Andy

“Alright, you’ve gotta see this...”

I glanced over at Andy and watched him curiously why I picked apart one of the muffins I’d bought. He reached over to his own ‘entertainment’ pack, pulling out a bulky, rather old looking book. Only when he flipped it over, and the cover displayed a cheerful family reunion photo from the early ninties, did I realize it was one of his family photo books.

“You seemed to get a kick out of these at the funeral...” He sighed, pointing at the cover photo, to a baby dressed like an elf. “Baby Andrew.” He told me flatly. “My Mom and my Aunt Nancy used to dress me up all the time.” He rolled his eyes, “Since I was the oldest, and at the time, only heir to the Biersack throne, they pampered me with shit like this.Being a special kid is not what it seems.” He shook his head firmly, pursing his lips, flipping the page to another photo.

This one had two toddlers playing in a sandbox together. One had sandy blonde hair, and the other one, had light brown hair. I could only tell it was Andy because of his eye color.

“That would be my cousin Joe.” He tapped the photo fondly. “Did you know he has a Youtube web series? You should watch it sometime.”

I was smiling in fascination and amusement as he flipped through the pages. It still plagued me why he bothered... I mean, it annoyed him at the funeral, and now he was openly showing me his embarrassing childhood photos.

“Here we go!”

He opened the middle page with a grin. “This is the one I wanted to show you...”


I grinned, and covered my mouth.

“I knew you’d laugh!”

I looked at the photo, taken of Andy in his late teen years, with a heap of Batman memrobillia on the floor in front of him. Although his expression was somber, he was proud.

“I’m glad I’ve never seen your room...” I whispered, “It’s probably remodeled to look like the Batcave.”

He rolled his eyes and snapped the album shut. “We’ve seen all we needed to.” He smiled crookedly as he tucked it away in his backpack again.

“Why did you bring that?” I whispered, and his expression was thoughtful, reflecting, as he looked at his hands, chipping away old black nail polish from his nails.

“I’m not sure, really... Being in Pendant after everything has made it feel like a big, endless dream. Like reality and fate hasn’t set in yet... I haven’t realized, or at least, understood yet, that I’m dead. I guess part of why I need to get back to California so bad, is to get my closure. It was that to me the first time, when Pendant was my poison, making me self destructive. So vice versa.” He shrugged his shoulders a little bit.

I wasn't sure how to reply to that... What he was seeking, could only be found in California. Where it wasn't a dream land and he'd be faced with a harsh reality.

