Welcome to the Family
1/1
Arin was at on his bed, his sweaty palms slowly stroking his shaking thighs.
Today was THE day.
Today, he'll have THE answer.
The answer that could change his life for good.
The answer he has been waiting for two months.
Arin was waiting for an e-mail, from a certain Larry Jacobson. Or maybe this girl called Valary DiBenedetto.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Arin was a 26 years old man, with a passion for music. Well, more specifically drums. He couldn't remember the first time he sat in front of a drum set. But it was in his early childhood, that's for sure.
Arin was also a metal head; he used to listen to Metallica, Pantera and Motley Crue, while the others kids were into stupid boys bands.
Nothing could change Arin's personality. He felt different from the others, but that was his strength, his pride. Nobody could take this away from him.
Not even the strong built guys from the baseball team, when he was in high school.
Arin was quite skinny.
Arin was shy.
Arin was different.
That's probably why people used to mess with him during his childhood. He was young and almost innocent, too shy to stand up, too weak to fight.
People opinion plays a big role when you're young. It has an influence on the way you grow up, the way you see things and see yourself. Nobody wants to admit it, because nobody wants to be called a `common person'. People always think they're original from the others. People believe it only because in their actions, in their way of thinking, it's obvious that they're not. It's just an illusion to comfort themselves, to feel confident.
Arin was conscious of all this. He knew that he was different. He hadn't many things in common with the people of the same age, but he knew that he couldn't ignore their looks, their opinion on him. And it was killing him because those looks didn't reflect comprehension, sympathy or kindness at all. They were full of hate, disgust and others dark things.
But Arin was never complaining about that though. He would never cry about the sadness and the pain inside him. Well, at least not in front the baseball team. But when he was in his room, alone, hugging his pillow, it was another story.
He couldn't understand why people wouldn't accept him for who he was. He couldn't stand the fact that to have friends he had to follow the model of the average American teen kid.
He didn't want to fall in this society of conformism. He wanted everyone to feel free to tell and think what he or she wanted. He couldn't understand why one opinion has to be better than the others.
His main frustration was maybe this time of his last year of high school. One day, he got the courage to ask Alicia out.
Alicia was a beautiful blonde girl, with emerald eyes and a smile that could make any heart melt.
Alicia was one of the cheerleaders, and you may guess what happened to the poor Arin.
For the first time, Arin had felt his heart break. From the inside, he could feel a distinct pain that he had never experienced before.
Life was unfair, life was a bitch.
Arin couldn't stand it anymore. He didn't want to live with all those weird and mean people. He didn't belong there.
He remembered waking up in a hospital room, alone, with bandages on both his wrists.
Hours ago he had tried to end his life. He wanted to find a way to feel stronger than Fate, and Death was the best escape. At least, that's what he had been thinking, alone in his bathroom, facing the mirror with a razor blade in his hand.
That morning, he had been disappointed to wake up. He had failed.
He remembered crying for hours, despite the reassuring words pronounced by the nice nurses.
He remembered falling asleep.
When he had wake up for the second time, he had been surprised to hear some music. It was a radio station.
The song was a metal song and that had been all Arin needed to smile.
A great song.
A fucking awesome song, to be mores exact.
Arin had been waiting. He wanted to know the title of this song, or at least the band.
He discovered that the song was called `second heartbeat' and it was from a band called Avenged Sevenfold. Arin had never heard about them before. He had to admit that they were amazing though.
That's when Arin took a decision.
Death was not the right or the good way to rebel against his sad fate.
Music was.
Since that day, he devoted his life to music. He decided to fulfill his dream, to become a professional drummer.
After high-school, he studied music at university. And he obviously specialized himself in drums.
After that, he started to play here and there, with small locals bands, in bars or at random parties.
He kept listening to that band, Avenged Sevenfold. He learned to play all of their songs.
He became a studio musician, playing with several metal bands. He realized that now life was nicer with him. That he wasn't as desperate as he was when he was in high-school.
But then, December 2009 came.
December 28th of 2009 came.
Two days later, Arin was calmly in his room.
The drummer was on internet, checking the news and his notifications from his Facebook account when he saw the tragic new.
Jimmy `The Rev' Sullivan was dead.
That word had kept playing in his head for several minutes. Dead. The Rev was dead. His idol, his model was dead.
