The Light behind your Eyes (My Chemical Romance)

Chapter 1 October

October

            I awoke slowly, groggily. My head felt like a cinder block had been attached to it and dragged across the pavement. I tried to sit up, but with a start realized I couldn't because my head felt heavy. My hands were bound behind me, and my feet were tied together as well. Trying to scream was futile, as I had something wrapped around my mouth. It felt like duct tape. Suddenly the events that brought me to this place, wherever this place was, came rushing back. Oh, God, Juli must be so worried. Dear sweet, crazy Julianne, my cousin and best friend. This trip was supposed to be the best time of our lives, the thing we'd always look back on fondly. It hadn't started off well to begin with. We'd driven from Illinois to Texas to see Edgefest, an all-day festival that featured our favorite band, My Chemical Romance. Dominic, my husband, hadn't wanted me to go, but he was understanding about these types of situations. He had to be. He realized that I needed to get away, get some space, and get away from all the drama in our home. His drinking had become a serious problem, and if I didn't go somewhere and get out of there I'd probably end up leaving him. Without ever saying it, I knew that he knew that. I'd have left long ago if it hadn't been for our six-year-old son, Aiden. He was my life. Every single one of my days revolved around him, and I wanted him to have a stable home. My own parents' divorce had devastated me so I toughed it out. But with each passing day, and each argument I tried to hide from Aiden, it seemed that instead of protecting him from hurt I was only making it worse for all of us. Maybe we'd be better off apart. Something had to give in this marriage, and we both knew it. This concert had come up, and the next thing I knew, Julianne and I were on our way to Texas. My own mini-vacation, a time to think and figure out what exactly it was that I wanted.

When we first met the strange trucker near Kansas City I should have turned around. I should have listened to my instinct that told me something wasn't right. I had been warned...When he nearly ran us off the road closer to Oklahoma; we should have called the cops. But we didn't. We thought he was just some crazy driver so we drove fast and hard and thought we got away from him. But he found us. When we arrived in Texas that night, we went to a bar. Another stupid one on my part. I let Julianne talk me into it, since Dominic would never know anyway. He constantly jumped to conclusions, so I really had no problem with lying to him that night.

            The instant we walked in, Juli got hit on. His name was Eddie, and I could not explain why I didn't like him. He gave me a weird vibe, and I immediately tried to get her away from him. She would have none of it, of course. She basically ignored me the entire night, getting hammered and cuddling up to him. I got pissed and took off to the bathroom, which is where I ran into the trucker once again. He cornered me in the dark hallway, wrapping his fingers around my throat. Oh, God, I thought he was going to kill me. I couldn't even hear what he was telling me, as all I could hear was my own heartbeat in my ears. He said something about a warning, and complained that I needed to stop running away from him. Eddie had saved me from him, however. He pulled him off me and beat him until some other patrons had to restrain him from killing the man. The trucker was arrested, and we went back to our motel. End of story, or so I thought.

            We met up with Eddie at the concert, and he got us to the front of the pit. I had the time of my life. For a few hours, I forgot about all my problems, and finally got to act young and dumb like everyone around us. For a few moments, I had no worries, no responsibilities. We gushed about the hot musicians and bands, such as A Day to Remember, Blessthefall, Panic! At the Disco, 30 Seconds to Mars, Avenged Sevenfold, Mindless Self Indulgence, etc., and melted under the hot sun. Everything turned south when I mentioned something to Eddie about My Chemical Romance coming out soon. He made some cocky comment; I can't even remember now what it was. Something about them being assholes or something. Before long, he and I were in a heated argument. It was the stupidest argument ever, I later realized. He thought they were jerks, no big deal. It's a matter of opinion. Neither of us knew for sure anyway, I was just going by the picture in my head. From the way I reacted, you'd have thought he was talking shit about my grandma or something. And I overreact when someone talks shit about my grandmother. Big time. It had become this big, overblown thing, and before too long Julianne had gotten involved. Much to my chagrin, she sided with him. That pissed me off, and then the whole argument turned from My Chem to me being jealous of her.