Take One Last Breath

..::Bam’s POV::..

I drug Kori’s duffle bag through the parking lot and towards the Airport check-in, since Novak and Dunn couldn’t do it anymore. I swear, Kori stuffed an elephant or some shit in the bag, and sometimes, I even thought I felt it move, or grunt. Wait…bags didn’t grunt. I dropped the top of it, then went to open it to see just what she had in here. Kori was next to me, trying to hold in laughter, which scared me a bit. She could have stuffed anything into this bag. I opened the top to see a head, and then jumped back.

“You brought a dead body,” I whispered harshly at her.

“No, dumbass, it’s Hanna,” she clarified, and I almost felt tears pooling in my eyes.

“Oh my fucking god, you killed Hanna?” I know she was generous about throwing out death threats, but I never thought she’d actually kill somebody. She sighed heavily before rolling her eyes and walking over to the bag. She pushed the tops down, and slapped Hanna’s face. He came to, and I nearly tackled him with joy. He looked around until it was like a realization hit him. He jumped up and looked at me, pointing a shaky finger at me.

“You have to take me,” he ordered, and my hand went to my face.

“Oh my fucking god,” I muttered. I drug the hand down my face and looked back at him.

“Why,” I asked, and he grabbed Kori, pulling her into a death hug.

“Because, my parents want me to join them in death, I mean dinner, and I can’t do it alone, man. I don’t wanna be in the same country if they’re expecting me. Come on,” he begged, and I almost laughed at the site. You would almost think that Hanna had a thing for Kori, which made me laugh slightly.

“Alright, Hanna, you can come,” I said, pulling out my credit card. I’d have to buy another ticket for him. He squealed once I told him he could come, and jumped around with Kori happily. Never mind that thing about him liking Kori, he was gay. I walked over to the check in, bought another plane ticket, and got the actual tickets for the guys, Kori, and me, “Thanks,” I said to the lady after she took our bags, and we headed towards the plane.

“So how long is this flight gonna be?” Kori asked, and I shrugged, not knowing exactly how long it would be.

“Well, we’ll get there by late at night. That’s the soonest. We have a stop in England for gas and shit, then over to Finland to find fucking Austin. Man I’m gonna kill her,” I said, shaking my head. I almost went in to hold Kori’s hand, and then thought better of it. We continued to walk towards security, and I was almost scared that Novak, Hanna, or Dunn would have something that would get us arrested. Surprisingly, we got through quickly and perfectly fine. It was the waiting in the terminal that was chaotic. The three fucking stooges had bought a bunch of muffins and were tossing them at each other. Security had to come and break that flight apart.

Kori came and sat down next to me, “So where will we be staying? Hotel?” she grinned, and I knew what was going through her mind.

“I thought I told you we’d be staying with my friend, Ville. He’s the singer from HIM, etcetera. His house is relatively big, and has a lot of room that we can stay in. We might have to do the whole sneaking thing for a couple more days,” I told her, and she frowned slightly before nodding.

“I like the whole sneaking around thing. Gives it a bit of an edge,” she said thoughtfully.

“Now boarding for flight 435,” the attendant spoke from the entrance to the plane.

“That’s us,” I said, getting up, and helping Kori up in the process. We lined up with our carry-ons, and starting boarding the plane. Kori and I got separated from the three guys as we went to the front for first class. As we sat down, she looked around, then back at me.

“Where’s Novak, Dunn, and Hanna?” She asked, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

“Are you kidding? I got shitheads one, two, and three seats at the back of the plane, because I knew it’d bother them if we got seats up here,” I smirked evilly. She rolled her eyes playfully before she got comfortable in the large beige seat.

“Bam, this is really fancy,” she said, looking around, and I snorted.

“I fucking know, right? Better than sitting back there and possibly getting happy tackled by fans or something. Once a girl punched Missy in the face because she was married to me,” I said, now thinking back to that memory and laughing.

“I’m actually really sorry I missed that,” she admitted with a small chuckle. I weaved my fingers in with hers, and smiled at her, giving her hand a slight squeeze.

“Now we don’t have to hide crap from these people,” I told her, and she smiled in return.

..::Austin’s POV::..

Mine and Ville’s relationship was strained. I was having hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, and episodes. Ville was taking care of me, though. Well, it had been only a day since he forced me to stop using the drugs I had been taking. I had cried, begged, kicked, and screamed. I think I slapped him once, but that had been an accident. He still wouldn’t budge, and he hadn’t given up on me yet, either.

I sat in the corner of our bedroom, hiding from the clown that was chasing me around the house with an axe. I clung to the wall, scared that he would find me. Ville was out getting groceries, and I was surprised he left me here. I walked out of the house once in order to leave, but the streets were filled with talking cars. Now here I was, trying to save my own life from this damned clown.

