(Tony’s POV)


“Yo,” something soft and thin poked my cheek. I forced my eyes to open, seeing Mike in my face.



“What do you want?” I groaned, rolling over. I groaned again when my body smacked on the ground painfully. Apparently I had been asleep on a couch. Now, I was on the floor.



“Easy there, buddy,” Mike chuckled, helping me up. I swatted him away. I felt rather cranky this morning.



“Dude, why are you waking me up? Normally it’s the other way around,” I said, yawning.



Mike shrugged his shoulders. “You were talking in your sleep again,” he said, knitting his eyebrows. I sighed.



“Sorry,” I mumbled.



“No need for that,” Mike said, this time yawning himself. That was that; I didn’t have to explain myself anymore. We all had nightmares; we all chose not to discuss them any further than necessary.



I sat up, my eyes finally adjusting to the brightness of the morning. I must have gotten really hammered last night, because I couldn’t remember shit.



I laughed when I looked at the house. “Good thing this isn’t my house to clean,” I grinned evilly.



“Oh, no, Perry,” Mike glared at me. “You are most definitely helping with this mess,” he said.



“Later,” I yawned again.



“Hm, okay,” he said. “Where are the others?”



I shrugged my shoulders. “I just woke up,” I reminded him.



“Right,” he said, turning around to investigate the house.



I sat back down on the couch, rubbing my face with my hands as I tried to remember what I was dreaming about.



“This is for Vic,” I hissed, kicking Drew Sanders in the gut three times. “This is for torturing my best friend,” I added, kicking him a few more times. The thought of what Vic had to endure sent bile up my throat. This was a sick, sick man, and he deserved every ounce of pain that I was about to inflict upon him. “This is for Jaime,” I said, now kicking the bloody Drew Sanders in the face three times. Rage had taken over all sense in my head; the fresh memory of Drew Sanders suddenly stabbing Jaime in the stomach was horrible, and it fueled my anger even more. There was nothing I could do for Jaime until I ended this. Until I ended Drew Sanders. “And this is for Spencer,” I yelled, kicking him again. “This is for making an innocent girl’s life a living Hell,” I growled. The thought of Spencer tore my heart apart. All she wanted was a normal life, but this bastard had to take that chance away. Nobody deserved to have to suffer life. Spencer deserved to live her life, not be afraid of it. I reached for the knife, Jaime’s fresh blood dripping off of it.



“Tony! Let me do it!” I looked to my right to see Spencer next to me, gripping my arm. She had desperation in her eyes. She was not malicious. She was not cold-blooded. She was only scared.



“I already have to live with the death of my best friend, Spencer,” I said, referring to the almost dead Vic. My heart ached at the thought, but I knew it was true. I had to come to terms with it. Poor Vic…“This will hardly add anything to the pain,” I muttered. The pain of losing Vic would be almost unbearable. Killing the monster that killed him would be absolutely nothing. I would feel no regret. I would only feel disgust. Not with myself, but with the Devil himself. “I won’t let you kill, Spencer. You are too good. You don’t need this,” I said, and without another word, I pierced Drew Sanders’ chest with the knife.




I would never forget the crunching sound of the knife penetrating his chest. The way the knife roughly entered his skin. I had to put a lot of pressure on it to do the trick.



But, although I would never forget it, I didn’t feel haunted by it. I was proud of it. I ended the life of a monster. I saved Spencer from having to do it, and everyone I loved and cared for was alive. The demon was dead. I knew that the others thought I was damaged by the action, but that really was not the case. They weren’t in my head. They thought that I would be unstable after this, but they were completely wrong. This wasn’t about me. This was about making sure everyone else was okay. If they were okay, then I was okay.



And I was. I really, truthfully, was okay. Yes, I have nightmares. Yes, I talked in my sleep. But who doesn’t? I have my best friends and my music, and that was all that mattered. That was all that ever mattered.



“Tony,” Mike was suddenly in my face. I blinked away my thoughts. “I found Himes,” he said.



“Congratulations,” I said.



“Sup,” Jaime appeared, slumping into the couch next to me.



“You look happy,” I said. As far as I knew, Jaime was back on his anxiety and depression pills. He was signed up for therapy, too, and he seemed to be handling it all well.



