Crossroads

I rolled over as I was woken up yet again due to the intense snores filling in the confined space. I looked at my phone and saw it was 5:12 am. ‘Fuck it’ I thought as I got up and made my way to the couch in the front of the bus. I threw my pillow at the couch and closed the blinds. I then plopped on the couch and pulled my blanket over me.

I was highly agitated so the ability to sleep was beginning to slip. I turned on the TV and turned the volume down pretty low to try to drown the snores I could still hear. The only one who didn’t contribute to the snores was Matt and he wasn’t back yet. He went out the day before to attend Lucy’s doctor’s appointment with her and Max to find out who’s babies they were. We heard from him sometime last night and he said he’d be back early today. However when he said early, I wasn’t expecting him to walk in just as I was about to fall back to sleep.

I heard the door open and I felt my blood begin to boil. I looked and Matt’s face looked of one of horror. “Joanna, are yo-are you crying?” he asked.

“I JUST WANT TO SLEEP!” I exclaimed. I didn’t care how loud I was being. If I couldn’t sleep, why should the others have that privilege?

“So why don’t you sleep?” he asked.

“BECAUSE NO ONE OTHER THAN YOU CAN SLEEP SILENTLY!” I continued throwing my blanket off and standing up. “Just 4 hours, that’s all I ask. But no, Joanna can’t have that. Instead she has to sleep in a small fucking room WITH THREE SNORE-SCREAMING MEN!” I wiped away a few tears that streamed down my face. “We have sound check in less than six hours. I just want to sleep for a bit.”

“I need to talk to someone.” He said out of nowhere. When I saw his face he looked like he was about to lose it. My mood changed immediately.

“What’s wrong Matt?” I asked pulling him to the couch.

“It’s Lucy.” He started.

“What’s wrong with Lucy?!” I asked extremely concerned.

“No-nothing’s wrong. The babies. No, nothing’s wrong with them either. Well, what happened is something called,” he stopped for a second to try sounding out the words before getting them right, “Heteropaternal superfecundation.”

“What, the fuck is that?” I asked.

“It’s rare. It’s when a mother is pregnant with twins and each twin has a different father.” He said.

I sat there with my jaw hanging, “WHOA! So, one is yours and one is Max’s?”

He nodded, “Yes, she’s having a boy and a girl, the boy is mine.”

We sat in silence for a moment, “So, wow. What’s going to happen?” I asked.

“I-I don’t know. Right now, I’m on board with you and I need sleep.” He said.

“Well, I’m going to sleep out here. For the few hours I can.” I replied.

“Do you mind if I join you? I don’t mean to invade any privacy it’s just you’re the closest one to Lucy, Max and I and I feel safest and the best around you right now.” He said.

“No, no that’s fine.”I replied. I laid down on the couch again and moved over enough for him to scoot in too without hanging off the side. Thankfully I was small enough and soon we both fell into a brief, light sleep.

“Time to wake up!” I heard Johnny say in a sing song voice. There was no time for him to react before my hand collided with his face.

“SHUT UP!” I yelled.

“Did you just slap me?!” he asked.

“I don’t know, did it feel like it? I could try it again to clarify for you.” I replied.

It only occurred to me that I was leaning over Matt yelling at Johnny when Matt put his hand over my face and pushed back as he got up. He sat upright as he stretched. “Ew, Joanna you drooled on me.” He said before letting out a little laugh.

“Sorry.” I replied as I got up for the bathroom.

When I got to the door, it was locked. I knocked and Jimmy stepped out before giving me a hug. After he was out I closed the door and attended to my business. I brushed my teeth and hair before taking a good, hard look in the mirror. I shook my head as I thought ‘Today is going to be a looong day’.

“My monitor isn’t working Jay!” I called over to Jason Berry.

“One sec Jo.” He replied while he was untangling some wires. A few moments later everything seemed to be in working order.

“Let’s run through ‘Second Heartbeat’ and then would you mind if we ran through ‘A Little Piece of Heaven’ Joanna?” Matt asked.

“I brought my violin so we’re good.” I replied with a thumbs up. After taking a long drink of my coffee we dove into ‘Second Heartbeat’.

