Metalred: part 2: The truth

Part 2 of my Metalred series! This time we delve into some history between the guys and moral dilemma's... Hope u enjoy and comment if u did!

metalred 2

December 25th, 1992.

Big breasts moving in front of his eyes was the first thing Aaron could make out. Then he saw faces looking down on him. He looked to his side to see a woman tending to a large cut on his thigh.
"Well, hello there," Aaron drowsily said with a smile.
The woman glanced at him with a serious face.
"Alright, he's fine," she immediately said.
"Thank you my love," Robbie said to the woman, placing a quick kiss on her temple.
Aaron moved his head but was immediately punished by a wave of dizzying pain. He winced.
"Careful Twister," he heard Tommie say. Tommie! He looked up and was finally met with Tommie's intense eyes. The night came back in flashes now.
The skinhead was on the ground bleeding to death. His friends ran to the bar and just left him there. In turn he started running, away from the situation. He saw a light post, then a red car, then an alley across the street. A car had come out of nowhere. He had frozen like a deer in headlights as the car started sliding towards him, turning to the side, until the passenger door hit him. He must've been flung away and landed hard on the street. Next was Tommie's intoxicating neck near his bleeding nose. His best friend's warmth and smell as he carried him while running. They made it inside the bar and were led to a backroom. Then he saw boobs hovering above him.
"So, you're okay?" Tommie asked with a firm hand on Aaron's shoulder.
Weirdly, Aaron felt good. Better by the second. He didn't understand why just yet.
"I'm fine. How is the bald dude?"
"That's what you're-? Um, yeah he'll live, don't worry about that. Can you stand?"
Aaron's knee hurt a lot. The cut on his thigh was starting to swell too. And his head pounded. But Mark supported his friend while Tommie and Boris hastily filled up the wheelbarrows and they made their way home. Aaron tried to look at the spot of the brawl but was pushed along. They walked silently until their alley became visible at the end of the street. The distant cathedral rang two times.

December 25th, 1992. [continued]

The gang woke up by noon. Aaron looked into the industrial mirror after taking a barely warm shower. Huge purple and green splotches were forming all over the side of his body. His knee hurt more than yesterday. At least they had some painkillers left in their stash. Tommie had been worried about the nose bleed but Aaron had shushed him. He got dressed and quickly joined Tommie in front of the heater. Mark was hunched over socialist literature. Boris had left the appartment without a word, as per usual. As soon as Aaron sat down, Tommie threw a blanket over him. This made Aaron laugh, which hurt his sides, so it turned into a pained whimper.
"You've got me so worried. Why did you run?"
Aaron shrugged, "Same answer as last night. I don't know, instinct? Can we not talk about me?"
Tommie was taken aback. "About who then?"
"The skinhead assholes. What did you do?"
"What did I do? I just defended you, us. That's all."
"But, did he..." Aaron got nervous to say the word. Tommie kept blankly staring at him.
"... die? There was so much blood."
Tommie wryly chuckled. "Maybe you're being a bit dramatic."
"Dramatic, I'm sorry, what? The guy was bleeding to DEATH."
Tommie sat upright. "He was fine Aaron. Trust me, he- he- he even got up and walked away. No ambulance or anything. His buddy was there to help him. He looked like a stray dog, but he lived."
Aaron looked at him with distrust. He was clearly lying.
"Okay... and the car? What did the driver say?"
"Oh, I sent Boris there. You'll have to ask him."
"But I'm asking you. Bobo is gone yet again."
Tommie sighed and softly explained, "Boris went and uh, calmed her down. He... convinced her to just keep driving and go away."
Aaron squinted. Tommie squinted back. Mark glanced over the cover of his book.
"Can we get out? I need some movement so my body doesn't completely stiffen," Aaron changed the topic.

