Love That Never Dies

“The dreams have been so real, it's unbelievable,” I explained to my mother. I was 17 years old, almost 18 I thought nightmare's were done and over with. I guess I was wrong. “Maybe it's just the good Lord sending you a message. Either you are suppose to find this boy who loves you, or maybe it's a warning telling you to stay away from him. I don't know sweetheart, but the Lord does work in mysterious ways.”

I sighed, taking everything my mother was saying into consideration. Maybe she was right, maybe I had to find this Charles guy. After all, he could be my knight in shining armor. But then again, maybe he's the Devil in disguise and I'm suppose to keep away.

“Sure does mom,” I said looking at the clock on the mantle. Seeing it was time to get going for school I excused myself and went and got my things. Checking my cell phone I saw that my best friend Allison had texted me saying, “So, u wanna go do sumthng exciting w me?” Smiling to myself I replied back, “Well, it depends. Dad want's me to listen to his sermon before finalizes it for church on Sunday.”

“Bye mom, I'm going to school!” I shouted as I walked towards the front door. Reaching out for the door knob I grasped it, but then winced and quickly pulled away. “What the...” I whispered while holding my hand up to my face. It felt like the knob was on fire. There was no burn marks on my hand, and there was no sign that I even touched anything hot. Reaching towards it again, I tapped it then tapped it again. It was just a regular old door knob.

That was weird.

Finally, I managed to get out of the house and quickly jogged to my car. Before I pulled out of the driveway Allison texted me again. “Dnt worry it's on Fri. U r coming w me 2 see a band.” Thinking about I though, what the heck. I texted “Sure,” and hit the send button. Finally I drove off, hoping that I would actually make it to school on time.

- - - - - -

Parking next to Allison she gave me a salute while sitting against the hood of her car. “So, who is this band and will my father approve?”I asked, stepping out of my car. Allison rolled her eyes and said, “Your father doesn't approve of anything you want to do with me. You know this! But anyways, we're going to see Avenged Sevenfold. They're playing at the Chameleon tomorrow night, and there is no way you are backing out even if I have to drag your ass there!”

“Fine, fine. I'll just tell him we are going to see a movie together and then we're having a sleep over. Just make sure your parents know the story so we don't get in trouble like the last time!” I told her while walking into the building.

I heard her sigh and then replied, “That was one time!” Chuckling I turned away and did a backwards wave as I walked to my first class.

- - - - - -

Later that night, I began tossing and turning as another dream took over my subconscious. It was another memory of Charles and Michelle. Except this time, they were in a different time period. Looked like the early 50's maybe. They were dancing to the music of Elvis Presley in a crowded club, they looked so happy together.

That image faded out and this time I was faced with them both once again stuck in a burning building and not being able to get out. The smell of burning flesh and fire was dominant, I just didn't know what, or who was burning.

The smell was so real, it pulled me out of my slumber. My breath was hitched in my throat with fear that I actually was on fire, but when I opened my eyes I was just in my room. Nothing was burning, nothing smelled like burning flesh; it was just me, staring at my reflection in the mirror across the room. Sighing in relief I lay back down and tried to go back to sleep.

- - - - - -

“Three more hours until the show!” Allison kept chanting as we walked out of school. I could tell she was pumped, but I just felt indifferent about the whole thing. After all, I didn't even know who this band was, and I was lying to my parents about it. If they found out, I don't even want to imagine the type of trouble I would be in. I've never been to this place before and it just made me nervous because I didn't know what to expect. Rock shows weren't really where people would expect to see the preacher's daughter.

“You'll be fine Em. I won't let the big, bad rocker kids get ya,” she said with a laugh. Rolling my eyes I knew she was right. I was blowing things out of proportion, everything was going to be fine.

- - - - - -

Let's just say, it definitely wasn't what I was expecting and I actually sorta liked it so far. Everyone was just so carefree and having a good time. The first two bands really weren't bad, not what I was used to, but not bad. I could tell the crowd was getting anxious for the big band, Avenged Sevenfold, to come up. All I heard was “SEVENFOLD! SEVENFOLD!” as Allison and I made are way to the front of the stage.

After almost losing a shoe, and possibly an eye we made it to the front. I sighed in relief knowing that I made it through a crowd of screaming fans without a hitch. I was pretty amped about it. Before I knew it the lights in the room dimmed down and this ear splitting guitar started up. Allison just looked at me with wide eyes and a huge grin plastered on her face.

Screaming once again erupted, even louder than I thought humanly possible. The lights came on and one by one, guys were filing out from behind the stage. Each man walked right up to the front of the stage and played a little segment of their instruments with these cocky, bad ass smiles on their faces.

I was awed at the sight of the two guitarists fingers moving against the strings effortlessly. The bass player was strumming the crap out of his bass with his head banging in all directions. The drummer was pounding away on his huge drum set, his eyes glowing from the lights. Then a sweet, melodic voice came blaring through the speakers and the crowd screamed even louder then they already were.

The lights shined on the singer's face. He was wearing a bandana with a backwards baseball cap and a pair of aviator sunglasses on. His toned, heavily tattooed arms were revealed, as he was wearing a cut off shirt. I shiver ran through my body at the sight of him. He was the most gorgeous creature I have ever seen. Walking over to one side of the stage, he took his aviators off to get a good look at the crowd. When he returned to the front of the stage, my heart literally stopped beating as I realized who it was.

It was... him.

I muttered out “Charles,”before I felt myself slipping away into a dark abyss.