Arin was a sensitive guy, which explains the tears that escaped his reddened eyes when realization hit him.
It was unfair. The Rev was one of the most talented musicians on the face of the Earth and then his life was ended, just like this, without any reason.
The following week, Arin spent hours playing Avenged Sevenfold's song on drums. It was his way to make The Rev live again.
But one thing, one moment, one sentence changed his life. Well, started to change his life.
Still on the internet, he read:
`Avenged Sevenfold organizes a casting to find a new drummer.'
Arin didn't hesitate a second. He had to do this.
He deleted all the gigs he had to do with his friends, and spent his days playing A7x, again, again and again.
He had to make a choice of a song.
Well, two songs.
One from A7x and another from any metal/rock band.
Arin's choice was Second Heartbeat, obviously by A7x, and Dead Memories by Slipknot.
The D-Day came and Arin was really stressed.
++++++++++++++++++++
“Next person?”, Brian called.
Arin's body was shaking from anticipation, stress, fear, emotion…
He advanced shyly in front of the four men.
“Hi…”, he managed to say. He couldn't show he was shy. A famous drummer isn't shy.
“Hello, man. What's your name?”, Matt asked.
“Arin. Arin Ilejay.”, the young man answered.
“Alright dude. What will you play for us?”, Matt asked again, smiling.
“Uh… I'll start with… Second Heartbeat, if that's okay with you…”
“It's okay…”, they all responded.
Arin sat down, and started to play. He played with his heart, he gave all he had. He didn't make any mistake.
When the song ended, he looked up to see the four men looking at him intently.
“Hum… okay… what's next?”, Matt finally said.
“A Slipknot song, sir. Dead Memories.”.
The group nodded and Arin played again.
He was now all sweaty.
“Thanks dude.”, Brian spoke.
“We will send you an e-mail for you to know if you're selected of not. Is that alright?”, Matt said to Arin.
Arin nodded.
“Okay, so you have to write your e-mail, your number phone, that kind of stuff on this paper and then you're free to go.”, Matt smiled.
The young man did as he was told and made his way back home.
+++++++++++++++++
Two months had passed since that day and Arin was today waiting on his bed. The e-mail would be send before 6 in the afternoon, That's what mad had said to him.
The whole day, Arin had been thinking of his future.
What would he do if A7x wanted him to be their new drummer?
What would he do if A7x didn't want him to be their new drummer?
He pictured himself, on the road with the guys, playing loads of big shows in front of dozens of thousands of fans.
It was scaring and exiting, terrifying and motivating.
6 in the afternoon came and there wasn't any e-mail from the said people.
Arin was disappointed. He knew that his chances were low, but he had this little ball of hope that had kept messing with his thoughts.
Now he had to face the reality.
Why would Avenged Sevenfold want a stupid and random man like him to replace the giant Jimmy Sullivan?
How could he imagine being the right guy to do that?
Why did he dare go to that casting?
Tears of frustrations came rolling down Arin's eyes.
He didn't get any sleep that night, his nightmares came back.
He took his breakfast at 10 p.m. He hadn't spoken to anyone since yesterday. He still didn't want to. He wanted to be alone, ashamed and disappointed.
He gasped and made his way to his bedroom to grab some clothes. He opened his closet and saw his Avenged Sevenfold shirt. He grabbed it violently and threw it at the opposite side of the room.
“ And the scars remind me that the past is real…” Arin frowned as his phone went off.
“Hello?”, he said unsure.
“ Hi. Arin, right?”, a deep male voice said.
“Yes… Who are you?”
“Yeah sorry, I should have started with this. I'm M.Shad … shit, Matt Sanders from Avenged Sevenfold and I wanted to talk with you if you're okay with that…”
Arin's eyes went wide. The singer of Avenged Fucking Sevenfold was calling him!!! The singer of Avenged Fucking Sevenfold wanted to talk to him!!!
“Arin?”
“Uh, yeah sure.”
“Okay, so, first… I have, well we have the pleasure to announce you that you were very impressive during the casting and we were thinking of… you know, just hanging with you a bit to see if we can get along and stuff. And then if you're totally okay with the fact of being our new drummer, then we'll have an appointment with our producers and managers…”
Arin cried. But it was tears of joy this time.
