Tonight Only {Cliff Burton}

One Night Promise

New Years Eve 1986

Life should've been good. I was young and a new year was on the horizon, and that night, Metallica was gonna perform at the hotel. A ton of people were expected to show up, and it was gonna be a rad New Year's Eve party. I had been looking forward to it for months.

But in September, I had lost the love of my life, my soulmate, my everything. I had lost Cliff. Metallica didn't disband; they were searching for a new bassist but they still hadn't found one. They offered for me to join, but I said no. I couldn't replace Cliff. Hell, NO ONE could replace him.

So, on that New Years Eve, in the morning, I sat by my fireplace, crying. I had the news on my TV, but I wasn't really watching it. I was more thinking about how much I missed Cliff, and reminiscing about what could've been.

I had always been bad about imagining what things could've been, probably because I've always been a dreamer. And I've always had a hard time letting go, as I'm a clingy person, too. So Cliff's death was very hard on me.

By 10:30 that morning, I felt really lazy so I got off the couch and went into the kitchen to make myself some coffee. 

As I waited for my coffee maker to finish, I stared up at this thing that was really old and kind of looked like a magic lamp. My aunt had given it to me for my birthday that year.

Missing people can do crazy things to you, especially if you love that person. Trauma can make you do crazy things, too. And it can make you believe crazy things. 

I did a crazy thing that morning, on New Years Eve of 1986. I climbed up on the counter and grabbed the magic lamp and rubbed it as hard as I could, thinking maybe a genie would come out of it. 

"Oh god…" I said under my breath, realizing nothing would happen. "FUCK!" I screamed, throwing the magic lamp onto the kitchen floor. It shattered into pieces, and my coffee maker started beeping, signaling that my coffee was ready.

I hopped off the counter, but then a blue glow caught my eye. All I could do was stare as a figure rose up from it. 

"Oh my fucking god…" I whispered, my eyes widening as it took the form of a genie. 

"Nice to finally be out of that lamp after all of those years." the genie sighed. He looked at me and smiled. "Good morning, beautiful.".

"Okay, Mr. Genie, I only have one wish. That's it.".

"One wish, huh? Usually people ask me for three, but alright. Your wish is my command.".

"I want Cliff back.".

The genie sighed and nervously played with his hands, looking down at the floor. "I'm afraid I can't revive people. I can't mess with fate." he said. I felt my eyes water and I hung my head, defeated. "But, I can bring him back for one night.".

I looked back up at the genie, a tiny glimmer of hope inside of me. "Oh and that wouldn't mess with fate, hey?".

"Not really, because it's only for one night. It isn't permanent. Things can still go back to the way they're supposed to be.".

I raised my eyebrows. "You really believe in all that bullshit about fate?" I asked.

"It's not bullshit. Things don't just happen for no reason. Everything is already predetermined, and things happen because that was the way they were supposed to be." the genie explained to me. 

"Oh, really?". I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah. For example, you and Cliff were never supposed to get married. He was supposed to die before that could happen. And because of that, there was no way Kirk would've ended up sleeping in that bunk. Cliff was always supposed to sleep up there, because he was always supposed to die on that day, the way he did.".