Come Back to Me

6

Her heart pounded against her chest as she studied herself in the mirror for the hundredth time. Tonight had to go perfectly. There wasn't any room for error, no time to get side tracked, and no one could be allowed to get in her way. If it all went the way she hoped at the party, the two of them would leave together like nothing had ever happened and could finally move on.

No...That's a lie. We can't just pretend it didn't happen.

She wanted to though. She wanted so badly to pretend that the nightmare was just that...a bad dream. She wasn't angry at him anymore, if anything she just missed him terribly. Maybe once they had a chance to talk it would all be better...she could hope at least.

"Are you almost done?" Valerie called out from downstairs.

Taking one last deep breath Vanessa tried to steady herself. The all too familiar feeling of dead and excitement flooded her body and mind, sending small bursts of electric shocks down to the tips of her fingers. The anxiety was almost crippling at this point. Still, she needed to go if she wanted to get there in time.

She smiled weakly as she looked down at her outfit. She wasn't sure why, maybe for the sake of hoping he'll recognise her, but it had been the very same outfit she had worn the day they met. The leather pants now felt tighter around her legs, almost as if someone had a death grip on her. Every sense had become extremely sensitive today. Clothes felt too uncomfortable, small sounds sounded like she was right in front of a speaker turned up at full volume, and her head throbbed with an annoying ache that refused to leave her alone.

"Ness!" Valerie called again. "We need to go!"

"Coming!" she yelled back.

It's now or never...

Things seemed to move slowly as she approached the bedroom door, the anticipation growing deep inside her as she turned the handle. Her breathing became heavy, shaky, as she made her way down the stairs, every thought in her mind clashing together as she locked eyes with Valerie. She was thankful that her sister was going with her, that they had managed to rebuild their bond after so much tension had strained it.

"I'm ready," she managed to breathe out.

Taking her hand and giving it a light squeeze, Valerie nodded. "Let's go get your boyfriend back."

~

The sound of the music blasted through the speakers, shaking the floors and walls as the crowd cheered. Some had started a pit in the center of the floor, pushing and shoving each other while some stood by and watched. A fair number of fights had already broken out over someone accidentally pushing into someone else or just a spilled drink.

Dead smiled to himself as he watched from behind the curtain, enjoying the show itself as well as the chaos around him. They were next once Darkthrone finished. For once, they were the headliners. All the attention was going to be on them for a change instead of just being an opening act. To him, it almost didn't seem real. All of it had become more than any of them had imagined. The fame was great, the shows were brutal as always, sometimes even more so depending on how far he felt like taking things. Tonight was going to be the best show they ever had.

His smile faltered for a moment as he felt his stomach start to ache. Not so much a painful ache, but an annoying almost flip.

Maybe just nerves before the show.

No, that didn't seem likely. Of all the shows they had ever done he hadn't ever felt nervous before them. Putting on the show was the one thing he knew he loved. The corpse paint freed him for just a little while, almost like an alter-ego. He didn't have to be Pelle, he was just Dead. And that was how he liked it. Turning off any and all emotions just to give in to the brutality of the show, occasionally cutting himself so deep that even physical pain was numbed and it just felt...intoxicating. To be so wrapped up in it that he didn't remember why he was hurting inside.