I'm Sorry- A Slipknot Story

Chapter 75

-August 30th-

We got back from the last leg of the tour, and I still can't stop thinking about what Rick asked us. I shrug it off and enter my house, Sakari sitting on my feet when I get into the living room.

"I missed you," she says.

"I missed you too hon. How's your boyfriend," I ask.

"He's not my boyfriend," she whines, looking to the door.

"Whatever you say, Sakari," I say. 

She gets off my feet and I throw my clothes in the laundry basket, hearing Sakari follow me at a foot's distance. I go upstairs and open my door, seeing the floor clean, bed made, shoes organized, clothes hung up and folded, everything normal. My depression got me to be a basic non-cleaner in my room because no one sees it, but Claire must've seen it. I walk in and look at myself in the mirror, seeing my straight face finally bearing a smile. I look at my shoulder and see the bandages, making my smile drop.

A couple of haters in the last part of the tour dumped acid on my right shoulder because they thought if I wasn't pretty, the guys would ditch me. To be honest, I liked that they thought I was pretty. Not to mention that the burn almost killed me. I had to go into emergency surgery to get a cadaver bone, cadaver muscle and skin grafting to at least make my shoulder usable.

The guys went to the hospital after the show because if I didn't order them to finish the show, they would've left with me. There was only a few songs left, so I told them to finish the show or I won't forgive them. They told me I slept for the whole day after that, and after I woke up the cling-on basically cuddled up to my good side to 'keep me safe from the haters'. He wouldn't let go of me until I was getting the word that I was ready to be discharged. That was two days. 

The other guys had to go back on tour, while Sid stayed with me to keep me company. Without Sid, the intro for The Heretic Anthem was different, but since the guys told the maggots I was in the hospital in an interview after it happened, they didn't mind. They got word of the hospital I'm staying at and I got visitors every hour. Not including Sid. He was the 24/7 visitor. 

I got get well cards, giant bouquets of flowers, gift baskets with goodies that I didn't eat-Sid ate them-and enough balloons to make me Mr. Fredrickson in 'UP'. A boy with his dad, maybe 12 or 13, gave me a giant teddy bear bigger than me, and probably bigger than Jim. Sid loved it more than I did, which I thought was impossible. 

I got more stuffed animals from maggots day-to-day, and soon my bed was filled up with teddy bears, cats, dogs, birds, any animal you can think of. My favorite, however, was Bruce's stuffed animal that Joey managed to get for me from the bus before they went.

When I got discharged, all of the cards went into a file box, all the balloons that still had helium Sid used to make me laugh, the fake flowers someone got me came with me but the others died, the stuffed animals went into a giant trunk for shipping to my house and the teddy bear got its own box. The fake flowers, which had to be at least 100 or more assorted orchids, were put in a vase and set on the table in the bus by the guys. 

And even though I was acid burned, I couldn't really do anything with my shoulder and arm, they still treated me like a sister. Maybe like a little sister because they wanted to help me in every way from Sunday, but a sister nonetheless. Hell, they even helped me change the bandages on my shoulder and unlike some of the nurses, they wouldn't have a disgusted or shocked expression when they saw the horror.

"Liz. Hello, earth to Liz," Corey says, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Hi," I say.

"How's the burn," he asks as I sit on my bed.

"It doesn't hurt for once. You think an interviewer's going to hunt me down and ask me about that day? Because I have a lot to say to those haters. And a lot to do," I say. 

I didn't get the chance to punch them because Corey did it for me. He actually stopped, which made the others stop, jumped off the stage with a few other guys and beat the life out of them. Sid helped with the beating, while Craig, the teddy bear with spikes, gently put my upper half on him and calmed me down. 

Even though he didn't say anything, he said enough in silence. Sometimes, you need silence to calm down. I was bleeding bad, my skin and muscle was burned away and my bone was burned to the marrow, but I didn't scream. I cried a little, but I didn't want my heart rate to go up. 

A maggot called the ambulance and the two got pulled away from the haters, and this time Craig went with me. He had to take off his mask, but that didn't stop him. He waited until let into my room, which was after the surgery, and he stayed there and watched like a hawk.

"You need anything before I go back to my house," he asks.

"A hug," I say. He hugs me and pauses, playing with my hair. I need a shower, but I have to keep my bandage on until the afternoon.

"Thanks. I needed that," I say after he lets go.

"Get well soon," he says.

"Said by at least 300,000 people so far," I say, hearing him laugh as he walks to the front door.