One-Shots

Today was the day that I was finally going to see my heroes: Black Veil Brides. I had been in love with their music for the longest time. I had saved up enough money from my job that I wasn’t spending on keeping food in my small apartment to see them. It was odd that even though I was excited to see them, I was incredibly nervous at the same time. I was never good with social situations, so the thought of being in a large crowd of people by myself made me cringe. I was just going to have to try my best to be somewhat normal.

I went into my cramped bathroom and got ready. I took a quick shower, making sure to preserve my nearly depleted supply of hot water. I got out and blow-dried my hair and straightened it, making my brown and black, layered hair look a bit more polished than my usual bun. I lined my brown eyes with black eyeliner. I put on some vamp red lipstick and went into my closet to pick out an outfit.

I bit my lip trying to decide what to wear. I didn’t want to look skimpy, but I wanted to look nice. I shuffled through my things and decided on a pair of ripped, black leggings, a black and red, baby-doll dress and a pair of my favourite red combat boots. I looked in my mirror and smiled at my image. I generally hated how I looked, but today I actually looked nice. Except for my visible scars lining the insides of my wrists.

I hated looking at them. I hated that they would never go away and I hated that even though I hated the sight of them, I couldn’t stop making them. I had tried multiple times to stop, but I could never find a good enough reason to. Self-harming seemed to be the only thing that made me feel anything besides empty, well that and Black Veil Brides. That was why I needed to see them. Maybe then I’d find something in them that would make me stop so I could move on with my life and find a way of life beyond the incessant need to hurt myself.

I walked out of my apartment and got into my old truck. I blasted the new Black Veil Brides record and sang, well, more like yelled along to the music. It was freeing to drive, playing great music. It made me forget all the crap that I was dealing with and for a little bit, I felt okay. Until I pulled up to the venue and saw the long line of Black Veil Brides fans. I parked the car and slowly made my way to the back of the line, trying to ignore anyone that looked my way. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to go unnoticed.

“Hey,” some random girl said to me.

“H-Hey,” I stuttered back. I looked her over. She must have been about eighteen. She had dark purple hair and was wearing a Black Veil Brides t-shirt from Warped Tour a couple years back.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“K-Kate. What’s yours?”

“Kris. So, you came here to see BVB?”

“Yeah.”

“Whose your favourite member?” she asked.

“Ashley,” I responded without hesitation. There was just something about him. Maybe it was that he was physically attractive or that he had this bad-boy thing. I loved adventure and he just seemed so…well, adventurous.

“Cool! Maybe you’ll get to meet him!”

“Maybe…”

I chatted with this Kris girl for about an hour. I was able to talk to her, surprisingly. She seemed like a really nice girl, and she actually listened to what I had to say. Generally, when people talked to me, they only wanted to hear themselves talk.

“Oh my god!” someone squealed.

I whipped my head around to see Ashley walking past the crowd. As he passed me, our eyes connected. The whole world seemed to stop for a minute or two. Ashley’s face looked surprised when he was me as if he was feeling the same thing I was.I wanted to say something, but no words could escape my mouth. He kept walking, but he turned his head back around a few times and looked at me.

I shook myself out of my little trance and finally got inside. There were a lot of people already crowded around the stage and my breathing started getting quicker and shallower.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kris asked me.

“I’m just not good with crowds.”

“Stick with me and you’ll be okay,” she said.

I gave her an appreciative smile and she led me into the crowd. She managed to shove us up to the barrier, which I was thankful for. At least I would have something to keep me standing straight and this way I would have a better view of Ashley.

The opening acts came and went and they were okay, but I was eagerly awaiting seeing Ashley again. The guys filed on stage and I beamed when I saw Ashley. He looked into the crowd as if he was searching for somebody, but when he looked at me, he stopped. A slight smirk graced his lips and I felt a bubbling feeling inside. Ashley leaned over the stage and said something to the security guard, but I couldn’t hearover the screaming fans. The guard approached me, while Ashley watched closely.

“Excuse me, miss, but Mr. Purdy wants me to escort you backstage,” he said.

My mouth dropped and my brain froze. Should I say yes or no? If I said yes, then I would have to converse with Ashley later, which meant actually speaking which I wasn’t very good at. I could make a total fool out of myself, but if I said no then I could just get on with my evening and revel in the fact that Ashley actually noticed me.

“Say yes!” Kris said to me.

“Um…o-okay. How do I get over this barrier?” I asked.

The security guard grabbed my waist and lifted me over the barrier with ease.

“Follow me,” he said.

I complied and followed him up the side stage steps. I felt Ashley’s eyes on me and I blushed. It was so odd to be paid attention to. I didn’t know whether I loved it or hated it.
I watched Black Veil Brides perform and I must say that it was much nicer enjoying the performance backstage where I wasn’t surrounded by sweaty people.

The guys finished their performance and my heart pounded against my chest as Ashley came backstage. He just stared at me and I was too stunned to say anything.

“Hello, I’m Ashley,” he finally said.

“I-I’m Kate,” I responded.

“I saw you in line earlier and I sort of felt something.”

“I know what you mean,” I breathed, “but, why me?”

“I honestly don’t know. You just seemed so sad, and I just felt like I needed to be the one to make you happy.”

“That’s a harder job than you think,” I laughed.

“How so?” he asked, genuinely curious.

I flipped over my forearms, showing him my dirty, little habit.

He grazed his fingers over the white and red lines.

“You’re too beautiful to do this to yourself and you are too kind to be this sad,” he whispered.

Tears formed in my eyes and I quickly wiped some away. No one had ever told me I was beautiful and no one had ever told me that I shouldn’t cut myself.

“Hey, look at me,” Ashley said, grabbing my face.

I looked straight at his dark brown eyes and found myself getting lost in them.

“You are going to be okay. I will make you okay. You don’t have to be hurting anymore. I promise you that things will get better.”

He leaned in a pressed his lips to mine. I instinctively kissed back and I felt his lips curl into a smile against mine. We eventually parted and he just stared at me with kind eyes.

“How about I take you out tonight,” he suggested.

“Like something adventurous?”

“Oh, definitely.”

I bit my lip. Adventurous could mean many things and I didn’t know if I was ready to get that far with him.

“I want you to know, I’m not really good at the whole relationship thing,” I admitted.

“It’s okay, neither am I, but we can take it slow,” Ashley reassured me.

“Okay,” I smiled.

“You have a beautiful smile,” he said.

The thought struck me that I hadn’t smiled in a very long time and it made me think that maybe meeting Ashley could be a very good thing.

“I don’t generally smile a lot,” I told him.

“Well, hopefully I can change that,” he grinned, taking my hand and leading me out into the brightly lit streets to begin our adventure together.
***************************************
“This night has been so much fun,” I smiled as I spun around in the street.

I was a bit buzzed, but I was having the time of my life with Ashley. He sure knew how to make a girl have fun.

“Kate, maybe you should be careful, come back to the sidewalk,” Ashley said to me.

“Come on, dance with me!”

“Kate, I-KATE LOOK OUT!” Ashley screamed.

I whipped my head around to be blinded by two lights, then I was flung back. I felt like all of the bones in my body broke as I landed on the road. I could feel blood oozing down my head.

“Kate!” Ashley cried as he came flung himself next to me.

“Kate, are you okay?”

“Ash…I…feel…woozy,” I mumbled.

“It’s okay, just stay still.”

Black spots appeared in my vision and I felt myself slipping.

“Ashley…I…I love…”

And then blackness overtook my and I couldn’t speak anymore.

Notes