21 Guns

Chapter 6

To my surprise, I actually fell asleep and didn't have a nightmare for the first time the night before I got out of the hospital. I had been stuck in that place for so long that it was driving me crazy. Let's just say that I practically ran to our car when the doctor said I could go home.

Dakota was alright, thank God. She was diagnosed with PTSD, and the doctors gave her some sort of medication to help. She was also referred to a therapist, and though she didn't want to at first, she has been meeting with her every other day ever since. I can tell that she's improving little by little, and it relieves me more than anything.

Katie was doing alright as well. She still hadn't talked about what had happened, but I knew that she would in her own time. She had nightmares every night, and would wake up screaming or gasping for air. It tore me apart knowing that she was most likely reliving when I was shot. Though she also had PTSD, it was considered mild, and therefore didn't require any medication. She was not only too stubborn to go to a therapist, but also too scared to. She blocked out the memories of the shooting during the day only to relive them in her dreams.

They decided to close the school until the following September. Not only did the surviving students need time to heal physically and mentally, the majority of the teachers lost their lives... There were only a handful that survived, and they were most likely dealing with PTSD too. So we would have our courses condensed so that we could cover the part of the semester we were losing, as well as the new material for that specific grade. The exception would be grade 9 course, since they would finish middle school in June as usual, then would follow out their regular curriculum. Anyone graduating had the choice to attend a nearby school for the remainder of the year, or return with the rest of us and stay for one semester...When it was time for me to return to school, I wasn't sure how I would handle it. Knowing what had happened, and that so many people were killed there made my stomach churn. I didn't want to see the place again, let alone go inside it. I went over that while we were driving back home from the hospital.

I still hadn't told my parents about the concert. I planned on doing it the day that Dakota tried to kill herself, but I chickened out. I decided to do it when I got back home instead. Well, we had rolled up to my house, so it was time to tell them. My parents grabbed the few things I had at the hospital, but I grabbed my guitar. I was very protective of my instruments; I refused to let anyone else touch them. Everyone except for Katie and Dakota thought that I was crazy, but I didn't care. I guess people who didn't play any instruments just didn't understand. We took everything into my room and I sat down on my bed. It was now or never.

"Hey guys, I have something awesome to tell you." I announced, and they looked at me strangely.

"Why do you sound nervous then?" My mother asked suspiciously.

"Well, that's because I'm not exactly sure if you two are going to think it's as awesome as I do." I replied. There was an uncomfortable silence for a little while that was soon broken by my dad.

"Alright, spit it out. It can't be as bad as... What has happened in the past little while." That was another thing. My parents still hadn't exactly said the word "shooting". I had come to terms with it, but it seemed I was the only one who had at that point.

"Well, the morning of the shooting, Katie and Dakota gave me a painting. If you pass me my backpack, it's in there." I told them. They might have a harder time understanding what the painting was describing, but it was worth a shot. My mom passed me my backpack and I got the painting out.

"It represents something. Once you have figured it out, you can look on the back to see the next part." I explained. They both stared at it for a few minutes with puzzled looks on their faces. Then, it seemed as though my mom had an idea.

"Does it have something to do with the sky being green?" She asked. I nodded and told her that she was on the right track.

"Is there a tornado about to take place or something?" My dad asked. I shook my head and snickered.

"Okay... OH! GREEN DAY!" My mom exclaimed, laughing. "How did I not get that before?" My dad looked at my mom like she was crazy.

"What? I like some of their songs!" She defended. I giggled to myself again as my dad just shook his head at how immature she seemed to be acting.

"Alright, you can turn it over now!" I smiled. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as I thought it would be. She turned it over and read over the message. My dad was the one who noticed the second part.

"The letters in bold spell 'concert'. They're going to take you to a concert?" He said, looking at me with his eyebrows raised. I nodded excitedly.

"Green Day is playing in Toronto on my birthday. Katie and Dakota got us VIP tickets so that we can meet the band as well! Oh, and I found out that one of my other favourite bands is opening!" I said, grinning like a complete idiot and barely managing to contain an excited squeal.

"Which band is it?" My mom asked.

"MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE!!!" I exclaimed, letting the squeal out. "So, can I go?" I asked suddenly noticing the look of shock on their faces.

"Sure, honey!" My mom asked, giving me a gentle hug.

"Absolutely not!" My dad exploded. My mom and I both looked at him with shocked expressions. He stood up from the bed before continuing.

"You were just shot not to long ago! You need to heal! Dakota tried to kill herself after the shooting because she was hallucinating, and we both know that Katie isn't any better. Is anyone even going to supervise you?" He asked.

"No, but-" he interrupted me before I could say anything else.

"Then you can forget about going. That's final. There is no way that I am letting my 15 year old daughter go to some rock concert with two of her unstable friends." He was being completely unfair and he knew it. I planned on letting him know it.

"That's not fair, Dad! They already bought the tickets! And Dakota is getting better daily. No, Katie hasn't exactly wanted to talk about what happened, but that's perfectly normal! You know what, this concert was the only thing that has kept us going after everything that has happened. It was going to be the one night that we could just forget about the shooting. You wouldn't understand because you've never had to go through something like this." With that, I got up and left my room, grabbing my iPod on the way. I just needed some space and I knew that I couldn't get it in our house. I heard my dad hollering for me to return to my room, but I didn't care. I threw on my leather boots and threw my jacket over my good arm. I slammed the front door behind me and ran down the stairs.