So Long and Goodnight...

The concert had been absolutely amazing.

Even the opening song ...as much as it hurt.

You had spent the whole song in Gerard's arms crying softly while he sang the words softly into your ear.

The lights went back down and there were about five minutes of relative quiet (except for the noise of the restless crowd) as the roadies set up for the main event.

It was enough time for you to calm down.

Gerard had even made you laugh by the time the lights came back on with one of his pointless and ridiculous jokes.

He would always make a complete fool out of himself if it brought even the slightest smile to one of his friends’ faces.

He smiled warmly at you, his dark hazel eyes sparkling like an endless ocean of stars in the soft pale light of the still rising moon.

You smiled brightly back wishing for just one moment that he could feel how much you absolutely adored him.

'Tonight,' you kept telling yourself. 'I'll tell him tonight. God don't let me lose my nerve,' you silently prayed, although you already felt your braveness starting to slip away.

One by one the people in the crowd fell into quiet anticipation.

The noise from the setup team had disappeared and now the stage was cloaked in black silence.

Suddenly Gerard leaned over and whispered something amazing into your ear.

"Happy very late birthday, Helena."

You whipped your head around to stare at him in disbelief.

Totally un-phased he nodded behind and to the other side of you.

You looked and saw everyone in your group smiling at you.

They had all planned this for you!

Before you could even utter a shocked squeal the stage lights blazed back on and there stood the one and only David Michael Draiman.

They had taken you to a Disturbed concert, you realized.

"But... the radio ...the songs," you babbled not understanding how Disturbed could be here ...while doing a live show on the radio from Cleveland, Ohio.

"It was a tape," Ray grinned.

Your jaw dropped open and you stared up dumbfounded and wide-eyed at the man standing on the stage.

You couldn't believe what you were seeing.

He started talking and it was all you could do not to faint on the spot.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS UP," he shouted, the words booming off of every exposed surface in the place.
"ARE YOU READY TO FUCKING ROCK?"

The crowd exploded and hundreds of clenched fists were thrust into the air.

You were screaming and jumping next to Brooke, Autumn, Raven, and yes; even Avril (a.k.a. Mom) was proving that even moms could rock out with the best of them.

The guys were yelling and leaping onto each other starting a chain reaction that got the whole crowd rocking as the guitars and drums pumped out the first notes to the song 'Voices'.

Then David's voice added to the intoxicating downbeat and everyone lost their fucking minds.

Moshing, pushing, shoving, jumping, screaming, crowd surfing (even though it wasn't allowed.)

After the song David called off a security guard who was trying to kick a few kids out for crowd surfing.

"Just let them have their fun for a night. Don't be such a damn party killer. I'm sure you were a kid at one point in your life," David finished with a smirk.

The guard looked utterly pissed and stomped away and you realized with regret that Disturbed would probably never play this venue again but it didn't matter.

They were here now and that was all that counted.

The crowd cheered in admiration.

Good ole' David looking out for his own.

From "Shout 2000" to "Stupify", "Down With The Sickness", "Droppin' Plates", "Ten Thousand Fists", "Land of Confusion", and so many more the concert raged on through the early night hours and it wasn't until the moon was perched high in the sky that David finally bid a fond farewell to his loyal fans.

"You guys were fucking amazing! Thank you so much. We'll be around here again sometime but right now we gotta get outta here. It's been awesome! GOOD NIGHT!"

He tossed everyone the "rock on" sign and walked coolly off stage followed by his band mates and the deafening roar of the crowd.

A few minutes later you all began to follow the crowd out to the parking lot totally lost in the thrill of the concert.

You were so pumped that you couldn't even stand still as you waited for the slow trickle of concert goers to get out of your way, so you jumped in place, not trying to annoy the group of Goths in front of you but succeeding anyway.

'YES!' you thought, triumphantly.

Gerard laughed knowing exactly what you were thinking.

Surprising him a bit and throwing him seriously off guard, you hugged him.

Somehow you knew he was the mastermind behind all this...

Somehow because Ray had pretty much told you.

At the end of the last song as David started saying goodnight and Gerard's eyes were glued to him in admiration, Ray had nudged you and nodded his head toward Gerard.

You got the message as loud and clear as if he had spoken it to you.

'Don't thank any of us. Gerard planned it all.'

You wanted to thank him in so many dirty ways right now.