All Those Things I Still Remember

I heard a click as the door knob was turned. I was so tired that I didn’t even bother to see who it was, but I guessed that it was Mikey. I heard a faint jingle which I took for keys and I waited to hear the footsteps over to the bed. After a couple of minutes, I felt the bed sink as someone sat on it. I closed my eyes and smiled as he draped an arm over my waist. I rolled over onto my side and curled up next to his chest. There was something off about him. For one, he smelled of flowers and rain and mud instead of coffee and smoke. I ran my fingers over his chest and noticed the cold, hard feel of his skin. I was afraid to open my eyes, because I was afraid of what I would find. I blindly reached up to his face. I felt my heart race as I traced his lips, feeling the familiar labret piercing. I took a deep breath and the faint smile that played his lips was now more apparent. I opened my eyes, and through the moonlight, I saw the familiar tattooed body laying next to me. My eyes moved from the “Fiction” tattoo up to his neck and eventually to his face. I felt my breath catch as I tried to process what I was seeing.

Someone shook me and I sat up. Mikey was watching me worriedly. I ran a hand through my hair and let out the breath that I’d been holding in.

“I just came in and you were breathing heavily. I was afraid you were having a nightmare, ”he said softly. I shook my head.

“It wasn’t a nightmare, ”I muttered. I decided that I wasn’t going to tell him what it was though. I just leaned back against the headboard and sighed. “So, what’d you guys do?”

“Oh, well, we ended up hanging out at Pete’s for a while. Just some general guy time, I guess. What do you and Mel do?” He asked, pulling off his shirt. For a second, I could’ve sworn that I saw tattoos on his bare chest. I blinked a couple of times.

“Oh, we played with her Barbies. I ordered some pizza and we watched The Corpse Bride. I swear, the guys have warped her. She’ll never be a normal girl, ”I laughed. He turned the light off, before crawling into bed and wrapped his arms around me.

“How did you expect her to be a normal girl when she lives around rock stars? I mean, she’s your daughter. She was never destined to be normal, ”he smiled, kissing my neck. I just nodded. The moonlight pooled into the room and I felt as though someone was watching us. “Ashlyn?”

“Sorry, I’m just kind of out of it, ”I muttered. He rubbed my back and I curled up next him. I lay next to him for a while, and eventually, he fell asleep. I closed my eyes and focused on his even breathing. After about an hour of not being able to sleep, I reached over and grabbed my music player from the nightstand. I put the earphones in and pressed play. Beast And The Harlot began playing. I smiled, content with the song that was playing. I turned away from Mikey and looked out the window, listening to Matt’s voice pour into my head.

She's a dwelling place for demons. She's a cage for every unclean spirit, every filthy bird, and makes us drink the poisoned wine to fornicating with our kings. Fallen now is Babylon the Great.

I had just started falling asleep when a song that I didn’t recognize began playing. I felt myself smile involuntarily at his voice. There was only a few piano notes, but he was singing the words. I listened thoughtfully to the lyrics.

Left this life to set me free. Took a piece of you inside of me. All this hurt can finally fade. Promise me you’ll never feel afraid.

I felt tears come to my eyes. The piano stopped and there was a shuffling sound, followed by a short silence. His voice filled my head.

”Promise me, Shay. Promise me that you’ll never feel afraid. You have no reason to. I won’t let anything hurt you. I’ll always protect you. You have nothing to worry about. Like the song? It’s going to be the song that finishes the album. I have to turn the lyrics into Matt. That’s just how I think it should go. Anyways, I just thought I’d let you see how the album will go. It’ll be great. I hope you think so. Alright, well, I love you!” I felt myself smile at his carefree voice. I missed that so much.

“I love you too, ”I whispered. “I really do.”