The three Ridders slowly walked towards the shopping neighbourhood together. Slowly but surely, Santa Clauses, reindeer and flashing lights surrounded them. Preppy mothers turned their children away when the three leather clad metal men crossed their paths.
"Ah, the spirit of love and kindness," Mark sarcastically remarked. The other guys chuckled, Aaron winced.
"You really want to be out in the cold now? You're clearly in pain," Tommie said to Aaron.
"It's cold back home too. And haven't you noticed we're going somewhere?"
He had indeed led the guys through the city, directly to the target.
"Oh, you wanna go inside here?" Mark asked when they arrived.
Aaron pointed at the Alice in Chains LP in the shop window.
"This was the last thing on my mind before everything happened yesterday. It's almost a sign."
"A sign, really? I didn't think you cared about your Libra status."
"Don't be an idiot. And let me have my moment. I almost died."
Aaron meant it as a joke, but actually saying the words out loud gave him an electric shock. He really HAD almost died. That realization only dawned on him now. Mark didn't seem to notice, but Tommie intensely looked at his friend with a thoughtful expression. Aaron glanced at him before immediately looking away.
"Let's go then," and he ran inside. Mark did a funny jump to get through the door. Tommie timidly followed. Half an hour later, all three men were sitting in the headphones corner, trying out some tunes. Mark had grabbed some experimental underground stuff, Tommie was listening to 1986's Russian Roulette by Accept, Aaron was halfway through Dirt. He was absently rubbing his painful sides as he get lost in the lyrics. Especially the track Down in a Hole had brought him to cold chills. The songs gave him uncontrollable daydreams. He felt his throat close up when he remembered why he always wore this silver cross necklace... He looked at Tommie who happened to glance at him too. A mixture of emotions overwhelmed Aaron. Tommie looked distraught as well. After the album ended, Aaron scooted over to his friend.
"Vleermuis."
"Twister."
"Can you promise me that what you told me about last night is the truth?" Aaron immediately asked.
Tommie blinked and swallowed. Then he turned a bit redder and smiled, "Yeah," he said softly, "just stop thinking about it. Are we done here?" he asked, turning to both Aaron and Mark. Mark just gave a thumbs up with a goofy grin.

"Man, I would have stolen them all for you, you know that," Mark complained as they were walking through the streets.
"Really, you would have stolen from the working class, just like that?" Tommie asked while looking straight ahead.
"Psh, hardly working class. He's a store OWNER. Not an underpaid employee."
"I think a small local shop like that is not exactly bourgeoisie. Don't you want to support a fellow music lover?"
"I would, if we had the money. I'm forced to betray my own morality. That's what the system does, remember?"
"We can try and choose to be moral..."
Aaron slowly tuned out their debate, zoning out completely. He walked on autopilot with his hands deep in his pockets. Until he suddenly stopped and looked to his side. The two others hadn't noticed him lagging behind and continued walking. Aaron looked into the TV store and watched a live news bulletin. A woman was reporting in front of the city's main police station. The subtitles, which were delayed by about three seconds, spoke about a fight gone wrong in the old docks area. A man in his forties was brought to the hospital and declared dead from head and neck trauma. The investigation had led back to an altercation outside of the newly opened Hellegat bar, further increasing concerns on the link between violence and subcultures. Another case in a different city happened just a month ago...
Aaron gulped, but was he really surprised? He knew what he had seen. Ten possible scenarios ran through his head at hyperspeed. But when Tommie looked back, Aaron simply nodded and hurriedly caught back up with them.
"Did you see anything interesting?" he asked carefully.
Aaron shrugged. "Nope, I'm fucking hungry, let's go."
"We're always hungry..." Mark complained.
When they arrived home they were met by an uprooted bush filled with broken ornaments. Boris presented it like a masterpiece. "Ta-da!" he said.
"Thanks Boris. Merry Christmas or whatever," Tommie mumbled.
"Thanks Boris," Aaron smiled and gave him a hug. Boris froze like a statue. And Mark went back to reading his book without a second glance at the dirty tree.

December 31st, 1992.

New Year's Eve was traditionally spent as a fuck-it-all type of night. Boris suggested spending the night at Hellegat which was surely hosting a party. Mark excitedly agreed.
"Hold on, you guys want to go back there?" Aaron asked.
"Duh," and "Why not," Boris and Mark replied. They turned to Tommie, unofficial leader of the group.
"We have to go back someday. I'll talk to Robbie again. He paid us well and treated you when you were hit by that car. Surely he won't point us the door now? Shit happens."
"Yeah, shit happens," Aaron mumbled...
"So it's settled then? Let's end this year together, boys," Tommie tried to hype up the group, overcorrecting his own discomfort by facing the situation head on. A tickle of nerves crawled up Aarons stomach. He cheered along with the rest, but his face betrayed his true feelings. New Year's was hard enough after 'the incident' two years ago. Now they were returning to the scene of a crime? Tommie's crime? He had thought it over and over, his best friend, a killer. Since that day Tommie had kept glancing at him with his dark eyes that seemed to harbour a white flame inside. When was he gonna open up? Then Tommie came up to him and put an arm around his shoulder.
"Chin up, Twister. I know New Year's is weird for us," ignoring the much more recent incident. He knowingly glanced down at Aarons silver necklace.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll behave. We'll go there, but you'll talk to Robbie first, yeah?"
"Of course bud," and he kissed Aarons forehead quickly, before pushing him away and roaring at his other friends.

