Bleeding Hearts Grow but Never Die

*****Synyster Gates’ POV*****

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked no one in particular as my four best friends and I watched smoke pour from our tour bus’ engine.

Jimmy scratched his jaw and laughed. “Well, Looks like we’re not gonna make it to our Florida shows.” He paused and stretched his arms over his head, making him look two feet taller. “Cool, now we can get some down time.”

Everyone smiled a little at that. Jimmy always had a way of turning a shitty situation in to a positive one. Just then, Merle, our bus driver, climbed off of the bus with a large map spread out in front of his face.

“Well, there’s a small town just under a mile from here called Johnson.” He told us. “They have a mechanics’ garage and a motel.”

“Whatever, man,” Zack said, shrugging. “Anyplace that will get us out of this fucking heat.”

“I hope they have a tow truck big enough for our bus.” Johnny laughed.

*****Autumn’s POV*****

The humid Georgia air settled all around me as I stepped out the front door of my large, white house. I could already feel my dark brown hair begin to frizz. My twin sister, Chelsey, followed me out the door with a frown on her face; her dyed-black hair was perfect, as usual. I glared slightly at her.

“It’s fucking hot.” She groaned.

I sighed. “The long sleeves probably aren’t helping.”

She pursed her lips, blue eyes fixed on me. Neither of us wanted to be wearing long sleeved shirts and jeans. But we had to cover the bruises that painted our bodies.

“C’mon,” I said as I started walking. “Kevin was expecting us, like, 30 minutes ago.”

We walked out to our Slick-black Ford Explorer sitting in the driveway. One perk to a mother who worked around the clock: she bought us nice, expensive things. Who needs love?

Chelsey climbed into the driver’s seat, grinning broadly because she’d called dibs before I could. With the music blaring, she got onto the road.

I watched our small town as it passed by the window. Nothing much to it except for a bunch of white houses and picket fences. Sighing, I turned away from the window. I hated this town. And I planned on leaving it as soon as I turned eighteen. Chelsey wanted to see the ocean, so I figured we’d move to a large city with an ocean view.

Chelsey parked in front of Merlott’s garage, and we headed in. Walking through the air-conditioned office, we headed out to the back where Kevin would be. We knew the place inside and out, due to the fact that it was Kevin’s father who owned the garage, and we’d been friends for a long time.

There was a large bus sitting in the middle of it with all the mechanics standing at the front of it; and when I say “All mechanics”, I mean all five of them. Towards the back of the bus, stood a group of tattooed men. Though I had never met them before, I knew instantly who they were. Apparently so did Chelsey.

She grabbed onto my arm and whispered: “Holy-motherfucking-Jesus.”

They were Avenged Sevenfold.

*****Chelsey POV*****

I’ve seen a hundred music videos and pictures, but it was only now – seeing them in person – that I realized how truly beautiful they are! Of course, they had their backs to us so I was unable to see their faces, but their asses looked great.

It was then that Kevin made his way over to us. He was a very good-looking guy, with sandy-blonde hair and big brown eyes. And a fat crush on Autumn. I’d tried convincing her to date Kevin, but she never went for it. She has a steady distrust for all things male.

“Hey guys,” he smiled sweetly at us. I returned the smile, and Autumn eyed him like he was up to something shifty.

“What’s going on?” I asked him. “And what the fuck is Avenged-fucking-Sevenfold doing in our little shithole of a town?”

He laughed. “You know, Chels, you are the sweetest person I know, but you also curse like a sailor.”

“Answer the fucking question, Merlott.” I laughed.

“Their bus broke down on the highway, we were the closest town.” He shrugged like it was not a big deal, but his face showed otherwise.

Autumn cocked an eyebrow. It always made me jealous when she did that; how could one twin do it and the other couldn’t?

“Wow, they must’ve been desperate to come here.” Autumn shook her head.

