Help Me, Save Me

JOHNNY’S POV

Ring! Ring! Damn enough with the ringing!

Without opening my eyes, I reached over to the table next to my bed and grabbed my cell phone. I just slightly opened my eyes to check who was calling. In big white text, my caller ID said ‘Matt’. I groaned and glanced at the clock. 7 AM! This better be pretty fucking important.

“Yeah?” I asked impatiently when I answered the phone. I just wanted to end this so I can go back to sleep.

“Hey crabby ass, have you seen Zack at all this morning, or last night for that matter?” Matt asked in a seemly crackly, over tired voice. How late did those guys stay up drinking? I rubbed my eyes and sat up in my bed. There was no chance now I was going back to sleep. Thanks Matt.

“Um no…why?” I asked confused. What did that poor bastard do now?

“Oh, I thought maybe he was stopping at your house to pick you and Casey up to bring you guys to the hospital….” Matt trailed off and my mind went into automatic panic. Only then did I realize Lacey wasn’t sleeping next to me. Is she alright? Is my baby alright?

“Matt, what’s going on?” I questioned, desperate for answers. I heard Matt sigh loudly and that scared me even more. He finally spoke, “Jimmy passed out in the bar last night. He nearly died. Drug and alcohol overdose. Scared us all shitless. Amber, Brian, and I stayed in the hospital all night with him. We were all expecting you, Zacky, and Casey were coming but you guys never came. I tried calling Zack’s cell but he didn’t answer. I was hoping you knew where he was…” He trailed off again. I was a little relieved that it wasn’t Lacey, but I was still concerned for Jimmy.

I stood up and began putting on my clothes. “Oh well, I’ll stop at his place. Me and Casey are coming to the hospital to visit Jim okay? We’ll be there in a few,” I told him and Matt agreed. I said goodbye to him and I finished getting dressed. All I had to do was get Casey up and let her get ready. God knows how long that’s going to take. And where’s that little shithead Zack? It isn’t like him to just disappear. But he’ll turn up soon enough.

Well he turned up a little too early for my taste.

I stepped out of my room and headed towards the living room. Before I reached it, I heard loud snoring coming from it. Woah, what the fuck? That sure as hell ain’t Casey! I got to the entrance into the living room when I saw a pair of dark blue plaid boxers. I didn’t even need to see what was going on the living room to know what was going on.

I stomped over to the couch were I found my sister sleeping on Zacky’s naked chest. My sister was peacefully asleep while Zacky was snoring as if he were a fucking bear. I snorted and shook my head angrily at both of them. What part of ‘don’t mess up my sister’ did Zacky not understand? I kicked one of the countless empty beer bottles on the ground. I knew all those empty beer bottles were from Casey. And the piles of used cigarettes? All Zacky’s.

I looked down to see unopened bottle. I grabbed it and twisted off the cap. I threw the metal cap right at Zacky’s forehead. Smack! Then I poured the full bottle on Zacky’s face. “GET THE FUCK UP!” I yelled as I finished pouring the bottle.

Zacky’s bright green eyes popped open in shock as beer began to run in his eyes. He screeched in pain and that made Casey pop her eyes open.

“JOHNNY!” She screamed as she noticed me and scrabbled to cover herself up with her t-shirt. She stood up from being on top of Zacky and scrabbled to get her clothes back on. Zacky was still trying to get the burning alcohol out of his eyes.

“Johnny! It’s not what it look likes!” Casey screamed as she to push me away from Zacky. I shoved her into the wall and screamed in her face, “IT’S FUCKING EXACTLY WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!” Casey cowards like she’s a small child, her blue eyes turn into puppy eyes. I know she is afraid that I’m going to hurt her. But that’s far from the truth. I would never dream of hurting her. No, I have a different asshole on my mind that I’m going to hurt. Wait; no…not hurt…KILL.
I whip around, turning my attention to Zacky. He finally quit rubbing his eyes, but yet his eyes are still bloodshot and red from the alcohol. Perfect. I completely forget about Casey as I grab a handful of Zack’s jet black hair and I throw him hard against the wall. The back of his head bounces off the wall hard enough to yell out in pain and make me cringe. But only a little.

“Johnny please! Stop it! You’re going to kill him!” My little sister screams and pleads. But the screaming drowned out by the boiling rage that is building up in my brain.

I slam Zacky’s head against the wall again, but this time I use the side of his face. As Zacky’s face peels away from the white wall, I see dark red blood is smeared across it. I smirk as I turn his face to see there is a gash right under his left eye; blood running down the side of his face. I hear him let out a small groan of pain.

Casey begins to scream out bloody murder as she finally gets enough courage to yank me away from Zacky. I let go of Zack’s face and let him crumble to the ground. Tears glisten her cheeks as she takes Zacky’s head and brings it close to her. “What the hell is wrong is you Johnny?” She screams in a shaky voice.

“YOU GODDAMN BASTARD! I TRUSTED YOU WITH MY SISTER AND YOU GO AHEAD AND FUCK HER! IN MY OWN FUCKING HOME! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN’T MESS HER UP AND LOOK WHAT YOU DID!” I yell at the top of my lungs at broken body of Zacky. Casey gives me the most evil and disgusted look but I continue to ignore her.

Zacky began to stir from his beating and he quietly chokes out, “Johnny, I’m sorry…” Casey squeezes his neck tighter like he was a teddy bear and she mumbles something under her breath into his ear. I’ve had it with this fucking bastard.

“I DON’T WANT YOUR FUCKING EMPTY APOLOGIES ZACK! I WANT YOU TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE AND STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SISTER!” I yell at Zack again. He attempts to stand up but Casey pushes him down and she stands up. She gets right up into my face; her bright blue eyes suddenly turn dark.

