My World: On Fire (A Black Veil Brides Fan-Fiction)

1. The Concert

Cait -

I sit on the side of the path jiggling my leg nervously.  I squint up at the other people in the ridiculously long line, chatting excitedly with their friends. I pick at the dirt in between the slabs of concrete. I’m alone. The only other person I would have considered coming with is grounded, trapped in her bedroom until further notice. I jump as my phone goes off, the shrieking of the theme from Psycho pierces the air and a few of the people around me scream.

“Sorry!” I mumble absent-mindedly as I reach into my pocket and pull out my pink flip phone.

‘If u meet them make sure u get a signature for me!”

It’s about the 30th time she’s reminded me that I have to do this for her. She’d nearly started crying when she had found out that she couldn’t go. I had only just managed to convince her not to sneak out. Fortunately, she understood that I would not feel comfortable harbouring a fugitive. I text her back a smiley face, put my phone on silent and slip it back into the pocket of my shorts.

The line starts shuffling forward and I leap to my feat, heart pounding. The wind whips my hair around my face, causing it to sting my eyes. It is cold in the alleyway and the strange men walking in and out of the strip club at the end of it unsettle me. It is a relief to be headed inside. I grab my ticket from my pocket, ready for it to be inspected. The Black Veil Brides army marches in, slowly filling the venue. I shove my way to the stage but stay to the side so I won’t get crushed by the enthusiastic dancing. I know that at some point I will fall over... I always fall over. I’m not entirely sure who the supporting band is but they are loud and their fans are even louder. I’ll have to search them on YouTube when I get home tonight. So far, I feel as if my stomach is going to vibrate its way out of my throat and my ears are going to fall off. The supporting band makes their way off stage and I start getting REALLY excited. The lights dim and the fans in the crowd begin to whisper. Of course, I know from the last concert I went to that we are almost definitely going to be standing around in silence for a while. Maybe a sound guy or two will wander on stage and maybe the lights will flash spectacularly once or twice, but BVB isn’t coming on yet. People start shuffling away to buy merchandise, fix their war paint or get a drink. I am not moving from my spot. I want to be as close to the awesomeness as I possibly can be. I quickly check back through the photos I’ve taken. Aniisah will murder me if I come back with nothing to show. If she was here, I would be over in a really long line buying a wrist band or a poster or something. I bob up and down impatiently, take a few random photos of the dark, crowded club and tap my fingers on my new camera.

“BOO!” hands clamp down on my shoulders and I jump about a foot in the air, screaming like a little girl. I feel my cheeks redden and I whizz around, nearly slapping Aniissa in the face. Ok, so I whacked her nose...

“Jesus Christ woman!” my cheeks are on fire. The looks I’m getting almost convince me that I belong in an asylum. “How did you escape?”

“I didn’t... I was released. I’ve been here for a while but you didn’t reply to my text.”

“The phone’s on silent,” I grin and hold out my hand for a high five. It takes us six tries before we get the proper, satisfying slap sound. She smiles and holds out something for me. It’s a BVB wrist band.

“Am I the best friends ever? Or am I the best friend ever!?” she drops the black band into my hand and turns to the stage, checking out the view.

A low rumbling sound starts up and everyone falls silent. The lights flare up and the guys from Black Veil Brides come onto the stage. The crowd basically explodes. The screams hurt my ears but I don’t care because I’m screaming and clapping too. Andy shouts at the audience and we get even louder.

“Hey Melbourne, how are you? Shut up so we can play!” he says, a smile spreading across his face.

We shut up, eagerly awaiting the music. They begin to play. They’re playing New
Religion. I sing along at the top of my lungs just like everyone else. In between songs I twist around to say something to Aniissa. I’m glad I’m not here alone. After a short break – consisting of water bottles and other such stuff being tossed at the audience and Andy making fun of some people in the crowd – they slow down a bit and start playing Saviour. Jinxx swaps his guitar for his violin and I see some crazy fan girls begin to tear up. I can hear another sound behind the beautiful music, a low rumbling. It is getting louder and louder. I look up at Ashley just as a flicker of panic shows itself in his eyes. A few people stop singing, start mumbling and stare down at the floor. Andy is still singing. He’s bending down and reaching into the crowd. He looks right at Aniissa and me and raises an eyebrow. We had both started looking around for the source of the rumble. The butterflies in my stomach go mad and I blush. From somewhere in the back of the club, a girl screams. This scream is different to the others. It is a cry out for help.  It is an alarm. More terrified screams begin and the ground begins to shake. Andy stops singing. The sound of Jinxx’s violin cuts off with a shriek, CC fumbles and drops his drum sticks and Jake and Ashley share a worried look. The floor starts to fold in. It’s as if there is a cave beneath us, or some monster, wanting to swallow us. The frightened fans scramble to the emergency exit. The crowd is suffocating. Aniissa grabs the sleeve of my rather appropriate military jacket and pulls me closer to the stage. I look up. The guys seem to be frozen. Ashley looks more horrified than the others, the black makeup ringing his eyes only making his expression more dramatic. The floor is falling away in sections. I think the stage will be last to go. I turn to Aniissa.

“I’ll help you climb up,” she says as if she has read my thoughts, “then you pull me up after you.”

I nod and we climb over the low fence that separates the crowd from the stage. I let her give me a boost. I haul myself up and turn round to help her. Andy is already there giving her a hand. Aniissa thanks him breathlessly as she crawls onto the stage. She turns back to see what’s going on. There is now a large, seemingly bottomless pit right where the majority of people had been standing. The amount of dust that has been kicked up is amazing.

“We have to go! Now!” Ashley has recovered and is giving Jinxx an eager shove towards the exit.

A loud roar echoes through the building followed by an ear-splitting crack that I swear came from the pit itself. Something sharp flashes just close enough for me to see. It’s like a claw. A clawed hand curls up, out of the hole and hooks into the floor. Aniissa takes a step forward and squints, trying to see through the dust that is now so thick I can only see about half a meter in front of my face.

“Holy shit!” she exclaims. “That thing is creepy as!” She turns to me, “let’s get a closer look.” She jumps down off the stage.

“Are you crazy?! You’ll get yourself killed!”

“Cait, it’s so dusty here I doubt the thing will be able to see me!” with that, she springs off into the small crowd of terrified people.

“No!” Ashley shouts from behind me coming to stand at the edge of the stage.

I hear her scream before I see what has happened. The dust has settled a bit and I see Aniissa, lying limp in the foul beast’s claws. The monster is massive and brown with patches of knotted, cat vomit coloured fur. I leap forward and push my way through the crowd. I hear Ashley swear but I don’t turn to see if anyone follows me. The creature turns to me. I grab a wine bottle off a table near me and chuck it at the ‘hand’ that holds my friend. He drops her in surprise and reaches out with one massive claw. I try to scramble away but it is fast. I feel the warm blood begin to trickle from the wound in my chest. I also feel something else. I don’t quite know how to describe it but it is as if something solid is slowly pushing its way through my veins. I don’t have much time to wonder at the sensation because the pain hits me and I fall to the ground like a brick.