Haunted Dreams

Drinks kept coming to her and she wasn’t complaining. She drank them happily, feeling their effect almost as soon as the last drop was gone. She didn’t even think twice before taking them out of the hands of the random guys in the bar. Avery seemed to be the only girl there but she didn’t mind. The drinks and the attention made her forget about what her band had said. It wasn’t long before there was an arm around her waist, keeping her up right.

“Whoa, pretty girl, looks like you’ve had too much to drink,” a deep voice said into her ear as his arm was the one keeping her up.

“No, no. I want another one,” Avery stated, giggling.

Without refusing, even though he should of, he handed her another beer. It was gone as soon as Avery’s hand grabbed the drink. Avery shoved the empty glass into hands that were around her waist and pushed the guy. She made her way to the bar but she wasn’t that far away from it.

“Help me up,” Avery demanded as she held out her hands for the guys that were beside her.

They did what they were supposed to and helped her on to the bar.

“Turn up the music,” Avery shouted to the bartender, who did as he was told.

Avery let the music take over her body. Her hips move with the beat of the song. She didn’t know what the song was but she didn’t care. She had all eyes on her and for the moment it was all she needed. She ran her hands up her body, earning shouts from the guys in the bar. She let her red hair fall in her face, not dare moving it. She had her eyes closed anyway so it didn’t matter. One guy got up on the bar with her. He was trying to hold her close but Avery pushed him away. He seemed to be getting madder at every push. He finally grabbed her hips and forcefully pulled her to him. Avery struggled against his grasp. She almost screamed but she promised herself she wouldn’t ask for help. This was a moment she wished she never made that promise and that she was a girl that broke promises.

A hand grabbed hers; almost yanking her off the bar but the guy still has his grasp on Avery. She tried to move toward the hand hoping to save her. She was finally free from the man’s grasp as he feel from the punch from a random hero. Avery collapsed into the stranger’s arms. She felt his muscles but never saw his face. He helped her out of the bar and away from the wanting hands of the drunk guys.

“Are you okay?” his raspy voice asked.

Avery looked down at the ground. She’s kind of afraid to see his face. She only nodded.

“Can you tell me where you live?” He was trying to look at her face.

Avery just shrugged, feeling a little woozy. She swayed just a little bit before she caught herself on a truck.

“Do you have a bag with you or anything?”

Avery shook her head.

“This is just great.” The guy sounded aggravated.

Avery was in her little world, trying not to pass out. But it didn’t last long. His arms caught her before she faced planted and that was all she remember before she passed out.

~

Avery woke up with a huge headache. Even though she was used to it, this one seemed to hurt more than the rest. Sitting up she tried to remember the stupid things she might have done the night before. Avery looked around the room, seeing that it was not the tour bus she was used to. It was a room. An actually room. She hadn’t been in her own in months. Avery checked to see if there was someone beside her. When there wasn’t, she let out a sigh of relief.

“I see that you’re up,” a voice said from the doorway.

Avery took in the guy standing in the door way. He was tall; maybe 6’3, 6’4. His light brown hair was shaved. He was wearing a plain white shirt and jeans. He had two coffee mugs in his hand. Avery wanted nothing more than to rip one of those mugs out of his hand and chug it.

“Here, I think you need this,” he said with a chuckle, handing her the mug.

“Thanks,” Avery said to the nice stranger. She took a sip of it and almost moaned in delight. She smiled at the man sitting next to her on what might be his bed.

“I guess I should introduce myself since you did sleep in my room.” He held out his hand.
“I’m Liam.”

Avery stared at it for awhile, unsure if she should trust this stranger. Sighing, she finally shook it. “Avery,” she said in her cracked voice. “What time is it?”

“About 11.”

Panic washed over Avery. She set down her coffee and shot up. Liam looked shocked at her reaction.

“I’ve got to go. My band is going to kill me,” Avery said, trying to find her shoes.

“Your band?” Liam asked in confusion.

“Yea,” Was all she said as she put on her black Vans.

