Broken Hearted, Broken Dreams [COMPLETED]

Chapter 2: A Sliver Of Hope

Chapter 2
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I woke up lying on the couch of the basement of my house. I sat up slowly and rubbed my eyes. I looked around and saw that I was indeed in the basement of my house, lying on the couch that I normally sleep on. The place is trashed, like it always is. I shook my head to wake myself up and was about to get up when I heard the stairs creaking and see 2 figures walking down the stairs, my brother Logan and Asher.
"Asher's here, and Christian is upstairs too." Logan says and then jogs back up the stairs. I look at Asher's face and my voice breaks as I say,
"You're here." He nods and comes to sit next to me on the couch. He has cut his dark black hair since I last saw him, it's relatively short now and a lot cleaner than before. His green eyes steadily meet my sad blue ones. He's still exceptionally skinny and very tall. He is wearing a leather jacket that covers his arms and dark blue skinny jeans. He's completed the tattoo on his neck also and I smile a little. He engulfs me in a bear hug and answers,
"I needed to make sure you were ok Erin, after the message and the way you talked to Christian...you scared me half to death."
"You're really here." I say releasing a pent up breath, when suddenly questions bombarded my mind.
"But you were on tour!?" I exclaim. He shakes his head and says,
"We still are, we perform here tonight." Just then I hear shouting from upstairs,
"What kind home are you running here!? It seems like more of a prison to me than a place for my sister to grow up!"
"Christian you know we don't have the money to get help for her-"
"NO! if you really cared that much you would be nicer to her! Not neglect her. You've done nothing to help any one of us since dad left all of us! Stop being a big baby and act like a mother! Erin can come on tour with us if she wants, I'm going to give HER the option, not you!"
"What's that about?" I ask Ash, he shrugs his shoulders but I can tell he knows something I don't. Just then Christian comes down the stairs and walks over to me.
"Hey sis, how are you doing?" He speaks in a lot calmer voice than when he was shouting.
"Uh, I don't know. The pain never ends." I say quietly. My brother looks at Ash and they have a silent conversation.
"Um Erin, we were thinking, would you like to come on tour with us as we finish up?" Ash asks softly. I look at both of them, questions glazing in my eyes.
"We understand if you don't want to, just thought you could use some time to get away from this old place." Christian says sadly, looking about the room.
"I'd be so happy to." I say in amazement. I see Christian smile and he picks me up, twirling me around in the air the way our dad used too.
"That's my sister!" I smile and happy tears slide from my eyes.
"Are all the guys okay with it?" I ask nervously.
"They're totally cool with you. We got a new member too, you won't be the only girl there Erin." He winks at me and I blush. I was about to ask when we were leaving when Logan came rushing down the stairs, he walked straight to Christian and whispered something in his ear. Immediately his smile evaporated and a look of anger replaced it. They looked at each other for a minute and then Christian ran to the stairs, bounding up them 2 at a time with Logan following closely behind. What I heard next I wished I never did. I heard yelling, screaming, and shouting. I pulled my knees up to my chest and slowly rocked back and forth, trying to block it out. Ash put his arms around me protectively and tucked my head under his chin, he kept whispering one sentence to me until it was over,
"It's ok, ignore it, it'll get better." It went on like this for a few minutes when finally there was a very loud grunt of pain from a man, I'm guessing it was Christian and one final shout,
"Just leave my sister alone! She has dreams of her own you stupid idiot!" After that there was silence. After another minute Ash got up and tugged at my hand,
"C'mon, we should get you packed and to the tour bus." I grabbed a few things and shoved them into my bag from school, I grabbed my guitar case and we headed up the stairs, Andy in the lead. We came up into the kitchen to see Logan kneeling beside Christian who had a bag of ice over his eye. I gasped,
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Ash you better get her outa here. Lo, you wanna come?" We turn to Logan and he shifts on his feet. Finally he answers softly,
"I wouldn't mind."
"Right, I'll drive. Let's get you fixed up too Christian." We all walked out and got into Ash's car. It wasn't long before we pulled up next to a long bus which was parked next to a huge outdoor stage. As we climb out of the car I see the door to the bus swing open and slowly 3 people climbing down onto the ground. Ash pats my shoulder and walks over to greet them. I look around at my brothers, Logan had his backpack slung across his shoulder and his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. I see Christian has his eye revealed and there's a black patch where the ice had been. His brown eyes still had the same ambition among them, his long shaggy black hair hung by his shoulders, he had a bandana in his hair as always just showing on his forehead. He was wearing a black Tee shirt and black skinny jeans. Asher gestures us over to the other people, as we near he holds his hand out for me to take and I do. He rests his hands on my shoulders and says,
"Erin, Logan. This is Axel, Cash, who you know. And Crimson who is new."
