concert back in 2000, and she loved the band ever since. Sarah looked down, finding herself in gray skinny jeans, a black and white button up flannel, and black converse. She didn’t know where these clothes came from, but from what she could see, she liked the way she looked. Just to make sure, she pulled up her left sleeve, checking to make sure her tattoo was still there. Much to her dismay, it was, and she somberly pulled it down. She felt tears prick her eyes, but before she could let one fall, she registered that she was holding, or more like clutching, something in her right hand. She trailed her gaze to her hand, the object very familiar to her eyes. In her hand was an issue of Revolver Magazine: Avenged Sevenfold Edition. More specifically, the one with Jimmy on the cover. Seeing the folded up piece of reading material only made her eyes fill with tears, many falling down her face.

If it wasn’t for the presence that she now felt in front of her, she would’ve now been in full out bawling mode, Jimmy’s passing still a very sore subject. “Hey, why’re you crying?” A voice asked her, seemingly concerned. Sarah looked up, her blue eyes still on the verge of more tears. Her breathe was caught in her throat when she realized who was in front of her. Right before her, in the flesh, stood James Owen Sullivan, wondering why she was crying. Noticing that she wasn’t going to answer him anytime soon, Jimmy spoke up again, “Why don’t you join us?” Jimmy asked, waving a hand behind his head where Sarah now noticed Matt, Brian, Zacky, and Johnny stood. “We’re going over to the bar down the street. The more the merrier.” He smiled a big, goofy grin at her. Although she couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness in her heart, she smiled right along with him, relishing in the feeling of being with Jimmy.

They walked in silence, but it was a comfortable silence, almost as if it belonged. That is, until Jimmy spoke up. “What’s in your hand?” He asked nonchalantly, attempting to spark up a conversation between the two. Sarah looked down at her hand, then straight ahead, desperately wanting to avoid the subject, but wanting to talk to Jimmy for as long as she could. “Oh, nothing. Just a magazine.” She all but whispered to the taller man. The words that came out of her mouth were made up of one hundred percent lies. The magazine that she now clutched tighter was anything but a magazine; it was her saving grace throughout everything. When Revolver released the magazine, she instantly purchased it online, and then very impatiently awaited its arrival. When it arrived, she tore open the box and bolted for her room, not coming out until she read every single one separately, not caring that it was the same print in each. After each read, she bawled even more then the last time, knowing that those many tears probably weren’t doing her health any good.

Upon Sarah saying this, an interest was sparked in Jimmy’s head, and he suddenly stopped. The younger girl looked at him curiously, wondering what he was going to do next. “I wanna see!” Jimmy shouted, the semi-colorful cover that he had glimpsed at looking interesting. Sarah didn’t know what to do, and before she knew it, the ninety-six paged magazine was ripped from her grasp and now into the drummer’s. Jimmy’s face contorted into one of confusion. The only things his eyes were fixed upon were what seemed to be an older version of his face, and two words that spelled out, The Tragedy. His eyes took in every inch of the cover, from the Collector’s Issue!!! in the top right corner, to foREVer in the bottom right. This confused him, and he wondered why only ‘REV’ was capitalized. And why was his face suddenly so much older than it was now? He reached his left hand up, touching the handcuffs that were tattooed around his neck.

Jimmy looked down at the girl, wondering why she would have such a thing with her. Before being able to speak a sentence to her, he noticed the tear’s that were trailing her cheeks once more, almost as if they were racing each other to get down her face. He felt tears begin to prick at his own eyes, and he knew that if he wanted to know exactly what was going on, he had to open the magazine that he was holding onto firmly. He opened the cover, and behind it there was an older looking Zacky and Brian holding up two signature Schecter guitar’s, or so the magazine told him.

He skimmed through the first few pages, the only thing catching his interest being the album cover for an album entitled ‘Nightmare’ on the same page as the Schecter ad. That is, until he came across a letter from the editor. He read the letter word from word, but didn’t understand much of anything after reading, A7X’s late, great Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. He knew what that meant, and after seeing the picture of the vigil apparently held for him in the top left corner of the page, he knew exactly what that meant.

