Short Stories

Loss (Metallica)

1989

Anguish and misery was all you'd been feeling for the past week. You lost your best friend in an accident and you were not handling it well.

You had managed to get yourself up and out of bed to go to the funeral, but after that you'd been stuck in bed with no energy or motivation to do anything. It was like you were missing something inside of you.

Your friends had been calling you but you didn't dare answer. You didn't want them to try and get you out of the house because you didn't want to see the world was still moving on without you.

You'd been awake and staring at the wall for a few minutes when you heard something from the other room.

Normally you would've went and hidden in the closet but you couldn't will yourself to move. So when you heard the noise move into your bedroom, you just shut your eyes and hoped for the best.

"Oh Y/N," you opened your eyes to see Kirk kneeling in front of you, "I'm so sorry."

You sat up a little, your vision spotting with little black dots as your eyes adjusted to your surroundings.

Lars stood at the end of your bed, balancing a huge colourful box filled with all your favourite treats, a shy smile on his face. The box looked the opposite of how you were feeling. James and Jason stood at his sides, while Kirk sat himself next to you in your bed that hadn't been made in weeks.

"We knew you were upset," Jason began, "so we wanted to do something nice. Even if it doesn't make you completely better, we hope it will make your day a little happier."

You felt your throat burn with tears, "thanks," was all you could say without breaking down completely.

If you were being honest you'd been so lonely you didn't know what to do with yourself, but you didn't want to go outside. You were so grateful they came to you.

Jason took the box from Lars who glared at him, "I was gonna give it to her idiot!"

"Yeah, we'll maybe if you weren't standing there looking like an fish out of water you could've!"

You laughed at this, you missed noise and friendly banter. Guilt knotted itself inside you.

He passed you the box of all your favourite things, there were a few little gifts wrapped messily and a little note at the bottom.

You picked up the note first, knowing it was going to make you cry. You wanted that done and over with.

Y/N

Lars, Kirk and Jason are making me write this. Maybe because I understand, or they just want to leave the hard part to me. Whatever the reason, I'm still writing this because I want you to understand it's okay to not be okay. I'm not gonna write any of that sympathy card bullshit in here because that never really means much. Honestly, what are you supposed to say to someone who has lost someone without being either superficial or a dick. I know I'm not writing any useful information here, I really don't know what to say. What I can say might not help, but I guess I'll say it anyway. It won't stop hurting (fuckin' bummer right?) but you'll learn to live with the pain and we're here for you to help you through it. You can always reach out to us if you need anything, and if you want us to go away that's okay too. Just please don't distance yourself or bottle up your feelings because it'll only make things worse. You're so strong Y/N you'll get through it, we love you <3.

James (and the guys I guess)

You were full on crying now and James had moved to sit on your left side, he gently pulled you to his side, one hand on your waist the other holding your head against him.

"Don't make me go outside," you sniffled, looking up at him.

"What?" He asked, his eyebrows scrunched up.

"I don't wanna go outside, I can't do it."

Lars frowned and sat crisscrossed at the bottom of the bed with Jason, "you'll have to eventually Y/N."

Kirk rolled his eyes and kicked Lars, "we aren't going to force her into doing something she's not ready for, stop being a dick!"

James laughed and pulled the two badly wrapped presents from the colourful box, "Jason wrapped them, that's why they look like shit."

"Hey!"

You laughed and wiped your fallen tears away, "I can't wrap very well either Jason."

He seemed to cheer up as you said this, "the present is way better, you'll forget all about the paper."

You gently tore away the paper of the first box, inside was a pair of white socks, you looked around at the guys who were all waiting with anticipation for you to look at them.

You pulled the socks out, embroidered on the side of one was, "you're beautiful, don't change." On the other sock was, "today's going to be a fucking good day, you got this!"

You laughed at the uneven letters, "I love them!"

Kirk smiled softly, "good because it took me four hours to embroider them, you better wear them too friend!"

"I will," you promised, "they're lovely."

James passed you the second and smaller box.

"Now," he started, "don't freak out too much. Your friends mom gave this to us, it was supposed to be for your birthday but we didn't want to wait to give it to you."

Your heart began pounding as you ripped the paper off the small package. Inside was an envelope and two necklaces one with the lyrics, "we're not gonna sit in silence," the other said, "we're not gonna live in fear."

You swallowed down the tears and opened the envelope to see two tickets to Heart for January of 1990.

Heart had been the band that brought you and your friend together when you were in ninth grade. You both dreamed of going to a concert together, but the thought that she wasn't going with you made your heart ache even more.

Lars gently took your hand as you began to cry again, "it's okay, everything will work out."

You nodded trying to believe what he was saying, Kirk laid his head on your shoulder and James kept his arm around you. You felt that if they let go, you'd break into a thousand pieces and you'd never be okay again.

After crying until you couldn't anymore you got up from the bed, pinning the two tickets on your cork board over the desk in the corner.

"I'm not going, I might change my mind but I don't want to go without her."

They nodded in understanding and Jason wrapped you in a hug, it made you hopeful that everything might be okay again.

Eventually it would be.