Vic's P.O.V.

“You guys are fucking awesome, thanks for coming out tonight!” I shout, smiling out at the crowd and pointing at them. The crowd's cheers grew louder after that and Kellin, who’d joined us on stage for ‘King For A Day’, wrapped his arm loosely around my shoulder and cheered. I was laughing and cheering along with him while the rest of the guys played a few random riffs and kept the crowd entertained. Slowly but surely, we made our way off stage and began to hang up the equipment from the show. We were immediately met by the backstage crew and the other various techs with the band, but when the amount of crew members thinned out and all that was left was a few techies and Mike’s drum tech, I started to panic.

Where was Dean?

My eyebrows furrowed a bit and I frantically looked through the last of the backstage hands for that familiar bob of white hair. "Dean?" I called out, pushing through several people as I continued to look for her. My panicked quest was abruptly cut short when I found myself running into someone who refused to move out of my way. When I looked up to apologise to whoever it was that I had run into, I saw none other than Ricky standing there with a bit of a surprised look plastered onto his face. Normally, I would have been annoyed to see him, but right now, my feelings towards him weren’t a priority on my list. "Oh, hey man," I say rather absentmindedly.

“Hey,” he replied cooly, regaining his usual smug composure. “What’s got you in such a hurry, Fuentes?”

I bristled a bit in annoyance towards the use of my last name, but I quickly brushed it off as my eyes kept scanning the room for the only person I wanted to see. “Just looking for Dean,” I say in a bit of a rush.

Ricky cocked his head in confusion out of the corner of my eye as he looked down at me with a curious gaze. “Who?”

“Dean,” I elaborate, still not paying much attention to Ricky. “She’s my girlfri- guitar tech,” I quickly correct, blushing slightly as I glanced over at Ricky to see if he caught my slip-up. “She told me she’d be here when the show ended, but she hasn’t turned up yet...you two ran into each other before the show at Tulsa, remember?”

Ricky’s face brightened in realization, snapping his fingers and pointing at me as he did so. “Oh right! That weird guitar tech with the hair-”

“She’s not weird,” I snap, suddenly getting very defensive over Dean. Who was Ricky to call her weird?

He chuckled lightly in response and held up his hands in surrender. “Relax, man, it’s just an opinion,” he told me.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at Ricky and shake my head as I walk away. “Whatever, thanks for the help,” I mumble.

“Hope you find your girl soon, Fuentes,” Ricky called out as I left. I hadn’t even been two feet away from the guy, but there was something in the way he said those last few words that made me stop in my tracks and made my blood run cold. I quickly turned to face Ricky, and when I saw the grin that was plastered onto his face, it was anything but comforting. If anything, it made me absolutely sick to my stomach.

“Do you know something I don’t, Ricky?” I softly growled, my eyes narrowing a bit as I took a few steps back towards him.

Ricky gave me an innocent shrug as his smirk broadened. “Maybe, maybe not,” he casually replied. “But if it’s anything, it’s definitely not about your girl.”

“I swear to God, Ricky, if you-”

“Relax, Fuentes,” Ricky said with a laugh, “if I knew something about your guitar tech, I would have told you by now.” At that moment, the rest of Ricky’s band came out from the back and started calling him over, no doubt wanting to get together for drinks or clubbing before bus call. Ricky nodded back to his bandmates before turning to give me one final smirk.

“Seriously, good luck with finding her,” Ricky told me, clapping me on the shoulder. “I’m sure she’s around her somewhere though.”

Before I could question anything else Ricky had to say, he was off, bounding over to his bandmates and immediately getting rowdy with them as they all left the building. I just stood there and glared as I watched them all leave, momentarily forgetting that I was right in the middle of a very important mission to find Dean. From the moment I had an actual conversation with these guys, I had this weird gut feeling about them, and that feeling grew with each passing day. I wasn’t for entirely sure how to feel about that either.

“Have I ever told you how much those guys piss me off?” Kellin asked, suddenly appearing right next to me.

I let out an exasperated sigh and shook my head. “A few times, but then again, you’ve heard me say the same things about them,” I reply.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kellin’s lips twitch into a small smile as his head turned to look at me. “Yeah, and I know one of the reasons why you hate those guys,” he says. “Especially Ricky.”

I felt my cheeks heat up a bit at Kellin’s suggestive tone and I cast my eyes away from his. “Shut up,” I mumbled, knowing all too well what he meant.

Kellin snickered lightly at my reaction and shook his head at me. “So, speaking of,” Kellin continued, playfully winking at me, “where is Dean? Wasn’t she supposed to meet you backstage or something?”

Hearing her name immediately set my brain back into panic mode, and my eyes must have gotten wide, because Kellin’s face fell and all I heard was, “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” I admit, looking back over at him. “All I know is that she’s not here and no one’s really seen here.” Also, Ricky is being pretty suspicious, but it’s probably nothing, I thought to myself.

