Nothing Else Matters

Chapter 10

"I never hit Ron, not even once!", James yelled, rage taking over. Kirk was looking more confused than ever, and Lars was so scared I swear he was shitting his pants. "Uh, uhm...", Lars stuttered, unsure of what to say, since he had just been caught lying about his friend. So, this whole Ron McGovney thing was a lie? "Tell us what happened then, James", I said. He looked over at me. "I don't even know what Lars told you!", he spat back at me, "But I could tell you my part of what happened when he joined". Me and Kirk nodded, and Lars was only sinking deeper. "Alright", James sighed, still super pissed, "So I'm sure you all know by now that Lars and I used to date. Well, that was only until Ron came into the picture. Lars dumped me for him, and told me that 'Honestly James, this wasn't real, why would you think so?' The words are still ringing in my head when I see him with Kirk". I saw Kirk looking away, and I was starting to feel kind of bad myself. James continued: "I felt so horrible when Lars did that, but I never blamed Ron, so why would I hit him? Weeks later, Ron quit Metallica because of Dave Mustaine's uncontrollable behavior, we got Cliff in, and I had almost forgotten about Lars, even if he was our drummer. But when Ron quit, it seemed as if Lars stopped dating him, and so he tried going back to me, but I told him I didn't want to, and he went totally crazy. He wouldn't talk to me for days, until Dave quit and we got Kirk in. By the moment Kirk started the band, Lars was all over him, and well, that's what you see here today, except Cliff though". It all made sense to me now. Maybe that's why Lars made up another story, to make James look like the bad guy instead of him? "I totally understand it now", Kirk said, and got up from the bed. He walked over to Lars, who was hiding in a corner. "You know what?", he asked him. Lars shook his head. "It's over, I don't want anything to do with you anymore", Kirk said, got up, and walked out of the room. I just sat there, speechless, watching everything going on before my eyes. Then James turned to me. "Looks like it's only us now, huh?", he said. I guess...

After that, it started being really quiet around the Metallica house, except from the fights the three others would constantly have. Lars blamed me for the entire thing, and Kirk wouldn't speak to him. James claimed I was his only friend, and I, well; I tried keeping myself out of everything. One day though, we were all going to Birmingham to play a single concert. Since we were on a break, and only recording our new album, we didn't have much time to play a lot of shows, so we booked this one show in Birmingham.

We were playing through our set, and had just finished "Master of Puppets", when I saw Lars coming down from his drum kit. What? But the show wasn't over, right? I didn't understand what was going on until I saw Kirk trying to stop him. James wasn't doing anything; he just stood there with his mic and the guitar he was playing that night. Lars was walking straight towards me, and Kirk was talking to him, but Lars only pushed him out of his way to get to me. "What's going on?", I asked him as he walked up to me. He didn't answer, but he grabbed my wrist and kept walking closer to the audience. They were always wild in Birmingham. I don't know why I didn't see it coming, or why I let him do it, but he dragged me to the very edge of the stage, and pushed me over. I landed in the crowd, who was ripping and tearing my clothes, and scratching at anything in their reach.

That one night, I think that's about when they realized that it had gone too far, that they had crossed the line too many times. I didn't end up at hospital or anything, but it wasn't about how hurt I got, it was the thought behind the action. I mean, just days ago I was his friend. Or at least I thought so. Kirk didn't want anything to do with him anymore, and he started going out almost every day to hang with the guys in Megadeth instead, while Lars sat in his room doing nothing. James and I started dating, but in secret; we didn't want Lars to find out.

"So what about Metallica?", I asked James. He shrugged. "I guess it's over", he said, "Lars won't come out of his room, Kirk is never here, and you and I can't play by ourselves". I sighed. "I guess you're right", I said, "But why don't we get Kirk and Lars back together? I mean, if we do that, Metallica could go on. Think about the fans, James; think about how they'll feel if Metallica stop here". He looked at me, and soon went deep into his thoughts. "Yeah", he finally said, "We only have to make Kirk stay here tonight".