Corey's POV
*Flashback*
"Thank you Des Moines! You were fucking amazing tonight!" I screamed into the mic while Joey drummed his double bass pedals at a break-neck pace.
We had just wrapped up the All Hope Is Gone Tour in my home town of Des Moines, Iowa and tonight had been the best show yet. Slipknot had just performed for a crowd of 22,000 screaming and moshing Maggots. They were my brothers, my sisters, my family. And I love each and every one of them.
The crowd was deafening as I put my fist into the air, "Thank you so much for spending your evening with fucking Slipknot!" Jim and Mick joined in with Joey now, playing mind blowing riffs on their guitars. Sid jumped off of his platform where his DJ equipment sat and joined me front and center. Clown was banging his keg with a metal baseball bat. Then, we were joined by Paul; he copied me and put his fist into the air. I was soaking all of this in. I was in my element.
"We love you all! Good night!" The lights went off.
"SLIP-KNOT!... SLIP-KNOT!...SLIP-KNOT!" The crowd roared as we walked back stage.
As I turned the corner to walk back to our dressing room, I felt a hand clap onto my shoulder. "Great fucking show, man. I thought you were gonna just lose your shit during Surfacing."
I turned and it was Paul. He took off his mask and held it in his hand, his steps matching mine. The rest of the guys were ahead of us, laughing and joking with each other. The after show high was still going strong.
We entered our dressing room. It was large and circular. There was a door that lead to the bathroom and one that lead to a dining area where a bar was set up with all kinds of liquor, beer, and mixers. A tray of sandwiches and snack foods was set up too. Nine mirrors and vanities sat spaced apart evenly around the room, one for each of us.
I walked over to my mirror and sat down. I stared at my reflection and undid the clasps on the back of my mask. I took it off and set it on the vanity. My black make up was smeared and sweat marks ran down my face.
Sid sat down in the chair next to me and passed me my favorite drink, Jack and Coke. "Man, I'm beat. I think I broke something during Disasterpiece." He stretched and I heard his back crack. I laughed, "Seriously dude, when are you not breaking something." He shrugged and I took a sip from my drink. It was cold, icy, and calmed me instantly. Coming down after a show was hard sometimes and drinking sometimes helped.
"I call the shower first!" Clown yelled as he ripped off his jumpsuit and stood in the room in the middle of his underwear.
"Dude! Not a problem! You fucking reek!" Jim pushed Clown towards the shower, shoved him inside the door, then slammed it shut. We all laughed.
During the next hour and a half we all took turns showering and cleaning ourselves up. We munched on sandwiches, chips, and beer and liquor until we were satisfied. Paul and I jammed the rest of the liquor bottles into our backpacks and put cans of beer into our coat pockets.
"Well, what do you wanna do now?" Paul asked as we left the arena and walked towards our tour bus. I heard the liquid in the bottles sloshing around in his backpack. I only had 3 drinks or so, so I was nursing a buzz. But I wanted to feed it tonight. It was the last show on our tour so we needed to celebrate. Tomorrow, I was allowed to recover and regroup. But, tonight was time for bullshitting, shinenagins, and good old fashioned trouble.
"Let's go out. Get some drinks, score some fucking girls and just celebrate." I replied smiling.
Paul let out a war cry and ran towards the bus. I ran behind him and frog-hopped onto his backpack. We yelled and pumped our fists in the air. Craig moved out of our way and just shook his head at us.
