Come Back to Me

7

His hands gripped her tightly, trembling as they broke apart. He didn't want to open his eyes, scared that she would disappear. He could feel the tears running down his cheeks, trying to hold back a sob as he kept her close to him.

"I'm so sorry," his voice cracked as he fell to his knees in front of her. "Please forgive me. I should've known better."

Getting down to face him, Vanessa took his face in her hands. "Pelle, you have nothing to be sorry for. I'm not, nor have I ever been, mad at you. If I was you I would have thought the same thing. Please, don't be upset."

His head snapped up, his blue eyes bloodshot as the tears ran down his painted face. So many emotions showed in his eyes; relief, fear, regret.

For so many years he had tried to be strong, to show that no matter what anyone thought or heard, he was just as dead as he let on; that there were no feelings in his black heart. Everything he tried to convince people of had become undone in a matter of minutes. The man they all thought of as unfeeling was now a sobbing mess on the floor. Everything he had done on stage to show that he could care less about anything around him, including himself, now meant nothing.

In front of him, he could see the annoyed faces of some of the fans as they watched. Part of him wanted to feel bad to some degree. They had paid to be here, looking to spend time with the bands and just have fun. As much as he wanted to feel bad, he couldn't have cared less. He had put on a show for them long enough, now it was time for him to be a little selfish for once.

"I've waited so long for you," he managed. "I can't count how many times I told myself that I'd never see you again just to make the pain stop. I tried being with other people, I tried everything to put you out of my mind because I was mad at myself for ever losing you to begin with. I tried so hard to find you, I looked on everything I could think of, every social media platform that there was...but you never came up. I'm sorry I ever let you go."

"Pelle, I'm not mad at you. I don't want you to feel bad anymore. The important thing is that we're here together now. I love you and always will no matter what happens."

"I'm never letting you go again. I won't let you out of my sight again."

"I won't leave you," she whispered. "I promise."

Standing once again, Dead pulled her into his arms, his head resting against hers. He didn't expect her to want to stay at the party, hell, even he didn't want to stay for it; but he had to stay for a while at least.

"We can leave soon if you want," he pointed out. "I know this isn't exactly ideal."

She shook her head, smiling softly at him. "We have all the time in the world to talk about everything later. I don't wanna make people any more annoyed than they already are."

"Are you sure? If you change your mind just tell me and we can leave."

"I'm sure."

Glancing over her shoulder, Vanessa motioned for Valerie to come join them.

"Pelle," she started. "This is my sister Valerie."

Dead nodded once in her direction, still keeping a tight grip on Vanessa. "It's nice to meet you."

Valerie made an awkward wave. "It's nice to meet you too. I'm glad that you two finally are back together. I really hated seeing my sister so upset. I know seeing that creep didn't help anything."

Dead made a face, quickly looking down at Vanessa. "Creep?"

She let out a sigh. "I wasn't going to mention it tonight, but I had run into Varg not too long ago. I asked him to help me get in touch with you and he flat out refused saying that I was only doing any of this to live out some kind of fan-girl dream."