Sons Of War || Andy Biersack

Chapter 18

It was very early the next day when you were startled from sleep by a rather disturbing dream.
In the dream, you had seen through the eyes of a doctor of some sort. He or she, for you did not get to see their face, wore a white lab coat and carried a trey of horrifying objects that looked like they might be used to torture information out of someone. They were walking very fast, as though they were excited, or maybe late, for something. There were many winding passages in the lab that they walked through. In the halls, you saw other passing doctors or scientists who held clip boards or their own treys with horrible looking medal objects. The most disturbing part of them was the blood that almost every single one of these individuals had spattered across their once-clean white lab coats.
A sense of urgency grew in your stomach as you came closer to your destination. You wanted to turn around and get the hell out of this weird fucking place, but you were not in control. You were a mere passenger, helplessly watching as the doctors whose eyes you were looking out from came closer and closer to a steel door located at the end of a long hall. They quickened their pace slightly and you wanted to scream. For some reason, the closer you came to that door, the more you wanted to open your eyes and get out of this nightmare. You had a sickening feeling you knew what lay beyond that portal, and you did not want to get a look at it. Not while you were helpless to stop whatever was about to take place.
Something held you in this dream though, so no matter how hard you tried to pull your mind away and open your eyes, an invisible force seemed to keep you still. A chill ran down your spin as you felt something that felt very much like a hand touch your shoulder.
"Memorize the way to this door, Y/n. Pay attention," a soft voice whispered in your ear. You couldn't speak even if you had been psychically able to do so. The voice sounded familiar. . .
The doctor was now standing in front of the door, and you were petrified. He or she took out two keys and unlocked the bolts on the door, then hit the number code. 22356, the last barrier that kept the door sealed closed. They reached out their hand to pull it open--
You woke up suddenly feeling like you had just been shocked by a hot wire. Sweat covered your brow and the air seemed to have been knocked forcefully out of your lungs.
It was just a dream, you thought to yourself over and over. Somewhere in your mind, however, you knew that it must have been something more. It didn't feel like any dream you had ever had before. You couldn't recall a time you had been fully aware you were not conscious but couldn't get yourself to wake up.
Your eyes shot over to Andy, illuminated by moonlight, and you let out a long breath of relief to find him still there. Not that you had assumed he wouldn't be, but the extra reassurance was not unwelcomed.
He was on his side with his back facing the wall, curled up loosely with his arms around Ginger. All but one of his blankets had fallen to the floor, but he didn't appear cold. The night wasn't very chilly.
You kicked your feet over the side of your bed and sat still for a moment, trying to make sense of the crazy mess in your head. Morning surely wasn't to far off, so you stood up and silently left the room out into the dark hall. A clock was located at one end near the stairs, and it read 5:56. Dawn would start to show itself any minute.
You were unsure when the flight you were supposed to be on took off, but you figured Angelo had a plan worked out. As you went down the stairs lightly, you come out into a little hallway that lead into the living room. A light was turned on, so you didn't bother to be excessively quiet.
When you entered the rather spacious area, you found Angelo on the couch slumped over his laptop. It didn't look like he ever really went to bed, so he must have just passed out from sheer exhaustion. His tame, dark shoulder length hair fell forward off of his neck due to the position he was residing in, and you now saw for the first time a deep white scar that ran along the side of his neck and down his shoulder to his back, where it disappeared from sight due to his dark blue t-shirt.
You stared at it in slight alarm. It was a very deep scar. Where the hell did Angelo get something like that? He never struck you as fighter, nor a daredevil. Apparently there were a lot of things about Angelo Bradwidth that you were unaware of.
A very loud ringing suddenly went off in the room and you jumped, clutching your racing heart. Angelo picked himself up and drowsily reached over to the small corner table at the end of the couch and turned off his alarm, which he had evidently set to go off at six o'clock.
"Oh, hello my dear," Angelo said in surprise, rubbing his eyes tiredly from underneath his glasses.  "How long have you been awake? I intended to go get you and Andy shortly. I didn't mean to fall asleep, but what can you do? I trust you slept well? The moon was incredibly bright last night, wasn't it? Our flight leaves in two hours, so we best be ready and out the door shortly if we hope to-"
"Yes, I know," you quickly, unsure how long he intended to keep talking. "I'll go wake up Andy. Why don't you go get some coffee started and we'll be down shortly, alright?"
"Oh, yes of course! Excellent idea, my girl. I'll make some breakfast as well, to keep up strength and all that. . ."
His voice faded away as you left to go back to the stairs and he took off in the direction of the kitchen. You weren't sure if he just continued to talk or eventually stopped.
You opened the door to the room you and Andy had slept in last night. He hadn't yet woken up, and Ginger was positioned at the head of the bed, looking straight at you like she had excepted your approach. You moved into the room softly and maintained eye contact with the skeptical cat.
"I'm going to wake him up, is that gonna be a problem?" You whispered critically, seeing as she had struck a rather defensive posture. You wouldn't want her to pounce on you as soon as you touched her self-proclaimed angel. She deemed you nonthreatening, then sat down again delicately and began to clean her paw. She was the very picture of feline nonchalance.
