Bad Obsession (Guns N' Roses: Izzy Stradlin)

Chapter 67: Guilt - Pt. 1

The hum of the aeroplane helped me 'zone out' and my mind ran through the last couple of hours I had just experienced. Was that now... it? I was done with the band? I certainly couldn't take back what I said to Axl. I stared out the window only to see darkness. Not even the flashing light on the wing would illuminate the surroundings in the sky. It never calmed me to fly at night, something about not being able to see the ground or clouds always freaked me out. I felt my eyes get heavy, and just as it seemed like I was about to drift off, one of the air hostesses nudged my arm. By the tune of her speech, I assumed she was asking me a question, but I couldn't work out what she said.

"What?" I asked as I tried to focus on her mouth.

I assume she repeated her words, but all I could hear was fuzziness. Great, all these concerts have caught up with me and I've suddenly gone deaf.

"I'm sorry, but... what?" I asked again feeling exasperated.

"You can't leave, Izzy."

The woman sounded exactly like Axl. No joke.

I blinked furiously and rubbed my eyes. Nope, definitely not Axl standing in front of me.

"I'm so sorry, but I cannot hear you." I awkwardly laughed.

"You can't leave, Izzy."

My eyes shot open and my whole body jolted. I had a moment of complete confusion; I had temporarily forgotten where I was and what I was doing. I am no longer dreaming, I am still in London, I am in my hotel and I had just been rudely woken up by someone talking... or did I dream that? I frantically looked around my surroundings with a squint as the environment was bright. The morning sun was streaming into my room and was absolutely blinding me; I had forgotten to draw the curtains shut overnight. I sat there in my bed upright, staying still as I waited to hear someone, but no sound echoed through my ears. I let out a groan, looked at my bedside table to see it was 7:01 AM, proceeded to groan louder as I flopped back down into the bed and wrapped myself up in the sheets like a caterpillar. I would be flying back home to Mel later that day, and that was something I could barely contain my excitement for.

I had slept just like a log that night, it seemed that screaming at Axl helped me have one of the best nights of sleep of my life. It felt like I had released so much weight from my shoulders and the majority of my stress has seemed to evaporate from my system. I squeezed my eyes shut hoping to catch a few more z's before I would have to leave the cosiness of the bed and haul my arse back to L.A.

"I know you're in there, man" A muffled voice came through the door.

A voice that was obviously Axl's.

Fuck. I wanted to pick up the lamp that was on my bedside table and throw it against the door. I was in no mood to talk to the childish redhead; it was too early, plus it would ruin my plan I had mapped out in my head, I wanted my dramatic exit to be the last time Axl saw me for a while. I didn't respond with the hope he would think I had already left the hotel, but he kept persisting. He started to pound on the door so aggressively I thought the door would get knocked out of its frame. I sighed loudly and stumbled out of bed as I pushed my hair out of my eyes.

"What?" I demanded as I swung my door open.

Axl, Duff and Slash stood before me. Axl was wrapped in a white bathrobe and his hair hung wet on his shoulders. In one hand he held a cigarette and his other was balled into a fist. He took a drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke in my face. I could see the thoughts running through his head, sifting through which sentence to blurt out at me. Duff and Slash both had the same expression on their faces; utter exhaustion. They both had almost dark purple bags under their eyes, messy hair, pale and sweaty, and were also holding a burning cigarette in their hands.