They got tired of waiting around and got to the bar pretty early, it was around 20:30. The party hadn't really kicked off yet, but Tommie needed to talk to Robbie anyway.
"You guys hang here, I'll go find him," Tommie assured them, before walking inside first. Boris and Mark playfully fought eachother to be the first to enter next. Boris obviously won out. Aaron decided to stay outside a bit longer, even though it was freezing again. He looked at the dark spot of the fight. When the shivering started to make him mad he finally followed inside. The three guys talked shit and played some of the bar's games. Robbie had placed three nice pinball machines against the wall. They took turns trying to beat eachother's score. Aaron kept glancing at the door hole where Robbie and Tommie probably were. Finally, the pair came out and Robbie paced straight towards them. An iron fist squeezed Aarons throat in anticipation... until Robbie warmly slapped Boris' back and smiled.
"Hey, how are my stars doing tonight? You gonna perform you think?"
"Oh yeah, we could do that!" Mark exclaimed.
"Is... Is everything good?" Aaron asked.
Robbie frowned as if he was confused by the question and smiled. "But of course. I was only mad that y'all didn't return sooner. Now, tell me what time you want to go on."
They all excitedly started talking. Tommie kept a pokerface, unwilling to betray any info. Aaron finally snapped and roughly grabbed his friend by the arm.
"Well!?"
"Well, what? We're okay. Robbie wasn't mad at all. He knows the type that attacked us. No hard feelings there," Tommie said smugly.
"And the police!?" Aaron became more agitated by his friend's fake nonchalance.
"They don't do shit here," Tommie sissed angrily. "Stop worrying. I'm getting sick of telling you."
"Did you know he died? He's dead."
A customer looked their way. Tommie's dark eyes turned black for a split second as he slammed Aaron against the wall.
"Don't say that out loud. We're okay."
Aaron looked shocked, then angry. Tommie understood holding back information was not helping his case anymore. He looked around and lifted Aaron from the wall, dragging him by the collar to the exit. The cold night bit them like a snake.
"Listen to me," Tommie said and breathed deeply, finding his composure again. They were standing on the edge of the terrace. "You're making a big deal out of this. So what, a skinhead died because he was fucking stupid? I don't know who killed him, he just died."
"What do you mean 'who killed him'? I saw the glass in your hand."
"I honestly don't know how it happened. I hit him over the head, but I didn't stab him. It must have happened somewhere in the chaos, maybe it was his buddy, maybe himself. But he was dragged away by the other man."
Aaron squinted. "Really. So you're saying you're not a... a murderer."
"Murderer!?" Tommie hissed while trying to keep his voice down. "That's what you think? I carried you from a car you jumped in front of, and you think I'm some evil murderer?"
"Hey, woah, I did not jump. How would you be if you just saw someone die in front of you?"
"You know what I did. And what I did was, I stayed calm. You ran away like a headless chicken."
"Sorry, there's been a bit much death in my life for my liking lately," Aaron scoffed.
"You don't think I know that that's what this is all about?" Tommie asked, offended. A hard, five second silence hung between the two.
"You know what... I still regret giving you that damn chain," Tommie said while looking at Aarons silver cross. It felt like venom was thrown on Aarons heart.
"Take it then. I guess you were his real best friend," Aaron trembled as tears welled up.
"Hmph," Tommie huffed, and he took a step back for a breather.
"Look. Clearly, New Year's is weird for us..."
"STOP CALLING IT WEIRD!" Aaron exploded, tears now fully streaming down his face.
"There's nothing 'weird' about Levi fucking dying in front of us. YOU were the one who handed me his necklace. That's on YOU. And now, I won't just give that up."
A silence fell between them, suddenly they were both tired. People had been walking past them all this time and suddenly they felt too seen. Tommie gave an apologetic gesture with an askew smile. "Uh, guys?" Mark yelled. They looked to the front door where Mark was hanging out of. "Can you two go get our instruments? Robbie wants us on around eleven."
"Why don't us two go," Tommie offered, "Aaron needs a beer and some rest."
"Aw man..." Mark protested before stepping back inside.
Tommie looked back at Aaron, who looked like a defeated puppy, tears turning into white crystals.
"Not tonight man. Not tonight," and he walked back inside. Aaron looked at the snowy ground and ignored the whispers around him.
"Yes, tonight," he whispered.