All Around Me

I'll never forget what happened that night.
At first, I thought I had gotten a bad pill. I was close to dialling 999 for help.
I was sitting alone in my flat, just lying down on the sofa, drinking a beer that I had managed to find at the back of the refrigerator. The effect of the pills had pretty much worn off, and I was feeling depressed. I didn't know what to do next. It was about 3am, it was just another ordinary night for me.
And then, the room became freezing cold. I didn't think much of it, I thought the shitty air conditioning had gone haywire again. But then I was seeing my own breath in front of my face, and I was shivering uncontrollably. I sat up quickly, shouting out in surprise as I saw the beer freeze over right in front of my eyes.
"What the hell!" I exclaimed, jumping to my feet. I was shaking, mostly from the cold but also from a horrible sense of dread and fear. What was going on?
The room was freezing, and silent for a few minutes until I heard a blast of noise surround me.
It was so loud I almost screamed again, screwing up my face in pain, blocking my ears with my hands.
After my ears grew accustomed to the noise, I heard it properly. The song- no, MY song, was playing louder than I knew my shitty CD player could even go. I ran over to the CD player and opened it up, throwing the demo CD across the room. But still it played.
It seemed to be getting even louder. The lights on the CD player were glowing brightly, flashing uncontrollably.
"Stop!" I shouted at it. I was going crazy- I was shouting at my damn CD player. "Stop it!" I screamed again.
I pulled out the plug, but still it played. it was so loud it was as if it was in my own head. My tears were streaming down my face, and I dropped to my knees, my hands over my ears. "Stop! Stop! Stop!" I chanted the words over and over, shaking, my eyes squeezed shut.
The song went on, getting louder and louder.
"You were the truth, outscreaming these lies,
You were the truth, saving my life."
I wasn't even saying any words now, just screaming at the top of my voice, trying to drown out the noise.
"You were the truth, outscreaming these lies."
I stood up again with effort and grabbed the bat I kept by the sofa, just in case. I let out a yell and swung at the CD player, hitting it over and over again.
"You were the truth, saving my life."
The CD player was in pieces, but the music didn't stop until the last note of the guitar had finished.
And then, at last, there was silence, except for the banging on the walls from my neighbours, who had apparently decided they had been lenient enough with me.
"Stop screaming, you crazy son of a bitch!" The man at the other side of the wall roared. "Stop your fucking screaming!"
I was on the floor again. The room had gone back to it's normal temperature, and the music had stopped. For a second I thought that I had really gone crazy, that I had really imagined everything.
And then I saw my beer, still on the table, completely frozen, and I knew it had really happened.
I was just beginning to calm down, my ears ringing from the noise, my heartbeat slowing down to it's usual rhythm, when I heard the one thing I never thought I'd hear again.
"Frank!" It was him.
It was Gerard. I heard his voice, as clear as anything.
He was calling out to me.
And then I was screaming again, and I couldn't stop, and my neighbour was banging on the wall so hard that dust was falling from the roof.
But I didn't care, because was Gerard was with me. He was still with me.
Just like he promised he always would be.