Kellin bit his lower lip in thought as he mulled over the news of our missing friend. “I’m sure it’s nothing, Vic,” he reassured. “I mean, maybe she just got tired or something and went to go crash in your guys’ dressing room or in the bus and overslept.”

I let out a small, relaxed breath at that and tried to convince myself that was all that was going on. “Yeah, you’re right,” I say. “Dean’s fine, and there’s nothing wrong here-”

My words, and miniscule moment of comfort, was abruptly cut short as someone towards the back let out the most horrifying, blood curdling scream I’d ever heard in my life.

Almost immediately, both Kellin and I were sprinting to the back towards the source of the scream. A few more less frightening screams sounded out, and it wasn’t long until a girl with long brown hair and amber eyes came running into Kellin and I. Her eyes were wide and her face was pale, almost like she had seen a ghost.

“There’s- there’s something,” the girl desperately tried to get out, tripping over her words as her entire body trembled with fear.

“Woah, calm down,” Kellin cooed, reaching out and trying to comfort the girl. “Just take a breath and slow down, alright?” The girl nodded at Kellin, and after a few shaky breaths in and out, Kellin tried speaking to her again. “Good, now can you tell me what happened sweetheart?”

The girl gulped and she looked back behind her like she was trying to make sure no one was following her. “There- I was just stepping outside to empty out some of the trash bins from around the venue- just doing my job, you know? -and...and when I opened up the dumpster, there...there was…” The girl shook her head once more, almost as if she was afraid speaking the truth would make everything more real for her.

“What was in the dumpster, sweetie?” Kellin asked, quickly glancing from the girl to me for a brief second.

By this time, a few more crew members had started to gather around us, or at least gather a few feet away from us, and I think the girl must have noticed. She looked away from them though and tried to look at Kellin and I, but she just ended up shaking her head and looking down to the floor. “It’s- I can’t believe she’s just lying there-”

I swear, in that small moment, my heart stopped beating. She. There was another girl involved in whatever this was that caused this poor girl to scream. I just hoped it wasn’t the girl I was thinking of.

“Who was lying there?” Kellin asked, swallowing a bit as he did so.

The girl still stared straight down at the floor, but after a few moments of tense silence, she managed to speak once more.

“It was just this girl,” she nervously spoke. “I have no idea who she is, but I think I might have seen her earlier today, but I don’t know. All I know is that she was just sitting there unconscious in the middle of the dumpster and her hair was white-”

It suddenly felt like all of the wind was knocked out of me at hearing those words. It didn’t take a genius to put all the pieces together, and anyone within hearing range of this girl knew it. I just happened to be the first person to start moving.

“Dean!” I loudly cried, pushing past the girl and running as fast as my legs would carry me all the way to the back lot. My body slammed into the backdoor as it violently swung open and hit the brick wall with a loud crack. I hurriedly scanned the lot for a large dumpster and ran towards it once I laid my eyes on it. A few abandoned trash bags laid at the edge and the lid was slightly ajar, but I didn’t pay much attention to the small details of anything else. I threw open the dumpster lid with as much force as I could and instantly saw the one thing I didn’t want to believe was true.

Lying there, on top of all of the smelly trash bags and other assortment of trash collectables, was Dean. My precious Dean. Her clothes were disheveled, her hair was sticking out in an almost painful looking mess, and I could see bruises and what I really hoped wasn’t blood along her neck and arms.

“Oh my God,” I mumbled, frantically scrambling into the dumpster so I could get her out of all the trash. “Dean?” I gingerly grabbed in body and cradled her cold body to my chest, doing the best I could not to jostle her around as I got the both of us out of the dumpster. “Dean, this isn’t funny, please wake up Dean.”

I still got no response from the unconscious girl lying there in my arms and I could already feel the familiar sting of tears burning behind my eyes. I felt weak, like the world was falling down all around me. No...this wasn’t right...this wasn’t supposed to be happening…

“HELP!” I scream, choking a bit on my words as I stumbled back to the venue. “SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!”

The backdoor almost immediately flew open and the first people out were Kellin and my brother. I heard Mike let out a small curse when he saw me running towards them and Kellin turned around and yelled for one of the crew members to call an ambulance. Both guys got to me in a matter of seconds, but before either of them could begin to speak, the words just started to tumble out of my mouth.

“I- she was just lying there in the trash, and she- oh my God she’s not breathing guys, and I just-” I kept tripping over my words and shaking in fear. I honestly don’t think I’d been this scared in a long time, and that just freaked me out even more.

