Gone Isn't Forever

The Foreshadowing
Chapter Thirteen
Jimmy disappeared that night and every night following. Three weeks passed by before he came around. By then, the tour was about half way done. Arin and I had gotten close during his absence. I wasn’t looking for anything special; Arin just seemed to bring it to me. Even though I had Arin who gave me all of the attention in the world, there were many nights that I would lay awake in my bunk, my mind never failing to dwell on the thought of Mr. Sullivan.

Tonight was one of those nights. I laid there, Arin at my side, staring at the ceiling of the tour bus. My mind just wouldn’t shut the hell up and thoughts of Jimmy were constantly clouding it. Although my thoughts were interrupted due to an ear-piercing scream erupting down the hall. It sounded almost like Kirsten. She had been sick lately with the stomach flu or something like that. What the hell was going on?

I hopped off of the bunk and pushed past Syn as he began to react in the same way. He followed suit and was hot on my heels when I bust the door to the bathroom open like a she hulk. Brian’s jaw dropped and I just gave him the nod that said “That’s right, I She Hulked it Bitch”. The door swung open to reveal a distraught Kirsten holding a stick of plastic in one hand and holding her forehead with the other, sitting on the tile of the bathroom floor.

“Kirsten…What is that?” I said my voice low and laced with worry. Brian immediately responded to Kirsten’s state and came to her aid. He went over and squatted down beside her, taking the pregnancy test out of her hand. Tears were filling her eyes and that was something I hadn’t seen in a very long time. Kirsten was a lot like me when it came to our emotions. But she here she was sitting on the floor of the bathroom in pieces.

I looked up at the mirror for some reason and jumped because I could have sworn I saw Jimmy’s eyes staring back at me. I shook it off and when looked back in the mirror they were the same shade they had always been. I wish he were there so he could tell me what the fuck I was I supposed to do with a now pregnant Kirsten. Suddenly he appeared in the doorway behind me and yet when I spun around to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating, it appeared I had been doing exactly that.

“Mell? Are you okay?” Harper asked, appearing where the ghost of Jimmy had been. My gaze softened and I drew in a deep breath. “What’s going on? Why is Kirsten on the floor?” She questioned with concern and advanced into the room. She stopped dead in tracks when she spotted the pregnancy test. “What the hell is that?” Her eyes grew round like saucers.

“It’s positive. That’s what it fucking is.” Kirsten jumped up and stormed out of the bathroom pushing us all out of her way. Hormonal much? Hello.

Syn followed her out and a few seconds after he disappeared from view Harper and I jumped out of pure shock when we heard Kirsten yelling at him. “And this is entirely your fucking fault, you god damn bastard!” Holy shit! Harper and I shared a knowing look and we peered out of the bathroom doorway to see the interaction take place.

“My fault? Well you hadn’t spread your chicken legs to me, you wouldn’t be having this little life crisis now would you? It’s your fault. This is your problem!” Brian raised his voice as well. Everyone’s jaw on the Avenged tour bus dropped after he expressed these words loud and clear. Someone has commitment issues. I could see the devastation and hurt fill Kirsten’s face and her completely consume her. She grabbed her plain black hoodie that had holes in the elbows and cuffs for her thumbs and proceeded to exit the bus in complete awe-stricken silence. Before she slammed the door she whispered, “Then I’ll take care of my little problem.” And just like that she was gone.

My worry radar shot way up and I could feel my stomach sink and my chest constrict. Everyone fell silent and didn’t dare say a word. Syn glanced at the worried looks of all who was around him and he decided to leave as well. Jo texted Kirsten when she hadn’t come back after she stormed off earlier and Matt called Syn.

“Dude. Where the fuck are you? It’s two a.m.” he questioned as soon as Brian had finally answered his cell phone. Silence. “Well get your ass back here, we have a show to do tomorrow. And where the hell is Kirsten?” More silence, longer this time. “Well you better fuckin’ find her jackass, we need her and if something has happened to her or if she’s run off, I’m holding you personally responsible for her disappearance!” Matt practically shouted at him before hanging up on him. “Idiot!” He said to himself after he was off of the phone with Brian.

