I’m more nervous about this show than I was the first time I jumped onstage with them.
We’re playing my fucking song tonight.
We pause behind the stage the moment the lights cut out for our new intro. We huddle together, and I blow out a breath that comes out as maniacal laughter. A thunder track sounds, strobe light flickering onto the stage.
Breathe.
In. Out.
I can’t stop moving.
“Fuck me,” I laugh, bouncing on my toes. “I still can’t believe they let us change this shit up.”
“Next tour will be even more epic,” Mads declares. “Horror movie set. Running from the killer. The hero hides and starts praying, but then they remember their god never saved them. The song starts up with the screeching violins—”
“Fucking revenge time,” Reed says.
“Hell yeah,” I grin.
Young Decay.
Young Decay.
“You think they’ll feel the love tonight?” I ask about what is essentially a love letter to our fans.
“Can you feel—”
I laugh as Reed sings under his breath.
“If they can’t, they need to get the fuck out of the pit,” Zeb replies.
“I’ll kick them out myself,” Reed chimes in. “Just get the hell out of my church.”
We chuckle as the thunder track cracks behind us again. It makes me flinch, and yet when I hear the nurses and doctors chatting frantically on the recorded video, goosebumps erupt on my arms.
“Circle in. Let’s do this,” Mads says.
The four of us take hands as the new intro begins. I bounce and hang my head, letting the noise of the flatline move through me. There’s a commotion, doctors scrambling, nurses shouting. Strobe lights flicker with more thunder.
I can feel my heart growing heavier, emotion pressing behind my eyes. Reed squeezes my hand, and I blow out a heavy breath as the intro voices blend together, each one louder, more frantic.
“—take my hand… She isn’t going to make it—”
“The only one who can rescue her soul now is god—”
“What? No.Fight for her,” someone argues. “Fight for her. Why did you stop?Help her!”
“Nothing can help her now—”
A chair cracks. An object breaks on a wall. “You’re wrong!” they shout. “I know what can save her.”
Everything goes dark.
The crowd erupts.
A heartbeat thumps like two consecutive taps against a bass.
One. Two.