“It’s going to be alright, okay?” Mike said, his eyes nervously flickering from me to Dean’s unconscious body in my arms. “Just calm down, Vic-”

“Calm down?” I shout, my voice cracking as I stared down Mike with an incredulous look. “Do you not fucking see Dean right now? I just pulled her unconscious body out from a fucking trashcan Mike-”

“Vic, we know,” Kellin butt in, gulping back the lump in his throat, “but we can’t have you cracking right now, alright? We all got to keep it together right now to get Dean taken care of.”

I looked at the two of them with an unsteady gaze. I didn’t know what else to say, but I found myself nodding in agreement with them. I couldn’t break, not right now. But when I looked down and saw her in my arms like this, it was enough for the first tear to fall. I sniffed a bit and blinked rapidly, trying to hold back the rest of my tears and ignore the single, lone tear slowly trailing down my face. Kellin and Mike must not have noticed the tear that fell, but if they did, they thankfully didn’t say anything about it.

The next few minutes waiting for the ambulance was pure and utter hell. Chris was pacing around trying to make a few phone calls about keeping this underwraps and to possibly even cancel the next show, and the security was having fun taping off the back lot and keeping an eye out for the ambulance. Fans had left the venue already, but several of them had tried coming to the backlot to possibly catch the bands by the bus and to get photos and whatnot, but due what was going on at the moment, we all decided it’d be best if the fans didn’t see the majority of what was going on. Obviously, they’d see the ambulance come in and see Dean get loaded in, but they didn’t need to see all of this. Besides, the less they saw, the less got out to the press, and with the tour just starting, that was something none of us needed. Especially Dean.

When the ambulance finally arrived, flashing lights and all, the fans that still had stuck around in hopes of possibly seeing us started to panic and freak out a bit. A few of them even took out their phones, and even at the request of the security people, they started to record what was happening. I, for one, didn’t really care or notice much of what was going on. I was mainly focused on the EMTs coming my way and on getting Dean taken care of.

“Is she the girl we got a call about?” a blonde, male EMT asked me. I nodded, not trusting myself with words at the moment, and the EMT immediately rushed the two others with him that were carrying the gurney. I was a bit reluctant to pass over Dean, even to the people that knew what they were doing and would help Dean, but I got past my petty feelings and carefully handed her over to the EMTs.

“Do you know what exactly happened here?” the same EMT asked me.

I shook my head. “No, all we know is that one of the venue employees found her lying unconscious outside,” I explain, running a hand through my hair out of a nervous habit. “I found her in the dumpster over there and pulled her out. That was around the time that we called you guys.”

The EMT nodded and looked behind him to see Dean being loaded into the ambulance and the lingering fans still filming and trying to figure out what’s going on. “I don’t know what exactly to tell you right now, but I’m sure you’re friend is going to be okay,” he replied, turning back around to look at me. “We’ll rush her to the ER and then you and your friends can meet us at the hospital and-”

“Actually,” I ask, “would it be alright if I rode with her?”

The EMT gave me a sympathetic look, and let out a deep sigh. “I know you’re worried about her, but only family members and significant others can be in the back of the truck-”

“I’m her boyfriend,” I blurt out, hoping the sudden pink color rising to my cheeks wasn’t that noticeable.

Boyfriend. The idea of being called Dean’s boyfriend made my heart swell. So maybe I had a bit of a thing for Dean, but could you blame me? She was beautiful both inside and out; there wasn’t a single ugly thing about her. She could make anybody laugh or smile and it was honestly really hard not to like her as a person. I guess for me, it was just all too easy to develop a bit of a crush on her, as cheesy as that may be, but it was true. I liked Dean, and I wasn’t afraid to admit that anymore. It was just a matter of admitting it to her, but I doubt someone like her could like someone like me.

The EMT’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I managed to tune into the middle of what he was trying to tell me.

“...if you would just quickly follow me, you’re girlfriend’s been loaded in, and the faster we get her to the hospital, the faster we get her taken care of,” the EMT told me. I found myself nodding and following him towards the ambulance when a sudden thought hit me.

“What hospital are you taking her too?” I asked him.

“Houston Methodist,” he told me as we climbed into the back. “I’m assuming you’re telling your friends?” I nodded my response and he nodded back at me. I pulled out my phone from my jean’s pocket and quickly sent off the information to both Kellin and Mike and telling them to meet us there.

When I looked up from sending the texts, I found my gaze settling on the beautiful girl in front of me. She was still pale and lifeless, and it could have been because of the lighting in the ambulance, but she looked even worse than she did when I fished her out of the garbage can, and that scared me. I had no idea what happened to her, but it hadn’t have to have been good. Eventually, I had to tear my gaze away from her because if I looked at her any longer, I was going to either be sick or start crying, maybe both.

I didn’t know how long it took us to get to the hospital, but when we arrived, the backdoors were immediately thrown open and everyone, including myself was ushered out of the vehicle. I ran along with the EMTs and other staff members as they rushed Dean in on the gurney, but before I could get much further into the actual ER, I was stopped by a nurse and forced back a few steps.