He finally did it. He had his revenge.
Today was THE day.
Today, he'll have THE answer.
The answer that could change his life for good.
The answer he has been waiting for two months.
Arin was waiting for an e-mail, from a certain Larry Jacobson. Or maybe this girl called Valary DiBenedetto.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Arin was a 26 years old man, with a passion for music. Well, more specifically drums. He couldn't remember the first time he sat in front of a drum set. But it was in his early childhood, that's for sure.
Arin was also a metal head; he used to listen to Metallica, Pantera and Motley Crue, while the others kids were into stupid boys bands.
Nothing could change Arin's personality. He felt different from the others, but that was his strength, his pride. Nobody could take this away from him.
Not even the strong built guys from the baseball team, when he was in high school.
Arin was quite skinny.
Arin was shy.
Arin was different.
That's probably why people used to mess with him during his childhood. He was young and almost innocent, too shy to stand up, too weak to fight.
People opinion plays a big role when you're young. It has an influence on the way you grow up, the way you see things and see yourself. Nobody wants to admit it, because nobody wants to be called a `common person'. People always think they're original from the others. People believe it only because in their actions, in their way of thinking, it's obvious that they're not. It's just an illusion to comfort themselves, to feel confident.
Arin was conscious of all this. He knew that he was different. He hadn't many things in common with the people of the same age, but he knew that he couldn't ignore their looks, their opinion on him. And it was killing him because those looks didn't reflect comprehension, sympathy or kindness at all. They were full of hate, disgust and others dark things.
But Arin was never complaining about that though. He would never cry about the sadness and the pain inside him. Well, at least not in front the baseball team. But when he was in his room, alone, hugging his pillow, it was another story.
He couldn't understand why people wouldn't accept him for who he was. He couldn't stand the fact that to have friends he had to follow the model of the average American teen kid.
He didn't want to fall in this society of conformism. He wanted everyone to feel free to tell and think what he or she wanted. He couldn't understand why one opinion has to be better than the others.
His main frustration was maybe this time of his last year of high school. One day, he got the courage to ask Alicia out.
Alicia was a beautiful blonde girl, with emerald eyes and a smile that could make any heart melt.
Alicia was one of the cheerleaders, and you may guess what happened to the poor Arin.
For the first time, Arin had felt his heart break. From the inside, he could feel a distinct pain that he had never experienced before.
Life was unfair, life was a bitch.
Arin couldn't stand it anymore. He didn't want to live with all those weird and mean people. He didn't belong there.
He remembered waking up in a hospital room, alone, with bandages on both his wrists.
Hours ago he had tried to end his life. He wanted to find a way to feel stronger than Fate, and Death was the best escape. At least, that's what he had been thinking, alone in his bathroom, facing the mirror with a razor blade in his hand.
That morning, he had been disappointed to wake up. He had failed.
He remembered crying for hours, despite the reassuring words pronounced by the nice nurses.
He remembered falling asleep.
When he had wake up for the second time, he had been surprised to hear some music. It was a radio station.
The song was a metal song and that had been all Arin needed to smile.
A great song.
A fucking awesome song, to be mores exact.
Arin had been waiting. He wanted to know the title of this song, or at least the band.
He discovered that the song was called `second heartbeat' and it was from a band called Avenged Sevenfold. Arin had never heard about them before. He had to admit that they were amazing though.
That's when Arin took a decision.
Death was not the right or the good way to rebel against his sad fate.
Music was.
Since that day, he devoted his life to music. He decided to fulfill his dream, to become a professional drummer.
After high-school, he studied music at university. And he obviously specialized himself in drums.
After that, he started to play here and there, with small locals bands, in bars or at random parties.
He kept listening to that band, Avenged Sevenfold. He learned to play all of their songs.
He became a studio musician, playing with several metal bands. He realized that now life was nicer with him. That he wasn't as desperate as he was when he was in high-school.
But then, December 2009 came.
December 28th of 2009 came.
Two days later, Arin was calmly in his room.
The drummer was on internet, checking the news and his notifications from his Facebook account when he saw the tragic new.
Jimmy `The Rev' Sullivan was dead.
That word had kept playing in his head for several minutes. Dead. The Rev was dead. His idol, his model was dead.
