• I remember the day I first met him. Me, My best friend, and some other emo friends of mine where at a Heavy Metal concert. I wasn’t enjoying my time their, especially since us, emos, had protection from the police. Punks, Skinheads, and many more anti- emos, I just stood there watching them all pass by, giving us this dirty glance. It wasn’t until Dope came up and sang Die MF Die. The punks and skinhead were so wiled up that they rammed the police down and starting beating us up.

    Actually I was the first one to notice them ramming the police. I was the one that screamed “RUN!” The emo boys were defending the girls, but were doing a horrible job at it. My best friend Leon was also too trying to defend us girls. But there were more of them than us. The punk girls made their way to us and got out scissors. I ran away to somewhere I could hide. I hid behind a trash can. Yeah I know what your thinking… Why would a trash can be at a heavy metal concert? Well believe me I don’t know and I really did not care.

    I saw my friends being tortured, their bangs being cut off. I did not want to be out there, but at the same time I did not want to be hiding. There were shrieks and cries of help. What could I possibly do? A simple- minded emo girl. I was sickened by the way the skinheads tortured the emos! They made them bite the pavement , then they would smash their teeth when they smooshed them. I was really afraid when one Punk started to approach me. He has a pale complexion that somehow made me attracted to him, His hair was a silky smooth brunette. He wasn’t strong but he wasn’t wimpy either. I was still afraid of him. I curled up into a little ball waiting for the worst to happen. He stood there not even flinching.

    “God damn it! Get it over with!” I managed to croak out. He kneeled down where he could see my eyes, and out of nowhere he said “Your eyes are beautiful… I you don’t already know that” He noticed me shaking and gently touched my arm and right at that moment Leon kicked him on his side. It must’ve pissed off the punk because his face was red. He unhooked his chain belt and yelled out inappropriate things. Leon leaned towards me trying to protect me from it. In his eyes I saw fear and willingness. His Hands were wrapped around me, he wasn’t going to let any punk or skinhead touch me. Every time he was whipped he clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut.

    “Amanda, you have to run and get out of here. Ok?” Leon whispered in my ear. Hot tears swelled up and came pouring down. “No, Why should I go? You have to come with me too! How can a simple heavy- metal concert turn into madness?!” I shouted at him. The tears came like a flowing river. Leon leaned in to kiss me on the cheek, but I didn’t let him. “Not unless you come with me.” I whispered. Again his eyes closed and he clenched his teeth. I could see the he too wanted to cry. “I will, but first you have to go. I’ll go after you. Just don‘t look back. Keep going until you can‘t see the violence.” That was all I wanted to hear, so I leaned in and kissed him. “I love you…” I whispered and he said “I love you too.”

    How can I fall in love with my best friend?! I mean really I’ve known him all my life and I have always thought of him as a loser. I guess not that I’m older… It’s too complicated to even think about. What is he didn’t make it? What if they knock him unconscious? It was all happening so fast…

    Leon let go of me and I got up to run away. As I was running everything seemed to slow down. Everything seemed to be getting further away from me. I guess the little booze I had was enough to make me hallucinate. But I kept going. I didn’t look back to see the terrible violence of the Heavy-Metal concert. The hot swelling tears kept going and going. A police saw me crying and running away, he stopped me and asked me what happened. “I… There… Something… Punks… Up…” I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth and I didn’t want to tell him about what happened. He asked me for my phone number and I gave him a fake number. When he turned around, I ran away again. Somehow the same punk that complimented me caught up to me.

    He grabbed my hand and I screamed as loud as I could. He covered my mouth and struggled to get out of his grip. He took me to a corner of a back alley. “Look, ‘m not trying to hurt you. I’m trying to help you. Right now some of the Punks followed me and are looking for you. They killed some emos and…” My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. “What the ********!!!!!! Why would you kill them?!!?” I shouted out. “You have no freaking right to do that!!!” A sudden thought came to my head. “Did you kill the one you were fighting with?!!” He just looked at me with eyes of sympathy. Like he was hiding something. “God damn it!! It’s a heavy metal concert!!!! Not the Boston Massacre!! Now your going to tell me what the hell you did with him!!” I prayed that he didn’t kill Leon. I was totally out of my mind and not even afraid of him anymore.