After sound check, we all decided to go out and get a good meal. We went to this little Italian restaurant and unfortunately it was close to the venue and a lot of the people eating here were going to the show. Now, I don’t mind that we had fans there, it was just that it was out first real meal of the day and we were bombarded with fans. We love our fans, but we need to eat too.

Finally the Berry’s were able to keep our table blocked off and we got to eat.

“So, how did you learn to play the violin?” Jimmy asked me.

“I took it in school. Originially,” I started smirking at him, “I wanted to learn the drums. But my mother figured I’d make her crazy and keep her up at night with them so she suggested the violin. At first I hated it. I wanted to mess up on purpose so they would think I sucked and would tell me to just drop it. However, the more and more I tried to mess up, the more and more I actually began to like it. So from the third grade on, I played the violin.”

“Really?” Zacky asked.

I turned to my left to look at him, “Yeah. True story bro.” we all laughed and went on eating.

After we finished eating we took a picture with the owner and signed it. After that we headed back to the venue to get ready.

Sharing the dressing room with 4 guys was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was you didn’t really have to fight over the mirror or the bathroom. I’m sure if Brian actually was here I’d fight with him for the mirror. The curse was I had to change in front of all of them. It didn’t make me uncomfortable, they just liked to crack jokes.

When we emerged, I was wearing a FOX tee, jeans, DC shoes and I had my new guitar. I followed out behind Zacky who was wearing one of his VU shirts, jeans, vans and his signature Schecter. In front of him was Matt. He sported an Affliction tank top, jeans, and a pair of Nike’s.

Behind me was Johnny, he wore an Affliction tee with a winged dagger on it, jeans, and vans as he carried his bass. Behind him was Jimmy. He wore a navy stripped t-shirt that would be coming off as soon as he sat at his set, jeans, and a pair of Puma’s along with his drum sticks.

We walked out on stage and it was dark like the other eleven shows I’ve done with them on this tour, and we took our positions. I stood where Brian normally did and Matt made his way over to the organ he played for the opening of ‘Critical Acclaim’. He started playing as Zacky and I walked to the front where he started the solo, when time came I began to play. The moment Matt screamed, the crowd went bat-shit crazy.

The show went on flawlessly, when it came time for ‘A Little Piece of Heave’, Matt began to talk.

“How are you mother fuckers doing here in San Jose?!” he yelled. The crowd screamed in response. “We’re gunna mix it up a bit here tonight. I’m gunna pass it on to Joanna.” He said pointing over at me.

“Okay so, I need someone who is pretty confident that they can play ‘A Little Piece of Heaven’. Who thinks they can do it?” I asked. I saw a couple of people waving their arms and picked the one that was closest and didn’t look like he was bullshitting me.

“Nice,” Matt started, “What’s your name kid?”

“Nick.” The kid replied.

“Well hello nick, it’s nice to have you joining us. You can play ‘A Little Piece of Heaven’?” he said.

“Yeah.” He replied with a giant smile.

“Okay because we’re counting on you.” Matt said. “Go see Joanna.” He added with a pat on his shoulder.

He walked over to me and I swung the guitar strap over my shoulder and handed my guitar to him. I pulled him close and put my mouth by his ear, “You break my guitar I’ll break your ass.” I said adding a smile.

He stood awkwardly in position and looked at my guitar in amazement as if it was a Godly guitar or something. I giggled to myself as I grabbed my violin. I walked over to Nick and got ready to play. Once Matt finished the introduction for the song, I started playing.

After we finished, we got Nick back in the crowd and continued on with the show. Before we ended the show, we played Afterlife, Trashed and Scattered, Radiant Eclipse, Betrayed, Almost Easy, Scream, and Beast and the Harlot. After we had put our instruments away the guys went off to do a signing and I headed back to the bus.

Just as I was about to walk out the back door I was tackled. I screamed as I swung trying to get whoever it was off of me. When I finally got a glimpse at the person on top of me, my heart began to beat faster as fear took over.

“HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!” I screamed.

“Oh calm down.” He said. “You have nothing to be afraid of my love.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in jail?!” I struggled to ask.