"Hey, nice to see you again Erin." Axel gives me a pat on the back and so does Cash, they are nice guys. I stick my hand out to Crimson who I assumed was also a boy because they had their head down but when they raise their head I see a different picture. Their hair is dyed a very light brownish red, their eyes are covered in eyeliner and mascara which is matching the look of the band. Their eyes are a dark brown and they have a nose piercing. I look at what Crimson is wearing, a black leather vest with black skinny jeans and white converse, I see tattoos peaking out on her arms and neck. I gasp inwardly as I recognize the person. I realize who she is and my face is in awe. Her hand meets mine as her eyes steadily bore into me.
"Nice to meet Christians sister." Is all she says but I know she recognizes me too. She shakes Logan's hand and then Axel says,
"Christian! What happened dude?" For now his eye and half of his face had turned black and red."
"Man it's fine, we'll cover it up with makeup tonight." He says easily. Axel takes him onto the bus, Cash and Logan seem to be getting on well too and they walk off chatting. That leaves Ash, Crimson, and me.
"So...do you guys know each other or...?" He asks awkwardly. I look one more time at her and then she answers,
"Possibly."
"Yeah." I mumble, Ash clears his throat and says again,
"Well I can show you around the bus then Erin."
"Good idea. You know where I'll be Ash if you need anything." She walks off and hops into the bus. Ash gestures for me to follow him and I do, he leads me up the steep steps into the tour bus. Right away I see a long room with couches and a tv.
"This is the common place we hang out if we're traveling, it's not the neatest." He adds as I notice trash all around, I smile to myself because it's exactly like my room. Next he shows me the kitchen which is small and has basic things. Then he shows me the bedrooms, first we come to one which has 2 people already in it.
"This is Axel and Christian's room." He nods toward where Axel is kneeling in front of Christian and applying what looks like black makeup to his eye. We walk a little ways and we come to another room, Ash stops in the doorway and says,
"This is me and Cash's room." The room was empty and has 2 bunks in it. "He's probably getting dressed for the show. Finally we come to the end of the bus where there's a closed door which Ash knocks on. The door swings open slowly to reveal Crimson, standing there with a straight face and not even looking at me.
"And this is Crimson's room where you'll also be staying." I nod with my eyes slightly going wide. I was staying with her? This might be more difficult than I thought.
"Uh, so I'll let you unpack and get to know each other. Oh and Logan's room is just down there." He points slightly to the right where a small door is slightly open. Ash walks off and Crimson retreats into the room, leaving the door open for me to follow.
"That's your bed," she points to a small twin sized bed on a dark wood frame that is lifted high off the ground.
"Shut the door too will you?" I do as she said, I set my bag and guitar under my lifted up bed and looked around. It was a nice room, there were Windows as we were at the back of the bus. Crimsons bed was on the floor with a bunk bed hovering over it. There were 2 small dressers and posters plastered over the walls where there weren't windows. Crimson was sitting down and taking off her makeup. I opened my bag and put the few clothes I had in the small dresser on my side. When I had done that I opened my guitar case and pulled out my acoustic.
"You play?" I hear her ask and look over to see her nodding at the instrument in my hands. "I do too, only electric." I nod and play a few cords but am interrupted by her again.
"Look Erin, I think we got off on the wrong foot."
"Or ended on the wrong one." I say quietly.
"Oh please don't say that, you know I tried to-"
"Crimson you used to be my best friend! My only one. Why didn't you tell me what had happened?"
"I don't know dude, I figured you wouldn't like to hear what had happened after I dropped out of high school. I left my parents, I was a complete mess. Just living off of playing in the street for a few pennies each night. When I was offered the spot on the Second Hand Warriors I was grateful. It was then that I learned your brother was the drummer and I kinda freaked out ok? And today I didn't know what to say to you in front of those guys, I haven't talked to you in a year. I'm sorry."
"It's ok, just wished you would have called. But it's cool." She smiles and I smile back,
"Call me Crim, I like it better." She winks at me and I laugh a little bit. "Well I've got to get ready for the show, I'll be in the bathroom just down the hall. Call me if you need something...or just ask the guys." She smiles and I smile back as she walks out of the room.