We're Not to Blame for Seeing Love Is Pain.

Everyone held their breaths. “Kimberley didn’t make it. I’m very sorry.” The statement struck everyone with silence. Matt looked at the doctor in disbelief. He had to admit, somewhere he was relieved it wasn’t Brian or Arin. But still.. Kim was the last person on earth who deserved such thing. She was also new to the Avenged family, but everyone liked her from the second they’d met her. Kim was a cheerful girl, always willing to help anyone with anything. Literally everyone liked her. He shook his head in disbelief. “How? How did it happen?” It was Lacey who spoke up this time. The doctor sighed. “If this can help, the accident wasn’t their fault. A drunk driver ignored a red stoplight. He hit their car full frontal in their left side, where Kimberley and Brian were sitting. The driver dragged their car further until it crashed into a street lantern. The glass of the window on Kimberley’s side broke and hit her in the face. The entire left side of her body was.. She was.. She was barely unrecognizable. There was nothing we could do for her.” The doctor whispered the last sentences. Matt could feel his breakfast coming up already. Barely unrecognizable. He could only imagine what that would have looked like. He locked an arm around Valary’s waist, pulling her closer to him. Once again life had shown him that death was merciless and that he had to cherish the ones he loved while he still could.

“What about Brian and Arin? Where are they?” Johnny didn’t look at the doctor when he asked it. His gaze was fixed on some none existing point in the distance. “Brian is unconscious, but we did some test and we believe that he’ll wake up soon. He’s stable and that’s quite a miracle. His ribs were as good as.. Shattered. He has a bad concussion on the side of his head, but there’s no brain damage, so that’s positive. Arin is in surgery right now. And he also had a miracle. His arm was fractured in two different places, it got stuck between the door of the car and his seat. He was very lucky, it could’ve been ripped off. The surgery will take a while since the fractures are pretty complex, but he’ll live. And his back was bad, too. A lot of glass got stuck in it so that required a lot of stitches.” Nobody really reacted to it, everyone just stared in disbelief. Seems like a miracle did happen. They could’ve easily lost all three of them. Or their wounds could have been a lot worse. Since no one reacted, doctor Green spoke up again. “If you would like to, you could see Brian right now.” Matt shot up from his thoughts and gave the doctor a weak smile. “Yeah, please.” The doctor nodded and led them through the hallways. They followed like lost puppies and Matt felt his heart sink when he read one of the signs they were following. Intensive care. He thought Brian was stable? Doctor Green noticed Matt’s worried expression. “He’s just here for observation while he’s in a unconscious state. Once he wakes up, we’ll bring him to a normal room.” But it didn’t calm Matt down. Who said that Brian actually would wake up? Maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe the tests were wrong. Maybe he did have brain damage. Maybe, maybe, maybe.. For fuck’s sake Matt, get your head straight. The doctors know what they’re doing and Brian is a strong guy. He’ll make it. He couldn’t help but sigh out loud. The voice was right, he should give the doctors some credit.

“Here we are. I’ll leave you alone now.” Green left with a sympathetic smile. For a while the six of them just stood there, gazing at the door. Was this really a good idea? Zacky and Johnny looked at each other, as if they were asking each other without words to do it. Eventually Valary opened the door, sick of the waiting. She walked inside very slowly, surprised by how dark the room was. All the curtains were closed and only one lamp was lighting up the room. Everyone followed after her and Zacky closed the door behind them. And there was Brian. A lot of bandages covered his entire chest to protect his ribs, to the point where you could barely see his skin. The left side of his head was also covered with some bandage to protect the stitches that were hidden underneath it.His eyes were closed and he actually looked quite peaceful. If it wasn’t for the stitches and bandage, you could just say that he was sleeping. Zacky sighed. “So, what do we do now?” The question remained unanswered for a good five minutes. “We wait. Nothing more.” Matt nodded at Johnny’s response. There was nothing more they could do, they’d heard the doctor. He’ll wake up, soon.

