Don't Run Away

Chapter 12: Welcome Back, Old Friend

At breakfast the next morning, Valerie got Cole to let her borrow his laptop. She browsed the web for some time while eating her breakfast. For a while, she didn’t know what to do. She bit her lip and thought of anything she could watch, listen to, and whatnot.

Then something clicked in her head. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard hesitantly. Black Veil Brides, she typed. She took a deep breath and hit enter. Lots of results came up. The first said Black Veil Brides "Knives and Pens" Standby Records. She recognized the title Knives and Pens as a song of theirs. She plugged in her headphones and then clicked the video.

The screen went white and a man spoke. Then an electric guitar started up, followed by the drums. Then, Valerie saw him pop up on the screen holding a microphone.

Andy.

He and his two band mates (a girl and a guy) were wearing all white and were performing in an all-white room. They each had ‘war-paint’ on their bodies. When Andy started to sing, the camera closed in on his face, causing Valerie’s heart to jump and sink down to her stomach. She nearly hit herself. Even after more than a year, Andy still had an effect on her. She felt as though his piercing blue eyes were staring directly into her soul, finding out her deepest, darkest secrets. She didn’t even realize that Cole had taken a seat next to her. He took a headphone out of Valerie’s ear and listened to Andy’s band for himself.

And I can't go on without your

Love, you lost, you never held on.

We tried our best, turn out the light.

Once the song was over, Valerie stayed staring at the black screen.

“Was that Andy?” Cole asked in a hushed voice, making sure the others didn’t hear him.

Valerie nodded. She hit the escape button and went back. She scrolled down through the results and then saw it.

The Mortician’s Daughter; the song he wrote for her last year. She clicked on it without thinking. When the song started to play, she realized that Andy had obviously changed the song a bit because it was now slower.

I will wait dear.

A patience of eternity, my crush.

A universe so still, no rust.

No dust will ever grow on this frame.

A million years and I will say your name.

I love you more than I can ever scream.

As Andy sang that last line, Valerie stopped the music, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to take it anymore. Her breathing was off and she was shaking.

“Valerie, are you okay?” Will asked.

Valerie looked up to see all of the guys staring at her with concerned eyes. Instead of answering them, she closed Cole’s laptop and bolted out of the kitchen.

“Valerie!” one of the guys yelled, but she ignored whoever it was and went straight up to her room. She heard another set of footsteps coming up the stairs after her and she tried running faster. She was just about to close the door to her room when whoever it was that had followed her up stopped the door from closing with his foot. It was Cole.

“Are you okay? Why’d you run off?” he asked as he walked into her room, closing the door behind him.

Valerie’s throat swelled up and she couldn’t contain her tears anymore. She let out a whimper, and Cole immediately wrapped his arms around her. Sobs racked her whole body as she tried to explain to Cole why she bolted. “Andy… wrote that song… for me.” She managed to say.

Cole immediately understood. He had said that he loved Valerie in that song, but look at where they were now.

“Andy promised me that we would be together forever,” Valerie sniffled. Was this the way her love life was going to be? Just getting hurt over and over again? Hadn’t Andy realized that this went deeper than just a break up? She was scared to fall in love now. She couldn’t live with herself liking Dalton a lot because she knew that she was going to get hurt in some way.

“I wish there was some way I could help,” Cole whispered to her. “But healing a broken heart is hard.”

Her heart was more than broken. But it wasn’t necessarily because of Andy. There was another boy involved in this; one whose blue eyes were also lined with eyeliner. Suddenly, Valerie felt something she hadn’t felt in a year.

She felt an urge. An itch… on her wrist. She shut her eyes tightly and did her best to ignore the itch, but it was impossible. Could her old habit be attempting to make a comeback? She hoped not.

“Are you okay now?” Cole asked.

Her tears had stopped flowing, but she didn’t feel any better. She nodded anyway. Cole kissed Valerie’s forehead. “Don’t worry. He can’t hurt you anymore. You two broke up for a reason; he wasn’t the right guy. But you’ll find the right guy someday.” He quietly left Valerie’s room.

The itch on Valerie’s wrist had grown stronger. She couldn’t hold it in anymore. She ran into her bathroom, locked the door, and searched through the cupboards, trying to find what she needed. When she did, she ripped out its blade very carefully.

Don’t do this to yourself, Valerie. You’re stronger than this. You’ve overcome this before. Don’t let this demon come back.

No matter how hard she tried to listen to her conscience, she just couldn’t do it. The blade slowly cut through her skin on her left wrist. A thin line of red blood started to ooze out. It burned, but Valerie didn’t stop. She continued, not knowing when she would stop. As her vision was blinded by tears, she dropped the blade and stared at her wrist.

Her old friend was back. Her old habit that she had gotten over a year managed to sneak it's way back into her.

*~*~*~*~*

So who guessed that that would be her old habit?

The song Andy wrote for Valerie is on the right. I love it so much. The Mortician's Daughter.

OH AND I'M WORKING ON A COLTON FIC. COLE/DALTON. YOU KNOW... BOY/BOY.  As in more than a bromance... Yeah. Just putting that out there.

Comment, vote, and fan me. <3

-Zaira <3