Now Your Nightmare Comes To Life

Chuckles echoed through the hall as Matt walked down to the ominous door at the end. His heart hammered in his chest and he walked closer and closer to the wall until his shoulder brushed up against it and his arm was crushed. The laughter reached a painfully high pitch for a second, wavering and choking before it faltered down into almost silent giggles. The ball in Matt’s throat seemed to grow bigger as he paused outside the door, swallowing his words and his resolve. Frozen on the spot like a statue, Matt stared down in horror as the handle to the door began to move. It jerked up and down violently and the noise it made as it was almost hauled off the door drowned out the laughter which had previously trapped Matt, snapping him out of his terrified trance.

Although the door was not locked, no effort was made to open it. After several long moments of fearful watching, Matt knocked on the door and pushed it open gently. Peeking round it like a timid child, he cringed at the state of the carpet beneath his feet. “Oh, Johnny,” the man in question mumbled the same words back at him although this time they were completed with an exaggerated sigh and heaving of his shoulders, “couldn’t you paint on paper like we talked about?” The smaller man still didn’t look up at him but shook his head in denial. Matt lifted a damp paintbrush from the floor and placed it in an upturned pot.

He crossed the red mess to sit on the bed beside the man, dropping down on the single bed dejectedly. Silence was all there was to be heard now, and the rare giggle which escaped Johnny’s lips. Matt inspected him though, from a distance. It was always better to do these check-ups himself without letting Johnny know. Otherwise Johnny would scream loudly and fight him every step of the way and most likely end up getting hurt as a result.

Hair needs a wash, Matt thought to himself, it’s flopping limply now and it’s not even in line with the centre anymore. He could do with a shower in general really; Zack mustn’t have watched over him that closely. The list grew endless: nails needed trimming and possibly painting if they couldn’t wash off that yellow grime; deodorant needed buying; and Johnny’s stubble needed shaving. He ran fingertips along Johnny’s arm lightly and was rewarded with a bright smile baring teeth quickly at him for a fraction of a moment before he was back to looking at the greasy mess of the mohawk.

“Come on man, let’s get you cleaned up.” He guided Johnny with a hand on his elbow, but the small man never stood up properly; he shuffled hunched over, racked with hysterical laughter. In the bathroom Johnny perched on the counter kicking his feet against the white doors. “I guess Zacky didn’t make sure you were having a bath every night while I was away, huh?” A mumble came from Johnny, followed by a fierce shake of his head. Matt turned the taps of the bath and let the water stream out; adding a large amount of shampoo for bubbles.

“Shower.” Matt turned his head to face Johnny when he spoke. “Zacky said I had to shower. And there wasn’t any music.”

“He just didn’t know how it was done,” Matt replied, smiling fondly at Johnny’s mournful tone and lowered head. “I’ll go get my iPod, you get in the bath – clothes off this time!”

Later, Johnny lay in bed with the music still playing. Matt had changed it to the soft melody of one of Johnny’s favourite bands and left it on shuffle and now Johnny was warbling along with the singer quietly, breathing in the middle of lines and singing some of the words wrong. With a last look at the mess of the room, Matt flicked the switch off and headed back his kitchen. The silence was broken by the harsh sound of his mobile blaring; cut off in mid word as he snatched it up and held it against his ear.

“Hello.” Silence for a minute, Matt chewed thoughtfully on a stale biscuit on the counter. “I can’t, Zack, I can’t just leave him here alone.” An angry voice grew louder over the phone. “Just one drink then. But I’ve got to get back quick unless you want to come round here for a beer or two - no, I thought not. I’ll see you there Zack.” The mobile hit the counter with a force large enough to smash it, but surprisingly it held. Running a hand over his face, he glanced up quickly to the hall he’d just come from before grabbing his jacket and hat from the sofa and leaving in a hurry.

“Seriously dude, you spend all your time when you’re not working looking after him. Let him go to that house, they’d take good care of him and we’d still be able to go visit. Just fail the check-up tomorrow and let him think you wanted him to stay.” Zack coaxed Matt over their third beer, leaning close to the table top and leering at the group of girls at the bar. “If you didn’t have him you could pick up one of those girls and have a nice fuck in your car. How long’s it been since you got some pussy? Jeez dude, live a little.”

“Horny fucker.” Matt said placidly, lifting his beer to drink from and shifting his chair round to block his friend’s view. “I’m not abandoning Johnny, Zack. He needs my help, and you’d know that if you bothered to look after him properly at the weekend. Did you even let him out his room?” Shaking his head in disgust, Matt glared at the guitarist.

“He’s an adult, he can handle himself. He knows how to cook, the fucker did it often enough for us on the road.”

“He also believes Brian’s coming back for him and Jimmy’s funeral is in a couple of months. Shit man, I thought you had a little more compassion for your brother than that.” Slamming his beer on the table, Matt left in a storm of black anger.

Matt barely made it home that night without crashing because he was too busy seething at Zacky to watch the luckily deserted roads. Raging up the stairs to his bedroom he swore loudly at the friend he had left far behind. Strong hands seized the door and flung it open in his dark mood and—

And spotted the small body sitting under his covers watching him with bright eyes and ceased all movement. “Johnny?” The nervous deer-in-headlights eyes nodded once. “Why’re you not in bed dude? I thought I sorted you out for tonight.” One hand raises the iPod Matt left with him and from the doorway Matt recognises the familiar pink album cover of Pinkly Smooth and nearly crumples at the sight.

“Where’s Bri, Matt? Is he still working on the album with ZV?”

Matt steps towards the young man with a sigh in his every movement. “Look Johnny, we’ve been over this. Remember last December how we lost Jimmy?” He’s interrupted with a correction before he can carry on.

“Just a month ago, Matt, of course I remember. We’ve gotta go lay flowers at his grave every day when he gets buried. ‘Cause we love you Jimmy!” The last part was shouted at the ceiling; at Jimmy.

“Yeah, well, that was actually a year and a half ago now Johnny. Last August something happened and you don’t remember much past Christmas ’09. Johnny, last August Brian...”