You're No Longer Alone (Adopted By Black Veil Brides)

The Store

Lonny's POV

I woke up and heard what sounded like someone crying. I got up and tryed to figure out where it was coming from. It's either Shadow or Andy, their rooms are the only ones close to mine.

I saw a peace of paper, I'll look at it later, for now I need to check on who ever is crying. I went into the hallway and there I could tell it was coming from Shadows room.

I knocked on his door, "hey Shadow, can I come in" I said gently. There was no response. I need to figure out if he's okay. I check to see if the door was locked, luckily it wasn't locked. I opened the door and saw Shadow curled up in the middle of his bed.

I walk over to him. "Hey Shadow" I said. I saw as he looked up at me, he clearly was crying for a while. "I'm sorry Lonny, I said I would do better, but this isn't better" he said, I'm not sure what he's talking about. "Hey, you don't need to change to 'be better', I like the version of you that you are already" I told him. "I do need to change though, I keep troubleing you guys" he said. "You're not troubleing us at all, I can promise you that" I said.

He looked down and sighed, "I'm Andy's son, I need to be perfect like he is, I can't be perfect if I'm such a burden to you guys" he said. "You know, nobody's perfect, this world would be boring if everyone was perfect. Trust me Andy isn't perfect. He's almost fought people because they've irritated him and he was very drunk. " I told him.

His crying slowed down. "Really? " he asked. I nodded my head. "One time someone was saying a bunch of bad things to the band from the audience, Andy heard it and tryed to jump on that guy to fight him. When he did that he almost landed on me" I told him.

He started laughing. "Did he really do that" he asked. "Yeah, there's video on YouTube, here I'll show you" I said. I grabbed my phone and searched for the video. I found it and clicked on it, I made sure the volume was on.

Shadow thought it was funny. "So this was before you where in the band" he said. "Yep" I said. "Is there any other funny things he's done? " Shadow asked. "Well, one thing wasn't funny at the time, but it's funny to look back on" I told him, "what is it" he said.

He looked very interested. "Well it was another time he was very drunk. He was preforming, he thought it would be a good idea to climb on these really tall platforms and try to jump back on stage. " I said. I watch as Shadows eyes widen. "He got to the top, he sat down on the edge and tryed to give himself a push to try to get on the stage, he almost made it, he hit the stage and landed on the ground" I told him.

He was very interested in this story. "What happened next" Shadow asked. "He broke some of his ribs. Someone then tryed to do CPR on him while he was on the ground. After that he got back up on the stage and kept preforming" I told him. "Wow" he said.

I laughed thinking about the next part, "when they where done preforming they took Andy to a children's hospital" I said laughing. Shadow laughed also, " those poor children" he said.

Shadow seemed to be doing better now. "You wanna go down stairs, we'll be going to the store soon" I asked. "yeah sure" he said. "Just don't tell Andy I'm the one who told you these stories, he loves telling them himself." He laughed, " Don't worry I won't, but that won't stop me from making fun of him" he said while laughing.

I almost forgot about that paper I saw "I just have to check one thing, you want to come with me? " I asked him. "Sure, of course" he said. I went back to my room and opened the door. "Wow, your room is so clean and neat" Shadow said. "Thanks" I said. I bent down and grabbed the paper.

I saw the drawing of me, it was amazing. I flipped over the paper. On the backside there was a note. It read 'Lonny, thanks for being there when I need you, when I had a nightmare you where there, after going through a bunch of things, I had a panic attack, and you where there. If I made you feel bad at all, I'm sorry, I'll do better - Shadow'.

Shadow then turned around and saw me holding the paper. "Hey, like I said, you don't need to do better, you're great exactly how you are. We all have nightmares, don't worry about it" I told him and hugged him. "Thanks Lonny, for everything you've done" he said. "Of course, anything for my little brother" I told him. I set the paper down on my bed. "Come on, let's get going" I told him. "Okay" he said skipping in front of me.

We made it down stairs and I saw as all the other guys turned around. Jinxx walked over to Shadow and hugged him. He whispered something in Shadows ear and Shadow nodded. "We ready for the store? " I asked them. "Yeah, I think we are" Andy said. We all filed out the door into the car. We sat in our normal spots in the car, meaning Shadow was next to me.

I was looking out the window and saw some papers taped to things, looks like missing posters. Aw, poor dog or cat. I couldn't tell what it was on the posters, but pets are the most common. We finally got to the store, looks like there are more posters around. We all got out of the car and I walked up to one of the posters. It read

Name: Artie Cerulli
Age: 14
Gender: Male
Hair Color: White
Eye Color: Brown

Wait is this Shadow's friend Artie? I walked back over to the others. "Hey guys did you know that A-" I said but got cut off, "hey, let's get shopping" Jake said. We walked inside. I walked slower so me and Jake can be walking together. "What's that about? " I whispered to him. "Do you really want to upset Shadow more? " he asked me whispering. "No, but we said we won't keep things from him anymore, and he's bound to find out at some point" I whispered back. "Fine, but you are going to tell him, or tell Andy and have Andy tell him" Jake whispered back. "Deal" I said.

We walked fast to catch up. I guess I'm the one telling Shadow, I'm not going to push it onto Andy to tell him. Where could've Artie went, he couldn't have gone that far, but it could've happened at any point in our tour. I was following everyone lost in thought. When I came back we already had everything. And we where already checking out.

Shadow and I went back into the car and sat down, everyone else was putting things in the back, I looked over at Shadow. "Hey Shadow" I said. "Yeah? " he said. "Your friend Artie, do you know his last name? " I asked him. "Not exactly, I know it starts with a C though" he said. "Oh, well, I think he's the one. Umm, well, he went missing, he's no where to be found" I said.

Shadow looked shocked. "Artie, running away, he would never" Shadow said. Everyone else came into the car. "What are you two talking about? " Jinxx asked as soon as he got in. "Artie, he's missing' Shadow said. " wait really? " Andy said. "Shoot that sucks, I really hope he gets found" CC said. Jake and Jinxx looked at each other. I really don't want that kid to get hurt.

We got home and shadow went inside right away. Jake went after him. Andy, CC, and Jinxx were unloading things from the car. "Hey guys, I have something I need to do, I'll be back later" I told them. They all said okay. I went to my car, yes we all have our own cars, we just prefer to use the van, it fits all of us in it. My car can fit 5 people in it. But that's if you squeeze the people in it. I started my car and drove off.