The Uncanny Valley - Corey Taylor FF (Slipknot/Stone Sour)

9

I really ran back to the car the moment I left Kaelyn, but for other reasons than she thought. The plan was to keep her at these grounds for as long as possible, which would not be possible if she would get back to the car. Hence, I moved it into the big garage beside the building. Said garage also leads into the house through a bright white door and I knocked on it four times. A curious, long haired man tore it open with a bunch of other men gathered behind him. He grinned at me crookedly just before red haired man pushed him out of the way and embraced me into a tight hug.
"Did it work? Did it work?" He released me and jumped up and down like a little kid waiting for his Christmas present.
"I don't know, Sid, I just left her there. We gotta see," I shrugged and his euphoria was tempered a bit. We all know how he would restart his euphoria-jumps soon enough, though. When Sid had released me it was the long haired guy's turn to embrace me in a hug, even though this one was more gentle. He patted my back and grinned at me.
"I hope this will do. Really, I feel like it's our last hope," Joey, the second of the four guys I met in my café, said. A twinkle in his eyes appeared but it seemed a bit sad.
"'M still unsure this is a safe thing to do," one of the two Goliath's that leaned against the wall spoke, pushing himself away from it and also embracing me into an one-armed hug. The other one with the bushy beard, Jim, followed slowly and squeezed me against his chest a bit too hard, making me feel like my ribs were crushed.
"Hey, this was your idea, guys. Not mine. I just abandoned my best friend for it over the past months, you know?" I shrugged and jokingly punched against Mick's biceps - bad idea. I doubted he even felt a prickle while my hand throbbed for a second. These guys were still unbelievable. But here I stood.
"You know we are sorry for that and you should not have done it that...accurately." Another man spoke up and high fived me despite his words.
"I know, but I also know how she thinks. If Kae wouldn't be pissed at me she would not have left me alone when I said I needed to go back to the car. Her anger with me overshadowed her common sense so she probably realized that she was alone on a forbidden and unknown ground way too late." I slyly grinned and Paul high fived me again.
"Right thinking, girly. Still, I feel a bit sorry for her," he admitted and I nodded in agreement. True, the way I had handled Kae during the past months was pure bullshit and I still was not sure she would forgive me anytime soon. But what should I have done - every time I phoned with Joey or Paul to plan this freaking act she entered the room out of all sudden, so I had to leave. Of course, she would get suspicious, but god dammit, she would have been more suspicious if she would have realized what - or better said who - I was talking about. Same with her serving Joey, Sid, Jim and Mick who. After asking me all these weird questions about Kae I went totally nuts when I saw them in the parking lot after work one day and told them to fuck off for their own sake - and yes, I did ignore that at least two of them stood heads and shoulders above me. But they then explained themselves and how they were pretty much, actually damn sure (Mick's words, not mine) that Kaelyn was the girl that one of their friends was still into. So, being me, this woke my interest. I've had something for weird love stories since I was a little girl, but I also knew about Kae's past and why she wanted to leave for L.A. in the first place. I went with her, of course, since nothing held me in our hometown, but over the past weeks, I learned that I only knew half of the story. True, none of the eight guys really knows why the two of these idiots split up years ago, but both parties knew that both their friend and Kaelyn still were into each other. How else could they explain that, since she left five frigging years ago, he drowned himself in alcohol? And Kaelyn, still waking up at night, screaming this dudes name? Sure, she would deny it the very next day so I stopped asking her about it. But it all fitted, and the guys were really desperate when I met them. Corey would not let anybody near him, nor would he take any helping hand stretched towards him. He would push away everybody and drink and pass out eventually, just like nearly every day. And I could not stand seeing Kaelyn like this as well. Sure, she was way better than she used to be, but honestly; she never even realized how much Mason was into her and still considered him as a simple friend. I mean, what? How blind can one be? But yeah, Kae was totally blinded by this guy I haven't known about for quite some time - Corey.
"Alrighties, so we can just wait for now, right?" Paul stated rather than asked and gestured us to follow him. He lead us up some stairs and through a hallway that led to an area with couches and a huge TV in it. On on of these couches sat Chris, another one of their little gang. Well, not a gang but band, really. But I liked to call them a gang since they were like family either way.
"Lia, what's up," he smiled when he saw me and waved lazily, probably being tired from the records they did today. At his side sat Craig, also just waving at me and flashing a small smile before he drew his attention back to the TV. Clown, on the other hand, entered from a room I assumed to be the kitchen area, glasses and a bottle of wine in his hands.
"So, phase one is initiated I've heard?" he also smiled friendly and held up the glasses with a questioning look. I nodded thankfully and he poured me some of the red liquor.
"Alright, so what about the second phase, I mean -" he started but was interrupted by a crash and screams outside. Through the window I saw Kae running into the bushes in the direction of where I had parked the car and Corey, this guy, standing back on his drunk feet, moving waveringly from side to side. "I think we can scratch that one," I mumbled, put my glass aside and ran after my best friend.