The Dead Are Living

“Chris, where the fuck are you?” I muttered after throwing my suitcase into the wall. We were going to Warped in almost 3 hours and I had no idea where he was, where we were meeting up, or details of anything else. I regathered my stuff and threw it back into my suitcase. Fuck tour. It’s not like I was going to enjoy this. Playing in the heat and dealing with a bunch of bands who act like your ‘best friend’. I hated it.

“Ricky, calm your fucking tits, I’m here,” shouted Chris as he walked into my apartment.

“How long are we gunna be gone?”

“40 days, Rick, you’ll be okay. I promise,” he said reassuringly as he helped me zip up my overflowing suitcase. I just walked out of the room to make sure I had everything I had needed for the next month or so. “Ricky, are you ready?” asked Chris as he carried my stuff towards the door. I thought real quick and then stopped him.

“Wait Chris, hand me the bag with the bathroom stuff.” He gave me a weird look and handed me a small black bag. I took it and ran into the bathroom and set it down on the counter. I took out a small tin from under the sink that held my razors. Couldn’t go on tour without them, they hadn’t been touched in a while and they shimmered in the light. I carefully slipped them into the bag and left.

“Okay, I’m ready now. Let’s go.” Chris nodded and held the door and I carried everything out and towards the elevator. This was going to be a long tour, I could feel it. When we got downstairs there was a cab waiting with the rest of the band inside. I quickly tossed my stuff in the trunk and hopped in the last seat next to Balz.

“Hey man, how ya doing?” he asked. I just nodded and looked out the window. I was getting extremely anxious and wasn’t in the mood for talking. He patted my leg and continued to play on his phone. The band was pretty understanding of me. They knew when I wasn’t in the mood to talk and they didn’t make me unless, of coarse, it was necessary.

I must have fallen asleep because before I knew it we were at the airport.

“Rick, wake up man, we gotta get on the plane soon.” I looked up at Ang and shut my eyes again. “Come on man, we gotta go, we’re running late,” He voice became more stern.

“Carry me,” I mumbled. He groaned and put his arms around me and pulled me out of the cab. He set me down on my feet as he shut the door. I was then picked up and thrown over his shoulder.

“Ang, make sure you get him fully woken up before you walk in, you probably look like you’re kidnapping him,” laughed Devin. I just yawned and wrapped my arms around Angelo. He looked down at me and chuckled.

“Ricky, you’re gunna have to wake up, we’re almost to the door.”

“No, I’m sleeping the whole way there,” I argued. He sighed and set me down on the curb.

“You can sleep on the plane okay?” I just nodded and looked for Chris, he would carry me. I found Chris and he was asking some woman for directions.

“Hey Chris,” I whispered as I jumped onto his back startling the woman he was talking to. He just gave me a look and kept talking. The woman kept starring at me the whole time so I decided to give her a show. I kissed Chris on the neck a few times and moaned his name. The woman looked mortified. Chris elbowed me in the ribs a few times and let go of me so I fell. I walked away and he began to apologize to the woman.

I chuckled and looked for Ryan. He was sitting in a chair half asleep next to Allie, our merch girl. I walked over and sat down across their laps and tried to fall back asleep. They both groaned and readjusted themselves. I finally had fallen asleep when I was lifted in someone’s arms. I opened my eyes to see Chris. I had nuzzled into him and fell back asleep.

“Ricky, come on. Wake up so you can get on the plane.” I stood up and grabbed my ticket from our tour manager and looked around, we were inline to get on the plane. Did they go security with me sleeping? Is that even allowed? I didn’t question it as I handed a woman my ticket

“Have a nice flight,” she smiled. I nodded at her and walked on looking for my seat. I through a small bag up in the compartment and sat down. I had a terrible fear of planes and there was no way I would be able to fall asleep now. I had pulled out some book I had brought with me, I didn’t even look at the cover, I just opened it and hoped no one would bother me.

Maybe 3 minutes later a guy with longish hair came and sat down in the seat next to me. He look familiar but I wasn’t sure who he was. I had silently prayed to ‘god’ that he wouldn’t talk my ear off the whole flight.

“Hi, my names Kellin, who are you?” he asked as he extended a hand.

“Ricky,” I mumbled and ignored his hand. I looked away and tried to fall asleep. This would be a long flight.