“I was released. And I found that sweet, dear Lucy is pregnant. However, you are still fair game m’dear. So you I shall have.” He replied.

I screamed for help again and I heard the back door fly open and a moment later that sick, stalker fuck was off of me. I was lifted off of the ground and looked up to see Jason. I hugged him as we saw a couple of security guards go after the man.

“Lock his ass up. And make sure they make his stay permanent this time!” I said before Jason led me to the bus.

“Fuck! Get him!” we heard the security guard yell. We turned and saw the man run. I felt light headed as Jason started to pull my away.

When we got inside he locked the door and sat me down on the couch. “Are you okay?!” he asked looking me over.

“I’m fine.” I replied.

“No, your bleeding.” He said getting up. When he returned he had the buses first aid kit. “You’re forehead has a small gash in it.” He added taking out an alcohol wipe.

He wiped it and I winced. I hadn’t even realized it was there. “Must’ve happened when I hit the ground.”

“Wait, was that the guy that was stalking you and Lucy?” he asked me.

“Yeah, he was. He said something about since Lucy was pregnant that he would just have me.” I shivered at the thought, “That guy is so creepy!”

“I need to tell the guys.” He said starting to get up.

I reached out and grabbed him, “NO! Please. Please don’t leave me alone.” I said.

He looked around for a second and sat back down. “Alright.”

We sat there in silence for a few moments. I knew Jason, him and his brother were always over the house but I wasn’t extremely close to him, so the first few silent minutes were a bit awkward.

“Wanna play Black Ops?” I asked him. His eyes lit up and he smiled as he nodded. I giggled and grabbed the controllers out of the cabinet below the TV and turned on the Xbox 360.

“Joanna, why do you keep dying?” he asked.

“I keep dozing off.” I said trying to open my eyes.

“Go to sleep.” He chuckled.

I shook my head, “The show must go on!”

He laughed and turned off the game, “I don’t even think you know what you’re talking about.”

He leaned my over on the couch and pulled my blanket over me. After that he assured me that he locked the door and set off to find the guys. Surprisingly, sleep came to me very easily, however sleep did not stay.

“What the fuck happened?!” I heard Zacky and Matt snap.

“I heard her screaming so I ran out and this dude was on top of her. I knocked him off and security took him away. It was that crazy asshole that was stalking her and Lucy.” Jason replied.

“Why didn’t you get me?” his brother Matt asked.

“She wouldn’t let me leave.” He replied. “She said she didn’t want to be alone. And with that crazy asshole running around do you think I was going to?”

“Fuck, we should have been with her.” I heard Zacky say with a frustrated tone.

“It’s not any of your faults.” I said groggily. After the words left my mouth, I wished I hadn’t said anything at all.

“Joanna. Are you okay?” I heard as I felt four people surround me. I looked up and it was all of Avenged.

“I’m fine.” I replied.

“Your forehead.” Johnny said.

“It’s fine. Just a baby cut. I’ll live.” I said with a reassuring smile.

“What happened to that piece of shit?!” Zacky asked Jason.

“Security came out and tried to get a hold of him but, he away.” He replied leaning against the counter.

Zacky turned back to me, “You are not to be out of any of our sights. AT ALL, during the rest of the tour.”

“Okay.” I replied.

Zacky had to do a double take, “What?”

“I said, okay.” I said.

“You’re not arguing with me?” he asked.

“Uhm, no?” I replied.

“Wow.” He said.

Matt was about to sit down next to me when there was a knock on the door. He instantly stood up with Jimmy and walked to the door. Johnny and Zacky stood in front of me while the Berry brothers stood on either side of them.

“Where is she?!” I heard an urgent voice.

I ripped my way through everyone and wrapped my arms around Craig. He squeezed me so tight I thought my insides were going to explode. “You scared the living shit out of me Joanna.”

“I’m sorry.” I said as I started to cry again.

“What happened?” he asked the guys.

“She got attacked by that stalker guy.” Jason replied.

“He’s out?!” he yelled. He pulled away from me and looked down at me, “Your head.” He said.

I sighed as he wiped a tear that was running down my cheek, “It is but a flesh wound. I’ll be fine.”

