Nightmares of a Beast

NO!

C-p.o.v.

The band hooked up and got ready while I tuned my guitar back stage. I gave the wires and experimental strum, the sound came smooth. The crowd cheered when I walked out, my heart racing laps inside my chest. I forced a breath and stepped to the mic. "What's up Manhattan!" 

The dance floor filled as we continued to sing,  voices melding together as the other followed my lead. I sang with my heart strings, pushing out each and every word that came from my head out into that microphone. that's when I saw it. Seith parading out onto the floor from a dark corner, drink in his hand. Black hair disheveled, earrings shining dark in this light. The top of his shirt was popped four buttons down, tattooed chest dark and peering from the confines of his button up. 'What is he doing here??' Was it possible for my damn heart to race faster? I pushed the words out harder,  lungs fighting to fuel my buzzing voice box, what now? I recognized his face even without the bandanna. The dark tone of his skin and the way he carried himself was all too familiar from over the past few weeks in his flat. I kept one eye trained on the swaying and intoxicated figure on the dance floor as I rocked out the chords to my new song. I had left the original copy accidentally in his dresser, but I was too ashamed to go back for it. I sent all the listless energy buzzing inside me out through my voice, the tension in my chest coiling too tightly to make me care about how pronounced the rasp in my singing was. 

We moved from song to song until the night was over, until the room cleared of fog minded drunks and prettied up girls. All except one tumbling drunk in a suit left on the dance floor. Michael was packing up his set when he called over from behind the curtain. "Hey Cal! You gonna pack up?" He looked away from the dance floor for a minute and turned my head towards backstage to answer. "Yeah, just give me a minute" Concerned, I walked off the platform and walked towards Seith; purpose marking my stride. 'Isn't he still very much underage to go and get this drunk? ' I strode over and grabbed his wrist in the spot where he twirled on his own. The melted ice in his glass splattered across the front of my shirt but I didn't mind. He spun into my shoulder as my grip brought him to a halting stop. At some point in the night, he must of took a tumble because his hair was mussed and unruly; the buttons on his shirt buttoned unevenly and revealed his waist from its crooked disposition. I looked him over with concern from top to toe, noting that one of his  black socks were gone, and the cuff on the other pant leg was soiled in someone's stomach contents. His breath reeked of burning alcohol, the smell making my eyes tear up. He tried to get away but I pulled him with me back into the shadowed corner he appeared from earlier. The circular table stood tall near a swiveling seat with a suit jacket hanging off the back and the discarded ice bucket was turned on it's side. My drunk charge still struggled and protested when I herded him into the secluded alcove. Seith plopped down in the velvet booth seat closer to the wall and his head rolled back to rest against the wall. He groaned and rolled across the surface, losing his shoes in the process. I grabbed his wrist again, yanking it in a forward motion, forcing his attention to me. "Seithen, what are you doing here?" 

Nothing. he only whined and melted from the seat onto the floor. Wrist still in hand, I knelt infront of him and nestled his hand on his lap. After several attempts, I managed to keep his slapping hands away and rebuttoned the front of his shirt. I turned back around to grab his jacket when I somehow managed to trip over something and face plant into the burgundy carpet. I tried standing and felt a firm grip on my left ankle. Looking down, Seithen stared back at me with tears puddled in puppy eyes. That's when he started to cry, the silent tears rushing to escape the ducts, my ankle caught in his grip. Sighing, I hauled him up off the floor; half dragging his weight towards the door. I found my guitar case leaned up against the frame, holding the tear stained Seith against me with one arm while pulling the case over my head with the other. "Come on. Let's go crybaby"  *Indistinguishable mumble* My hands locked at his back, I drag Seith sideways and out the club's doors. We stand there for about thirty minutes before it starts to rain, another five before I can hail a cab that'll take us near his place. A forty minute drive to the square six blocks from his flat building. I lug him from the back seat and lean on the door to take out my wallet. When the taxi pulls away, I'm left half a paycheck less and stuck in the rain with a somber dunkard. Grunting, I heave ho the deadweight leaning on me down the block. When we make it to the stop sign at the other end of the street,  I drop a half conscious Seithen on the cement and take a breather. I collapse on myself against the stop sign post and close my eyes. After about five minutes, I crack open my eye lids to check up on Seith. I don't see him. "Seith!?" "Urrghhh" A groan comes from the bushes to my right, and I turn my head lazily in that direction. I came to face the seat of his suit pants. I lugged myself over to the foot of the bushes, "You okay bro?" Another groan. I parted the thicket of branches to look past into the other side. A liquid acrid puddle of puke. "Aghhhh!! You shit! That stinks!" Stomping grumpily, I pat him on the back and sat back down in my spot, once again closing my eyes. 

"Dark alley. Hounds. Eating me. Wahhh!!" Sweat dripped off my brow, 'shit, that scared me, I need to pee!'. I turned to the bushes. "Hey Seithen! Let's-" "Seith!?" 'Where did that idiot go?' Whipping my head left and right down the street, I scanned the roads for a hobbling figure dressed in blue. Half a block down, Seith speedwalked steadily  towards the stop light. Running, I stretched into a sprint to catch up. I reached out. Breathless, "wait!" He was moving too fast. 'How? Wasn't he drunk?" He suddenly stopped at the corner, leaving me time to catch up to him. I rested a hand on his shoulder "Seith-"He tore away. Seithen bound across the busy intersection, making it over the crosswalk in a few measured strides. "Wha" Cars sped past, nearly running me over when I  started to follow. "Seithen!" He broke into a sprint diagonally into traffic. A white Corolla clipped his side as he wriggled and twisted to avoid the mass void of cars rushing past. I stared on hopelessly as he made his way over to the opposite corner across the intersection. I felt my heart stop as he determinedly crossed into the path of an oncoming truck driving at full speed and scooped up a little girl who froze in the middle of the red signal crosswalk.  He didn't make it to the side walk before the truck sped down the lane and hit. He was curled around the girl's smaller body when the vehicle hit. I ran to them when the signal changed. Seith was sprawled on his back, the little girl unconscious and firmly held to his chest by an arm that refused to let go. His face was marred and scratched, pools of blood in various locations under his limp form. My heart beat wild inside my chest, breath coming out in desperate breaths. I kneeled in a puddle of crimson and took his head between my hands. I shook him. "Seithen!" He remained unresponsive and his lungs hitched on every breath.

 'You cant die on me'  his breathing grow more labored on every breath. His breath it stopped. "NO!"