Used to Love 'Em

"Well you are not going to be needing this piece of shit anymore." Axl said to himself as he put the broken pieces, the remainder of Slash's cell phone into the fire pit before putting the clothes he had worn earlier today over top of it. He would not be needing either of those again, now they were evidence. Things that could be used against him, things that could put him in jail or worse kill him and he did not need either of those to happy to him, he was happy with his life at that moment, and he'd rather not have it ruined by doing something as stupid as getting caught. He took the Zippo from before out of his pocket and flicked it open and put it to the clothes watching rather satisfied as they caught on fire almost instantly. Within seconds they were in flames you couldn't tell what they had been. "Well I'd better keep this going." Axl said as he threw another log onto the fire sending sparks up into the air in a great swarm. They looked almost liked fireflies as they flew up into the night air before they disappeared. With a smirk Axl turned around and began to walk away. The fire would handle itself and then put itself out, smothering itself as the ashes would fall on the small flames that remained. Now it was time to get this show on the road. He pushed his fingers into his pocket feeling around for the little blade that he felt there as he slid open the door to his house and went straight to his bedroom. He threw his suitcase onto the bed and filled it with clothes, or as many clothes as he could put onto the bed putting the little container with the little white pills in a sock before bundling it tightly and burying it in the middle of his suitcase. With a small sigh he took the little knife out of his pocket, he would not be able to bring it on the plane so he might as well be able to use it before he left, just to break it in per say. He shut his suitcase as he picked up the phone and dialled in the LA airport, they picked up on the first ring.

"Hello, I'd like to get the first flight to Indiana out of LA." He paused to listen to the woman on the other side of the phone speak, reading off all the flights that were headed there. "No, I want a direct flight, and I want to leave tonight, as soon as possible. It is a emergency." He lied as the attended continued her babbling. "You said there was one leaving at midnight?" He asked as she stopped her babbling, he shot a look at the clock. It was half past nine. The half an hour drive to the airport it would be ten, he'd be able to make it with time to spare. "I will take one ticket for that, and I will be there shortly to pay for it." Axl said into the phone as he then hung up the phone not waiting for the attendant’s response. He zipped his suitcase up before ripping it off the bed and dragging it down the hallway, placing it in the living room as he dug through his pockets.

"Keys, keys, where are they?" He hissed as he patted himself down when suddenly the idea jumped on him. Why did not he just simply take Slash's car? After all then he'd just leave it at the airport, get a taxi back and throw the keys in a lake or something. If it looked like Slash had left LA they would not bother looking for him around here....would they? Now there was another question he was asking himself, where had he put Slash's car keys? The table...no, the counter..yes! That's where they were he thought to himself happily as he took the few steps his boots clicking on the tile floor as he plucked the car keys off the counter, grabbed his suitcase and left the house, slamming the front door as hard as he could before leaving the house....for the time being that was.

Downstairs Slash had awoken to a terrible pain from his head, he reached up to touch it and winced, realizing that his hair was all gone, or nearly all of it was gone. What Axl had done came back in one great big rush to him as he heard the door slam from upstairs. Like a bucket of ice cold water had been poured over his head he was awake almost instantly, shaking off the drowsiness, and finally realizing that his glasses were no longer on his face but shattered in what seemed like more than a hundred pieces all across the concrete floor.

"What is he doing keeping me here like this?" Slash wondered out loud, after all to him it did not make sense, if you were mad at someone why keep them around? Why pretend to be there friend and then lock them up the first chance they got? Why not just kill them at first? Why waste all the extra time and money trying to sustain them? Even as Slash asked himself the questions he knew the answer, it is because this is more then something he's doing out of anger. It is because it is more then something he's doing recklessly, he's planned it, he's planned it all. Just look around, look at it all. The voice told him and so he did look around. Even at the chains that were binding him. They were bolted into the concrete, basically impossible to break unless you were the Hulk of course. But Slash, he was no Hulk, the exact opposite almost, he was not strong, he was never strong, sure back in the day he could throw a few punches here and there but that was normally because he was too wasted to feel the pain if he got struck anywhere. The basement itself had no windows anywhere, or if it did Axl had done a wonderful job of covering them out. To Slash the basement was bleak, it was unfinished with a cold concrete floor and on the walls you could see the insulation hadn't yet been put in.