“You’re not allowed back into the ER,” the nurse told me.

“But I need to be back there!” I protest.

“I’m sorry, but visitors aren’t allowed back here until the patient is in one of the proper rooms. Until then, I’m going to have to ask you to stay in the waiting room,” she insisted.

I wanted to argue that point more, but I knew it would get me nowhere, so I just huffed and begrudgingly followed the nurse back to the small and dismal waiting room. The waiting room didn’t have many people sitting around in there, and in fact, the entire hospital itself just seemed really desolate. The small space and silence was overwhelming, and I honestly didn’t start calming down until a large group of people suddenly entered the building and several familiar voices were ringing off of the walls.

I looked up from the floor I had been staring at for God knows how long to see Chris, Mike, Tony, Jaime, and the entirety of Sleeping With Sirens burst into the waiting room. Mike was the first to spot me and he immediately ran over to me with everyone else on his heels. “Is she okay?” he hurriedly asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” I admit, getting up from my chair and making my way to them. “They haven’t let me back there yet because she’s not in one of the 'visitor’ rooms yet.”

Some of the guys groaned, a few of them even started to mumble under their breath, and they all took a seat in one of the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room. Since our group was so large, we had to spread out among the other visitors in the room, and quite honestly, most of them were freaked out by the size of our group and that we all had to come in and take a seat. I plopped back down into the chair I had been sitting in originally and wiped my face with my hands.

“This really sucks,” Jaime sighs from next to me.

“Tell me about it,” I quietly mumbled, shaking my head and moving my hands from my face to my hair, nervously running them through it a few times.

Jaime let out another sigh and started to absentmindedly twiddle his thumbs. We all sat there in silence, the only noises coming from a few other families in the room and the usual hospital white noise, and it was a while before anyone spoke up.

“Anybody else want to bust out some Mission Impossible shit and sneak back in there and check up on Dean?” Mike asked to no one in particular. He was met with a chorus of mumbled agreements and several nods from a few people. Me? I just kind of stared off into the distance a bit numbly. What was else was I supposed to say when I had practically said all that I had wanted to say?

Hours seemed to go by, and eventually, a nurse came by and told everyone that visitor hours were about to become rather restricted, and that if we wanted to, we could start leaving or stay here. Most families started to slowly leave the ER, but our group stayed. None of us wanted to leave without Dean or at least without knowing how she was doing.

Eventually, everyone in the ER had left and we were the only people left sitting there. A few of us were beginning to get tired and nod off though, and when I went to check the time on my phone, I saw that it was only a few minutes past midnight. I sighed a bit and shoved my phone back into my jeans pocket. I was suddenly extremely grateful for the fact that we had one extra day to get to Florida. There was still no word on Dean, and who knows how long the hospital wanted to keep her here?

Tonight was going to be a long night.

Notes

I'm so sorry, you guys probably about ready to kill me, but I swear I wasn't going to make you wait this long for an update. I actually had planned on updating later that night on the day I posted the last chapter, but I feel asleep while writing it so I saved it for the morning. What happened when I woke up in the morning though? The fucking power was out. I mean, I got power back by the afternoon, but the internet was completely knocked out and we couldn't get anyone to come out and fix it until today. Today I had some other prior commitments (and the APMAs were on tonight) and I am still unpacking and taking care of some stuff from the weekend, which leads me to my next point:

I went to San Diego over the weekend! It was just Friday and Saturday, but after being in the beautiful city, and oh my, the weather was gorgeous you guys, I got a lot of inspiration for this story, specifically later on, and now I feel like I can put a bit more detail in the San Diego chapters in this story. I mean, I've been to San Diego several times in my life since I only live a few hours away, but now I have a fresh perspective on the town and found places and things that gave me a lot of ideas for this story. Honestly, I think this is what I needed to clear my writer's block, and I'm so happy that it's basically gone now.

Also, did any of you guys watch the APMAs??? It was so great! All Time Low’s performance was fucking amazing, Jack and Alex were pretty awesome hosts, Mark Hoppus furthermore proved how much of a treasure he is, someone started a mosh pit when Sum 41 played (but like it was during Fat Lip so can you blame them?), Jalex happened, and Pierce The Veil performed The Divine Zero and omg you guys it sounded and amazing and Tony performed with them and just ahhhhhhhhhhhhh *insert me dying several times throughout the night*

Anyway, that's enough of my rambling. I hope you guys liked what little I posted today! I gave you a bit of a insight into Vic's thoughts, and the next chapter should also be in Vic's perspective as well, so just be aware of that ;) My updates might be a bit slow again because I have band camp going on right now, but I'm going to do my best to update as much as I can. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy!