Tonight The World Dies

Chapter 1: Brian

The light was bright...too bright.

I groaned and rolled over, hiding my face in the fabric of the couch. But moving had only been a mistake: my head began to spin as a rhythmic pounding settled in across my forehead.

I groaned again, but this time out of frustration: knowing that there was no way I'd been getting back to sleep, I sat up and dragged my hands across my face.

Another night spent on the couch...

I noticed that there was a blanket pulled over me; Avery must've placed it over me.

Pushing the blanket back, I hauled myself up from the couch before trudging over to the kitchen down the hall. Avery and I now lived in a two-story house in a small neighbourhood that was reserved for celebrities. The Revelation was still around, but it wasn't as strict as it had been all those years ago. We were no longer living in camps, but we were kept to designated neighbourhoods. The bonus to this was that some of our neighbours included people such as Jonathan Davis from Korn, Corey Taylor from Slipknot/Stone Sour, and there were even rumours of Ozzy Osbourne living in a neighbourhood over from ours. Matt and Val lived across the street from us, and Johnny lived in a small house with his girlfriend, Lacey, at the end of the cul-de-sac where we lived.

Zacky was currently living in a penthouse in the centre of town. He was still single; he'd dated a few girls since Gena but he'd never found one that he really connected with. Avery was convinced that Zacky was too scared to commit fully to anyone again: too worried that he'd get his heart broken again.

And Jimmy...

Well, Jimmy had lived down the road from us.

But now...

I shut my eyes and leant against the kitchen counter. My head was spinning and my eyes were threatening to leak tears again. For the past few weeks my eyes have been rimmed in a shade of red due to my constant urge to cry.

Jimmy was gone, and I was still here and soon expected to go on tour with the band to promote the release of our new album, Nightmare - and boy, was I living in a nightmare...

I heard a noise from my left and turned my head to see Avery standing in the doorway. She was wearing one of my band shirts, and nothing else (except for underwear, of course). She smiled woefully at me but said nothing, continuing on over to the fridge before taking out a bottle of iced coffee.

I poured myself a mug of warm coffee before sliding up onto one of the stools that lined the island. Our kitchen was fitted out in cream and light grey. The floor was tiled in off-white, and the walls and door frames were trimmed in oak. To the right hand side of the kitchen, and further toward the back where the dining table sat, were a set of French doors that folded all the way back to allow easy access to our pool and bar in the summer.

It was fair to say that life had been good to us...up until last December.

"How are you feeling?" Avery asked, one of her hands sliding across my back.

I turned and briefly met her eyes before shrugging.

A look of sorrow flashed across Avery's eyes. She turned her head, allowing her brown hair to fall across her face before she turned back to me. She briefly smiled before pushing herself away toward the other side of the kitchen; cupboard doors opened before Avery appeared back with a glass of water and one of those yellow tablets that you put in your drink to dissolve.

"Drink that." She ordered before continuing to pour herself a glass of iced coffee.

I did as I was told and downed the glass in one. Avery took the glass and placed it in the sink before turning and asking me if I wanted something to eat. I declined, knowing that if I ate anything I'd probably throw it up.

Avery sighed and grabbed a small cereal bar from one of the cupboards before sitting on the stool beside me. She broke off a small bit of her bar and slid it over to me.

"Eat that. For me?" She asked, turning to me with pleading eyes. "It will make you feel better. I promise." She added with a small smile.

I picked up the cereal bar and examined it. "If I throw this up, it'll be on you." I said before taking a bite. The flavour of the bar immediately spread across my mouth and instantly reminded my brain that food was actually a good thing to eat. But my stomach wasn't interested, meaning that by the time I finished my small bit, Avery had finished the rest of the bar and had drunk all of her coffee.

"Come on, finish that and go have a shower." Avery said as she made her way over to the sink to wash up the glasses. "Remember we're meeting Matt at the recording studio today."

"I remember." I said, forcing myself to sound a little more bubblier than I felt. As Avery washed up, I turned my head and watched her. She had her back faced to me, so she wasn't aware. Memories of us flooded back into my brain, memories of better days when we'd laugh and cry and laugh some more before exchanging those soulful looks.

Those were the days when Jimmy had been around.

And now, we only ever exchanged looks of sorrow or pity. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen her smile, truly smile - and smile at my hand. She'd smile around Matt a lot. But he'd been there from her as much as I have from the get go, so it was understandable, especially  since Matt appeared to be coping with the loss of Jimmy better than I was. But Avery was my girlfriend, and I should be the one to make her smile, not Matt.

I downed the rest of the coffee before getting up and heading back down the hall toward the stairs without saying another word to Avery. I was annoyed at myself: all these thoughts in my head were creating an emotion I didn't know how to deal with and I didn't know how to voice it either to the people I loved.

So, I remained silent, and suffered alone.