You Have My Attention

A whistling by my ear made my body jerk as a bullet flew by my head, narrowly missing me and making me let out a choked scream as I scrambled around the corner of the street. I ran as fast as I could, the pizza I was holding long forgotten and dropped up the street as I full out sprinted away from the store, trying to ignore the burning pain in my sides.

I heard the shrill police sirens before I saw the cars and silently thanked God that the blue and white vehicles that were now hurtling down the road were on their way to the store. I just hoped they’d get there before anyone got hurt by that maniac.

The maniac that looked like my father…

Everything was hurting, my heart was racing, my mind was reeling and my eyes were stinging from forming tears; I’d never been gladder to see the Black Veil Brides tour bus in my life.

Throwing the door open, I pulled myself inside, shutting it hard behind me and looking around, only to be met with Ashley’s cold glare.

“Do you wanna not slam our bus door? And where’s our stuff? We sent you out with a list and you come back with nothing?” I ignored Ashley’s sharp tone and fell back against the door, sliding to the ground and letting the tears that had been blurring my vision fall; I couldn’t be bothered to even try to hold it together anymore.

“Lukass?!” CC exclaimed, cutting over the top of Ashley’s grumbling – which subsided when he saw the state I was in.

Andy and CC were the first over, their hands gently clasping at my arms and hands as they crouched beside me.

“Lukass? Lukass what’s wrong?” CC asked, concern in his voice as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to his chest, while Andy gently rubbed my back. Through blurry eyes, I saw Ashley still standing nearby, no longer scowling but hardly looking like he cared. Alerted to the commotion by CC and Andy’s frantic questioning about my well being, Jinxx and Jake soon joined us, the two of them also crouching on the floor by me. In my borderline distraught state, all I could do was clutch at the back of CC’s shirt as he held me tightly.

“Come on, over here” CC cooed gently as he and the others – bar Ashley - helped me to my feet and led me over to one of the couches, where CC sat down before settling me in his lap. Andy sat on one side of CC while Jake sat on the other with Jinxx behind him. Strolling in casually, Ashley sat himself down on the other couch and stretched out on it, watching us disinterestedly.

“What’s wrong, Lukass? Why are you crying?” Jake asked, placing a hand on my arm.

“I-I- I was at a little store getting your stuff, and I was, like, practically climbing into this... fucking massive freezer to get pizza and-and when I looked up everyone was all-all silent and then I saw this guy with-with a g-g-un by the register and he wanted the money an-and I panicked and headed for-for the exit but he turned around and s-started yelling at me-e and I-I didn’t k-know and, and-” I started to choke on my words and stumble over my sentences before giving up completely as the guys gasped and started trying to comfort me. Even Ashley lifted an eyebrow – he obviously hadn’t expected me to say that.

When I felt like I could continue, I started to talk again, gaining the full attention of Jake, Andy, CC and Jinxx and apparently half of Ashley’s.

“I said something stupid and I started to run because he turned the gun to me and as I d-did he shot it and it only just missed me a-and and the worst thing is, I don’t think it was a stranger either…” I practically whispered, the words making my stomach twist unpleasantly as that feeling of having a sinking pit inside of me returned. “He looked just like my dad – the man who was yelling at me the first night I met you guys… I don’t know for certain if it’s him, but I do know for certain that I need to know certain… if that makes any sense” the tiniest of smiles played on my lips as I said the last bit, though I know it didn’t reach my eyes.

“We could see if there’s anything on the news about it? I’m sure there will be for something like that and they might have a picture you can properly look at or give a name, so then you could be certain whether he is or isn’t?” Jinxx suggested, earning nods from the others and myself; it was a good idea.

Jake reached for the TV remote and started flicking through the news channels, looking for anything related. When he changed to the fourth channel, I told him to stop; they were showing a picture of the store the robbery / shooting was held at.

“That’s the store it happened at” I told them, even though they’d probably all worked that out by now. I quietened as a news reporter started to talk about the incident, and we listened to what he was saying with rapt attention in case he said anything that could help me identify the man.

“The incident took place less than an hour ago. The currently unidentified male has now been detained by police with substantial evidence to make an arrest. Though usually police would urge each and every witness to come forward, it has been stated that will not be necessary at this time as CCTV evidence and hostages still in the store once police arrived and dealt with the incident have been confirmed to be enough to put this man behind bars. It has been said by hostages that one man was shot at as he tried to flee the scene but thankfully was not hurt; I think we actually have footage?” The man reported before his co reporter took over and introduced a CCTV video from the scene – the video of the man trying to shoot me.

CC’s arms tightened almost protectively around me as the footage started to play, showing me running from the scene and narrowly avoiding the bullet. The shrill screams of the other hostages made me shudder as the awful moment replayed in my head.

Just as we’d wanted, they zoomed in on the man’s face from the footage, but – because of how far back the camera was – the digitally zoomed image was too blurred for me to be able to properly identify the man. They hadn’t given a name either, they’d just said unidentified male, which was no help to me.

“Fucking hell, Lukass” Andy breathed, his jaw dropped. Looking around, I saw that the others all had similar expressions, even Ashley, who’d looked nothing but uninterested since I’d come in.

“Well, at least the police have detained him and they’ve got enough evidence to charge him and lock him up, so that’s good” Jinxx commented, trying to point out the few positives in a situation full of negatives.

“Yeah, but I still don’t know if it’s my dad or not…” I nuzzled into CC’s shoulder without a second thought; I loved being close to him and I wanted the comfort, so damn it, I was going to nuzzle him if I wanted.

“Don’t stress, ‘Kass, relax. How about we hang out and chill for today? Bet I know how to make you feel better” CC suggested, which was too good a joke opportunity for me to pass up, even if I was still upset.

“Do you now, CC?” I said in my creepy seductive voice, stroking his arm.

“Oo er!”

“Shut it, Jake! And I was going to say ice cream, actually!” CC chuckled, sticking his tongue out at me and making Ashley roll his eyes – an action I only saw because he drew my attention to him just before doing that by huffing in distain.

Choosing to ignore him, I smiled at CC and nodded, before remembering something.

“Do I still have to go get the shopping?” I asked, earning smiles from them and a chuckle from Andy.
“No, Lukass, it’s fine, we’ll get them later, you just chill with C”.

I barely caught the ‘we don’t pay him to fucking slack off while we do the work ourselves’ the Ashley mumbled under his breath, but I did and apparently, so did CC.

“Shut the fuck up, Ashley” he glared, something I’d never seen CC – who was usually all smiles and laughter – do.

“Whatever” was all he got in response.

The next few hours, I spent with CC – eating the previously suggested ice cream and going to see a movie at a nearby cinema. It was perfect, if you ask me, almost like a date.

Of course, I know it was just friendly, but still, I could hope and dream.

Whenever I did get a moment to myself to think though - like when I went to the bathroom - thoughts were whirling through my mind at a speed I almost couldn’t keep up with, and by the time we started to head home, I had a plan for tonight.

A plan that would reveal to me whether or not the man was my father.