[Savior For the Night]

“Savior for the Night.”

I can’t contain my excitement for the drive I will be taking in a few hours. The Used. The Used Live. My skin looks like it rippling and my words are stuttered. Now that’s some extreme excitement. I won’t even mention what my brain waves would look like if they were displayed on a ECG. So what I’m going alone? Damn losers have no idea what they are missing. I walk down to the Short Stop, which is right by my house to buy some scratcher tickets and a Dr. pepper. I am feeling exceptionally lucky today. I pay the old house wife at the counter for my tickets and walk home. The tickets are burning holes in my pocket as I think about the luck I may have. I scratch away and reveal three lemons. At first, I am sad because lemons usually don’t mean squat. Ah, but today they do. I match up my winnings and it turns out I win five hundred dollars. I jump around my room, turn up the radio real loud and dance to “Beating Heart Baby” by Head Automatica. Can this day get ANY better? Yes, yes it can! Before I can leave on my trip to see The Used, I have this odd feeling that I will need a bikini. Every happy girl needs a bikini and besides I’ll probably be sweating a lot surrounded by hundreds of people at the concert. I drive down to the bikini shop known as Beachcombers. When I walk in, I spot one that I want almost immediately. The overall color is black (I’m such a damn sucker for that color, I mean shade. Whatever.), but the edges are tinged with red lace. It’s cute. It will do.

 Before I know it, I am driving to my destination with a pocket full of cash to blow and a new bikini. The drive seems really long but thanks to music I sing away the time the whole way there. Sometimes it’s peaceful to be alone. Just the music, the wind and myself. When I finally arrive, I decide to rent out a hotel. I discover that there is a huge water park right next to my hotel and the venue is just a few blocks down the road. From the looks of the water park it looks like a whole bunch of kids my age have already claimed it. I see various flavors of beer cans and fruity alcoholic beverages scattered all over the ice chests. Drinking and Swimming, now that sounds like a good idea. Goddamn, America you never disappoint. My psychic predictions of needing a sexy bikini definitely benefited me this time. I check in and carry my stuff up to my room. The room is beautifully decorated with crème colored walls, then you look at the décor and you can just tell Kirkland’s barfed all over the place. Smiling, I change into my bikini and some jeans. I stare at the king sized bed for a second, and give in. Smiling, I nod out until the concert.

            When I wake up I have an hour until the concert starts. I decide that my bikini and jeans are appropriate attire to wear. I leave the hotel and start walking to my destination. The wind plays in my hair bouncing the ends up and down off my shoulders. It feels so nice. For once, I feel free. As I get closer, I see crowds of people piled in front of the doors and just as I get even closer the doors open and everyone shuffles in. Let the fun begin. As I walk in, I see Bert McCracken, the lead singer for The Used, amping up the crowd like a madman. Fuck Yes. There are a lot of empty seats in the venue. Personally, I think seats should be nonexistent at a concert; everyone should be forced to mosh and stand. In that order. I scan my environment. Upon my scanning the crowd, I see a familiar face, a usually far away friend, who is only ten feet from me! Sir Jestro. What the Fuck. Tall, dressed in a black NIN t-shirt and jeans. Only he would wear that shirt to a concert where The Used is playing. His messy brown hair hangs over his eyes. It makes him look shrouded in shadows. I don’t even wait for him to notice me. Because he won’t. He is not expecting me. Fuck, I wasn’t expecting him. To my dismay and utter happiness, my legs run full force towards him, without my saying yes. I jump and open my arms surrounding him with myself. He sways sideways from my unexpected hug, “Whoa, what the fuck!” He says. I let go and move back so he can see who I am. “Holy shit, I didn’t expect to see you here.” I smile at him. He smiles back. I ask if I can hang around him for the concert and just as he opens his mouth to answer…the crowd screams for their music. Their voices rising above the earth’s atmosphere. I know this crowd could be heard on the fucking moon.

            All night I am crowded and drowned by the ocean of people. Coming in and out of fresh air. Light headed. Hot. Sweaty. Laughing. Screaming my lungs out. Screaming the words on silver ribbons of release. The music pulling me in and out. In. And. Out. Music is my life. Without it I would be empty of all sound, of all feeling and empty of fucking life. The music is blaring in my ears. If they bleed out, I will scream the words even louder. And it’s totally fucking cool with me. I dance, dance, dance until I feel like my lungs are going to give out. I hold onto Sir Jestro when I feel like I am going to float away, and surprisingly he’s okay with it. The concert comes to an end with my favorite soft song “Empty with You”. As it begins to play Sir Jestro slips his hand around my waist and grabs my other hand in his own. “I haven’t lost anything except my mind. Expect a thousand confessions that you will not find”. He leans down to me ear and whispers “Now I command you to dance with me.” I look up into his eyes and I see a ghostly grin spread across his lips. Smiling back, I listen to my command. “You could be empty and I could be right here empty with you”. He spins me around to the beat of the music. Holding me close, never once letting go. Only to spin me more. Like a teacup he’s stirring me with his finger.In. and. Out. The music breathes into us, and releases. “Or you could be hollow and I could be right here hollow with you”. A thousand people surround us, yet in our eyes it feels like just us. He slows as the songs comings to an end. His breathe heavy on my neck as he pulls me to him for one last caress. “If you want to say goodbye to everything I could say goodbye to. I can be right here empty with you”. I smile as he pulls away and becomes another in the crowd. “I can be right here empty with you”.

.Alyss.