He handed me one of the headphones again, and resumed the music. After a while of staring out the windows thoughtfully, I passed out.

~~~

I was awoken by my Mother's soft voice, and a gentle shake of my shoulder.

“Ash, honey, we’re at the hotel.”

My eyes opened, and I slowly got back my bearings, realizing quickly how dark it was.

“How long was I asleep?” I mumbled tiredly, trying to wake myself up while I dug around in the dark backseat for my stuff.

“Roughly three hours.” She chuckled, grabbing my backpack for me, handing it to me when I could stand upright on level ground. I sighed, taking it from her, pulling my hoodie tighter around my arms, since there was a cool chill to the air.

“Where are we?” I wondered, looking across the parking lot at a dimly lit, shady looking motel with a vacancy sign hanging, crooked and faded in the front window.

She looked around us cautiously as I gathered my luggage from the trunk. “Some little town on the corner lower corner of Nevada. Crownskale or something, I think.”

I nodded, slowly processing these facts.

“We’ll grab breakfast before we leave tomorrow. Should be to Berkeley by noon tomorrow, thank God. I’m so sick of riding.” She laughed, slamming the trunk shut and locking it. Just then I realized what I was missing, and spun around searching the car, but he was nowhere to be seen. I groaned under my breath, sick of his random disappearances.

I gripped the straps of my backpack tighter and followed my Mom towards the front door.

Inside, was a moth eaten couch in a small lobby area, with a TV on a small stand, still rocking a pair of rabbit ears, the Christmas Vacation film playing even though we had a long time until December. I looked towards the desk, where a thickly built man stood, arms dressed in matching tattoo sleeves, a handlebar mustache, and an American flag bandana holding back his long dreadlocked hair. I avoided his gaze and hurried towards the hall.

“Well shit... There’s crazy people left and right.”

I jumped at the sound of his voice, and prayed my Mom hadn’t noticed. I glanced discreetly to my left, where he walked, his leather combat boots silent, his attention elsewhere as he juggled two cigarette cartons in the air with a crooked, distracted smile.

“I went to get a new pack.” He explained, tossing them both into the air at the same time, catching them both, and shoving them into his jacket pockets. “Well, stole them, techinically. But the broad I got them from, was going to kill over if she huffed another, so I figure I did her a service.”

I stopped walking abruptly when I noticed something different about him... Outstandingly different. He gave me a puzzled look and nudged me forward before my Mom noticed my obvious awkwardness.

We got to our room, and she unlocked the door. Dad was already in his night pants, watching TV with a distant, tired gaze. I excused myself, yanking Andy into the small bathroom, fiddling with the lock before facing him in horror.

“Your hair!”

“You like it?” He grinned, reaching up to curl it arund his fingers.

I was shocked, looking up at it. “When did you do that?!” I hissed.

His hair, which had been shaved on one side of his head, and long and shaggy on the otherside. Constantly in his eyes were wiry black strands, his hair was now shorter, more of a mohawk than anything, and shocking still, it was light brown now.

“It’s my natural hair color.” He told me proudly, sticking out his chest a bit.

“...How did you get it that way? It was black literally a few hours ago... Please... Please tell me this isn’t some weird shapeshifting ghost thing you can do.” I sighed in exasperation, pinching the bridge of my nose, too far out of it to properly comprehend the situation.

“Pssh, no.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I dyed it... And cut it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him slightly. “You dyed your hair to your natural hair color?”

He looked at me as though I were missing something very obvious.

“What?” I wondered after a few silent moments.

“If you haven’t noticed...” He began by chuckling, and I sighed, realizing I’d probably just made a statement that went against all the ghost world laws of logic.

“When I died, I resumed the form I died in. Frozen in time. I cannot age, I cannot change. My hair will not change color and it will not grow.”

“But you cut your hair.” I reminded him in confusion.

“I’m comfortable with having it this short.” He shrugged.

“For eternity?”

“Sure.”

“But what if you want it back?”

“I buy hair extentions then... Look, I’ve never been one to plan things out a whole lot. Half of my tattoos? They’re all spur of the moment mistakes, but I love them all.”

“I’m not sure having short hair is the same thing as having tattoos...”

“Anyways!” He interupted me with an excited hand gesture, grabbing my shoulders, looking into my eyes excitedly. “I’m all ready for my role tomorrow.”

“Role?...”

“You’ll see.”

“Please don’t do anything I have to explain?” I sighed, switching my weight from one foot to another anxiously.

“I won’t. I promise.”

He held out his hand, and I was confused at first, until I recognized the gesture. His hand formed in a fist, pinkie extended. “This is awkward...” He whispered after I stood there staring at his hands for a few seconds past my welcome.

“Oh, sorry... It’s just been a long time since I pinkie swore anything... Last time was kindergarten, I think.” I reached out and wrapped my pinkie around his, and we shook once firmly. He smirked and dropped his hand.

“There’s still a lot of driving to be done tomorrow. You should go to bed. I need to, too... Because I used up a lot of my ghostly energy today.” He yawned, and slipped from the bathroom. I sighed and hung my head back, looking up at the flourescents. The dead bugs caught in the light fixture, and the few live ones beating around the plastic enclosure.

“What in the world is going to happen tomorrow?...” I murmured to myself, shaking my head before moving to wash my face with the questionable water from the leaky faucet, opting to dry my hands and face on the towel I brought instead of the white towels piled on the edge of the counter, with small rust colored stains in the plush fabric.

I didn’t spend a whole lot of time. I just brushed through my hair quickly, brushed my teeth and changed into my pajama shorts before flipping off the bathroom light, stepping into the bedroom.

Andy was already asleep from the looks of it, bushed out in the maroon colored reclining chair under the front window, the curtains drawn, but between th slats, I could still see the invasive streetlights.

My Dad was asleep, and my Mom was getting her stuff together for a shower, but after taking a look at the bathroom, she came back with a disgusted look, shaking her head.

“Well... We’re going to the hotel before lunch tomorrow... I’ll just shower then.”

“Place is gross.” I commented with a tired laugh, sitting on the end of the bed. Within a few more minutes, I had curled up in the lumpy pillows, popping in my headphones, scrolling through my music for something to listen to while I dosed off. I had rarely slept anywhere else than my own bed, so this was bound to be an adventure.

Setting on a Bring Me The Horizon album, I placed it on shuffle and closed my eyes, relaxing into the blankets even though they smelled strongly of cheap detergent and sweat.

Ignoring that, I got sucked up into the beautiful sound of Hospital For Souls, and fell into a fitful, almost dreamless sleep. I say almost, because that night I was plagued with a nightmare...

Notes

Inspired by Friends by Band of Skullx

I drew all day... It wasn't a waste though haha I had to finish up some orders, plus I got a job offer today from a friend to do some illustrations for a book she's writing. I'm psyched out to do it, it'll be awesome.
Also, I joined this BVB fangroup on facebook, but it's not really working for me haha. There's only two kinds of people in there. 1. Haters who joined to upset and piss off the fans 2. shallow fangirls who do nothing but post pics of Andy with rather disturbing descriptions of what they'd do if they were with him, and nothing on the other band members.... So I made my own group, with rules tailored to how I wish that group was haha, so come join me if you want. We can chit chat about BVB and be buddies. Black Veil Brides Army - We Are The Fallen Angels.

Shoutouts:

- Nikki
- Allie_BVB
- blackveilkitty