We Come out at Night

“I’ll be back in a couple of days babe.” Zacky said to me while we were still cuddled up on the couch. It had been 3 days since we came home from the hospital. Lucy and I couldn’t make it up the stairs without help from Matt and Zacky; we swore their muscles would be bigger by the time we healed from them carrying us up and down the stairs.

Today the guys were leaving to go perform at a festival since our tour was postponed for at least 3 months due to our injuries. We felt horrible for letting our fans down, but still our fans loved us. Instead of getting the hate mail or angry messages from our fans, they’ve actually been giving us get well gifts and messages. It made our hearts melt to know that our fans loved and cared about us that much.

I turned as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Brian appeared at the bottom with a duffle bag in his hand. Johnny, Aden and Jimmy soon followed. Aden jumped on the last three steps instead of stepping with a scrunched up look on her face. She honestly looked like a 3 year old throwing a tantrum.

“NO! I don’t want you to go!” Aden yelled with her hands on her hips.

I buried my face into Zacky’s chest so I couldn’t laugh. “Aden, I’ll be back in a few days.”

“But, but, but who’s gunna keep me from setting shit on fire?! These pig fuckers can’t even wipe their own asses!” she said pointing at us.

“HEY! We can to wipe our own asses! We just can’t get up the stairs!” I retorted.

“DO NOT RETORT!” she yelled at me, pointing at me like the evil monkey in Family Guy.

“MURR!” I yelled back, pointing back at her.

“THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?! YOU SAY THAT SHIT ALL THE FUCKIN TIME!”

“RIGHT NOW IT MEANS FUCK-A YOUUUU!”

And at that point, everyone aside from Aden and I broke out into a fit of laughter.

“Aren’t you going to help your sister move anyway?” Brian asked pulling Aden into a hug.

“Yeah. But that still leaves 7 hours for me to set the place on fire.”

Brian kissed her forehead, “Yes, but think about how unhappy I will be to find that I have no house to come back to.”

“Mmmm, fine!” she said getting on her tippy toes and planting a kiss on his lips.

About 20 minutes later we were kissing them goodbye. I was standing awkwardly by the door giving Matt and Jimmy kisses on the cheek wishing them a safe trip. Zacky kissed my forehead one last time, “If you need anything, Zina said she would be more than happy to come over and help out. Don’t hesitate to ask her, she really does like you. My parents too, they would love to help out. So if you need anything, just give them a call. I made sure their numbers are in your phone, and I even put them in Lucy’s phone.”

“Okay honey. Have a safe trip. I love you.” I said as he walked out the door.

“I love you too, I’ll call you when we land.”

“Make sure you guys don’t kill Katie, please.” Johnny called to us before climbing into the cab.

“We know! We won’t kill the baby gnome!” Lucy called as she waved.

“Yeah don’t worry, we won’t kill your spawn.” Aden added.

We watched as they drove away. Lexi did her best to assist Aden, Katie, who was practically no use at all, and I get Lucy back to the couch. Once we got her settled, I asked if she wanted juice, yeah sure it made her hyper and crazy as fuck but hey, it was whatever made us happy at the moment. She said yes but Aden made me relax on the couch too, I hated feeling useless.

As much time as Aden had, she still needed to get ready and pack, which could literally take days. She got sidetracked by everything. But she knew she had a small amount of time, and having Lucy and I on her ass about it, she got it done in a decent amount of time.

Here she stood in front of us, 5 minutes before leaving for her flight, hands on her hips and staring down at us. She began to speak in a British accent, “Now children. You must behave while mummy is away. If I come back and the house is amuck, I shall shove four chicken fetuses up your asshole. Mummy loves you. And I’m off.”

Lucy, Lexi and I sat there staring at her. I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah don’t get yourself killed on the way to Jersey. We still need our second guitarist.”

“Haha alright, I’ll be back by the weekend you guys. Please take care of yourselves, Katie won’t be doing shit.” And with that being said we said our goodbyes before her departure.

We laid in silence for a while, Lucy was scribbling in her Nightmare Before Christmas notebook and Lexi was typing away on her laptop. I smoothed out my Disturbed t-shirt and stretched out the bottoms of my shorts so they covered more of my legs. Lucy was wearing a pair of Batman pajama’s that Matt had gotten her when he decided he was going to get us all since we somehow lost some of our clothes while we moved. Lexi was also wearing a pair of pajama’s Matt had bought, they were, of course, Hello Kitty. Katie was in and out of the living room, each time she walked through my blood would begin to boil as I thought of all the stress she put us through. She was sporting a blue graphic maternity shirt, maternity jeans, and gray converse.

Lexi went up to her room to nap shortly after Aden left. Lucy and I were sprawled out on the huge sectional we had in the living room. Lucy had her legs propped up on the ottoman that sat in the center of all the sectionals. I was laid out on one section on my side. Thankfully my two cracked ribs were on one side along with my wrist that was in a cast. It was about a quarter to six, I barely slept the night before. I threw the remote to Lucy and listened to her flipping through the channels, sighing as she kept finding that nothing was on. I felt a nudge on my hand that was hanging off the couch. I opened my eyes to see both Dribblez and Majesty sitting by my side looking at me, tilting their heads to the side. They knew something was wrong with me, just as Nightmare would lay on Lucy’s chest or lap. I pet them letting them know I was okay and just exhausted. They laid down in front of me and I soon dozed off.

I woke up hearing my phone going off. I looked at the caller ID and saw Zacky’s name. I answered it, slurring my words.

“Are you drunk?” he asked with a chuckle.

“No, I was sleeping.”

“Oh shit babe I’m sorry. I just wanted to let you know we just got to the hotel.”

