Quiet Like a Ghost

Chapter Nine: 'Fine'

Everyone wants me to see a doctor. "No. It's just minor headaches! Everyone gets them!" I tell them. "Babe, those are not minor. I don't think I've seen you in so much pain." Opal says, her voice cracking. "Baby..." I pull her into my embrace, letting the others talk. "Ghost, seriously, what if something happens on stage? You need to get your head checked." Chris tells me. "Fine, but there's nothing wrong with my head."

I schedule a doctors appointment for next week when we are in New York, which still didn't please them. It's six shows, I'll be fine. Opal has been quiet, staying at my side, afraid something will happen. I was on my computer, messing around on social networking. I decide I should tell the fans of my headaches.

'Fans who are attending our sets in the next few weeks, don't be alarmed if I'm not there. I've been suffering from painful headaches and am going to see a doctor next week but until then, it's unknown to what's wrong. I'll try to be on stage tonight.' I say on twitter, quickly getting 'Get well soon' messages.

"So you admit it's painful." Opal whispers next to me, seeing the message on her phone. "Of course it's painful, it's a headache, sweetheart." I tell her, pulling her against me, wrapping a arm around her while she leaned against me, listening to my heart. I pull up YouTube and look up funny cat videos to distract myself from the sharpening pain in my head.

Chris walks up, "Hey, I talked to Nikki (Misery, they are on the Beyond The Barricade Tour, btw.) he is going to be our back up incase your in too much pain to play. He said he knows our songs because of his slight obsession with us." He talks kinda quickly like he isn't confident in him. "Sounds good. He's a great bassist." I nod, "But I'm playing tonight, headache or not." I tell him. "Ok..." He nods, walking to get some Naked juice from the fridge.

When its time to get ready, I don't complain, needing something to focus on. "Oh. Babe? Can you get me some pills?" I call to Opal. "Yeah!" She yells back, coming with two more. "You hurt?" She asks, giving them to me and pulling my hair out of my face. "Little, don't want it to get worse on stage though." I tell her, kissing her lightly, dismissing her so I could get ready. I do my makeup, shaking so I screwed up three million times, redoing it and redoing it. "You've been doing that one eye for twenty minutes, do you need some help?" Opal asks coming into the bathroom.

"I think I got it..." I whisper, hating relying on people, "No you don't, come here." She moves my mess on the counter and sits on it, pulling me to her. I do as she asks while she does my make up, my headache still pounding but dulled to a mere hangover-like headache. When she's done, she grabs my hands off of her thigh. "God you are shaking bad, you okay?" She asks, watching my trembling hands. "Yeah, it's not as bad when I'm doing something." I whisper, not wanting the guys to know about it. "Dev, don't push it, if you think, at all, there's a reason not to play, don't." She tells me, caressing my face lovingly. "I'm fine, if anything else happens I'll bow out." I tell her, unfortunately the next symptom bowed me out involuntarily.

I played the set as well as I could, shaking and making sure not to head bang for my heads sake. The fans closest to me looked worried, watching me stumble from time to time. "I'd like to give Ghost here, a little shout out. His head has been killing him all day and he still argued with his girlfriend to make sure he'd come play for you all. Let's hear it for the stubbornest one in the band!" Chris says during a interlude. The crowd cheers, shouting "Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!" Which was making me blush, I hate extra attention.

I use the chance to motion to Opal, side stage, to bring me my water. "How's your head?" She asks over the shouts that became, "Ghostal, Ghostal!" Because that was our ship name the fans made up. "Pounding. But I'm fine, I should go." I whisper, kissing her cheek, "Dev..." She holds me back. "Hm?" I ask, "Nikki can cover if you need." She repeats what I know. "Babe, I'm fine." I tell her, kissing her. And there goes the crowd again... Ow. "Fuh..." I mumble grabbing my head. "Your bowing out. Nikki!" She shouts, as he comes to the stage as she semi-carries me backstage.

I hear him tell the crowd, "Ghost's head was hurting too much to keep playing so I'm going to play his part." I hate not being up there, that's my job, but my head was killing me. "Opal, I need to sit." I mumble, wanting to curl up in a ball and die. She nods, helping me sit on the ground. I sit, cradling my head in my arms, trying not to cry. She sits beside me, trying to comfort me but a back rub isn't going to make this go away.

When the band gets off stage they quickly see us, Balz and Chris working together to pick me up and carry me to the bus. I was in so much pain at this point I had double vision, but I didn't mention that to Opal who would flip and call an ambulance. When we get to the bus, they lay me down on the couch, quickly giving me more pain meds. "You guys are going to get me high off these damn things." I try to joke, no one finding it very funny.