I heard Jo giggling in the back and decided to find out what she could possibly be so slap happy about. Making my way to the back where Jo and Zacky resided, I found her sitting in Zacky’s lap holding a bottle of Jack Daniels. Since when did she start drinking?

“What are you doing? Since when do you drink?” I asked slightly irritated that while our best friend out there getting into god only knew what kind of trouble, she was back here participating in irresponsible shits and giggles, probably already tipsy. She saw me and heard my question, but her eyes darted directly behind me and developed a slightly confused expression. “Melinda.. Do ghosts exist?” She countered, taking me off guard.

“What? What kind of question is that?” I asked peering behind me. I saw something flash and then nothing.

“I swore I saw Jim.. Never mind. I’m just going insane, or it’s the jack. Whatever.” She said and leaned into Zacky, placing a hard kiss on his lips and of course dropping the bottle of jack and spilling it on the carpet. Wonderful. I was not going to clean that up! Although, I was more than likely going to be the only one to do it at some point later on.

I decided to crawl back into bed with Arin and hope that everyone was back when I awoke. It seemed like Jo was going to she swore that she had seen Jimmy. If that was true, how the hell was she able to see him? I thought that I was the only one who could actually see him. Was I losing him? If she saw him and I had only seen a flash, was I losing my claim on my guardian? I loved Jo, but I didn’t want to lose Jimmy. Not to her, not to anybody. Call me selfish but I was beginning to grow desperate. I needed to his face in person again. I missed him. I eventually fell asleep reflecting upon these thoughts.

My slumber was interrupted by the sound of strange, distant cry. It sounded almost like an infant. But who the hell would bring a baby on tour with them? Well, other than Family Force Five who towed Baby Cash along with them at times. But this cry was accompanied with a low, kind of ominous lullaby. The words chanted:

On candystripe legs the spiderman comes
softly through the shadow of the evening sun
stealing past the windows of the blissfully dead
looking for the victim shivering in bed
searching out fear in the gathering gloom and
suddenly!

a movement in the corner of the room!
and there is nothing I can do
when I realize with fright
that the spiderman is having me for dinner tonight!

quietly he laughs and shaking his head
creeps closer now
closer to the foot of the bed
and softer than shadow and quicker than flies
his arms are all around me and his tongue in my eyes

be still be calm be quiet now my precious boy
don't struggle like that or I will only love you more
for it's much too late to get away or turn on the light
the spiderman is having you for dinner tonight

and I feel like I'm being eaten
by a thousand million shivering furry holes
and I know that in the morning I will wake up
in the shivering cold.

I laid there and attempted to process these words and wondered why the hell anyone would sing that to their kid. The words, the voice and the melody were so evil that I felt frightened and my stomach knotted as fear consumed me. I sat up and drew the covers up over my nose, feeling like a small child who was afraid of the dark again. I stared out of the window that was set right next Jimmy’s bunk. It was still dark and there were hardly any lights on outside. But I could see by the light of the moon as it illuminated a young, beautiful female, wearing a white, tattered night gown with bare feet stopping just outside of the window. She slowly turned to look at me as her lips moved to form the words I could hear being sang in that creepy lullaby. Her gown began to spot blood starting at her stomach.

I couldn’t help but notice that she possessed snake or fish like attributes. She touched the blood running down her midsection and licked it in one fluid motion. What the fuck! She let go of my gaze and trudged on. Once she had passed my window the noise faded and eventually I could no longer hear them. I jumped and clung to Arin when Johnny’s cell phone went off.

He groaned and rolled over in bed to answer it. “Ello?” he said groggily. He was silent for a moment and then he hung up and his eyes rose to meet mine.

“A random guy just told me to tell you that the Ale are coming.” His words were low and a loud clap of thunder boomed in the distance a few seconds after the sky lit up with lightening.