FicWad

The guys and I headed up out of the storage room and found Johnny sitting on a little table with six chairs grouped around it. Johnny motioned for us to sit and we all took a seat. I ended up sitting next to James and Kirk. That was fortunate because I didn't really want to sit next to the soaking wet Cliff or Lars for obvious reasons.

Johnny gave Cliff an amused glance before saying, "I have some updated information on your album. The record distributors have refused the title of your album so you're gonna have to come up with a new title pretty quick." There was a loud groan throughout the whole group. No one wanted to hear that the album's name had been rejected.

Making a face, James said, "What the hell? There was nothing wrong with the album's name. 'Metal Up Your Ass' sounds cool! Don't you agree, Mr. Z?" I almost laughed at the fact that James was calling Johnny "Mr. Z". Johnny didn't seem to mind the nickname though. As a matter of fact, he looked like he found it pretty funny too because he was smiling when he said, "Yes, I agree that it does sound cool, Mr. Hetfield, but the distributors don't really care if it sounds cool or not."

"Those record company fuckers," Cliff made a face, "you know, kill 'em all." We all nodded in agreement, feeling rejected. Everyone sat in silence for a good five minutes as we all tried to come up with a new title for the album. After a few minutes, Lars' face brightened up and he slapped Cliff on the back, "That's it! Kill 'em all!"

Everyone turned at looked at Lars like he had gone crazy. Lars blushed and quickly told everyone what he meant, "Let's use 'Kill 'em All' for the title of our album? It's simple but cool, don't you think? Besides, it gets the point across." James' face broke into a smile and he nodded vigorously. Looking around the table, I saw that everyone was nodding in agreement.

"All right then," Johnny said, writing something down on a piece of paper, "That will be the title of your new album then. However, you're also going to have to change the design for the album's cover." Everyone groaned loudly again and made faces. Johnny shrugged his shoulders and gave us sympathetic looks, "I'm really sorry guys, the record companies just wouldn't let it go. You don't have to redo the whole design necessarily. Just change it up a bit."

The original design for the cover of the album was a knife protruding from a toilet bowl. Lars, obviously unhappy about all these changes, tapped his chin thoughtfully as he tried to come up with a new image. Finally, he said, "How about a sledgehammer lying in a pool of blood instead? I mean, it's not as great as our other idea, but I think it'll look cool. Simple, but cool nonetheless."

Not having any better ideas, everyone nodded their agreement. Johnny wrote down some more notes on the pad of paper before turning back to us, "Okay then! I guess we can get back to recording now that we've worked these details out. Lars, you can head on up to the recording room and start warming up if you want."

Lars nodded but didn't move an inch, "Yeah, okay, but I need someone to come with me." We all gave Lars the what-the-hell look. Lars explained, "The recording area is like in some ancient ballroom area! It's fucking haunted! That's why my cymbals keep spinning and shit like that. So yeah, someone needs to come with me. That someone would be James." Lars got up from his seat, linked arms with James, and started pulling him up the stairs. James rolled his eyes at me and waved as Lars towed him away.

Cliff shook his head at the two, sending water droplets all over us. Johnny wiped a droplet off his nose and looking at Cliff curiously, "I hope you don't mind my asking, but how in the world did you end up so wet, Cliff?" Cliff laughed and grinned as he replied, "Lars and James thought it would be a good idea to wake me up by pouring a bottle of water over my head."

Not listening in to this conversation, Kirk turned nervously to me and asked, "Do you think the ballroom area is really haunted?" I clapped Kirk on the back reassuringly and shook my head, "Hell no! Lars is just trying to get James away from me probably. Believe me, there aren't any ghosts up there!"



The recording took up most of the rest of the day. After the recording was done, the guys decided to have a party without telling me about it in the recording studio. So while the guys were partying and getting drunk, I was stuck sitting downstairs doing absolutely nothing. My stomach was really acting up and I certainly didn't feel good. My pain came and went, but overall, it seemed to get worse and worse everyday. It didn't help that I didn't have anything to distract myself from the pain.

Finally, noises came from the stairs and the guys finally appeared around the corner. Lars and James were almost falling over from laughing at something that they both found hysterically funny, Cliff was gulping down a bottle of beer, and Kirk was smiling like he had never had more fun in his life. Feeling annoyed that they had been partying without me, I stood up and crossed my arms across my chest as they approached. The guys all seemed pretty stoned.

"Does Johnny actually let you guys get drunk?" I asked them irritably as I followed them down the hallway towards our little storage room. James and Lars were still giggling so Cliff answered instead, "Yeah, he doesn't give a shit about it. As a matter of fact, he gave us these." Cliff pointed at the beer bottle he was holding.

I frowned with disgust and found that I no longer liked Johnny as much as I thought I had! It was one thing to give a bottle of beer to Cliff, but it was another thing to give one to James and Lars. Cliff always managed to keep his cool for the most part while he was drunk, but Lars and James would pretty much go crazy. That wasn't exactly a bad thing when it came to James, but right now, I wanted a sober James around. I was still feeling a little upset about the whole mess with the pregnancy issues and just wanted James to hold me in his arms tonight and tell me that everything was going to be okay.