“I am happy, Tone. No need to look so disappointed,” he stuck his tongue out at me.



“Sorry, man,” I laughed, raising my hands up in surrender. “I didn’t think you’d be like this after—”



“Tony, I am learning how to be happy without depending on a girl. Besides, we are both better off now. We had our run, but it’s over, okay? And we are friends, and I like it that way,” he said. I searched his face for a minute, trying to detect any hidden feelings of pain or confusion or loneliness or sadness, but either Jaime was a really good actor or he was speaking honestly because I could not detect any of those things. I was leaning towards the latter, though, because Jaime couldn’t act for shit.



“What’s so funny?” he tilted his head to the side at me.



“Huh? Oh, uh, nothing, I just thought of something funny,” I said, realizing that I had chuckled at the thought of Jaime acting. He was too much of a fucking goofball to be able to act successfully. I was happy to see that Jaime was slowly but surely returning to his old self. To the Jaime we all knew, loved, and missed.



“Have you guys seen Vic or Spence?” Mike spoke up. I shook my head. “Oh,” Mike peeked through the front window. “Vic’s car is gone. They probably went to go get us breakfast and or, but hopefully and, coffee,” he said, bouncing in excitement.



“Calm down over there; we already have to clean up enough,” I said. Mike giggled and stopped bouncing.



“Let’s get started, maybe?” I asked. The mess of the house was stressing me out. People were such animals.



“We have a long journey ahead of us boys,” Jaime sighed dramatically as we all began with picking up red cups from the floor.



We spent thirty minutes cleaning, and the house was already almost clean. “Hey, guys, I found a note from Spencer and Vic,” I said, reaching down on the crumpled piece of paper by the door that I had found amongst the ruins of the party.



“Went to Starbucks, be back soon,” I read it out loud.



“Fuck yes! Coffee!” Mike bounced around again.



“I hope soon means really soon. I’m dying over here,” Jaime sprawled out on the couch in mock-anguish. I chuckled; maybe he could be a good actor. Although, he seemed fine with the whole Spencer situation. I knew he wasn’t faking that.



Another thirty minutes went by of cleaning. And then another went by of just sitting around.



“What the fuck?” Mike dragged out his curse, lying on the ground by the front door. “I’d get up to make something myself, but I am afraid I am way too hung over to do that,” he added.



I sighed. I didn’t feel too hot either, but I was less concerned about that and more concerned about their whereabouts.



“Do you think they’re okay?” I asked nervously. I found that I became nervous very easily, lately.



Jaime didn’t say anything, studying the note they left carefully. “Maybe we should go to Starbucks and find them. They probably lost track of time,” he said nonchalantly. This time, however, I saw a different emotion flicker across his face. Worry.



I felt the same feeling. “Let’s go,” I decided. Mike groaned, but he got up, too. I decided to drive, being the most alive out of the three of us.



“Oh, look! There’s Vic’s car,” Mike said, sighing in relief. “They got held up or something in there,” he said with a shrug.



I yawned, parking the car, and then we all walked into the Starbucks.



It was pretty crowded, and we scanned the seating area for Vic and Spencer.



“Oh, there’s Vic!” I spotted him in a booth. I shook his shoulder. “Hey!”



He turned around, and his eyes were red and swollen. “Vic?”



“Hey,” he said lowly, and then he turned back around, staring at the wall in front of him.



“Vic? What the hell is the matter?” Jaime shook him, and we all piled into the booth with him.



“I lost her,” he said, putting his head down on to the table.



“Lost her? Lost who? What are you talking about?” Mike asked, his voice panicky.



He looked up, fresh tears streaming down his face. My heart shuddered as he repeated his previous words with the most gut wrenching expression on his face. “I lost her.”

Notes

This was going to be longer but my intERNET DIED AND I HAD TO START OVER FML

So, I was going to continue the chapter longer, but then i realized that i liked ending it where it is ended now ;)

Short/filler, but shit goes down next chapter (it might be a while, though)

So, what do you think Vic means when he says that he "lost her"?

Sorry guys, the happy stuff can't last forever! Let the drama continue... this is only a wasteland, anyway, so drama must occur ;)
that's just how i roll ;) (But is this getting old?? Let me know, and please give me suggestions)