But It's Better If You Do

The World Is Ugly

Music was really the only way I could escape from the reality of the dark, unforgiving world. I enjoyed the way music made me feel, I enjoyed the way it made my thoughts swirl around inside my head. It's a beautiful idea, really, to be able to live in the music world for all your life, but unfortunately we are forced to unplug ourselves from that dream and face the burden that is the world. People sometimes ask me why it is I think the world is so ugly and cruel. My answer to them is that I think the Earth is a beautiful place. It's the people in it that are the undoing of our planet. Now, not all people are like that. My friend Ray is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and he knows it.

"Gerard, come on, get your lazy ass up." Ray pushed my arm and awoke me from my thoughts.

"You know, I was just thinking how you were one of the nicest people I know, you asshole." In all seriousness, Ray really was the nicest person I knew. Because we had been friends for so long, it's inclined that we would mess with each other in the future.

I ripped the headphones from my ears and paused my music. I followed the smell of pancakes into the kitchen of the small RV, which would be our home for the next month. "Damn, those smell amazing, Ray." My stomach agreed. "Yeah, I really am the best, aren't I." Ray laughed as I punched his arm.

"I'm so done with living in this god forsaken RV. How long till the tour is over, Gerard?" Ray wasn't usually the type to get impatient, but with the conditions we had been living in, I really didn't blame him. "One more month," I reminded him. "Hey, I'm going out before the concert starts, all right? I'll be back soon, just need to get out of this thing for a bit." Seriously, I was so sick and tired of the damn RV.

"Yeah right, you just wanna leave me here with this abomination." Ray smiled. "Nah, go ahead kiddo."

As I walked to the nearest coffee shop, which happened to be a Starbucks, I pulled out my phone to check my Instagram. I don't normally go on it, but with our tour almost finished, I like to reply to some fans messages, post pictures about the tour, Ect. Most people were really sad about the tour coming to an end, but we still had 2 more concerts to go, one tonight and one a month from now. Most tours have shows almost every night, but we aren't a huge band and we wanted to space out our shows so we wouldn't be exhausted. Bad move. I haven't been home in forever. It's not like I have some significant other waiting for me to return from my trip or whatnot, I just want to sleep in my own fucking bed. And seeing my brother wouldn't be that bad, either.

I opened the door and enjoyed the smell of the freshly brewed coffee. Damn, I love coffee. I ordered my usual and sat down at a small booth by the window, so I wouldn't be forced to look at anyone and could daydream out the glass.

I was snapped out of my daydream by a loud group of people bustling into the coffee shop. Loud was an understatement. Most of them were obviously drunk, and they looked like an intimidating crowd.

"Hey, baby," one of them slurred at the poor girl behind the cash register. "How would you like to hang with my crew, we'll make sure you have a great time." The girl looked so frightened and disgusted and knew exactly what the man was thinking. By now, a group of people that were in the Starbucks had gathered around the girl to protect her from the crowd. I couldn't quite see over everyone, but I could tell by the volume of his voice that the man was getting aggravated.

"Hey, what the hell dude, leave her alone." One of the customers was trying to calm the man down. Everything got really quite, then I heard an excruciating noise that sounded incredibly painful. I rushed over to the crowd and saw that the angry man had punched the customer in the jaw and had sent him flying over the Starbucks  counter and into the glass refrigerator, spraying glass all over him.

"Oh my god, Nate, what have you done?" The skimpy girl next to the man was clinging onto "Nate"'s arm in fear. "Come on, let's get the hell out of here." The entire group of people followed Nate's command and left the building. Everyone else seemed to leave as well, because now it was only me, the cashier, and the man who was now bleeding intensely.

"What should we do?" The blonde Starbucks worker looked at me in terror.

"The only thing we can do is call the hospital and hope that he'll be alright." I dialed 911 on my phone and waited with the girl until the ambulance arrived. I watched them pile the dark haired man onto the ambulance, then drive away. "Damn." I whispered under my breath. I decided to go back to the RV, I had been gone for a while.

"Ray? Hey, you here?" I yelled out into the compressed van. "Yeah, back here." I walked back into the "studio", which is really the back bedroom which we converted into a room with a desk, laptop, and area for ray's guitar and my microphone.

"Hey, why were you gone for so long?" I explained what happened at the coffee shop, pausing every few seconds to let Ray process it.

"Wow, is that guy ok?" Ray seemed very worried. "Yeah, I mean, I think so. Me and that girl called the ambulance and they carried him away, and that was it." I was still in shock from the situation, and I felt the strange need to see if the stranger was ok. I shook the feeling off.

"Damn. Are you alright? You seem shaken up. We can cancel the show tonight if you're not ready, Gerard."

"No, Ray, I'm fine, really. Let's just forget about it and go warm up." We grabbed our equipment and headed to the small building where we would be performing.

"Still can't believe that someone would do that," Ray said, and I agreed with him.

"Yeah," I said, "the world is ugly."

Hi! So I know that was a short chapter, but I really just wanted to start this book that I've been wanting to write for a long time and I kept trying to start but couldn't put my ideas into words.

I know this isn't the best start, but I promise it will get better. Please leave feedback and feel free to correct anything!!

An update will hopefully come soon.

*throws candy at you for being so awesome*