“Austine?” Ville called out, and I sighed with relief. I got up, and walked towards the door leading to the hallway. I thought I was walking out to Ville, but it was actually the clown, he just had Ville’s voice. I screamed, and ran into the bathroom, locking it. I huddled up in the tub, wishing he would go away and terrorize somebody else, “Austine what are you doing in the bathroom. It’s only me, Ville,” he said. I hugged my knees to my chest, not trusting the voice anymore. I heard the door being kicked in, so I squeezed my eyes shut for the impact of the clowns axe to my neck. Instead, I was lifted from under my knees and back, and looked up to see it really was Ville.

“There’s a clown with and an axe. He has your voice, and he’s out to kill me,” I said, squeezing the tears from my eyes. He lay me on the bed, and then cradled my face with his palm.

“That’s just the side effects from your withdrawal, Austin. Can’t you see how those drugs fucked you up?” He said, his voice calm and caring.

“I thought we had a deal,” I seethed, but not out of anger.

“We did. But it stopped when I started caring for you. Watching you hurt yourself like this is killing me,” he said, and I shook my head.

“You don’t have to be the good guy,” I hissed, swatting his hand away, causing him to purse his lips.

“I want to be, though. I do really like you, and I don’t like seeing you like this.

“Just stop. Can’t you just let me go back to what I was doing?” I begged again.

“Do I need to institutionalize you, Austine?” He threatened, and my eyes grew wide.

“You wouldn’t,” I challenged. I’ve been in rehab once. It was a rather strict facility.

“I would. Don’t think I’m against it. At this rate, you’re giving me little to no choice,” he said, and I shook my head ferociously.

“You can’t. I can’t go back to one of those places,” I said, and he came down, kissing me on the forehead.

“And I won’t. Like I said, I want to help you. You need to let me,” he said, then rested his forehead on my own, and looked at me in the eyes, “Can you let me?” he asked, and I slowly nodded my head. He softly pecked me on the lips, and then stood up, “You need to eat. Come on, I’ll fix you food.” He grabbed my hand, and I got up slowly.

..::Ville’s POV::..

I tucked Austin up before I left the house. She had fallen asleep, and I still had to go get Bam and his friends. They were going to be staying with me for a few days in Helsinki. Something about finding a girl. I pushed the reason to the back of my mind since I was barely concerned, but I was happy to see my friend. I got in my car, backing out from the driveway. It was a Hummer similar to Bam’s, and according to him, I would need it once I picked them up. The drive to the airport wasn’t long at all, and I only hoped that he didn’t bring Missy. She annoyed me quite a bit. I parked the car in the waiting area as I looked out for him. I got out, and stood against the large black vehicle until I saw him, Novak, Dunn, Hanna, and a girl I didn’t recognize. They all looked exhausted.

“Just, just get us to your house so I can pass out, man,” Bam said as he took his luggage to the back of the car. I opened the trunk for him.

“Nice to see you too, Bam,” I laughed, and he shot daggers at me. I helped with the rest of the luggage as everybody else got into the car. I slammed the door shut, and walked back to the drivers’ seat. As I got in, I looked around to see everybody was already passed out, causing me to laugh. I turned the radio off to let them sleep as I drove us to my house.

..::Austin’s POV::..

I woke up, erupting in a large yawn, stretching my arms and legs. Ville was snoring soundly next to me, and I rolled over, playing with his hair. I didn’t feel groggy this morning, but I still had the feeling I needed to throw up. I would have to get healthy again. I quickly got out of bed, and walked into the shower, only hoping the clown wouldn’t reappear. As I finished, I turned the water off, and wrapped a large white towel around me, and walked around the room to the closet, which held some of my clothes. I grabbed a random pair of jeans, along with a shirt, and walked to the dresser where my undergarments were. I dropped the towel, and quickly got dressed.

“You’re up early,” I heard Ville behind me, and I smiled before turning around and throwing the towel at him.

“Day one of getting my life back on track,” I smiled, and he returned one. He got out of bed, only wearing a pair of flannel pajama bottoms. He searched around for a shirt.

“We should go see how my guests are doing,” he suggested, and I nodded, brushing my hair out with my fingers. There was noise coming from downstairs in the kitchen, “Looks like they’re starting on breakfast, already,” he told me as we started down the stairs, “they do this every visit. They come, and as a joke, try to make breakfast, but just make this large mess,” He smirked, and I shook my head as I smiled. I followed closely behind Ville towards the kitchen, ready to meet his friends.

Instead, I walked in to see Bam, Dunn, Hanna, Novak, and Kori throwing pancake batter around the kitchen.

“Morning,” Ville chirped, and I went to dive behind the archway so they wouldn’t see me. Instead, I was frozen in my tracks, and they were all facing me, their eyes wide.

©Shannon.