Tragic Magic II World Tour

Chapter Forty

Sitting in the bar with Escape The Fate made me feel whole again. I almost forgot about Ronnie while we drank and told jokes. It felt like everything was going to be okay.

"You don't need him anyways," Robert tells me, sliding me another shot across the table. "I thought I needed him, but look where I am now!"

"I guess you have a point," I fake a laugh, "it just hurts."

"It'll never stop hurting," Kevin tells me.

"I know," I sigh.

"If you'd like to, you can accompany us for the remainder of our tour if it'd make you feel better," Craig suggests.

"I might take you up on that. I just don't think I can be alone anytime soon."

"Why you so quiet TJ?" Robert finally asks.

"Oh me? I'm just upset that he hurt Juliet like that," he leans back in his chair and watches me from across the table.

"Like I said, it'll never stop hurting," Kevin says, taking a sip of his beer.

"Whatever dude," TJ says, "I'm going to the bathroom, order me another shot."

Time went by fast and before I knew it, Ronnie was up on that stage again. He looked as handsome as ever. He had a sharp gleam in his brown eyes that made my heart stop and my fingertips to go numb. It hurt all over again.

As Ronnie performed the lineup of songs the band had picked out, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He was everything I wanted, he was everything I had but lost. I could feel my heartache deeper in my chest.

I was almost in a trance, watching him sing. Nothing around me felt real. It all felt like one terrifying nightmare.

"Juliet?" Craig bumps my shoulder and pulls me out of my trance.

"Yeah, what's up?" I turn to look at him.

"That guy in the hoodie right there," he points to a man in dark clothing approaching the edge of the pit, "is he holding a-"

Bang.

Bang after bang after bang.

That was the moment my heart stopped completely. Terror filled my lungs and I froze as TJ threw me to the ground.

"Stay down!" He screams at me while a flood of panic is sent throughout the entire club.

"What's going on?" I can barely breathe these words out to TJ. Gunshot after gunshot after gunshot. They just kept going.

"I heard the first bang while I was coming out of the bathroom," he explains, tucking my head into his chest. "Don't look."

In that moment it was just TJ and I. I couldn't hear or see Craig, Kevin, or Robert. There were people everywhere rushing to the doors while TJ and I clung to the ground.

There was a man in dark clothes shooting at all these innocent people. The glass bottles around the bar shattered as an array of bullets flew through the air.

There was a shooter. There was a shooter shooting into this crowd of fans. Shooting at every person in sight.

Shooting at Ronnie.

"TJ let me go!" I scream. I had to find Ronnie. I had to get to him.

"I'm not letting you get hurt!" He fought me, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist and holding me against him.

It was over just as it started. In a matter of seconds, the man was taken down and disarmed by a group of three brave men. Although there wasn't enough time and firepower to have caused massive casualties, there were a handful of hurt people and a few deceased.

I couldn't lift myself off of TJ's body. I didn't have enough strength left in me. I was terrified
and numb.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" TJ cradles my head and holds me close to him.

"I don't know," I whisper.

He pulls me away from his chest and examines me. I looked around the scene for the first time since the shooting had started.

The pit had cleared out except for the deceased, those too injured to move, and those who stayed to help them. Paramedics, firefighters, and police officers had all begun to enter the nightclub.

"TJ I have to find Ronnie," I struggle to pull myself up.

"Wait, you can't-"

I immediately fell back into his lap. I felt a sharp pain course through my body and I couldn't move my legs.

"What's wrong with me?" I ask TJ.

"There's a bullet in your leg. It went through one hip and is lodged in the other one."

I felt my eyes starting to black out. I couldn't keep myself up. I looked up towards the stage, desperate to find Ronnie. Unfortunately, I found him right away. He was lying in a stream of his own blood.