For Reasons Unknown

“At last, now, now that I’ve got you face to face, tell me what really happened to you last night.” Abi yelled at Maya literally seconds after she made her way through the front door.

“Hi Abi, nice to see you too.” Maya began sarcastically. “And as I said last night I ended up meeting the band and spending the night on Avenged Sevenfold’s tour bus and they drove me home just now.” She explained.

“Yeah, right, and Brad Pitt spent the night here and has just left.”

“Cool, shall we share our photographic evidence?” Maya said taking out her cell phone.

“No shit! You really met them?” Abi said in disbelief, her eyes widening to the size of saucers.

Maya’s smile widened as she opened up her photos on her cell and passed it to Abi. She chuckled to herself as Abi’s eyes began to bulge out of the sockets as she made her way through the dozen or so photos of Maya and the guys.

“Oh and I’ve also got Synyster Gates’ hat, signed by the man himself!” Maya said taking of the hat and admiring the signature on the rim. Abi snatched it off her, still holding the phone and stared at the rim in awe. She wasn’t a fan but she loved celebrities.

“Oh my god, that is so cool, but how did you end up meeting them? I thought that you were getting a taxi straight after the show?”

“That’s not such a good story.” Maya began her face changing. Abi turned to face her, her eyes widening, her jaw dropping.

“What happened?” she whispered, and Maya began to explain the events of the previous evening, ending up with how she’d had breakfast with them before they drove her home.

“And I guess that I’ll see Matt again if the cops catch the guy and we have to go to court.” Maya explained.

“Oh my God Maya! You sure you’re ok?” Abi asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just one of those things, I’m just grateful for Matt for coming into the alley when he did or god knows what would have happened.” She said solemnly “and at least now I get to go into work later and really piss Kat off with these photos and the hat.” She said cheerfully and Abi laughed as well.

That evening Maya walked into work wearing her new hat and a wide smile.kat had started work an hour earlier so she was already there.

“Hi Maya, did you have a good night last night?” Mike, the bar manager asked as she reached the end of the bar where he was sat.

“Oh my god! Did I? It was fucking amazing!” she said. She looked up to see Kat glaring at her, her eyes almost red with jealousy.

“Check this out” she added taking out her cell and finding the photos taken the night before.

“Oh my god, that’s you with the band!” Mike yelled as she flicked from the ones that she’d taken during the concert to the one of her and The Rev. She began nodding her head vigorously.
“I know!” she yelled excitedly flicking through the photos, glancing up to see Kat’s face. It was now filled with hatred at jealousy making Maya smile more.

“Oh my god, is that you on the tour bus with Synyster Gates?” Mike asked.

“It sure is!” she replied “look he even gave me this when they dropped me off this morning” she said taking off his hat and showing it to Mike.

“Wait? They dropped you off this morning?” Kat yelled, she’d had enough now, this was too much. Maya looked up at her nodding.

“Yeah, I spent the night on the bus, sleeping in Matt’s bunk, opposite Syn, they drove me home this morning, and that’s when Syn gave me his hat which he signed for me.” She explained showing Kat the hat. She snatched it from her grip and studied the rim, her jaw hitting the bar in disbelief.

“Oh my god, you’re such a lucky bitch, I would do anything to spend five minutes with any one of them!” she yelled flinging the hat back at Maya.

“Yeah, I know and they’re such great guys, completely insane, funny, absolutely gorgeous, sexy, such a good laugh – the list is endless.” Maya said totally overdoing it for Kat’s privilege.

“Fucking bitch.” Kat muttered walking back off down the bar in a huff. Mike and Maya laughed as she set the picture of her and the band as her phone’s wallpaper.

“I’ve already put all of these on my laptop; I’ve got the one of me and Syn as my wall paper and printed them off so I can put them in a frame on my bedroom wall.” She explained to Mike.

“What so you can stare at them and fantasise about them when you have your ‘alone time’” he said nudging her smirking.

“Ergh! That’s gross!” she yelled back trying to stop herself from laughing.

Maya worked the entire shift wearing her new hat and telling all her regular customers about meeting the band and hanging out with them and making Kat even more jealous every time she heard the story.

*******

That night, she lay in her bed thinking about exactly how lucky she was. The previous night could have turned out so different. A shiver bolted down her spine when she began to think about what could have happened to her if Matt hadn’t walked into that alley way when he did. She would have been raped for sure. But what would have happened after? Would he of just left her there or would he have beaten or killed her? As she closed her eyes to try to get to sleep images of the man filled her mind and tears filled her eyes.

Maybe this wasn’t going to be as easy to forget as she first thought. Since it had happened her mind had been taken off it by the excitement of meeting Avenged Sevenfold. But now that she was back in reality she’d been forced to think about what had happened to her in the alley way.

That night, and every night for over a week Maya woke up in a cold sweat, crying with the image of that man fresh in her mind. Each night it was the same. She re-lived every second from the moment he approached her for a light until Matt interrupted him. In the dream she could smell him, feel him, just as if she was really there. After a week she decided that she needed some help so she went to the doctors who gave her some sleeping pills and recommended that she had a few sessions with a psychiatrist.

On the morning of her first session just as she was about to make her way to the doctors her mobile started to ring with an unknown number displayed across the screen.