You removed your eyes from her and looked to Andy's peaceful face. The dark cloud of stress, anger and worry that constantly shadowed his features always lifted when he slept. You hated waking him, but there was no way around it.
"Andy?" You spoke softly, bringing your hand to his shoulder and giving him a gentle shake. His eyes flickered behind his eyelids and he emit a small sound that could only be described as "meh."
"We need to be on a plane in two hours. Angelo is making coffee. And breakfast of some sort," you informed him quietly.
"Mmmm," Andy hummed with mild disinterest, opening his eyes slowly to look up at you. "You look tired."
"Thanks for saying so, Biersack. Get up," you smiled slightly.
"Fine," he mumbled, sitting upright and rubbing his face tiredly.
"I'll be down in the kitchen with Angelo. Come down soon," you tossed over your shoulder as you left the room. A slight girlish smile graced your lips as you exited. His voice was so deep in the morning. . .
The smell of eggs filled the air as you came down the stairs and through the living room into the kitchen. Angelo had eggs on the burner and the table had been set.
The house was cringfully clean. Every corner seemed to have been scrubbed until it shone. Even as Angelo put eggs onto each plate, he immediately washed, dried and put away the pan he had used to cook; then deftly wiped down the already-spotless oven.
"Jesus Angelo," you muttered to yourself as you took a seat in front of a randomly chosen plate. "You work hard."
"All in a days work, my dear girl," he smile cheerfully and took a seat. "Will Andrew be down presently?"
"Yes, he'll be here in a minute. How many hours of sleep did you get last night?" You inquired interestedly. Angelo never seemed to be tired in the morning, nor the evening, nor, it appeared, in the middle of the night.
"I dosed off for maybe two or three hours before waking up this morning. I was looking into different alternatives for reaching Florida faster than a plane, but it appears the conventional route will transport us to our destination just as deftly and efficiently as any other might serve. John is expecting our arrival sometime tomorrow, though I never did specify a specific time. Oh! Speaking of time, my dear. . . " Angelo got sidetracked, as was usual when you didn't interrupt him. You simply couldn't believe he could function at such a high level when he was only running on two hours of sleep. He didn't even really have dark cycles under his eyes.
Finally, he broke off when Andy entered the room looking incredibly disheveled. His hair was sticking up in any direction physics would allow, his shirt was buttoned askew and his eyes were glazed over as the process of waking up was still in progress.
"Andy, you look messier than usual this morning," you stated, watching him sigh deeply at your comment and slump into a chair in front of food.
"I did not sleep like an angel last night," he muttered, picking up his fork and messing with his eggs rather than eating them.
"What does an angel sleep like, pray tell?" You asked in amusement.
"Do they have specific sleeping patterns? How extraordinary! How often would you say that angels typically differ from these 'patterns', so to speak? Do angels need sleep, to speak bluntly? In heaven I would assume that you wouldn't need to rest or to replenish strength. Or is it simply a-"
"A joke," Andy cut in flatly. "It was a fucking joke. That's all."
Angelo blinked. "Oh. Very amusing, my boy."
     Jokes and sarcasm were wasted on Angelo, who took everything seriously. You, however, struggled to keep the amusement out of the expression on your face, only partly succeeding. Andy shot you an unfriendly look and you noted with satisfaction that he was beginning to wake up much faster with a little teasing.
"What, if I may ask, are you laughing about?" Andy asked you sharply.
"I'm not laughing," you said defensively. "Not yet, at any rate. But you're so easily made angry in the morning, you grumpy little thing. It's amusing."
His eyes flashed and his cheeks turned a pretty color with rising temper. "Oh really? You find it amusing, do you?"
It had been in good long while since you had gotten into one of your little shouting matches, and you were only to happy to welcome this one.
"Um! I think everyone is finished with breakfast then? Our flight leaves soon and I do believe we had best be on it. Is everyone packed? Good! I'll take care of cleanup here, you two just run along and bring your bags down to the front door," Angelo exclaimed before you could make another provocative remark. You and Andy exchanged a disappointed glance and then followed each other upstairs. Neither of you had really eaten much, for you didn't really have an appetite. Andy's plate was mostly empty by the abrupt end of breakfast for the soul reason that he had kept slipping Ginger food under the table. The prudish feline refused to eat the food if it fell to the ground, so feeding her under the table was a task you could not make inconspicuous. Neither you nor Angelo said anything, though. Parting with the cat was sure to be a difficult thing for both Ginger and Andy.
Said cat followed you both upstairs as you hurriedly hopped up the wooden polished steps. She seemed to know that departure was near, and she was being more cordial with you than usual.
Silently you grabbed your bag from under your bed and turned to see Andy doing the same.
"Er--" Andy turned to you and met your gaze hesitantly. "What exactly is an airplane like?"
The hesitation in his voice brought small smile to your lips. "Don't worry, it's nothing like cars. They fly you from point A to point B faster than you could drive."
"Y/n," Andy eyed you skeptically. "Are we really trusting Angelo? Like really trusting him? This could be a trap. I know all the points don't add up, but we might not be seeing the full picture as of yet."
You considered the question for a moment before answering.
   "We don't have a choice. He's all the hope we've got right now."

Let me start by saying I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK WAY LONGER THAN USUAL!!! I got really sick, and then I got super busy, and writing and editing was hard to make time for. But here it is now, so tell me what you think my darlings!