It was at that moment when I felt someone staring at me. I glanced over at Avenged Sevenfold to find Synyster Gate’s eyes on me. God, he is perfect.

I smiled at him. He smiled back, and waved me over. Grabbing onto Autumn’s arm, I dragged her over to the band. She had been in the middle of a conversation with Kevin, and cursed at me for pulling her away.

“What the hell are you doing, Chels?”

I didn’t respond and just kept pulling her to the tattooed men.

“Hi,” I greeted them.

“Hey,” Synyster responded.

The rest of the guys turned to meet us. I had been right. TV really didn’t do their beauty justice.

*****Zacky POV*****

I turned to see who the voice belonged to, and found two girls standing there. Twins, actually. The one who was grinning broadly at Brian was slightly shorter than the other, with long, straight black hair. And the taller twin – who had curly, brown hair – was glancing around at us apprehensively.

And she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. Yeah, I think I’m gonna like it here.

“I’m Brian,” Syn said as he stepped toward the girls and offering his hand.

The darker-haired girl shook it, “Chelsey. And this is my sister: Autumn.” She gestured toward the brunette, who smiled slightly and shuffled her feet.

Matt, Jimmy, Johnny, and I stepped forward and introduced ourselves as well. When I stepped towards Autumn and offered her my hand, she took a slight step back, blue eyes wide and distrusting. I smiled softly, and she took my hand, but more out of politeness than something she wanted to do. She quickly snatched her hand back after a few seconds.

Chelsey seemed to notice her behavior and glared at her. “Where the hell are your manners?”

Autumn glanced at her sister and smirked wryly.”Must have left them in my other pants.”

Chelsey only rolled her eyes, but the guys and I laughed.

“She really is a nice person when you get to know her,” Chelsey apologized. She paused for a moment, then her face lit up. “How about we show you guys around town?”

How could we possibly say no?

~A few hours later~

The sun had set hours ago, and we were still out with Autumn and Chelsey. They showed us everything there was to see. No tree went unnoticed. But mostly we just hung out. They were both really cool, and hilarious.

“Fuck,” Autumn muttered, looking at the clock. “We’re going to get home late.” They looked scared.

“Is that okay?” I asked, leaning forward.

Chelsey put on a smile, though it was forced. “We’ll be fine.”

They dropped us off at the towns’ motel, said their goodbyes and took off. But not before promising to visit us again tomorrow.

Brian and I exchanged glances. He was worried about them too.

*****Autumn POV*****

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Chelsey muttered as she sped through the town. “We’re so fucking dead.”

“Calm down, Chels.” I told her. “You’re gonna run us into a pole and kill us.”

“That almost sounds more desirable than what we’re headed to.”

I didn’t respond, mostly because I agreed with her. We pulled into the driveway and quickly rushed into the house.

Father was there waiting for us.

“Where the fuck have you two been?” He growled. Marching up to us, he grabbed a fist full of my hair in his left hand, and shoved Chelsey back into the wall with the other. “You’re the eldest, Autumn Marie, you should know better.”

Chelsey charged forward, “Get your hands off of her!”

He shoved her back again, then dragged me up the stairs. He forced me into my room and slammed the door behind us, locking it.

Chelsey began slamming her tiny body against it, trying to force it open, all the while screaming obscenities through the door. Father ignored her and pushed me against the wall where he preceded to punching me. In the stomach, arms, and legs. I fell to my knees, but not before his fist nailed me in the eye.

This was new ground; he always avoided the face. He was more angry than I’d ever seen him.

Darkness dotted my vision, and I passed out.

*****Chelsey POV*****

The door burst open, and my father hit me a few times, and yelled, but I didn’t care. All I could think was that I needed to get to Autumn. I couldn’t figure out why he had gone so crazy on her.

When I finally made it into her room, I found her passed out on the floor. Her eye was bright purple.

I sighed and dragged her to her bed. That eye was going to be a hard thing to explain to the kids at school.