Arin was a sensitive guy, which explains the tears that escaped his reddened eyes when realization hit him.
It was unfair. The Rev was one of the most talented musicians on the face of the Earth and then his life was ended, just like this, without any reason.
The following week, Arin spent hours playing Avenged Sevenfold's song on drums. It was his way to make The Rev live again.
But one thing, one moment, one sentence changed his life. Well, started to change his life.
Still on the internet, he read:
`Avenged Sevenfold organizes a casting to find a new drummer.'
Arin didn't hesitate a second. He had to do this.
He deleted all the gigs he had to do with his friends, and spent his days playing A7x, again, again and again.
He had to make a choice of a song.
Well, two songs.
One from A7x and another from any metal/rock band.
Arin's choice was Second Heartbeat, obviously by A7x, and Dead Memories by Slipknot.
The D-Day came and Arin was really stressed.
++++++++++++++++++++
“Next person?”, Brian called.
Arin's body was shaking from anticipation, stress, fear, emotion…
He advanced shyly in front of the four men.
“Hi…”, he managed to say. He couldn't show he was shy. A famous drummer isn't shy.
“Hello, man. What's your name?”, Matt asked.
“Arin. Arin Ilejay.”, the young man answered.
“Alright dude. What will you play for us?”, Matt asked again, smiling.
“Uh… I'll start with… Second Heartbeat, if that's okay with you…”
“It's okay…”, they all responded.
Arin sat down, and started to play. He played with his heart, he gave all he had. He didn't make any mistake.
When the song ended, he looked up to see the four men looking at him intently.
“Hum… okay… what's next?”, Matt finally said.
“A Slipknot song, sir. Dead Memories.”.
The group nodded and Arin played again.
He was now all sweaty.
“Thanks dude.”, Brian spoke.
“We will send you an e-mail for you to know if you're selected of not. Is that alright?”, Matt said to Arin.
Arin nodded.
“Okay, so you have to write your e-mail, your number phone, that kind of stuff on this paper and then you're free to go.”, Matt smiled.
The young man did as he was told and made his way back home.
+++++++++++++++++
Two months had passed since that day and Arin was today waiting on his bed. The e-mail would be send before 6 in the afternoon, That's what mad had said to him.
The whole day, Arin had been thinking of his future.
What would he do if A7x wanted him to be their new drummer?
What would he do if A7x didn't want him to be their new drummer?
He pictured himself, on the road with the guys, playing loads of big shows in front of dozens of thousands of fans.
It was scaring and exiting, terrifying and motivating.
6 in the afternoon came and there wasn't any e-mail from the said people.
Arin was disappointed. He knew that his chances were low, but he had this little ball of hope that had kept messing with his thoughts.
Now he had to face the reality.
Why would Avenged Sevenfold want a stupid and random man like him to replace the giant Jimmy Sullivan?
How could he imagine being the right guy to do that?
Why did he dare go to that casting?
Tears of frustrations came rolling down Arin's eyes.
He didn't get any sleep that night, his nightmares came back.
He took his breakfast at 10 p.m. He hadn't spoken to anyone since yesterday. He still didn't want to. He wanted to be alone, ashamed and disappointed.
He gasped and made his way to his bedroom to grab some clothes. He opened his closet and saw his Avenged Sevenfold shirt. He grabbed it violently and threw it at the opposite side of the room.
“ And the scars remind me that the past is real…” Arin frowned as his phone went off.
“Hello?”, he said unsure.
“ Hi. Arin, right?”, a deep male voice said.
“Yes… Who are you?”
“Yeah sorry, I should have started with this. I'm M.Shad … shit, Matt Sanders from Avenged Sevenfold and I wanted to talk with you if you're okay with that…”
Arin's eyes went wide. The singer of Avenged Fucking Sevenfold was calling him!!! The singer of Avenged Fucking Sevenfold wanted to talk to him!!!
“Arin?”
“Uh, yeah sure.”
“Okay, so, first… I have, well we have the pleasure to announce you that you were very impressive during the casting and we were thinking of… you know, just hanging with you a bit to see if we can get along and stuff. And then if you're totally okay with the fact of being our new drummer, then we'll have an appointment with our producers and managers…”
Arin cried. But it was tears of joy this time.
He finally did it. He had his revenge.
♠ ♠ ♠
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