I looked around and saw Lucy asleep on the other side of the couch, and Lexi sitting in the recliner on her laptop. “Oh, good. How was the flight?” I asked.

“Long, boring. Jimmy kept us entertained till he fell asleep.” I giggled in response. “How are you doing?”

I shrugged, knowing he couldn’t see my gesture, “I’m alright I guess, just tired as fuck. I feel like my ribs are being crushed again though, I might take another oxy.”

“Alright well you go do that, pee before you lay back down though. I know you, you’ll lay back down and go ‘fuck, I have to pee’ and huff and puff before actually getting up.”

I laughed, it hurt but, he was good at making me laugh, “Yes dad.”

He chuckled and spoke in a fake, seductive voice, “Oh yeah baby, call me daddy.” I laughed harder, till it was too much and I gasped in pain. “Okay, I’m gunna shut up now. Go take your medicine, piss and go to sleep. Call me when you get up, if I’m asleep and don’t answer I’m sorry but I’ll get back to you. I love you, give Majesty and Dribblez a kiss for me. And tell Lucy and Lexi I hope their doing well too. Love you.”

“Will do, I love you too.” I said as I hung up.

I got up, crackling and groaning the whole way up. Lexi looked at me and gave me a sympathetic smile. I gave her a reassuring smile in return. “Zee said he hopes we’re all doing okay.” She gave me a thumbs up and turned her attention back to the computer.

“Hey Joanna?” I heard Lucy say when I got to the doorway.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“You’re getting your meds?” she asked.

“Yeah. You want some more juice?”

“Yeah, can you give me one of my pills too please?”

I nodded and walked into the kitchen. I saw Katie standing at the counter cutting up an apple. I nodded and smiled at her, which she returned. I shuffled over to the fridge and grabbed a couple of juice boxes, along with some chocolate chip cookies and our medication. I popped an oxy in my mouth and took a swig of juice before swallowing. I returned to the living room and gave Lucy her medicine and juice box along with a couple of cookies. I laid back down on the couch and tried to get comfy. “Fuck.” I said.

Lucy looked at me and laughed, “Should have listened to your man and peed first.”

“Shut the fuck up, who knows, maybe I gotta take a nasty dump too. How do you like them apples?” I said back.

“Just don’t blow up the house.” She replied.

I got up, groaning, and handled my business. I came out and saw Lucy lying there.

“Why are you smiling like that?” she asked with a nervous expression on her face.

“Watch.” I said as I got back to the couch and got comfortable. “KATIE! COME HERE!” I screamed urgently.

She ran inside, looking around frantically, “What’s wrong? What’s going on?!” she asked.

“We have a minor emergency.” I replied.

“What?” she asked, a little more calmly.

“The toilet.”

Everyone in the room looked at me, “What about the toilet?” she asked.

“It’s clogged. We need you to unclog it.” I replied with a fake sympathetic look.

“No. Fuck no.”

“Ugh! But it’s the only bathroom Lucy and I can use!” I said pleadingly.

“But! What?! No! I can’t!” she started to rant. I gave her the saddest expression I could muster up, and it did it. “UGH! FINE! Better be glad I love you guys!” she replied before heading for the bathroom.

I looked over at Lucy, who was smiling so big that I though her face would rip. I returned the smile.

“Payback is a bitch, but nowhere near finished.”

We fell back asleep sometime later, but were woken up by the dogs barking. I freaked out and actually fell off of the couch. I landed on my left side and my ribs screamed in pain, a moment later, so did I. If Lucy, Lexi, and Katie weren’t awake before, they were now.

I was screaming at the top of my lungs, which hurt my ribs even more. I tried to contain my screams but found it nearly impossible. I felt the tears streaming down my face. Lexi was at my side in an instant. I curled into a ball holding my ribs. Katie came running in and practically ran around in circles. Lucy started yelling at her, telling her to get her head on straight and to stop freaking out.

I heard the front door slam into the wall as it opened. I had no idea who it was until she was kneeling next to me. “Joanna what happened?!” it was Zina.

“The fuckin dogs.” I started, gasping in between words, “They scared me, so I fell.”

“Do you want to go to the hospital?” she asked.

“Fuck no. My pills. I just need my pills.” I stayed curled up on the floor while she retrieved my pills.

I popped one in my mouth and swallowed. I remained curled up until the pills started taking affect. Once I was starting to feel good, I began to unravel myself and Zina helped me up. “Better?” she asked as I got back on the couch.

“Yeah. Thanks for being here. Actually, why are you here? Haha, I mean don’t take that the wrong way.”

“Oh Zachary asked me to check on you guys, make sure you were all alive, it’s a good thing I got here when I did.”

“I agree.” I said, giving her a smile.

We all talked for a couple of minutes, but I was interrupted when my stomach growled. “Well someone’s hungry.” Zina laughed.

“Yeah, anyone else hungry?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty hungry.” Lexi and Lucy replied.

“What would you like?” Katie asked.

Lucy and I thought for a moment, “White Castle.”

“Oh! That sounds amazing!” Lexi chimed in.

“Alright, you got it.” Katie said.

“But isn’t White Castel like, thirty miles-“ Zina started before I cut her off by hitting her with my leg.

“I’ll go get it.” Katie said. “That sounds pretty good to me too.” She got her keys and purse and left.

“That’s right bitch, part two is on! She’ll be back in like, a couple of hours.” I laughed.

Zina raised an eyebrow, “She’s willing to drive thirty miles away to get you guys food?”

“Haha, that fucker doesn’t know how far away it is.” Lucy replied.

I heard a laugh and looked over to Lexi who was giggling in the recliner. We all joined in and filled Zina in on what happened with Katie’s “bed rest” incident. Now all we could do was wait for Katie to come back with our food.