"That means that someone might be able to hear my screams, if I scream loud enough." Slash mused to himself as he examined the wall nearest to him. It did not look like it was that thick but of course Axl probably had something up his sleeve. Like if Slash screamed too loud something would shock him, or something equally as evil as that. Slash moved to adjust himself into a more comfortable position though that was quite considering both his arms were chained to his legs, it meant that he had to keep all four appendages nearby each other which made things like scratching his burnt scalp incredibly challenging. Not to mention how much it hurt for him to do that. Slash sat alone in the darkness for a few minutes, waiting impatiently for his eyes to adjust to the goddamn darkness which did not seem to be happening any time soon. He also waited in fear, fear that Axl was going to come back downstairs and they would end up having another little "chat" as Axl called it, a chat that Slash would much rather avoid especially because he more or less enjoyed the way his boy was. Except for his hair he liked it much more the way that it had been. Before Axl had pulled a lighter on it.

"Don't come down stairs, please don't come down" Slash said out loud as he pulled on the chains that held him in place. He sat again for another few moments in complete darkness as be before he realized that his shirt was wet, that there was a huge wet spot on his shit.

"What the hell is that?" He wondered out loud, after all talking to yourself was a good way to keep sane, and from what it looked like Slash more or less needed that. He tried his hardest to get his head at the angle so he could see why his shirt was so wet, He couldn't really tell what it was since it was so dark in the room and because his damned eyes more or less refused to adjust to the lack of light but it kinda looked like....blood? What the hell was there blood doing on his shirt? it couldn't have been from his scalp because before he hadn’t picked at it, or even scratched it, or as far as he knew he hadn't scratched it. Then the pain from his nose finally began to set it, that's what it was. Axl had punched him. Slash remembered that much, was it possible that Axl had broken Slash's nose and that was why it was all bloody? Not to mention why he was in pain and while he had passed out? Probably, it was a good reason a very good reason, a very logical reason actually. The more Slash thought about it the more it seemed like it was true. Axl had broken his nose, the fucking son of a bitch. Slash was going to get even with him, no matter what it took. He was going to get even. As soon as he got the hell out of Axl's fucking unfinished basement.

"That is a ticket for just one sir?" The lady at the desk asked as Axl nodded his head as he dug through his wallet looking for one of his credit cards that did not seem to have a limit. "You are total is one hundred and forty three seventy six." She read off the computer as again Axl nodded his head not bothering to look up. "Will that be Visa or MasterCard?" The woman asked as Axl finally found his Visa pulling the blue card out of his wallet and setting it down on the desk, facedown.

"Visa." Axl replied in a board tone, while the lady picked up the card, having a hard time with her long nails. He bet that whenever she broke one she wanted to cry. She stared for a minute at the name before looking at his face and then back to name ago.

"Listen Mr. I was wondering, I am a huge fan, and I was wondering if I could have your autograph?" She asked as she looked from the name to his face and then back to the name again, like she had drawn the line and as if she could see the connection now since she knew what to look for.

"Of course, but not a word of this too anyone, I am trying to stay hidden, after all I don't want to be stampeded on the plane." Axl said as he threw on a phony smile while the cashier nodded her head, her ginger curls bobbing as she looked for a pen and paper which he could sign.

"Not a word at all." She stammered as she handed over the pen and paper. He scribbled his name on it in his regular signature, his loops curly writing that made it so distinguishable. She gave him a smile showing off her white teeth and her dark brown eyes, he returned the smile though it was fake. All he wanted was to get the hell out of the airport and onto the goddamn plane that was it, that was all he needed.

"Just punch in my pin here?" Axl asked after a few moments of her continuous typing on the computer while he slid the paper and pen towards her, trying his hardest to be unnoticeable.

"Yes Mr. just punch it in and confirm the purchase and then you will be all set." She told him as he nodded his head and typed in his four digit code, it was not that difficult. He had changed it once he had gotten a credit card, mostly because he could hardly remember the numbers; this made it plenty easier for him. It was something simple too. The date that Appetite was released. Day, month and year. Four digits, sure it was easy for someone to access but how many people would try to access his account? Not many because if there was one thing he took care of it was his money, he kept track of it because he did not want to get ripped off by anyone. His girlfriend, or the record label or anyone else who had access to his bank account. After all he did have plenty of money in there and he worked for that money, he worked hard for that money.

"Alright is that fine?" He asked as he punched it in and pressed confirmed when the option came up on the little handheld, what was it called? Transaction machine? Was that the proper name for it? Did it even have a name? Probably not.

