Arcane Guardian ↣ Avenged Sevenfold

7 ☼ salvage

September 1997 (Same Day)

"Do you know how mortally petrifying it is to walk out of the bedroom to stretch your legs and have a grown man point a rifle at you?" Jim yelled as soon as Brian, Shadow and Ellowyn ran up to the house. Jim and Zack were sitting on the curb. "I had to tell this man his 16 year old foster daughter had two 26 year old friends waiting for her IN HER ROOM! And I am incredibly lucky he believed me and didn't end the life I was just granted!" 

"There's blood pumping in me," Shadow looked down, looking at his wrists. "My heart is beating. But I still can't see color," His eyebrows scrunched. 

"I have the headache of my fucking life," Zack rubbed his temples. He had been quiet the whole time. "Can you guys please keep it down?" 

"Sorry Zack, we all kind of just reanimated from the dead, so it serves us right to freak the fuck out!" Jim shouted. "Let's uh, let's go up to Ells' room. Keep our heads, literally and figuratively. 

They quickly snuck past David in the kitchen, and somehow made it up to Ellowyns room. 

Once they were all at their typical spots, a silence engulfed them. A silence only described as knowing they had limited time left. A silence only described as waiting. "So you're alive now." She finally said. "They broke the barrier." 

"How much longer until the barrier resets time?" Zack asked nobody in particular. "How much time do we even have left?" 

"I don't know, Zack!" Brian paced, his breathing thick and labored. "I don't... We don't have access to purgatory anymore. There's no more communication. We've been cut off. It could be a minute, it could be a month! God, fuckfuckfuck," Brian continued walking the span of the room. 

And then, Zack disappeared. 

Ellowyn stiffened up in her seat at the edge of the bed, her eyes wide. "Zack," She said, starting to feel her hands shake. The quietness engulfed them again, besides Ellowyn's breath suddenly turning into hyperventilating. Shadow sat next to her, pulling her into a spine crushing hug. 

"Hey, hey, I'm right here, okay? Focus on me right now." He said. "I'm warm now! My hugs are gonna be so much better, and you can feel my heart, right?" 

"Zacky is gone," Ellowyn shook, realizing the gravity of the situation. "You're all gonna be gone, fuck, fuck FUCK!" She shouted. 

"Hey," Jim walked over to them, Ellowyn looking up at him. "Why don't you and me take some time alone, okay?" 

☼

Alone time with Jimmy usually included binge watching tacky 80's horror movies, or listening to music, or her scooping them out bowls of salted caramel pecan ice cream (their favorite); usually not her sat in front of her bathroom mirror, him behind her with a pair of kitchen scissors fixing her hair. "Ever had your hair cut before?" 

She shook her head, still freaked out and numb. She was terrified out of her mind. Jim felt real. His hands parting her hair and cutting it felt real. His breath felt real. He had a heartbeat now. "Not since I was little. Dad used to cut it until I started growing it out."

"All done," Jim said, as she stood up and inspected it in the mirror. It was all mid neck length, and incredibly thick. She didn't thank him, just turned around and hugged him. "You know," He started. "I'm so proud of who you've become, goose."

"Don't give me the goodbye talk," She laughed between tears into his chest. "I'm not ready for it."

"It's not a goodbye talk," He told her. "It's a see you later talk. And you need to hear it. I love you, Ellowyn. You're my favorite person on earth. Taking care of you these last 11 years has given my life meaning outside of being dead. I will always be proud of the beautiful, compassionate young lady you are."

"Thank you Jim," She attempted not to sob. " Thank you for taking care of me all these years. It means a lot."

"Why don't you go downstairs and get us some salted caramel pecan? One last time together before I go to the next one," he smiled. She nodded, running downstairs to bowl them up some ice cream. She got herself a bowl with sprinkles like she likes, and him a bowl with extra chocolate syrup like he liked. 

"Jim?" She called up the stairs. The rooms were quiet. "Jim!?" She said. 

She busted open the bathroom door, nobody. She opened her room up and just saw Shadow on the edge of the bed and Brian pacing. 

"Where did Jim go?" She said, the bowls of ice cream shaking in her hands.

Brian looked away avoidantly, and she noticed the guilty look on his face. Shadow was the one to get up and take the bowls out of her hands, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Jim left, Ells." He said. "I'm so sorry. He probably sent you down there so you didn't have to..." Shadow trailed off. "See it." She just sobbed, clutching onto him. 

"Please... Please don't go, please don't leave m-" 

Shadow disappeared into thin air. She choked on air as her arms that were clutching onto him went through the empty space in front of her. She looked over to Brian, still pacing, not looking at her. 

"Syn," she used his nickname, walking up to him. She hugged him, but he went stiff and didn't hug her back. "Syn, please, please don't leave, please don't leave me, I don't want to forget you." She cried out, squeezing him tighter. He pulled his arms around her eventually, one on her head and one on her back. "Don't leave me like this, please, I can't do it. I won't be able to survive without you. Please don't go." She cried, at this point hysterically. "Brian please don't leave me." 

He tried his best to hide that her words shattered him into a million pieces. "Why don't we lay down together, okay? Try and go to sleep," His voice shook slightly. "I can give you a dream."

She nodded, still crying harder than she ever had as she laid in bed, Brian laying next to her and pulling her into a hug. "Give me the dream where it's you and me," She said through tears. "At the beach." 

He let her close her eyes and take deep breaths, stroking her arm and taking the time to look at her before he might never see her again. None of the lights were on in the room, just the midday overcast clouds casting light through her curtains. 

"We're on the beach," He says, grasping her hand. She squeezes it, hard. "Just," He pauses, catching his own breath as a tear escaped his eye. "Just you and me. We're sitting in the sand. I've been teaching you how to swim even though I hate water," He tried to laugh. "We're feeding the seagulls a loaf of bread. Your favorite, sourdough, we're sharing it with them. I'm real, and you don't look crazy. You lean on my shoulder and we watch the sun set." He said. "Can you see it, Ells? I want you to see the colors of the sunset." 

"I can see it Syn," She said, half asleep. 

"Can you feel how warm my hand is right now?" 

She took his hand and pressed it up to her cheek. "I can." 

"Good." 

Brian vanished into thin air. 

Startled by the cool breeze against her cheek, Ellowyn sat up quickly. 

She looked around, and she had no idea why she was in her room all alone in the middle of a school day, or why there were two bowls of ice cream melting on her desk.