Arcane Guardian ↣ Avenged Sevenfold

12 ☼ suddenly

"Bye Noa," They clicked off. Everyone in the room was silent. 

"What?" She said shyly. 

Jim was the first to break the silence. "You have a boyfriend?" 

"God, James, could you be any more tactful?" Matt laughed. Brian stayed silent. 

Ellowyn glared at Jim, him throwing his hands up in defeat. "What? We've been back for like, months now, and you haven't mentioned one word about this Ilejay character."

"Where did you get boyfriend in that snippet of a conversation?" She nervous rambled. "I never even mentioned, let alone implied-"

"She totally has a boyfriend." Matt nodded, the other two nodding in agreement. 

"Fine! Okay?! I have a boyfriend, and I give him mad cooties. Happy now?" She snapped. 

Brian was the first to start laughing, the other three following. "God," he said. "It's like no time's passed at all." 

☼

"Where are we?" Ellowyn said as Brian and her walked down a sandy beach. The water smelled like salt, and the air was crisp and clear. 

Brian reached over and grabbed her hand. "Well, you let me do my bright idea. You're dreaming." He looked around. "I don't know if I'm doing it right, so I guess we'll see when you wake up." 

"Huh," She said. "And how do you expect this to work?" 

Suddenly, they went from the beach to her room. It's like she was watching it happen, like a scene in a movie. 

"Jim! Shadow! Zacky! I know you're fucking listening!" She watched herself yell to Brian. She saw him watching her from the edge of the bed. She was fourteen. "Get the fuck over here, you do not get to leave without me having a say!" 

"What is this?" She asked Brian as she watched the memory. 

"This was the day you found out when the barrier to purgatory breaks... you'd forget us." 

"Ellowyn Jane," She watched Brian stand up and try to console her younger self. 

"You lied to me. You and them? You're all I have on this earth. And you lied to me. What if that barrier broke right now! Would you just leave without a goodbye?" 

"Listen!" 

"No, you listen!" 

She put her hand over her mouth as she watched her fourteen year old self press the pencil sharpener blade against her wrist. "Was I fucking crazy?" She watched herself threaten suicide, and saw Matt appear behind her and restrain her from behind. 

She watched herself cry, and her heart broke at her younger selfs voice. "You're gonna leave me forever. I'm gonna forget you."

☼

Ellowyn woke up in a cold sweat, the men surrounding her. "Did it work?" Brian asked. 

"We were in my room. I found out you would leave me... And I threatened to kill myself. I felt it, Brian. I didn't remember it, but I felt my pain. When I cried I felt it in my throat. The fear of abandonment." 

Brian nodded. "Can I try one more memory? I'll try and make it clearer." 

☼

"She scratched you good," Shadow said. Ellowyn had handed him the alcohol wipe and antibiotic ointment so he could tend to the open scratch on her cheek. "Fuckin bitch."

She was still sniffling as the alcohol wipe burned her face. "I hate her," Ellowyn choked out. "I hate her so much. Why couldn't she have just been kind to me? Why is she always so fucking MEAN!" Ellowyn shouted in frustration. "I hope she gets hit by a train while she's in her car on the way home. I hope her car flips. I hope she gets her limbs cut off one by one."

Shadow stops dabbing as she realizes what she just said. "Wait. Shadow. Ohmygod I'm so sorry."

Shadow just started laughing, and so does everyone else, which makes her crack up in reaction.

"It's been long enough I can joke about it." Shadow says, as he presses a band aid to her scratch. "And we got to see your beautiful smile so a laugh at my expense was worth it."

☼

"Shadow cleaned my cheek. It stung," She said when she woke up from the memory. "That day was awful." 

"You remember?" Brian said hopefully. 

"I do now. It's like it filled in the gaps... I always thought that day I put a bandaid on it and punched a hole in my wall." She looked down, shaking her head. "But I remember it. I was so mad at her, but as soon as we started laughing, I felt warm inside. Comforted. I remember that comfort." 

"I can show you more," Brian offered. "Over the next few days we're here. If you want to see." 

"Four years of my life with you all are gone," She said. "I convinced myself you were just imaginary friends from when I was little with an overactive imagination. And you're real. How am I supposed to understand? How are we supposed to go back?" 

"I don't know," Brian said. "But I kept true to my word. You remember that day when you were eleven, on the way to school? I told you I would find you. Always." 

She nodded. "Yeah,"