Demons

"Would you stop fidgeting?" Michelle asked, finally pulling the measuring tape away from my waist. I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms. I didn't feel like cooperating with anyone today, especially when I received the most rudest and loudest awakening from Rev.

"Sorry," I mumbled, not having the heart to be snappy at Michelle.

Ever since she had entered the room I had now claimed to be my hell hole, she had been nothing but nice to me. She told me about her experiences here and calmed me down enough to talk to her normally without any outbursts. We had spoken about the rules here and what the normal routine was. At some points, she would cut herself off mid-sentence and change the subject quickly, letting me know that she had said said too much or was about to. But I played along. Maybe if I was nice, she would relay information to me more easily.

"They do have some heart, you know." Michelle continued with our previous conversation. I shot her a look, but she dismissed it and proceeded to measure my arms length.

"I highly doubt that." I scoffed. If she was going to ignore my infamous looks, then I'd let her know how I felt through my infamous sass. She chuckled and shook her head.

"It might seem like that now, Pay, but trust me, things will look up." I rolled my eyes, deciding not to give her an answer on this one; she already knew.

"I think we're all done here for today." she smiled and I let my arms fall to my sides. She gathered her things and turned to leave.

"Hey. the upside is, I can come and visit you on and off." she stated, turning around to face me with another one of her bright smiles. "We can get to know each other more and talk about totally random stuff. I could even swing some form of entertainment for you; magazines, iPod, a laptop if you're lucky." Without an answer from me, she turned around to punch in the code to let her leave.

My eyes trailed over her bag and then I saw it. I don't know what possessed me to attack the innocent and overly nice Michelle DiBenedetto. Maybe it was the need to see my best friend, Jessalynn, or maybe it was because this room was slowly driving me insane. Whatever the reason, the code was punched in, the door was open, and I was stood behind Michelle, open scissors pressed to her throat.

"I'm sorry, Michelle. I honestly do not want to do this to you, but I have to see Jessalynn. You must understand." I apologized, quickly maneuvering us out of the bedroom. Michelle opened up her mouth to scream, but I quickly clamped my free hand over her lips, pressing the scissors deeper into her neck.

"Don't try that, Michelle. That will result in this ending badly." I could see the fear in her eyes and the obvious tension in her body. I honestly did not know how Avenged Sevenfold could do this twenty four seven and not feel guilty.

"I'm so sorry, once again. Hopefully you can forgive me after this." I was crazy to even suggest that to her, but I felt so bad that I had to use her like this.

We got to Jessalynn's door without any confrontations or complications. I pushed her towards the keypad, moving with her so she couldn't escape and I could read the code.

"Put in the code, please." I said softly, hoping she would comply. With shaking hands, she tapped in the code.

6661..

I memorized it as the door swung open. I quickly let go of Michelle - stupid mistake, of course - and ran inside the room. I looked around and saw Jessalynn just coming out of the bathroom.

"Pay!"

"Jessa!" We ran to each other and fell into each others arms.

"You're okay, you're alive." We said to each in unison, then laughed. Happy tears pooled in my eyes, but there was no time for sappy reunions.

"Listen to me, and listen to me good." I spoke hastily and quietly. No doubt Michelle had already run off to get help. "Act as nice as possible. Do everything they say and don't let your temper flare up. We have to make them trust us. Michelle told me about how she is allowed to go ou-"

"Yeah, I know. Val told me the same thing," she said, speaking of Michelle's twin sister.

"And, please, please, please," I begged, hugging her tighter. "Don't get on Vengeance's bad side. Rev told me everything about him and I don't want to see you hurt. Just please, promise me you'll go along with everything he says or does."

"It's okay, Payton. He's not really tha-" We heard quick footsteps and then vicious shouts, cutting Jessa off from what she was saying.

"You fucking little bitch!" Synyster Gates screamed as soon as he came into the room. He lunged for me but Rev quickly pulled him back, throwing him to the side. I clutched onto Jessalynn tighter, not wanting to leave her just yet. But I was brutally ripped away from her by Rev.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he yelled in my face, his spit flying everywhere as his lisp became more pronounced.

"Shadows, just fucking kill the bitches already. They're more trouble than they're worth." Christ growled.

"Shut the fuck up, Christ!" Rev spewed, his face turning red. He turned back to me with fire in his eyes and, at that moment, I had never been more scared in my whole life.

"I try to be as fucking nice to you as fucking possible and you basically throw it back into my fucking face!" he yelled, his grip that he had on my upper arms tightened and he began to shake me. "I sent Michelle in to fucking make you feel comfortable, to actually fucking put some trust that this isn't a bad fucking place."

"How is this not a bad fucking place?!" Jessa screamed. At least she had the courage to speak up, whereas I didn't.

