My Guardian Vampire

I took my time getting up, figuring it would be pointless to run. By the time I had made it to the top floor, however, I was a little short of breath, as it had been a long climb. I opened the door and it revealed the world outside. Although it wasn’t light out, there was still a glow that erupted as the fresh air rushed in, and the suddenness of it nearly knocked me over in surprise—the doorway seemed like a portal to another world. I stumbled out of it in awe as my eyes adjusted, out onto the rooftop.

"Wow," was all I could manage to get out.

You could see the main city, not too far off. The lights glowing in the darkness created a reddish haze above everything, almost as if the whole city was on fire, the warm glow surrounded by the endless smoke of night.

"Wow indeed," Billie Joe said. "Do you know how long it took you to get here?"

"I took my time," I said, still hypnotized by the city. I didn't bother to look where Billie Joe was, as I had heard his footsteps slowly approach behind me. I walked over to the ledge of the roof, a brick wall built around the perimeter at stomach height. I rested my hands on the cooling brick, still staring out at the city-fire.

Billie Joe wrapped his arms around my stomach, kissing my neck and sending chills through me. I closed my eyes, thinking.

"Hey Billie?" I asked, gulping slightly as I felt him suck at my skin.

"Mmm?" he murmured.

"How old are you?"

"A billion," he said, and I felt his lips form into a smile against my throat, an odd and chilling feeling.

"Really, please." He sighed.

"I don't know, older than you."

"Like how old?" I persisted. If I had been dating a fifty year old... "Come on, how old are you?"

Billie leaned away from my neck, sighing.

"Billie! Ali! We're home," Tré said, going through the top door. "There you two are!"

"You came all the way up here to tell us you're home?" I asked, slightly annoyed that he had just interrupted when Billie was about to tell me.

"No," he said, sticking his tongue out at me. Then he turned to Billie, suddenly more serious. "We tried to do what you said and reason with him, but in the end we had to kill him." Billie nodded.

"Thanks for trying."

Tré nodded back, looking like he wanted to say something, but then turned around and left.

"Hey Tré, you wanna play a little music?" Billie yelled after Tré. He paused by the door—but then he was gone, and I felt some vibrations below us. Billie laughed while I was freaking out, thinking it as some kind of earthquake.

"Come on," he grinned, taking my hand and leading me downstairs. As soon as we went through the door, I heard the loud wild, beats coming from a drum set.

We walked from the staircase room down the hall, the beats getting louder and crazier with each step, as if someone was trying to teach elephants how to break-dance.
He led me down a hall, and to a solid-looking door. We opened it, and I was almost blasted away by the sound. Tré was there, banging away like a madman, the vibrations juggling my brain. Mike came in, covering his ears, shouting something to Billie I couldn't hear. Billie walked over, and unplugged something, making the vibrations die out, though my head still shook for a while afterwards.

"Tré, if you're gonna abuse the amps..." Billie Joe said. Tré gave Billie a puppy-eyed look and Billie sighed, plugging the chord back in but turning down a knob.

"Amps? For a drum?"

"Yeah, we really just put a microphone inside the drums and then hook it up."

"Oh, so is it just Tré that plays or...?"

"Nah, we all play. Mike plays the bass, and I play the guitar."

"Oh... So, who sings...?" I asked, praying it wouldn't be-

"I do, mostly," Billie Joe said.

'Damn it! Of course he has to be the singer, or else things might just be easy for once.'

"You wanna hear a song I just made?" Billie asked, putting a guitar strap around his head, a funky blue guitar with stickers plastering it attached.

'Oh, no.'

"Uh... Is it about me? Not to sound narcissistic or anything, but I have to ask..." I said, feeling myself pale. I felt pretty self-absorbed even assuming, but-

"Yup," Billie Joe smirked. "I'm sure Mike and Tré can pick up the beat of it-"

"I don't think I want to hear it..." I interrupted, my stomach feeling fluttery and light. It didn't feel exactly like butterflies, more like... Crickets. A hundred crickets, jumping around off the walls of my stomach, tickling my inside with their sad song and weighing it down, making me feel slightly sick. Billie Joe looked both shocked and hurt, making me look down in guilt.

"Really? Why?" Billie Joe said, getting close to my face, lifting it up carefully. Before I could answer he stepped forward and nearly put his lips almost on mine, making it hard to concentrate. My eyes caught his questioningly—and I suddenly began to feel lost, the green of his iris inviting me in, somewhere deep down…

"'Cause...'Cause I don't want to..." I mumbled, almost forgetting everything as my eyes fluttered shut, the crickets gone.

This was strange.

"What don't you want to do?" he asked, taking my hand and kissing my side of my mouth slightly.

"Uhm..." I mumbled, concentrating hard. Had I been slipped something? I could barely focus on the question at hand, let alone my background train of thought. "I don't want to hear you sing?"

"And why is that?" he said, taking my face in his hands and kissing me, his guitar pushing up against me and almost making me fall. My eyes opened, and Billie Joe pulled away. "Hmm?"

"Because..." I said, and Billie Joe stared at me intently with those olive eyes. "I don't remember..." I admitted, barely remembering what he was asking me about in the first place. He smiled and planted a small kiss on my lips.

"Good," he said, and began to tune his guitar. I sat down on a broken up amp, having to push a few beer bottles on the floor to do so. I got comfortable, and waited.

"Ok, so this song I guess I'm going to call 'Words I Might Have Ate...'" he said, and began to play, Mike and Tré expertly picking up the beat like they had known it all along.

Then Billie began to sing:
"Now it seems I can't keep my mind of you
My brain drifts back to better days we've been through
Like sitting on blacktop of the school grounds
The love I bitched about I finally found

But now it's gone and I take the blame
So there's nothing I can do but take the pain
Why?

Now I dwell on what you remind me of
A sweet young girl who sacrificed her love
As for me... I am blind without a cause
And now I realized what I have lost

It was something real that I could have had
Now I play the fool whose stable soul's gone bad
Why?

Tell me the words I might have said
That's pumping pressure deep inside my head
Was it bad enough to be too late?
Just tell me the words I might have ate,
The words I might have ate,
The words I might have ate...

But now it's gone and I take the blame
So there's nothing I can do but take the pain
Why, Why? Why?
Oh, Why?
Why? Why?"