She Wouldn't Say Goodbye. (Guns N' Roses)

Chapter Thirty

-Duff-

Even though it was fucking tiny and pretty dirty - I had my own apartment in Los Angeles, California. I felt pretty proud of myself too, I had been on tours, been in several bands and I had finally made it to LA. I didn't really have a substantial amount of furniture in my new place, but I had some of my things, my instrument, and a mattress. Pretty much anything a young musician could ask for. I walked down the hallway and towards the front door of the apartment, I propped the heavy glass door open with a rock that was sitting next to it, before lighting a cigarette. Really I could have just smoked in my apartment, but I was enjoying being in California too much to sit inside all day - no matter how proud I was to have my own place. The sun shone down brightly, I felt so warm inside and my mind drifted towards what the weather was like right now in Seattle. I took a long drag of my cigarette, as I watched a guy about my age walking outside of the apartment complex across the street. He had pretty long, dark curly hair. He stuck a cigarette between his lips and began patting down the pocket of his blue jean jacket, presumably looking for a lighter.  

"Hey, man, you wanna borrow mine?" I yelled across the street, holding the lighter up.  I saw the guy look at me and grin, "Yeah, that'd be great." He strolled over to me, his cig still between his lips.  I held the lighter out to him. He grabbed it from me, flicking the flame up sticking it to the end of his cigarette. He handed me the lighter back and took a drag. "Thanks, Man." He grinned, nodding his head in my direction. 

"No problem, do you live across the street?" I questioned him. "Yeah, I do. I share the place with my friend Steven. What about you, I've never seen you before?"  I shook my head, blowing out a cloud of smoke. "I actually just moved here from Seattle. I finished moving in here today."  "That's cool, man. You'll like it, I've lived here practically my whole life and it's awesome. It's rough sometimes, but it's fun as hell."  "Yeah, I've heard a lot about it, that's one reason why I wanted to move here. I wanted to see the band scene as well."  "You play?" I shook my head, "Yeah when I lived in Seattle I probably played in thirty different bands. I played Drums, Guitar, Bass. Anything any of the bands needed really, most of them were just party bands though."  "That's rad, I play guitar."   "Cool, you look like a guitar player- you know I don't think I caught your name?" I told him, realizing we hadn't even introduced ourselves.  "Oh, Slash. That's what everyone calls me anyway." He shrugged, leaning against my apartment complex.  "I like that name, I'm Duff." I smile, sticking my hand out to him.  Slash grinned and shook my hand.  "I like you man, you're pretty cool," Slash said, looking over my way.  I nodded, "Thanks, you seem pretty rad yourself." 

-Kat-

I stood behind the counter of the Citgo, for some reason expecting Izzy to call. He hadn't phoned, so I don't know if he made it to San Fran yet. Axl and I both worked today, so he hadn't talked about the whole situation - or really much of anything. Thankfully I only had thirty minutes or so left to my shift, since I came in at seven. A few customers walked in just shopping around. I watched them grab what they all needed before checking them out. There was a young guy that came in shortly after everyone else, he walked around all the aisles as I checked the other people out. He had A dark hoodie over his head, he walked over to the beer, grabbing out a case. Before strolling over to the counter casually, he glanced around as a stream of customers walked out of the store.  "Hello, there." I greeted. 

"Give me all the money in the register." He said calmly. I almost couldn't understand what he said, or what he wanted till I happened to glance down and saw he had a black gun pointed straight at me. Then I knew he was trying to rob the station. I had never been in this situation before, I tried to stay calm as he glanced nervously around the convenience store.   "Did you not fucking hear me, give me all the money in the fucking register!" He whipped the gun around, pushing it to my temple harshly. "Okay, please just don't hurt me." I started trying to press buttons on the register to get it to pop open. It took me a few seconds before I could think straight enough to press the correct button, the robber suddenly pushed his way around the counter to the register. He pushed me by my shoulders so hard I fell down onto the floor behind him. He rummaged the register sticking all the money he could find into his pockets, he turned around still waving the gun. "Where is the safe, open the safe. Fucking open it, now!" I shook my head, "Please, I can't open the safe. Only the manager can open the safe." Tears streamed down my face, as a crazed look passed across his eyes.  "OPEN THE FUCKING THING!" He whipped the gun around, it going off quickly and suddenly. My ears pulsed at the loud sound, I began crying so hard, I put my hand to my mouth trying to muffle the sounds that escaped my lips. The bullet had pierced the glass window behind my head sending thousands of glass shards flying across the room. I felt some of the shards fly into my hair, too many to count pierced my skin as they flew at high speeds down at me. The robber after firing his gun, dropped it to the ground, sending another bullet flying across the back counter. He ran out instantly after that, having taken as much money as he could get. I heard the bell on top of the door ring, signaling he had left. Even though I was shaking so hard I moved across the floor a few inches, glass scraping my knees all the while. I jerked the phone down by its cord into the floor, as fast as I could- I dialed 911. 

After reporting what had happened, my fingers hovered over the numbers for the record store where Axl worked. It rang a few times before I heard someone pick it up.  "Hello, this is Mike at the Record Bar, how can I help you?"  I bit my lip, before speaking, "I need to talk to Axl, please, tell him- Kat's on the phone."  I said frantically.  "Uh, Axl. Is he the red-headed guy?"   "Yes, yes, that's him."   "Alrighty, give me a sec." I held my breath for as long as there was silence on the phone. Which felt like an eternity, but was probably just a handful of seconds.  "Hey, Kat." Axl chirped finally having picked up. As soon as I heard his voice I couldn't help but to start sobbing again. "Kat, what's wrong?" He said, suddenly becoming frantic. "Ax, I- the store."  "Baby, Kitty, what's going on, please calm down and talk to me."  "The store was - just robbed, Axl." I couldn't even think straight.  "Are you still there?" He questioned. I nodded my head slowly even though he couldn't see me, "uh, u- yes."   "I'll be there as soon as I can, okay. I'm on my way now. Please, I'm on my way. Stay calm okay."  "Than-k you, Axl."  "I love you okay, I'm on my way." And with the phone line started to beep. I brought my knees to my chest -hugging them tightly. I wanted to see Axl so bad. I needed to calm down, I needed to see him. I knew he could calm me down. I scooted back against the counter, tears streaming down my face. Hoping the police would get hear soon.