Dark Will Turn to Light, and in Time I'll Be Alright

The entire room was dead silent as Matt just kind of stood in the doorway awkwardly staring at what I’m sure must be a strange sight. He laughed sarcastically before saying, “C’mon now, Alanna, do you really think I’m that stupid? How could this not be what it looks like?”

I couldn’t help but let my jaw drop at that. He must really be convinced right about now that there is something between me and this douche. “Matt, really why would I –?”

I was interrupted by Syn saying, “You know, you’re right dude, I can’t believe Alanna would even insult you by saying something like that. Looks like you caught us.”

I glared over at him as he smirked at me, closing more space between us to make it seem like he was doing something else to me while still chatting it up with Matt. I am so fed up with everything working out in his favor, hence making me look like a slut who likes anything that walks. In all seriousness, I strained my body so that I could see Matt over Syn’s massive form. I looked at him with tears bordering my eyelids. I can’t take this anymore.

“Matt…” I pleaded. My voice cracked as I felt a lump form in the back of my throat. I’ve never been in such a desperate situation where nothing whatsoever worked out for me. And I don’t want to be in one anymore.

Apparently, it was enough to grasp his attention. He walked forward and in all honesty, I thought he was just going to keep on walking and ignore me – but he didn’t. He pulled Syn off of me to see the chain still wrapped around my neck and attached to our wrists.

“What the fuck is this?” Matt asked, stunned.

Syn shrugged, “Hey, she’s a kinky one. I can’t help it.” Oh hell no, even if that is true, I’m not letting him get away with this.

“That is not what’s going on here, and you know it,” I said slowly, trying to contain myself. “He locked me up in this chain because he misinterpreted something that my mom told him to do. And then he wasn’t very happy with how I was acting so he decided to practically choke me. Who knows what could’ve happened if you didn’t get here…”

Matt just kind of looked like that was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard, which wouldn’t surprise me if it was. “Syn, what the hell man? That’s just messed up. You could’ve hurt her!”

“She deserved it. She was getting on my nerves so I figured that it couldn’t hurt to teach her a little lesson.”

“You were choking her with a god damn chain!”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

I watched as Matt’s eyes just practically bulged out of his sockets. It’s about time he realized how messed up his lead guitarist is. Suddenly, surprising all three of us, Matt raised his fist and slammed it into Syn’s face, sending him stumbling backwards a little bit, causing the chain to tighten a bit around my neck. I was glad that he was further away from me, but now I couldn’t breathe. Instantly, my fingers wrapped between the chain loops and pried them away from myself.

“Oh shit, sorry Alanna,” Matt gasped, running toward me and unwrapping the chain.

Synyster regained his balance and used his free wrist to wipe away the blood that came from his upper lip. “You can’t be serious! You’re going to take that bitch’s side over me?!”

“I don’t have much of a choice here, dude. Do you not see what you’re doing to her? You’re torturing her!”

“Fine, if you believe her side of the story then that’s your choice. All I have to say is that you’re both gonna be sorry.”

He stormed off into the bunks, dragging me along with him. But since I was nowhere near in the mood to sleep, I just sat down on the floor with my chained wrist dangling in the air attached to his. Matt sat down right next to me and held onto my free hand. “Well I guess this kind of proves that you were telling the truth all along then?” he said sheepishly, avoiding eye contact.

“Yeah, I’d say so…”

“I’m really sorry for not believing you in the first place. It’s just I was…well I really liked you and to find you in my bunk sleeping with my best friend, it just kind of pissed me off.”

“So you really did like me all along?” I asked, smiling.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I liked you from the minute I first met you.” I felt the butterflies begin to flutter in my stomach and it was a great feeling. “And I want to make it all up to you,” he continued.

“Well, how do you plan on doing that?” I asked, confused.

“I’ve got a few ideas. Let me just say this…I’ll meet you right in front of your bunk at midnight and I’ll find a way to get you out of that lock at least for now.”

“Hmm, I guess that could be a good thing,” I teased.

The snoring heard above us, indicating that Syn was asleep, only made this all the better because he doesn’t have a clue of what we have planned.

After our brief little heart-to-heart, Matt had to leave again to deal with some stuff at the new venue. All of this nonsense has worn me out finally, and I decided to take a nap as well. Just as I was drifting off into sleep, I felt a sharp tug on my arm, pulling me out of the safe darkness and out onto the ground right on my ass.

“I swear I am gonna hurt somebody,” I growled, shielding my eyes from the sudden piercing light and helping myself back up.

“Oh that’s a good one,” Zacky chuckled. Oh damn, don’t even tell me I’ve been left alone with them two again.

“Hey Zacky, do you wanna hear an even better one? Today Matt stepped in on one of our little playtimes and now he’s taking her side. He even punched me over it all.”

Zacky gasped exaggeratedly and said, “That’s horrible. She’s already getting Matt under her mind control! We should stop this at once.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Syn said happily.

