If You Tell Me to Stay, I Will Stay Right Through

Natalie’s POV

A week after my argument with Matt, I was still feeling empty inside. I knew that I made the right decision. I wished I could just ignore everything and run back into his arms, but I was tired of all the games. I kept trying to forget he had said those three words to me, they just couldn’t be true.

Zacky and I were closer than ever and I knew that if I wanted to I could confide in him and get it all out but at the same time Matt was like his brother and I would never want to put him in a situation where he felt like he had to choose.

Also, I had received another threat from my personal stalker. This time he had made a bolder move.

At the show precisely after the day I argued with Matt, Psycho had managed to get on the bus and leave me a little present inside of my bunk. I had questioned the bus driver hoping he had an answer but he didn’t. I made him swear he wouldn’t tell anyone about our conversation.

How Psycho had managed to get on the bus was beyond me and my head hurt from thinking of all the possibilities. The bus remained locked at all times. Unless someone forgot to lock it. I don’t know.

Luckily, I had been the one to find it and no one else. I decided to keep this to myself. I didn’t want anyone else involved in it anymore.

Before the show that day, I had to make a quick run to the bus because Zacky had forgotten his stage jacket that he just HAD to have. While I was there, I went to grab my charger out of my bunk and that was when I found a memorial. The kind of memorial handed out to people who attended a funeral.

In this case, the funeral was mine. A picture of me was printed on the front with bold letters below it, “IN MEMORY OF NATALIE BAUER.” The inside contained two dates, “May 8, 1990-November 13, 2014.” One of them was obviously my birthday, the other…my death date.

Which was five days from now.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to tell anyone because it was probably an empty threat. Plus, knowing the guys, they would get way too involved and if this turned out bad I didn’t want anyone getting hurt.

I felt bad because I had promised not to lie to Matt. But then again, I didn’t owe him anything anymore.

“What’s on your mind beautiful?” Zacky interrupted my thoughts as he scooted in beside me in the kitchenette area.

“Nothing,” I answered…a little too quickly. That was another thing, I sucked at lying to the people I care about.

Zacky arched an eyebrow, “Uh huh….”

I could see him studying the side of my face as I tried to pretend I was gazing out at the scenery.

“Nat, you know what I can’t stand?” Zacky asked.

I turned to face him, “No Zacky, what is it that you can’t stand?”

He didn’t answer me right away and instead looked past me out the window. He squinted his eyes as if trying to find the right words.

Finally he muttered, “Liars. I can’t stand liars.”

My heart hammered against my chest. Where was he going with this? My head throbbed as my guilty conscience came up with different ways he could’ve found out about the memorial.

I cleared my throat nervously, “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if you know this, but I was married before,” he admitted lowly.

Wow, this was news to me. “You were?”

He nodded, “Yeah to the love of my life. But she lied to me. She cheated on me. The day I found out, I swore to myself that I would never give a second chance to anyone who betrayed my trust.

Liars don’t deserve second chances Natalie but I know you’re not a liar. So, right now, what you’re hiding….this is your only chance to tell me.”

He sat up straight with a grim look on his face.

I knew I had to tell him. I had no other choice. If I lied and he found out later then he would hate me. Or there was the possibility that he already knew and he would hate me even more.

I sighed and ran a hand through my straight hair.

“Remember when you asked me to get your jacket out of the bus?”

He nodded.

“Well I came and grabbed it then headed to my bunk to grab my charger and found something disturbing in there,” I reached behind me to pull the memorial out of my back pocket, but it wasn’t there.

“Looking for this?” Zacky asked as he pulled it out of his own pocket.

“How did you-“

“You dropped it,” he answered.

“How long have you known?” I could hear my heart thumping loudly in my ears.

“Since today. I’m still pissed that you didn’t tell me,” he said shaking his head. “This isn’t a fucking joke. Wait until Matt finds out-“

“NO. You can’t tell him Zack,” I quickly interrupted him. His head snapped towards me, anger was evident across his usually kind features.

“And why the hell not?” He asked angrily.

“Because this is my problem. I don’t owe him any explanations anyway,” I said sternly.

“I don’t give a fuck. I’m not going to LIE. Hiding something is the same thing as lying,” he argued back.

“I don’t want to involve anyone else Zack. Don’t you get it? It would put everyone else in danger,” I said softly.

Despite my soft voice, Zack didn’t feel the need to soften up, “I’m telling him Natalie.” And with that he stood and angrily stomped back to his bunk.

The next day, everyone knew about it. Matt shot me worried glances every fucking second and I was so pissed at Zack for telling everyone. He wasn't really talking to me either though.

As we sat around the dressing room of the venue, I announced that I had a few phone calls to make.

As soon as I stood, Jason did the same. I figured he was going to head to the stage, but to my surprise he followed me outside.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“Smoking,” He said as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

“Right,” I said as I walked off a little to call Larry and give him some updates.

“Hey Jason!” I heard one of the Papa Roach roadies call him over.

Jason glanced at me before heading over to him.

It was obvious that it was now Jason’s job to babysit me. He stared at me from afar and it pissed me off. I turned a corner to avoid his stare and pulled out my phone.

I felt something hard push into my back. “Don’t scream or I’ll shoot,” a voice growled into my ear.

My phone fell to the ground, the screen had large visible cracks.

I nodded slowly. A million things ran through my head. I could take a chance and run but then Jason and whoever else would be put in danger.

“What do you want?” I asked quietly. I tried to turn and face him but he quickly pushed my shoulder so that I couldn’t turn around.

“For you to shut up and walk,” he said angrily and pushed the gun harder into my back. He was stupid for this. Security had to be around here somewhere. My eyes quickly scanned the area. They just had to be.

My heart sank as I realized security was nowhere to be seen. I could see a van parked along the side of the street. He was kidnapping me. I couldn’t let this happen. I needed to think of something quick.

Where was Jason? Why had I been so fucking stupid?

This had to end now. I had no other choice but to do this. I inhaled as much air as I could and then I let out the loudest high-pitched scream of my life.

“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!” He growled angrily as he held onto my hair. I tried to scramble out of his grasp and continued screaming until I caught sight of Jason running towards us yelling something I couldn’t quite make out. Sharp pain on the back of my head made me lose my breath. My body fell limp, but I was aware of my kidnappers strong hand holding on tightly to my arm as he muttered angry curse words.

Matt. I needed Matt. My eyes felt heavy. I was so tired, so sleepy.

Then I felt another sudden sharp pain on the back of my head and everything slowly started fading into darkness.