Give Me a Sign, Show Me The Light (Corey Taylor)

6

By the time we'd exited the gloomy building that was the police station, it was nearing late afternoon.

Corey had been let off only with a warning as his actions were in retaliation of what Ryan was doing to me, and Ryan... Well, he was on a bail date for the next two weeks.

For those two weeks, I was instructed by the officers to go back to my house and collect all my belongings within the next half hour, the drive from the police station took at least 15 minutes though, so that really only left us with another 15 before Ryan was let out from the station to return home. Although the timing was agreed so that we wouldn't be there when Ryan got home, it was still cutting it pretty close.

I was then given some leaflets and phone numbers for if I ever needed to talk to people or get out somewhere, you know, to help if I ever got to 'upset' or felt the need to self harm and everything else they're told to be concerned about. Trying to convince them that I wasn't depressed was the worst, no matter how many times I told them I was fine, they would always keep asking and making sure, one person even wanted to run a diagnosis just to be certain, but it was quickly cleared that I wouldn't need one. The last thing I was given was a piece of paper with a perscription for some anxiety tablets and, for if I ever did need them, some antidepressants.

"How are you feeling now?"

I blinked and shook myself from my thoughts and looked up to Corey, who was the one to ask me the question.

"I'm Ok, a lot better now that I'm not surrounded by people. How about you?"

"Eh I'll be fine, I'm a tough cookie."

There was a pause between us and Paul as we hailed down a taxi and got into the first one to pull up. Paul sat in the front and told the driver where to go and we pulled off, me and Corey sat in silence while Paul made small talk with the driver.

We arrived at the house within the 15 minute time and paid the driver, getting out and heading towards the front door. I fumbled around in my bag until I found my keys and unlocked the door, my hand beggining to shake ever so slightly. Corey must have seen because when I dropped my hand down, he slid his into mine, making comfort instantly wash over me.

"You guys go on ahead to pack, I'll wait down here for you both," Paul decided, with Corey nodding at him and climbing the stairs a step behind me. Once we reached the room, I was spun around and pulled into Coreys chest, his arms wrapping tightly around me.

"I was so fucking scared that something would happen to you before I got here. I don't know what I'd do if I found out I was to late."

I cut him off by looking up at him and reaching my hand to the back of his neck, bringing his lips down to meet mine. We kissed for a few moments before I pulled away and leaned my forehead on his, looking into his eyes.

"I'm sorry I left, I know I shouldn't have. But I'm glad you managed to come, I'm fine now so don't worry about it," I said quietly, not breaking eye contact.
He kept staring back at me, looking like he had more to say, but instead he let out a quiet, sad sigh and moved to kiss my forehead, before breaking contact and stepping back.

"Right, we don't have much time. Let's get your things together."

We took about 10 minutes cramming my clothes into any suitcases or duffle bags that we could find, along with shoes, toiletries, makeup, anything I would need that wasn't already at Coreys. We didn't even bother to make it neat, just thew everything carelessly in. I would be taking it all back out in a couple of hours and we didn't have much time so who cares.

I also made a last minute decision that I wanted to take all my art with me, which Corey easily agreed to. Once it was all collected and Corey had stood and complimented my painting of himself for a good two minutes, we were back downstairs and ready to leave.

"Right then, let's get out of here."

We followed Coreys instruction and carried everything out to where his car was still parked. We placed everything in the boot and got in, buckled up and made our way home.

After a five or ten minute drive, we arrived back and Corey pulled into the drive way, which caused the front door to open as Mick and Shawn came rushing out.

"Is everything Ok? You've been gone longer than we thought!" Shawn panicked, which I couldn't help but smile a little bit at.

"Yeah, everything is fine, let's get Crystals stuff in then we'll tell you everything that happened." Corey answered, patting his friend on the back before we all went to get my things into the house.

I didn't want to be in the lounge whilst Mick and Shawn were being filled in with what happened, so I decided that I'd go ahead and start organising my things. After convincing Corey that I'd be Ok on my own for a bit, he hesitantly nodded and turned his back to go into the lounge where the others were waiting. He shut the door a little to drown out their talking somewhat, and I made my way out to the car to get my bags. Two trips later, and everything was piled neatly ontop of Coreys bed. Or was it our bed now? I don't know. It felt weird thinking of it as 'our' bed, considering I didn't even know what we even were. Last night could've given some clues, but I didn't want to jump to any certain conclusions.

Just thinking back to what happened made me smile a little as I unzipped my first bag and hung the clothes in my side of the wardrobe. He really did care for me, in the small time that we'd known eachother, he really did. I knew by how careful and caring he was last night, and every other time we'd spent together in the past week. I knew he was trying his best to make me feel at home, and it had worked, although I could always see in his eyes that he was constantly trying his hardest not to make a wrong move. He seemed scared of doing or saying the wrong thing, just like when he picked up my nervousness as he watched me cleaning up the kitchen the other day.

"Crystal!"

The sudden call made me jump, allowing my mind to discard all the thoughts I was swimming in.

"I'm just coming!" I called back and instantly dropped the shirt I was holding. I quickly jogged down to the bottom of the stairs in almost no time at all, to see all the guys standing by the front door.

"The guys are gonna head home now," Was all Corey said, smiling over to me and placing his hand on my lower back.

"Oh right, it was good to see you all again," I replied, giving them a small smile as they said goodbye. I hugged Shawn, then turned to look at Mick, who was holding out his arms expectantly. I giggled as I remembered the first time he had hugged me back on the bus, and walked over to be engulfed by his arms for a moment.

"Right, we'll see you around?" Paul said whilst I hugged him too, after pulling away from Mick.

"Yeah. Oh hey, I was thinking of maybe having a few drinks and a barbecue at some point this week. You guys up for it?" Corey said, making the other three nod in agreement. "Awesome, well let me know when everyone's free and we can go from there."

After a few more words were exchanged, the boys had finally gone home. I told Corey that I was going to continue unpacking and he said he'd be right up after going outside to have a cigarette. I watched him as he made his way out to the back garden, and once he had turned out of sight, I went back upstairs to finish on my stuff.