a tangible sense of wrong

fear consumes all emotions and clouds the senses

The warm smell of toast wafted over as Joe and Ed entered the room.

"Guess who I found cooking, and not actually sleeping," Joe jokingly whispered as Ed meekly held two plates in his hands.

Ed gave a gentle smile as he held a plate with a buttered piece of toast to Dave. The plate was chipped, but its heavy weight was soothing in Dave's hands. It made him feel more grounded, and put a stop to the subtle spinning in his head.

"Reckoned that none of you would actually make something to eat, so I took it upon-"

Ed's voice was soft, but despite that, Dave still winced as he bit into the toast. It was dry and gritty against his throat as he swallowed a mouthful. His vision seemed to tilt and he closed his eyes.

"Oh shut it Ed, you know full well that I make a great-"

Joe's voice was louder than Ed's and Dave felt a muted throb of pain run through his head. He tightly gripped the plate and he forced himself to continue chewing the toast. Its texture had long turned pasty in his mouth, but he couldn't bear to swallow it.

"Cereal and milk, Joe. Cereal and milk," Ed sternly interrupted as he handed the other plate of toast to Drew.

While Drew reached for the plate, his arm brushed against Dave. The sensation seemed to last too long for Dave, as he felt himself still. However, with that, he felt his headache also recede, leaving only a sense of bleary warmth overtaking him. It seemed that the medicine's side effects had finally begun to pass.

Finally processing the words that had been spoken between Joe and Ed, Dave softly chuckled at their interaction.

"It's okay Joe, I always like your cereal the best," Dave smiled as he took another bite of toast. His body felt warm and at ease as he let himself further sink into the couch.

"Well with the way you're all bullying me, I guess I won't tell you the news," Joe petulantly scoffed, as he turned his head to the side.

The three simultaneously groaned, with Dave unable to stop himself from slightly giggling.

"Fine, fine, man. Sorry for being such terrible friends," Ed over-dramatically said.

"Hm, I was looking for more of a 'beg for your life' kind of apology but that'll make due," Joe reached into his pocket and pulled out a colorful piece of paper. "Okay guys, so while Ed and I were out last night, I found out about a rave that'll be happening in the next town over. Apparently it's an annual thing, and shit really goes down." The other three nodded. "So, I thought to myself, well, that's convenient, cause we'll be going there for our next show!"

"You're proposing we go to a rave," Dave hesitantly responded. His head still felt fuzzy and his mouth had begun to feel as if it were filled with cotton balls.

Joe enthusiastically nodded.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

All eyes turned to Drew.

He shrugged and gave a small grin.

"We all know that Davey's going to be all jittery preparing for the show, and he'll just be tired after. Sure we'll all be going with the whole adrenaline rush when we walk off stage, but in half an hour we'll just be crashing. And it just doesn't seem like a smart thing to do, you know? Partying in the same town as a show," he softly scoffed, "that sounds like a recipe for disaster."

Dave felt himself heavily blink as he mulled over Drew's words.

"Oh it'll be fine Drew, it's sounds like it'll be fun. I don't want us to not have fun just cause of me."

Drew turned to Dave at his reply. His eyes seemed to have taken on a darker glint.

"No, no. Dave, don't push yourself. Just think of what would happen if a fan spotted us. And it'll be so crowded, I really don't think that'd be a good idea at all."

Joe sighed.

"Come on Drew, it'll be fine. The main parts of the rave happen every night for a week, so if we head over there by around nine, we could go to it for one night and spend the rest of our time there relaxing and preparing for the show." Drew stubbornly shook his head at Joe's reply.

"It just doesn't feel like it'll turn out well. What if we get separated? Then we'll just be spending the rest of the time looking for each other. I think we should just stick to our schedule," Drew crossed his arms as he finished speaking.

"Drew," Ed put a hand on Drew's crossed arms, "I think it'd actually be a pretty good idea. We've been doing a lot of work lately, and I personally, can't remember the last time all four of us went out for a good time. You know, the type of good time where we all got drunk. I know it's probably not the most responsible thing to be doing, and there's a lot of risk but it'll be fine. We're all adults here," the taller softly smiled at the end and patted Drew's shoulder.

Still, Drew frowned.

"Come on, you guys are being really irresponsible with this. With the crowds, and everyone being drunk, it's frankly a terrible idea. You know that I'd usually be all for this type of thing, but it just isn't sitting right with me here," Drew's voice had begun to raise itself, and Dave felt himself recoiling from the growing volume.

He knew that he shouldn't want to go to the rave, though a part of him yearned to be in a crowd. But Drew was right, there would be a great mass of people, and all Dave wanted to do at this point was sleep. He could feel his eyes drooping and his senses almost swirl together into an indiscernible heap. Yet, perhaps with all the energy from so many people, he'd stop feeling so lethargic. It wouldn't make for a good show if he continued to feel like this on the day of the concert.

"Guys," the others turned to him, "I think Joe and Ed are right. Let's go to the rave."

Drew scowled, but everyone knew that his points were now null. With three against one, there was no more hope of him winning the argument.

"Fine," Drew began to walk towards his room. He turned to the others and exasperatedly threw his hands up.

"Fuck it, let's go."