Seconds ticked away. Seconds turned in to minutes. Minutes became hours. Five, to be exact. Not much had changed. Matt was sitting on the ground, Val next to him. She was resting her head on his shoulder, her eyes still fixed on the lifeless guitarist. Matt didn’t look at him anymore. It made him feel desperate and weak. “Shouldn’t he be awake by now?” The words left Zacky’s mouth quite harshly, which Matt could understand. He felt the same. “I think so.” Johnny spoke up. “If he doesn’t wake up.. I don’t even know. And Arin? His surgery should be done by now, too.” He sighed and rested his head against the wall. “Please Bri, don’t do this to us..” Matt muttered it under his breath. Everyone looked away from the bed. It was becoming too much, it just didn’t work. He didn’t wake up. And again the clock went ticking.

It took another two hours before something happened. The doctor came in to tell that Arin’s surgery had been successful, but they couldn’t see him just yet. He was still under narcosis so the doctors kept him in a special room for when he would wake up. No one really reacted, so the doctor just left.

Zacky fell asleep, his head resting in Meaghan’s lap. Johnny was still awake but was staring at the ground, drawing circles on the concrete with his fingertips. Valary had also fallen asleep on Matt’s shoulder and Lacey had done the same, but on Johnny’s shoulder. He was looking at Val when he suddenly heard soft coughing. It was none of them. That’s when Matt saw movement in Brian’s bed. His hands gripped the sheets softly, but his coughing worsened. Matt shot up, waking up Val pretty roughly, but to be honest he didn’t really care. Brian was waking up. He made his way to the side of his bed, and saw his eyes flutter open. “Brian?” His coughing calmed down when he took a few deep breaths.“What..?” He frowned and looked at Matt, a questioning look on his face. “Why am I in a hospital?” God, he sounded so weak. By now Johnny had joined him by the bed and Zacky was waking up. Valary got up, but kept her distance. Matt swallowed. “You had an accident, Bri. Don’t you remember? Arin and Kim were there, too.” It was difficult for him to say her name, remembering they would have to tell Arin when he got back. Brian kept frowning, when he suddenly opened his mouth. He did remember now. And the thing he remembered most, was that awful, awful scream. Right when they noticed the car that was coming at them at an incredibly high speed, Kimberley screamed. It was pure terror and fear. He also remembered that Arin had yelled out loud, but he himself hadn’t made a sound. He tried to avoid the car, swinging to left and trying to make more speed, but it was too late. The red car hit them full in the side. After that, he didn’t remember much.“How are they?” Brian’s eyes looked very worried suddenly, and Matt was afraid to tell it. He knew Brian, the guy would blame himself for Kim’s death. “Well.. Arin just got back from surgery, but is still under narcosis. He nearly lost his arm, it’s a miracle. It’s fractured in two places, so. And Kim..” Matt looked at Zacky and Johnny for help, but both of them looked just as speechless as him. “What about Kim? Is she alright?” Brian tried to sit up, ignoring the pain in his head. “She.. She didn’t make it.” Zacky’s voice was barely a whisper, but yet it sounded so loud. Brian’s face lost all its color. “What do you mean she didn’t make it?” He muttered. Matt bowed his head and took a deep breath. “It wasn’t your fault. A drunk driver hit you guys on the left side and Kimberley got the worst of it. She was dead when the paramedics arrived, there was nothing they could do for her.” He spoke in a soft and soothing tone, but Brian was still in shock. He was the one behind the wheel, he was the one who had to get them safe to Matt’s place. But he failed, and now Kimberley was dead. How was he ever going to make that up to Arin? His mind was already thinking at a speed of one hundred miles an hour, till Matt snapped him out of it. “Hey, whatever you do, don’t blame yourself. The doctor himself said that you could do nothing about it. There was no way you could’ve avoided that car.” I could’ve tried! Hell, I even did. I failed. Brian wanted to yell it, but he knew that it would only make things worse. Or actually, it couldn’t get any worse than this, right?