“Yes sir, that’s perfect, now just wait a second for it to confirm.” The lady said as she hit the enter key impatiently, “There we go, now here’s your MasterCard back and have a great safe trip!” The woman said as she handed him the green and white ticket as well as his MasterCard.

“Thank you and have a great day.” He replied almost robotically as he pulled his hood down even more, trying to cover as much as his face as he could since he had packed his aviators in his suitcase and did not quite feel like rummaging through it in the middle of the airport at the moment. LA airport none the less.

He wandered down the airport strip looking for the name of his company that he was flying with, he paused a moment to glance down at the ticket. They were called Allegiant Air, he recognized the name, maybe he had flown with them a few times before. After all it was possible right? He scanned ahead looking for the name, ah there it was, second last right next to some group called Sunwing with an ugly bright orange logo

“Hello sir” The lady said as he heaved his bag onto the conveyer belt. “Passport please?” She asked as he sighed before digging it out of his pocket and showing it to her. She took it out of his hand and pushed her glasses even farther onto her scrunched up nose. She made a humming noise before giving it back and began to put on the tags and such for his bags. Before weighing it, as usual it was far below the weight limit and he was nearly positive that it would not gain an ounce for the ride home. “Have a good vacation.” She told him sounding rather bored as she pressed the button and his suitcase disappeared.

“Of course I will have a good vacation, it’ll be fantastic.” He muttered to himself as he adjusted the worn out black bag that sat atop his shoulders. It was light mostly, because it held almost nothing. It held hardly anything, only a few pieces of mostly blank paper. One with an address, the address that would keep Axl sane, the one that kept his master plan in check. He also had his blackberry in there, a few pens and pencils. After all the dreary hour long flight was a perfect time to possibly come up with some new material. If something or someone sparked it that was. After all you could hardly expect Axl to just write something off the top of his head. He needed to wait for the right moment. Like his plan, he had to wait for the right moment to do anything. If he did not it would simply fall apart, like a loose thread. One loose thread, one minor error would and could cause the entire scarf to fall apart. Just one simple mistake, one time little mistake could be the reason that something fell apart. The reason he got caught. The reason that he would probably end up in a jail for the rest of his life, or dead if he was convicted in LA due to the lovely thing called the death penalty that they around here.

He arrived at the security terminal. Or at least that's what he thought it was called. The place where they asked you politely to remove anything metallic from them and put it in a container and you'd walk through the metal detector and then they'd run your bag and items through the x-ray machine just to make sure you weren't carrying anything in there, like something that was potentially dangerous. Like a normal person would just have a bomb in their backpack .The country had gone to extreme forces after 9/11 had happened and the Word Trade Centers had been taken down as well as the attacks on the Pentagon and the White House.

"Any liquids sir?" The man asked as he took the black bag off his shoulders and put it down on the conveyer belt as he took off his dark brown jacket and put it into a bin. Axl shook his head, no he did not have any liquids on him, if he needed or wanted something he'd buy it inside the terminal, or on the plane.

"Any metallic objects on you? Pens? Rings? Any other jewellery?" The same man asked as he looked down at his hands which had a few rings on them. With a sigh he began to slowly twist them off. Pulling off the gold and silver bands that he had collected over the years. The security guard eyed his tattoos suspiciously, like it made him a plausible suspect. Yeah right, like he'd blow up a plane or something. He lived in the United States and was pretty much born there, He remembered the affects that 9/11 had on the States the mass chaos that the United States had gone into, the hysteria, the amount of guns and ammo that had been that had been purchased. It was crazy insane actually. Then the lies that had been created and the rumours that had been spread. Axl stepped through the metal detector and it let out a loud noise. That meant that he had some form of metal on him. He could feel the metal necklace that he had on. Of course he forgot to take that off, how stupid could he be.. What an idiot he was.

The guard shot him a look as if he was not impressed and the expected such a "punk or rebel" to fail the exam.

"Now hold out your arms " He instructed as he slipped the hand held metal detector out of his belt. Axl let out another sigh, things did not seem to be going too well at the moment. He did as he was told as the guard ran the metal detector over him. His arms, his legs, his chest. It let out a loud beeping noise as he got up around the neck area, of course it was the necklace. Like he had thought it had been. Like he had thought it had been, it was just his stupid ass necklace. The stupid one that he had forgotten to take off.

"You're clear." The security guard said gruffly as he stepped back and put his little handheld metal detector back into his belt. Axl nodded his head before he quickly collected his bags and took off to find his flight.