“Hello?” Maya asked

“Ms Kinder?” the woman on the other end asked.

“Speaking.”

“Ms Kinder, its Sergeant Sloan I have some news for you. We believe we’ve caught the man who attacked you.” She said slowly

“Oh my god.” Maya whispered

“Ms Kinder, we need you to come down to the station for an identification parade. How soon can you get here?”

There was a short silence as Maya processed the information. “Um, I’ve got an appointment with a doctor in like half an hour but I can make my way down straight after.” She replied

“Ok. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.” Sergeant Sloan replied and hung up the phone.

A little taken aback, Maya put her cell phone into her pocket and put on her motorcycle helmet.

“So Maya how are you feeling today” Doctor Livingstone asked as they began the session.

“Well um, I’ve been feeling pretty down lately and keep on having the same nightmare.” Maya began

“About the attack?”

“Yeah, every night the same thing, from the moment he approached me, I see him, feel him, and smell him.”

“Do you want to talk me through it?” Maya nodded and took a deep breath before beginning to explain her reoccurring nightmare.

“But I’ve had a bit of good news, once I’ve finished here I’ve gotta go to Bakersfield. They’ve arrested someone and I’ve got to go and pick him out of a line-up.”

“Well, that is good news, which may help you get some closure.”

“Really?”

“Yes, seeing him behind bars, getting justice for what he did to you, you may find that your nightmares become less frequent and will soon stop. Now, that’s today’s session finished, we’ll meet up same time next week.”

Maya sat waiting in a small room in the police station biting her fingernails.

“How you doing Maya?” Sergeant Sloan asked as she walked into the room, closing the door gently behind her.

“A little nervous I guess.”

“It’s going to be ok; I’ll be with you the entire time. We’ll be in a darkened room so you can see the suspects but they can’t see you. There will be six guys in total. You can take as much time as you like. If you see the guy who attacked you tell me what number he is and that’s it.” Maya nodded quietly.

Once in the room Maya and sergeant Sloan stood waiting for the suspects to enter the room behind the glass. She nodded that she was ready and the officer on the other side of the glass opened the door to allow the suspects into the room. They each found their mark and stood facing the glass. Maya recognised the attacker as soon as he walked in through the door. She took a sharp intake of breath as he walked to his spot and she watched him as the others joined him. She glanced along the line just to be sure but there wasn’t one bit of doubt or confusion in her mind.

“Number 3.” She whispered.

“Are you sure?” Maya nodded

“I know its him.” she replied not taking her eyes off him.

“And you’ve taken a good look at them all?”

“Yeah, it’s him, its number three.” She said positively.

“Ok. We have a positive ID on suspect number three.” Sergeant Sloan said through a monitor on the wall. The officer behind the screen nodded and walked over to the guy and ushered him out of the room.

“Ok, now that that’s done I can tell you that that was the guy we had arrested so the next step is to charge him and set a court date. We’re getting there.” She smiled and Maya couldn’t help but smile back. Doctor Livingstone was right, she already felt so much better.

Before leaving the police station she took her phone out to change the profile off silent and noticed that she had two new messages. The first was from Abi asking her where she was.
She hadn’t had the chance to let her know. She replied and went to the second message from an unknown sender.

“So how pissed was your workmate?” Maya stared and re-read the message confused and hit reply.

“Sorry who is this?” She waited a moment for a reply but only got one from Abi so she set off for home.

Maya threw her phone onto the sofa as she took off her biker gear and noticed that there was a new message.

“It’s Brian – Syn Gates. You don’t mind me texting you do you?” A smile immediately burst over Maya’s face as she hit reply.

“Oh hey, yeah she was extremely pissed, still is I think and of course I don’t mind you texting Me. ;)” she hit send and collapsed on the sofa, grabbing the TV remote smiling broadly.

Before she could change the channel her message tone sounded again.

“Good. So how’ve you been?”

“Actually not too bad, I’ve been having a rough time of it lately but today I got a call and I’ve just got back from the police station where I picked the guy out of a ID parade. He’s being charged.”

As she channel hopped her phone’s message tone began to ring again.

“That’s great news. So can Matt expect to get news for a court date? What’s been giving you a rough time?”

“Yeah, it won’t be too long now, um, I’ve been having nightmares and have to see a psychiatrist, but I’m getting better.” Maya hesitated for a second before pressing the send button.

“Hey, you’re back, so what exactly happened.” Abi said as she walked in through the door. As she explained about the psychiatrist and the ID parade another message came through. An uncontrollable smile appeared across her face again as she read the message.

“You’re going to be fine, if you ever need to talk don’t hesitate to call me. Whenever. ;)”

“Who’s put a smile on your face?” Abi asked leaning across to try and see who’d sent her the message.

“Oh, only Syn Gates.” She said calmly typing out her reply –“thanks that mean a lot. ;) txt me again soon ;)”

“Syn Gates? What the fuck? How come he’s texting you?” Abi yelled as Maya finally got round to saving his number. She explained that he probably saved her number after she’d used his phone to find hers.

“Oh my god! He so likes you! You could so get into his pants if you wanted to.” Abi cried out excitedly.

“Do you think?” Maya asked

“Hell yeah! Go for it girl!” Abi laughed.