The girl next door, - ᴛ.ᴋᴀᴜʟɪᴛᴢ

chapter fifty-five.

• 976-EVIL - DEFTONES

ONE WEEK

»-☠︎︎-+>

☠︎︎ 𝚃𝙾𝙼'𝚂 𝙿𝙾𝚅

It had been almost three weeks.

It was Mandy's birthday.

Everything was quiet. Bill, the band, and I had finished On The Edge, and now all we had to do was wait for a phone call saying Mandy was fine, that she was safe.

"Nothing? You've heard absolutely nothing?" Bill sighed, standing beside me outside of the studio. I adjusted my jeans, taking a seat on the bench. "No. Nothing. I can't get in touch with Mario, and her deadbeat father also hasn't been seen anywhere." I muttered, rubbing my face.

"I hope she caves in and sees us soon. It's better when she pops up out of the blue rather than not reaching out." He sighed, dragging from his cigarette and glancing at me. I bit back a string of cusses, leaning forward with my head in my hands. "What if she relapsed? What if she did something really stupid?"

Bill looked at me, but he didn't say anything. He knew he couldn't respond to that - I couldn't blame him.

"Did you tell her you love her?" He asked.

"Yeah.. well, she was asleep." I mumbled, shrugging my shoulders. I could feel myself slump at the question, but I sat back once my phone buzzed in my pocket. I raised my hips slightly and pulled it out, sighing heavily as I flipped it open. "It's the hospital," I furrowed my eyebrows before holding the phone to my ear.

"Mr. Kaulitz?" A doctor spoke. "Yeah, did you find her? Is my girl alright?" I said, quickly standing up and my fingers twitching.

. . .

"We found Mandy after a few police men brought her in along with a teenage boy and a few others. She was found in an abandoned house being bulldozed this morning, and it looked like she'd been there for a while."

"Yeah? So? You found her. Did she relapse? Or did she hurt herself?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"She was found unresponsive."

I swallowed hard, my head going down for a moment before I furrowed my eyebrows. "She's dead?" I said, feeling my heart start to race.

Please. Please, please.

"We believe she suffered a brain aneurysm. Chances are she contracted it from a dirty needle, didn't know it was there. The vessel was putting a lot of pressure on her brain, and we found traces of meth and fentanyl in her blood. An overdose might have made it burst - she died instantly."

My mind went blank for a moment, and I just looked at Bill once I dropped my phone, my lips parting, and a small stammer leaving my lips. "She's gone," I said, my eyebrows slightly furrowed as I tried to regain my composure.

There was this emotional turmoil that felt like it shot me in the face. My chest tightened, and I felt my blood run cold. I was panting, sobbing as I looked at Bill. He instantly wrapped his arms around me.

"I lost her again," I said, my whole body trembling and my lips pursing. I felt so tense and confused, and I was still begging for the news, saying it wasn't true. "I didn't tell her I loved her, Bill," I said, struggling to catch my breath.

It felt harder and harder to concentrate, harder to breathe or speak. because I knew the girl next door with the short blonde hair and bad English was gone. She was really gone this time and there was nothing I could do about it.