“You leave Zacky alone! He did nothing wrong! I was drinking last night and I didn’t know what I was doing! None of this is Zacky’s fault!” She tells me in the most serious tone I’ve ever heard her in. Even Zacky is slightly shocked about it. But I’m not stupid and I push her aside, onto the couch. And before she can get up, I grab another handful of Zacky’s hair.

As Zacky screeches in pain, I yank open my front door, almost pulling it off its hinges. I pull Zacky’s hair up so his face in directly across from mine. “Don’t you ever come near my sister again, or you’ll be sorry,” I spat into his face as then tossed his beaten ass outside the door. I ran around the living room, picking up his shirt, jeans, socks, and shoes and tossed them out of the door.

“Come on Casey, we need to get to the hospital,” I tell her but she’s still in shock about the fact I just beat and tossed her “boyfriend” out the door. I literary had to grab her by the wrist and drag her out of my house.

“Johnny! Let me go!” She screams as we pass Zacky’s half naked body that is now laid out across the lawn. She begins to kick, punch, and hit like she was a five year old throwing a tantrum. I just roll my eyes and toss her into the passenger side of the car. I dash to the other side before Casey even has a chance to get out of the car. I fire up the engine as speed out of my driveway and down the road. I look over to see Casey’s eyes are squeezed shut, tears flowing from her eyes, and her hands are clenched into fists. I can’t help but feel a little bad for her. Emphasis on her, not Zacky.

CASEY’S POV

“Why Johnny?” I asked my brother as rub my red wrists. Damn, my brother has a strong grip.

Johnny’s gaze doesn’t leave the road, but he actually decides to answer one of my questions. “I knew that bastard was just going to use you for sex. He does it with every girl he meets. He betrayed my trust and-“ He begins to say but I cut him off by yelling at the top of my lungs, “Zacky isn’t that way!” He chuckles and that just pisses me off more.

“Oh really? Zacky isn’t using you? How many times did he said ‘I love you’ to you?” Johnny asked, trying to get a point across. I thought about it for a moment and then the sad reality came to me. He’s never told me that he loved me. A small frown forms on my face when I realize it and Johnny looks over at me and in an I-told-you-so tone, “He was using you. He never loved you.” He never loved you. He never loved you. That sentence just crushes me. A small tear rolls down my cheek as the truth sinks in deeper. I stare down at my feet, angry at myself. How could I be so stupid? Part of me wants to believe that Zacky loves me, but there is a nagging feeling that’s telling me Johnny is right.

“Hey sis, I’m sorry if he hurt you…or if I hurt you,” Johnny looked at me with sad hazel eyes and told me sympathetically. I slightly shook my head. I felt the car come to a stop and I realize that we are at the hospital. Johnny turns off the car and begins to open his door when I reach over and hug him tightly. He hugs me back, pulling me close to him and whispers into my ear, “I’ll make sure he never hurts you again.”

****
We finally get up to Jimmy’s room and we see Matt, Brian, and Amber all waiting outside his room. All their eyes look extremely tired and depressed. Brian and Amber were sitting on chairs that were out in the hallway. Amber had her head leaning against Brian’s shoulder while he had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. It almost made me question whether Brian was a faithful married man. Almost.

“How is he?” Johnny breaks the silence over the group and Matt sighs and answers, “The doctor is in with him right now. But he’s been in there for like forever.” Silence again.

“Hey, isn’t there supposed to be three of you?” Brian asks as he lays his head on top of Amber’s. Johnny and I look at each other, worried looks on our faces. I know we were both were thinking that same thing. Neither of us wanted to tell the guys that Johnny beat the shit out of Zacky this morning.

Johnny shrugged and lied, “I couldn’t find him.” All the guys sighed and stared at the floor. I bet that news didn’t make the situation better.

We suddenly heard wailing from coming down the hallway and realize that all of the Avenged girls finally made it to the hospital. I noticed Brian pulled away from Amber as soon as he saw Michelle.

“Hey babe where were you last night?” I heard Johnny ask Lacey. Lacey hasn’t gained a lot of weight yet from the baby yet. But it was slowly becoming noticeable.

“Well we got done with shopping really late last night and we didn’t want to come and disturb you guys so we crashed at Leana’s place. But then Leana got phone call early this morning from the hospital about Jimmy early this morning and we just had to come to make sure he was okay,” Lacey explained. All eyes turned to Leana as she wailed out, “Where’s James?”

That’s when the door behind Matt and Val open and out stepped Jimmy’s doctor. His face looked grim and he didn’t dare look at anybody in the eye. Oh shit.

AMBER’S POV

“Well doc, how is he?” I asked, concerned. The doctor finally made eye contact with me and told us, “He’ll live. He’ll just have to stay in the hospital for a few days.” A wave of relief crashes over the group as everybody begins to relax a little. I hear Matt mumbled something about it being good that he’s okay so he can play in two weeks when they go on tour again. I grin for once. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to do that.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Sullivan can I speak to you in private?” The doctor asks and she happily goes with him. They walk down the hallway and the rest of us sneak into Jimmy’s room.

I walk over by the end of the bed where Jimmy’s head lay. Everybody else wrapped around the bed, everybody staring at Jimmy’s face. His eyes are closed and his face is emotionless. His hair is everywhere, going out in all angles. I lightly push his bangs out of his face and smile. I look back and I see everybody else smiling. I turn my head around to see the bright Huntington Beach sun is now up in the sky. It felt good to have the sun’s warmth on my skin.

I turned back to Jimmy and I lightly brushed his tattooed arm. Last night I was freaking out that Jimmy was going to die. Now I had the confidence that Jimmy was going to pull through and things were going to get better from here.