The five of us toppled into the storage area and wandered around the room to find places to sleep. Everyone moved to the spots where the had slept the night before. Cliff was on the pile of boxes, Kirk was on the piece of foam, and Lars and James were in the middle of the room. I couldn't help but eye James with irritation. I really wanted him to sleep next to me tonight. It was still fucking cold in the building and I really missed the feel of James holding me.

However, James had gone from hyper to exhausted in about five minutes and was sleeping before I had a chance to ask him to come and lay by me. By that point, I didn't have the heart to go over and wake him up. So instead, I just curled up in my little corner and tried to fall asleep. Unfortunately, that wasn't very easy to do. All the guys fell asleep in the matter of fifteen minutes, but I lay awake for hours and hours. Part of that was due to me not feeling well and the other part was due to the fact that I felt frozen.

I was still lying awake hours later when I felt something tighten up in my stomach. My breathing started to quicken as the pain spread through my body. Usually, the pain lightened up after a few minutes, but this time it didn't go away. Sleepily, I climbed to my feet and looked around blearily. Everything was a blur. I just couldn't seem to concentrate through the pain. Suddenly, I felt my food rushing up to my throat. God, why did I always end up puking everything I ate?

Knowing that there was no time to waste, I hurried out of the storage room as quickly as I could and tore down the hall to the bathroom Kirk and I had visited this morning. Luckily, the bathroom wasn't too far away and I was able to find it within minutes. As soon as I arrived, I threw my head over the toilet and puked up everything I had eaten in the last few days. My stomach growled loudly as my food sloshed into the toilet. Dizziness overcame me and I sank to the floor. I closed my eyes in an attempt to beat the fainting spell that was overcoming me. After taking a few deep, steadying breaths, I managed to open my eyes again.

This time, I found the world was not wavering before my eyes. Hoping I wouldn't collapse on the way back to the storage room, I got to my feet. Before I left the bathroom, I caught a glimmer of my reflection in the mirror. My reflection just about scared me half to death. My hair was lying in limp clumps around my face, my forehead was covered in sweat even though my face was as pale as a ghost's, and my whole body was shaking uncontrollably.

Wanting to get away from the nightmare of myself, I hurried out of the bathroom and back to our room as quickly as I could without toppling over. As soon as I reached the door to the storage room, I popped the door open and burst inside. As I tried to catch my breath, I looked around to make sure I hadn't waken anyone up. Cliff was as motionless as ever while Lars and James were both lying on their backs with their eyes closed and mouths open. The two looked rather funny when they slept. Normally, seeing James would've brought a smile to my lips. Today was different though. I was in too much pain to notice anything.

I crept back over to my corner and wrapped my arms tightly around myself, wishing for the millionth time that there were blankets in this hellhole. Looking down, I could see that my hands and feet were purple from the cold. Shaking violently, I almost jumped a mile when a soft voice called my name, "Olivia?" I jerkily turned around to see Kirk looking at me with concern.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kirk asked, looking me up and down. Seeing that I was indeed not okay, Kirk said, "That's it. You're going to see a doctor tomorrow. I don't care what it takes." Definitely not wanting to go see a doctor, I shook my head and spoke through trembling lips, "N-no, I-I'm not. I'm f-fine. It's just cold in here. That's all."

Kirk slipped out of the sleeping bag and sat on the floor across from me. Looking at me seriously, he said, "Olivia, you're really, really sick. You need to see a doctor. We don't have to tell anyone that you're going to see one. I have some extra money. I'll take you tomorrow when our first show goes on. You know that we're leaving tomorrow for the Kill 'Em All tour, right?"

I did remember that James had mentioned that we would leave tomorrow. That would be a relief! I didn't want to spend another night in the storage room. However, I still didn't want to go to the doctor! Kirk, seeing my mixed emotions, continued on, "Don't you want to feel better? The doctor could give you some pain medication that could make all this go away. And like I said, nobody needs to know about it. I'll drop you off before the first show for the tour starts and I'll pick you up afterwards. It's as simple as that."

Kirk's words did make a lot of sense. I really did want to feel better. Despite my phobia of doctors, I figured that maybe getting rid of all this pain would be worth visiting one. I gave Kirk the smallest nod that I could. Kirk smiled at me and nodded encouragingly, "Thanks for working with me on this. Really though, you should've seen a doctor earlier. You're a lot sicker than you were even yesterday. I mean, your toes are purple and your lips are blue! Why don't you sleep in my sleeping bag? It's a lot warmer in there."

I eyed Kirk's sleeping bag with coveting eye. It did look pretty tempting. Looking up at Kirk, I asked, "You sure you don't mind?" Kirk shook his head. Not needing anymore pressure, I hurried over and climbed into the sleeping bag. It wasn't warm and toasty, but it was better than nothing. I closed my eyes and started to go to sleep, but then a thought struck me. I jerked my eyes back open and said, "Why don't you sleep in here with me? I can tell you're cold too. We can keep each other warm."

Kirk looked at me hesitantly, but finally gave in. He unzipped the sleeping bag and climbed in next to me. Immediately, we were engulfed in a much warmer area with our two bodies snuggling together. Kirk wasted no time in falling asleep. In only two minutes, he was sleeping with his head pressed gently against my neck. Smiling at him, I closed my eyes and fell fast asleep as well.