“So, did they get the guy this time?” he asked.

“No, he got away.” Jason replied. Craig rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Wait, how did you know something happened?” I asked him.

“You butt dialed me.” He replied trying not to smirk.

“Damn, even my ass knows how to call for help.” I laughed.

“You think we should get a hotel for the night?” Matt asked.

“We gotta get to Seattle by tomorrow night, we should actually leave.” Jason said.

“Yeah, that’s about a 14 hour ride.” Matt Berry added.

“Alright so we leave then.” Matt said a bit flustered.

“Dude, you wanna ride with us?” Zacky asked Craig.

“Would you guys mind?” he asked.

“Not at all. You can just bunk with Joanna.” Jimmy replied with a smile.

“That’s not a problem, it’s almost been a month since I’ve seen her anyway. Lemme just grab my bag from the cab.” He said before running off the bus.

I sighed as I sat down on the couch. “I’m going back to sleep.” I said pulling the covers back up.

“Maybe you should sleep in the bunks with us. This way if something happens, you’re with 5 men. It’ll give us all a piece of mind.” Zacky said.

“Alright. I’m going to give Lucy a call though.” I replied. They all nodded and headed back by the bunks. I pulled out my phone and dialed the number I could reach her at.

“Ma’am, it’s rather late to be accepting calls.” Gloria said.

“Gloria, listen to me. It’s an emergency.” I said.

She sighed, “Hold on.”

A couple of rings later I got a hold of Lucy. “Hello?” she said groggily.

“Hey Lu.”

“Joanna? Dude its almost 1 in the morning.” She said.

“The guy who was stalking us?” I started.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“He attacked me tonight.”

There was a long silence, “Are you fuckin kidding me Joanna?”

“No Lucy. And he got away. He said he knows your pregnant, and that I’m still fair game. So now he wants me.” I replied. I felt my throat beginning to tighten up. I felt the tears forming in the brim of my eyes again and I took a long, ragged breath trying to prevent myself from crying.

“Oh my god.” She said. I could hear in her voice that she was in the same emotional state I was.

“I’m staying on tour.” I said. “I feel if I keep moving I’ll be fine till I get home.”

“Does Craig know?” she asked.

“Yeah, apparently I butt dialed him and he heard me screaming for help. He’s here actually.” I replied.

“Oh wow. Good ass you have there.” she said.

“Indeed.” I replied beginning to smile. “Well, I’m going to be heading north with seven men so I should be safe.”

“Ah yes, Craig, Avenged and the Berry’s.” she said.

I laughed, “Dude, that sounds like a horrible band name.”

She laughed along, “Yeah it does.” She started, “Dude, I’m having trouble staying awake. Please call me in the morning though.”

“I will, oh and congratulations on the two baby daddies.” I said.

She giggled, “Thank you. You know only I would get in a situation like this.”

“Yep, only you.” I replied.

“Well, good night dude, call me in the morning. If you don’t, I’m sending a search team.”

“Good night.” I replied before hanging up.

I looked up from my phone to see Craig standing in the doorway. “Max told me about Lucy’s ‘situation’.” He said.

“Yep. Crazy.” I smiled, “But, c’mon, time for bed. I’m exhausted, and you have some protecting to do.”

“Well then, come with me my fair maiden.” He smirked.

“Shut up.” I said laughing. We then walked to the bunks and to my surprise, everyone was already asleep.

I shrugged as I took my pants off and pulled on a pair of pajama pants. Craig was already in shorts so he just crawled into my bunk and held his arms out. I crawled in and gave him a kiss that was long overdue. He returned it with a smile.

“Wow. They are some obnoxious guys.” He said commenting on the ‘snore-screams’ I’ve been dealing with since I got on tour.

“Yeah, well now you can endure my pain.” I replied.

“Good night babe.” He said planting another kiss on my forehead.

“Good night.” I replied. Even though I was still shaken up from the earlier events that occurred this evening and the fact that the guy’s snores were obnoxious, the exhaustion that hit me like a slap in the face and the comforting feeling of being in Craig’s arms again allowed me to fall into a nice, dreamful slumber.