I opened my eyes to see that I was surrounded by them two and they both looked so happy…it was scary. Already, my body had subconsciously begun backing further and further away from them until my back made contact with the wall behind me. “You guys better leave me alone, now,” I said, trying to sound strong but my shaking voice got in the way somewhat.

They both found way too much humor in this situation. Synyster took a step further, closing the space between us and leaning closer to my face. “And what do you think you can possibly do to stop us?” he whispered.

Without even thinking about something remotely smart to say, I only allowed myself to think about Matt and what he may have planned for tonight. Up until today him and I have barely even been on normal speaking terms so I can’t let tonight get ruined by whatever these two chuckleheads plan on doing.

“I-I’ll just stay away from Matt all together so you won’t have to worry about losing your best friend to the likes of me,” I said, gaining my strong voice to ensure that I was serious – even though in all honesty I did have my fingers crossed behind my back.

His eyes flickered at first, showing a sign of distrust, but then he smirked, “Well, I guess I really can’t complain about this. And how about we add a little more to the deal…you have to do what I want you to do for an entire day.”

A day? That can’t be too bad…plus this way I’ll get to see Matt (secretly, of course) and get this shit over with. Otherwise I’ll have to suffer through whatever he had planned previously. “Alright, I…accept.”

Those would be three words that I would truly come to regret.

The rest of the evening consisted of me sitting on an unused amp on the side of the stage with my arms crossed over my chest and a look of annoyance on my face. Of course Synyster couldn’t be attached to me while he jumps all over the stage, so he introduced me to my new best friend “the pole.” Yes, I was handcuffed to a damn pole, forced to sit still and watch their two hour set, which has been essentially the same during this entire tour.

I had planned on many occasions to escape, and I’m sure if I’ve tried hard enough I’d be able to free myself, but then that would just ruin any chance I would have at seeing Matt later tonight. The concert, as I said, was just plain predictable. The guys played the same songs, Matt and Zacky cracked the same jokes, Synyster played in the same over-dramatic manner, and I could call almost every move. Not really how I wanted to spend my Thursday night, let me tell you.

After the show, the guys decided to go out for drinks, setting myself as the unofficial designated driver, which obviously pissed me off to some extent. On the bright side, it wasn’t that hard to get the others drunk enough to the point where they were about ready to leave as soon as we had arrived. Synyster passed out as soon as we made it back to the bus, which was beyond perfect.

I laid in my bunk below his waiting for the ‘signal’ from Matt. After what felt like hours, I heard some noise that sounded like birds chirping. What the hell? It’s like 2 AM…birds should be sleeping…unless is that the signal? I quickly pulled the curtains back from my bunk to see Matt standing there, holding in a laugh as he closes his phone.

“That was the signal?” I whispered.

He shrugged, “Yeah, that was the only non-metal and loud ringtone I had on my phone.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little as I snatched the phone right out of his hands. “What are you doing?” he asked, trying to reach behind my back.

“Oh, nothing,” I replied innocently. “Hey, go undo this damn chain while I just keep your phone safe for you.”

He didn’t necessarily agree with the idea, but continued to do so anyway, pulling a key out of his pocket and releasing me from my chain and attaching it to one of the shelves in my bunk. As he was doing this, I took a few seconds to secretly change Matt’s ringtone to that cute little one with the birdies. Oh, I’m sure he’ll love that one when he finds out…

Matt led me out of the bus, as quietly as possible, and then walked around toward the back. A slight breeze blew around me sending shivers up and down my spine. “A little cold?” he laughed, extending his muscular arm toward me to help me up the ladder leading to the roof.

I rolled my eyes, “Oh yeah only a little. I would’ve been nice if someone told me what he planned for tonight!”

“How about an evening on the roof of this lovely tour bus with me?” he grinned.

“As great of an offer as that sounds, it would’ve been nice to have known that sooner,” I said, snuggling closer to him and welcoming the feeling of warm as he wrapped his arms around me.

We sat in each other’s silence, staring out at the surprisingly vast array of stars in the night sky. I’ve never seen so many stars all at once – it was pretty breath-taking. “So,” I said quietly, “were you serious about what you said earlier…about liking me?”

He moved around a little so that he could turn and face me. “Of course I am. Why else would I say something like that? In fact, I have a question for you too now that you mention it.” He paused before continuing. “Alanna, will you go out with me?”

The biggest smile appeared on my lips as I felt as if for once in my life, things were going perfectly all around. “Yes, of course I will!” I practically shouted, jumping into his lap and wrapping my arms around his neck.

He smiled the cutest smile imaginable, dimples and all, when he heard my response. “Oh that’s gotta be the best thing I’ve heard all day. Now I get to do this…” He leaned forward ever so slightly until our lips nearly brushed up against each other.

I was about to complete the kiss, but the area below my legs gave out and someone tugged at my foot, sending me flying down into the bus with a very harsh landing on my ass again. Confused, I looked around quickly and met up with a traditional Synyster Gates glare.

Oh shit…I think he found out about me and Matt.