Jimmy didn’t have to look much further after seeing the picture of the vigil. On the next page stood his four best friend’s, but something was missing. He was missing. He didn’t bother reading much of anything after that, only now interested in the picture’s. He stopped only skimming after coming to a chapter titled: Afterlife; 2009-2010. There, on the page before that chapter title, was yet another picture of his best friend’s, but he wasn’t in this one either. He was damn near terrified, petrified even, to turn to the next page. Not only was this magazine from the future, it was predicting his own death. A death he didn’t even expect to happen anytime soon. Sure, he had joked to Brian’s dad a few times that he knew two things; one: he was going to be a great rock drummer, and two: he was going to die before he hit thirty. This magazine confirmed both of those predictions.

He turned the page, and instantly, a quote met his sight, “Jimmy was having a great time, playing piano, singing… and, like, six hours later, he’s dead.” He couldn’t help it anymore. Jimmy’s eyes flooded over into waterworks, releasing anything he was holding back. He dropped the magazine, falling down to the floor with it. Sobs racked his body as he cried uncontrollably. Jimmy felt an arm around his shoulder’s, the girl kneeling down with him. “Please,” Jimmy choked out, barely catching his voice, “please tell me it’s not true.” He finished, only to have more tears flood down his face. He was going to die, and he was far from ready to leave. Sure, the words inside the magazine had said he was going to die on December 28th, 2009, and that he was going to die at twenty-eight years of age, but still. He was nowhere near ready to leave this Earth. Sarah shook her head, tears coming out as fast as Jimmy’s were. Not being able to form any words, she picked up her sleeve, revealing to Jimmy something he didn’t want to see. There, on her arm, was a foREVer tattoo, just like the one’s from the magazine.

Jimmy gave up on vocalizing his thought’s, his tears taking over every inch of his world. He was never one to cry, and anyone who knew him, knew that. If he ever had a problem, he would drink it away, or try to solve it with that person. But the only person this problem involved was himself, and he couldn’t do anything about that. He couldn’t fight death. He couldn’t compete with it. He was going to die, and he couldn’t accept that.

Sarah regained some of her composure first, finally able to form sentence’s. “Jimmy,” she choked out, “whatever you do, on December 28th, 2009, don’t take any pills. I don’t care what anybody says, don’t take anything. Have a good time with your friends, just don’t take any medication. Please, I don’t want to lose you again knowing I could’ve saved you.” Sarah finished, tears cascading down her cheeks once again. Before Jimmy could respond, Sarah began dissipating in thin air, not even able to reach out for her magazine that she held dear to her heart. The last thing she saw before vanishing completely, was Jimmy, completely broken, but somewhat saved.

Sarah awoke the next day, chills running throughout her body. The first thing she noticed was her ceiling. Above it usually hung the Jimmy Sullivan poster people would get when they ordered the Revolver Magazine, but instead, an Avenged Sevenfold poster with all five member’s was in its place; seemingly recent. Sarah became confused, and continued looking around her room. Where little cut-outs from the magazine usually were, recent and old photo’s alike now graced her walls. She threw her blanket off of her and rushed to her CD collection. Nightmare was still there, but with different artwork. It was no longer an image of the Rev clutching a teddy bear, resting upon his gravestone. Instead, it was a simple deathbat, just like the one from the band’s self-titled album. She flipped it around to look at the track listing, and there, on track ten, where Fiction usually was, was a track titled, Life Saver.

Sarah instantly threw the CD into her CD player, which was thankfully still plugged in. She skipped through all the other still unknown tracks, aside from Nightmare, and rested on track ten. She sat on the floor cross-legged, staring up at her CD player as if it was about to speak to her. Lyrics were sang out from the speakers, and her mind absorbed every single one of them. Then, on verse two, Jimmy’s voice rang throughout her ear drum’s. The lyrics he sang were as clear as could be, and she had no second guesses on what he was singing.

”Medication overdose
Alcohol intoxication
Blast from the past
Journey to the future
Unscripted words in front of me
Twenty-eight days to live
Twenty-eight days to die
You’re a life saver in disguise”