    “I’m sorry. He… I… The others joined me and…” He stopped right there. I was in complete shock. They killed Leon, my best friend, my future lover… I dropped down on my knees and just stared at nothing. This was the first time I felt like I needed him, Like I couldn’t live without him. My face turned tomato red . I got up and punched the punk on his face. I was pissed of at him. I mean literally insane, just going mad! He didn’t do anything until I kicked him on the floor. That’s when he started defending himself. Just as I was finishing up, the other punks came. They shouted at me, that they were going to ******** me up or something. But he said that he was taking care of me. And by that I think he meant that he was beating me up. Then the other just left.

    “My name’s Daniel.” Daniel said in a hushed tone. “What? We are not friends! We will never be friends!!” I yelled at him. What was I going to do, talk seriously to him? I was mad, what else could I say? “Look it wasn’t my fault he got killed. He aggravated me and anyway I think those kind of people need some crap. They stole our style! You stole our style.” He was getting angry, but I just laughed. “We made your lousy style better! And it is your fault! And we don’t need crap! We don’t freaking need it!!” Daniel looked like he regretted everything. But frankly I didn’t care. “Can I at least take you home?” He whispered. I barely heard him. “No, I’m fine on my own! The guy you killed was the one who brought me here. I’m pretty much screwed anyways…” I was barely loud enough for him to hear the last sentence. “Please, let me take you home. It’s the least I can do. I’ve caused you enough pain as it is. I owe you one. I killed someone precious and I deserve to be your slave… Or at least something like that. Besides my car is right over there.” He pointed to a black eclipse. “I said no.”

    I started walking away from him, but Daniel ran after me and picked me up. He threw me over his shoulder and carried me to his car. The whole time I was pounding at his back. He put me inside and closed the door, he then walked over to the front seat and started the engine. “Where do you live?” He asked me. “I’m not going to tell you. You could stalk me if I did tell you.” I pouted. As much as I wanted to cry over Leon, I didn’t. I stayed a tough cookie. “Fine then we can say here until you do tell me.” What was he trying to do? Was he that stubborn? I sighed and softly said, “Lexington and 34 St.”

    As we were drying I sniffled from time to time. Everything seemed gloomy and dark. I really didn’t like the atmosphere. “Why do you choose to be punk?” I asked him. Daniel stayed silent and I waited. “For the same reason you choose to be emotional hardcore.” That really made me think. “Look, you own me from now on. You can control me.” He said. What, why would I want to own a murderer? I started laughing. “I’m not going to own you or control you! Especially for what you did!… You can leave me right here.” I said. Daniel pulled over and I got out. I fixed my hair on the side of the car’s window. He also got out of the car and watched me fix my hair. “What are you staring at?” I snapped at him. He didn’t answer.

    I went home and my mother opened the door. “Weren’t you with Leon?” My mommy asked me. I had to make up something. I couldn’t tell her that he was murdered. “He… Um… I told him that I would walk home by myself.” I looked over at Daniel who was right next to me. My mommy looked at him suspiciously. “This is one of Leon’s friends. He asked me if I wanted a ride and I said yes.” I said in a very furious. I gave a glance to Daniel telling him to say something. “Nice to meet you. I’ll be going home now.” He shook my mommy’s hand and turned around to his car. I went straight up to my room and locked the door. My mother knocked on the door, “Honey, do you want something to eat?” She asked. I yelled the first thing that popped up into my head. [******** no!! Leave Me alone!!” Hopefully she didn’t notice my voice (my voice gets squeakier when I cry).

    I missed him. I felt like dying right on the spot. But I knew that he would want me to keep on living. I wasn’t going to cut myself, that would be pathetic. I looked outside and noticed that Daniel was outside. He was smoking pot and snorting up crack. Trying to make himself feel better. I crawled up onto my bed and cried myself to sleep