"Stay out of this, Jessalynn." Vengeance growled, moving closer to her. "Payton is getting what she deserves." Jessa was about to start yelling at him until I shot her a look. I knew she had remembered what I had said earlier and she clasped her mouth shut.

"Look at me, you good-for-nothing bitch!" Rev continued to shout, shaking me more viciously. "If you think you're getting anything from me again, you can fucking forget about it."

"I didn't ask for anything." I seethed. I could only put up with so much, but after he crossed that line with calling me a 'good-for-nothing bitch', I was in attack mode. "Why would I want anything from the fucking savages that killed my father and fucking raped my mother? You're nothing but low-end scum and always will be to me. Do as Christ fucking suggests and just kill us now." A saw something snap inside of Rev, a thought which would have never crossed his mind if he was thinking rationally. Unfortunately for me, he wasn't thinking at all.

I watched as he pushed his hands off of me, then slammed his open, left palm into the side of my head. The force of the blow caused me to topple over and I was sure my brains were rattling around inside my skull. I think I blacked out for a few seconds because all I could remember where the raging screams of Jessalynn and then, somehow, I was back inside Rev's room.

My head ached and my vision was blurry. I couldn't make sense of what was happening around me. All I could do was sit on his bed, clutch my head and moan in pain. I heard heavy footsteps coming towards me and I cowered back. I've never done that before in my life, but the pain in my head was crippling and I couldn't handle another blow. I whimpered and tangled my fingers in my hair while trying to massage my scalp.

"I'm so sorry," I heard Rev say, coming closer. I just shook my head. He had said this softly, but to me, it sounded like he was shouting into a megaphone, right next to my ear.

"You promised," I whispered, pathetically. For some reason, that was the only memory that could be formed in my brain right then, the only sentence I could mutter. "You promised you wouldn't hurt me."

"Jesus," I looked up and my eyes focused enough for me to see him run his hands through his raven black hair, an utter look of remorse on his face.

"You promised," I continued to mutter, burying my face in my knees that I had pulled up to my chest.

"Please, please, stop, Payton. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to, I just got so angry after you told me to kill you. I would - no, could - never do that. Please, forgive me." I shook my head.

"You promised," I whispered over and over again. This must have alarmed him because he was soon next to me, one arm under my knees, the other around my back. He lifted me up and soon, he was jogging out of the room.

"Val," Rev called out, making me grimace. I tried to pull away from his hold, away from his chest, but his hold just tightened.

Through half-lidded eyes, I could see the mirror image of Michelle coming towards us, but this one had white-blonde hair.

"Michelle," I whispered. It didn't really click in my head that it was Val. "I'm so sorry, Michelle. I just had to see her. I didn't want to hurt you." I muttered this over and over, along with 'you promised'.

"I think I gave her a concussion and you're the only one around here with a little bit of medical knowledge." I heard Rev say. My eyes felt heavy, like there was weights tying them down.

"Well, first of all, don't let her fall asleep." Val voiced in an urgent tone. We were moving once again, but more quickly.

"C'mon, stay awake, Payton." Rev said to me. I ignored him, letting my head fall back and my eyes close shut.

"You are the worst at keeping someone awake," Val muttered. Loud clapping hands came close to my ear, making me jolt awake and grimace at the insane headache it caused.

We got to another room and I was set down onto a chair. Once again, my vision was blurry and things seemed to swirl together.

"I hate you," I murmured, flicking my eyes around to find the silhouette of Rev. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" I yelled out, the ache in my head protesting against the loud noise.

My chin was being tugged in the direction of another person who shone a light in my eyes. I squinted against it and tried to pull away, but the grip was strong.

"What do you feel or see, Payton?" Val asked and I drew my eyebrows together against the throbbing pain. It's all that seemed to take over my mind was the pain.

"Payton, answer the question." I clenched my teeth and tried to answer to the best of my ability.

"Pain. It hurts, so bad. Blurry.." I trailed off. My hands flew up to my head again, cradling it as the sounds echoed throughout my mind.

"It's only a mild concussion. You didn't really do any severe damage," Val seemed to be talking to someone else, but I couldn't remember. All I remembered was Val and I and the horrible, horrible pain.

"Take these, Payton. It will make the pain go away." I didn't care what the little white pills were - they could be fucking ecstasy, for all I care - as long as they got rid of the immense pain. I swallowed them dry and waited for them to take affect.

"You can take her back to her room so she can sleep it off, but don't let her out again. I don't want to see my sister getting hurt." Val's voice was laced with venom as I was, once again, being lifted into the air.

"Thanks," A familiar lisp spoke. I felt us move and, soon enough, I was being laid back onto a bed. I embraced the feeling, knowing it was wrong to leave your vulnerable side open to enemies, but I was too damn tired to care.

"I'm sorry," the voice spoke again. I didn't answer them and I quickly fell into a deep sleep.