Stay With Me

24

Dead closed his eyes as his head rested against the cold window, trying to ignore the screams of the two children that kept running up and down the aisle of the train as it took him closer to what he once considered home. His heart, though still pumping blood through him, felt as though it had stopped beating completely. The joy he once felt had left him with nothing but a hollow emptiness that he thought he wouldn't feel again.

Memories danced through his mind as he tried to forget her, telling himself that he would feel better if he just moved on and forgot it all. But even he knew deep down that there would be no forgetting her. Of all the people he had forgotten over the years after just not caring, she had been the only one he had shown himself to. She knew nearly everything about him from his biggest fears to what he dreamt of doing in the future. Things he had hoped to be doing with her...

His eyes opened, watching the trees passing as they moved. His body continued to tremble, the nauseous feeling intensifying with each passing second as he wondered what she was doing now. Had she even noticed he had left? Or was she still making arrangements with Euronymous?

No. I don't want to know. I just want this to be over. Who am I to think that I stood a chance against Euronymous?

Shutting his eyes again, Dead tried to tune out the voice. All he wanted was to sleep, or at the very least to wake up from what felt like some horrible nightmare. He wanted to wake up in his room with Vanessa smiling beside him as he held her against him. He wanted to be everything she believed him to be, to not have so many demons in his head urging him to just kill himself.

His brother had sounded worried when he had called to tell them he would be coming home. Not wanting to discuss any of the details over the phone, Dead had simply told his brother that things were not working out the way he had hoped and to tell their parents he would be coming home. It had taken every bit of strength he had left to not break down and tell his brother everything that he had heard and how broken he felt. Letting out a short breath, Dead tried his best to fall asleep once more, hoping he would wake up from this nightmare and back in her arms.

~

Euronymous stared intently as Vanessa explained what had made Dead run off. Both Necro and Hellhammer were on board for bringing him home before the tour began, but Euronymous was plagued by one simple question that had been on his mind from day one. If she could answer him truthfully, he would have no issue in going with her to find Dead. After all, he still had the package Dead had sent them before he came. Without that, well, good luck to her.

"How did you two meet?" he snapped.

Vanessa went silent as she turned to Euronymous. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Euronymous shrugged. "It doesn't. But keep in mind I have the address to Dead's house so if you want to find him easily then I suggest you answer me."

Necro shook his head. "Why are you so bothered by this?"

"Because it doesn't add up! For weeks we had to hear about some woman in his dreams as if she were real then, out of nowhere, she shows up and he never mentions it again. How do you go from being obsessed with something like that to acting like it was nothing?!"

The two rolled their eyes. "You're being stupid," laughed Hellhammer.

"It's because I'm from the future," she cried out.

The three looked at her as if they were about to laugh.

"You can't seriously think I believe that," Euronymous scoffed.

"It's true. I came back to save you and Pelle from dying. I didn't think that things would end up the way they did, but if you don't believe me I can show you the same proof I showed Pelle."

Pulling out her cell phone from her back pocket, she tossed it onto the table in front of Euronymous. Looking down at it, Euronymous picked it up and began to examine it. Coming closer to take a look at it, Necro and Hellhammer began watching as Euronymous turned it on.

"Start explaining," he growled.

Vanessa sighed, shaking her head. "Where do I begin?"

"What happened to us that was so bad?"

"Pelle killed himself. You found him after you had come home and took pictures to make it an album cover saying it would make you famous. Not long after he died you were murdered by Varg after a falling out over some money. Mayhem was never really the same after that. The only real fame it had was riding on your deaths. I had heard Pelle's story and hoped that maybe I could show him that someone truly did care about him and that maybe I could save him. Neither of you should have died."

"Wait," Euronymous shook his head. "You're saying Varg kills me? The guy I've had over to the house?"

Vanessa nodded. "As long as he gets what he wants from you I don't think he would kill you. Either way, I've answered your question. Can we please go find Pelle now?"

Hellhammer shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. "What year did you even come from?"

"I'm from mid 2012. Look, right now it doesn't matter where or when I came from, I just want to get Pelle back."

Euronymous stood from his seat. "I can't say I completely believe all of this, but if what you're saying is true then I guess we should get going. We will be talking more about this later."

Vanessa scowled, ready for this conversation to be done with. "We can talk about whatever you want just take me to Pelle, Euronymous."

Making his way over to the phone, Euronymous looked up the number for the train station to reserve the tickets for the four of them. As he talked to the man at the station, he could hear Necro and Hellhammer almost scolding Vanessa for keeping her secret for so long. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't decide if he completely trusted her anymore.

It would have been one thing if she had just outright told them what was going on, maybe then he wouldn't have been so harsh with her, but the fact that she had kept it a secret from everyone but Dead...that bothered him. Secrets were one thing Euronymous couldn't stand. Vera had even known better than to keep secrets from him.

Glancing over to where the three of them sat, Euronymous let out a deep sigh. There was no denying he still had feelings towards Vanessa, but he knew it would never be something she'd return. He wanted her, badly, but he had promised both of them he would leave it alone. Maybe when this was all over and they brought Dead home it would give him some kind of redemption.

"Let's go," he stated as he hung the phone up. "The next train leaves in an hour so we need to move our asses."