“Well, if you have to go, why don’t I give you a drive? Where do you have to go?”

“Really? I mean I could just call a cab. You don’t have to.”

“Nah, you had a rough night. It won’t be that big of a deal.”

Avery smiled at him. “Thanks,” She said, following him out the door.

“Anytime,” Liam returned as he opened the passenger side door of his truck for her.

In two minutes, they were on the road on their way to the hotel Avery’s band was supposed to be staying at. The car was quiet except for the country playing from the radio. Avery didn’t want to say anything but she hated country. She never liked it; never saw the point in it.

“So you’re in a band?” Liam asked, trying to break the silence.

Avery just nodded and went back to looking out the window.

“What’s your band’s name?”

“The Decoder,” Avery said, emotionless.

“What kind of music do y’all play?”

Avery smiled at his southern accent.

“Hardcore.” She turned to look at his reaction.

His eyebrows went up a little at that statement.

“A pretty girl like you is in a hardcore band?”

Avery blushed at his words.

“Yep. I’ve always loved that type of music. There’s something about it; something that’s completely different than any other kind of music.” A smiled appeared on her face. “There’s so much energy to it. It’s just so alive.”

Liam laughed.

“So how did you end up in the band?”

“I’ve always been friends with the people in my band. We all love the type of music we play. It just made sense to form a band.” Avery sounded like she had used this answer a lot.

“Is that the only reason?”

The question hit Avery like a ton of bricks. She knew the reason she just gave wasn’t even half of it. She had let that reason stay in the back of her mind.

“No, I wanted to change someone’s life like music changed mine. I wanted someone to feel like there is one thing in their world that will always stay there for them.”

“That’s deep.”

“Yea,” Avery said, looking back up. “So what do you do?”

“I’m in the army. I’m on leave right now.”

Avery looked shocked.

“What made you decide to join? The army I mean?”

“I wanted to serve my country. Plus, my dad served and my grandfather before him. It just seemed like the thing to do.”

“Well, my hat’s off to you because I could never do that.”

“Thanks.”

It was quiet for a moment. Liam hated the quiet.

“So where are you from?” he asked in another attempt to ruin the silence surrounding them.

“Here,” Avery said in a small voice.

“Really? You’re from this small town?”

“Yes, I am. I was born here but move to New York when I was three. I came back to Texas when I was ten.”

“Weird. This is just such a small town. How come I never saw you? Like at school or
something?”

“Probably cause I was dropped out of high school my sophomore year.”

“Really? Why?”

“School wasn’t important to me. All I’ve ever wanted to do was play music. I wasn’t going to let anything stop me.”

Liam opened his mouth to say something but they had arrived at the small motel her band was staying at. Avery looked at it and saw how nasty it looked from the outside. She couldn’t image how it was on the inside. She was almost glad that she got drunk and Liam took care of her. She saw her tour bus along with the other bands. She watched to jump out of this truck and leave this town behind like she did not too many years ago. Avery couldn’t help but think about the guy driving the truck that she was sitting in. She was going to miss him. Liam had grown on her in the hours she had gotten to know him.

Liam parked and Avery saw her band coming out from their rooms. Each of them wore a different face of anger. She knew it was toward her. She didn’t tell them where she was going or if she was okay. But she didn’t care. It served them right for trying to but in her life. Avery slowly got out of the truck with Liam following her. She braced herself for the screaming.

“Avery Elizabeth White, where the hell have you been?” her manager yelled, coming toward her along with the rest of the band. “You had each of us worried sick.”

“Sorry, Bubba. I’ll call you next time,” Avery replied, giving him a wink and a pat on the shoulder.

Liam stood there, not knowing what to say. Avery just brushed off her friends’ worried faces.

“Did you go home with this guy?” a blond guy in the back screamed. “I can’t believe you, Avery.”

“Whoa now, I did go home with this guy but for the reason you think. He was helping because I was too drunk to anything,” Avery screamed back.

