Welcome to the Family

Nicole grinned when she saw the notebook still sitting underneath her bed. A while ago she had begun to write letters to Jimmy, but stopped when she had filled the entire notebook up. She knew she was taking a chance tonight, but if the boys of Avenged were there, she was going to give them one letter in particular. It was a letter about how they should remain strong and never lose hope, even though their best friend had passed.

“You ready?” Sadie asked, zipping up her hoodie.

Nicole nodded and tore the letter out of the spiral notebook, folding it up and placing it in the back pocket of her jeans. Together the pair went out the front door to Sadie’s car and made their way to the beach.

Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads when they saw the amount of people that had showed up. The sun wasn’t even fully set yet and there were at least two hundred people crowded on the sand.

“Wow,” Sadie breathed, taking the key out of the ignition. “And here I was just thinking he was my neighbor who liked to party.”

“Yeah, no kiddin’,” Nicole whispered, opening the door and stepping out on to the pavement.

Whitney had tried to keep track of how many people showed up, but lost count when she got to four hundred.

It was now seven o’clock and the sun had set. Candles were lit and people were all standing around, facing the water as the tide rolled in. People were still joining the group

“And you said you didn’t want to come,” Amber said, nudging Zack in the side as they pulled up in the black van.

“Wow.”

The six of them crawled out of the van and snuck into the large throng of people that had formed. Each of them were trying to keep from being recognized, but if they were to be, none of them really cared. After Amber had showed them some of the things that people had posted on the page, they knew that they would be more than welcomed at the vigil.

“I’d like to thank everyone for coming tonight,” Whitney said. “I never expected this many people to come out. So really, thank you. But we all know that this night is not for me, but it is for our brother and our hero, Jimmy. May he be living it up in the afterlife chasing as many fucking stallion ducks that he can find.”

She scanned the crowd with her eyes, trying to see if she knew any familiar faces, but only a couple stood out to her, one was the face of Amber Baker and the other was the face of Sadie Huff, a regular costumer at the salon.

“So as we stand here tonight, remember Jimmy and all his glory. Remember the good and bad times that we’ve had with him, all the memories we’ve made with him, and most of all, the gift of his music that he shared with the world.”

As Whitney finished up her little speech, someone in the crowd began singing the opening verse to Afterlife, which eventually turned in to everyone belting out with the chorus, bringing tears to Matt, Zacky, Brian, and Johnny’s eyes as they sang along with their fans.

“Got nothing against you, but Jimmy we miss you.”