“And how do you know he didn’t do anything? You were blacked. But then again it would be your fault for getting drunk,” the blond boy said again.

“Maybe because I trust him. Does he look like he would do that?”

Liam still stood there, speechless. They were having a shouting match in the middle of a parking lot. People in other rooms were coming out to watch. Most of them looked like they would be tour with Avery.

“Don’t judge a book by the cover, Avery,” a boy with black hair said, pushing everyone out of the way. He stepped right in front of Avery. “I did not start this band so that you could get drunk every night. Get your act together, Avery. I don’t know what’s going on with you but I don’t like it. So stop it.”

Avery narrowed her eyes at the black haired boy. She looked like she wanted to slap him. A shorter boy with dark brown hair stepped out of the crowd and over to Liam. He was shorter than the rest of the guys but taller than Avery, but not by much.

“Hi, I’m Wright,” the boy said, putting out his hand for Liam to shake.

The yelling had stopped as the group watched Liam’s reaction. Liam smiled and shook the boy’s hand without heisting.

“Liam,” he said.

“I’m sorry for those guys over there. Their manners have seemed to escape them in their worry over Avery. But thank you for taking care of her.”

“No problem.”

“Say good bye to your friend, Avery. We have to get to the next stop,” an extremely deep voice said. The voice shocked Liam. He hadn’t seen the owner of the voice who was leaning on one of the tour buses. He had dark brown hair much like Wright but was taller than any of the guys.

Avery rolled her eyes but she grabbed Liam’s wrist and drug him over to talk.

“Well, I guess this is good bye,” Liam said.

Avery looked at him with a smile.

“Here,” she said, handing him a piece of paper. “It’s my cell number. You can text me or whatever.” Liam took it from her.

“Thanks, I will.” He put it in his pocket.

She stepped closer to him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled him into a hug.

“Good bye, Liam,” she whispered. She pulled away from him and placed a kiss on his cheek. “And thank you.”

“Good bye Avery,” Liam said as he watched the red head walk away.

~

“How could you be so stupid?” Conner yelled at her; his blond hair falling in his face.

“Would you give it a rest?” Avery yelled back at him.

“No I will not. You have done a lot of stupid things but this has to be your stupidest.”

“Let’s just leave her alone. I bet Jack will want to talk to her,” Ben said to his fellow guitarist.

“Just wait till Jack gets done with you.”

Conner and Ben left Avery alone in the back lounge of their tour bus. Avery watched the trees pass by as the bus went on to the highway. She felt a weight sit down beside her. She knew it was Jack coming to chew her out.

“You don’t have to say anything. I already know what you were planning on saying,” Avery said not giving him a chance to speak. She didn’t even look at him. “Avery, you should have been more careful. You should have called me. How could you be so stupid? What was going in that thick head of yours? Do you know what could have happened to you? You could have died. Or gotten raped.”

There was silence. The tension could be cut with a knife. Avery turned around to see Jack staring at her.

“You got the basics covered,” he said softly.

There was one thing about Jack that puzzled her it was how soft spoken he was. You would have never known looking at him. He was muscular and tall. He had the deepest voice anyone had ever heard. You barely ever heard it. His dark brown hair was always kept short unlike like his brother, Wright, whose hair was always long.

“Anything I’m missing?” Avery asked him, her eyebrow rose up.

“You forgot that I was worried sick. I was about to beat up anyone who would hurt you. I thought you weren’t coming back. I was scared.”

Avery looked up at him when he mumbled that last sentence.

“You were scared?”

Jack nodded.

Tears stung Avery’s eyes. She crawled over the junk on the couch to where Jack was and threw her arms around him. She buried her face into his neck.

“Oh Jack, I’m so sorry,” Avery whispered in his neck.

“I know you are, Ave. I know,” Jack whispered in her ear. “Hey listen to me.” Avery pulled away from him. “Just call me next time you decide to stomp off mad, okay?” He ended with a smile.

“Okay,” Avery said, nodded with a smile.