Back Room

A Good Charlotte one-shot. I was kind of inspired by the song "Here Without You"

“I miss you,” Joel said as he saw Nicole once again. “You’d come back, right?” he added.

His eyes were pleading sadly. Tears started to drop one by one from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks. Nicole smiled at Joel, wiping his tears away.

“Joel, I’m sorry. You have to get over me.” Nicole answered. She was smiling but her eyes were telling a different thing. She was miserable.

“I can’t. I�"I love you, Nicole,” Joel answered. Tears were rolling down his face once again. “I won’t leave you here. I’ll stay here. Forever.”

“You can’t. Joel, this isn’t real. You have to get over me. There are a lot of girls out there,” Nicole paused. “Girls who would love you as much as I did, or even more than that.” Nicole assured him. Joel shook his head. Joel hugged her tightly. After a few seconds, Nicole let go right away, looking at Joel with sad eyes, but she was forcing herself to smile.

“Joel, this isn’t real.” Nicole finally said as she started to walk away from Joel. She dissolved into nothingness, which made Joel break down.

--

“NO!” Joel shouted, sitting up straight from his bed. He looked around and his twin, Benji, was waking up already, looking panicked.

“Jo, what’s wrong, dude?” Benji asked in total concern. Paul, Dean and Billy started to wake up, too, all of them looking panicked, like Benji. “What happened?” They all asked in unison. Joel didn’t answer them. He just looked down, thinking about Nicole. Silence fell in the room. Everyone understood.

“Joel, d�"did you dream about Nicole again?” Dean, the drummer, asked. They all looked at Joel with concern. Joel nodded, still not looking up at them. Tears started flowing from his eyes. He cried silently. Joel, the band’s vocalist, has been this miserable every night ever since Nicole passed away because of a car accident. Joel always blamed himself, telling himself that he could have saved Nicole. His band mates on the other hand, persuaded him that it was no one’s fault.

“Jo, no offense, but this has been going on for a month already.” Benji stated the obvious. The other three nodded, agreeing with Benji.

“Nicole wouldn’t want you to be this miserable,” Paul, the bassist, said. “You always told us that when a problem happens, we should stay positive because we’ll get through it. You do know you should, too, right, Joel?” Paul added. Joel wiped away his tears and looked up at them. He nodded, telling them that they’re right, but deep inside Joel, he couldn’t stay positive. He loved Nicole so much. They’ve been together for a year already, and then destiny just happens to take Nicole away from him.

“I’m sorry for bothering you guys.” Joel said as he lied down on his bed.

“It’s not a problem. We’re best friends, Jo.” Billy said as him and the three others went back to bed, too. Joel wasn’t able to sleep. He kept on thinking about Nicole. He wanted to be with her so badly, but how? That’s when it struck him…

He forced himself to sleep. He was successful and fortunately, he dreamt of Nicole.

 

“Nicole, I’m going with you. We’ll be together.” Joel said happily once he saw Nicole. Nicole was confused. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“Just wait, we’ll be together soon. It’s not the best, but that’s all I could think of.” Joel explained. He was happy. He knew what he was thinking of doing wasn’t the best way but that’s all he could think of. There was definitely no other way.

“Joel, seriously, what are you planning?” Nicole asked, worried. She couldn’t think of what Joel was planning. She couldn’t think of anything Joel would do to be with her. There was no possible way.

“You’ll know.” Joel said, smiling. His eyes were full of hope. Before Nicole could talk, she started disappearing into thin air.

 

Joel woke up. He wanted to be happy because of what he was going to do, but he wasn’t completely happy. There was something inside him that was afraid to do it.

“Jo!” Benji called out as he went inside the room. “Billy and Dean went to the studio already. This is our third day. Go get ready, bro.” Benji said as he went out again, bringing his guitar with him.

Joel nearly forgot they were making an album. Their second album. Their manager and everyone else had big expectations for this album. Everyone was pressured to make this album better than the first one, which wasn’t bad at all.

Joel thought that this would be a good way to tell his band members that he’d be with Nicole.

 

“Okay, we’re still at least two songs short.” Benji told all of the band members once they were all in the studio. Benji realized that Joel wasn’t paying attention at all. Joel should pay attention; he was the one usually writing the songs, together with Benji.

“Joel,” Benji called out and everyone looked at him. “Joel!” he called out once again and Joel looked up, looking shocked.

“Sorry, I spaced out,” Joel explained as an excuse. He usually didn’t space out when they were doing something important related to the band. “I�"I have a song, I left it in the back room, I’ll just go get it,” Joel stood up. Before he started to walk, he turned to his band mates. “It’s just one, though. That’d be the last song I write for this album. You guys should do the rest, maybe for a change?” Joel joked around and the three he was referring to; Billy, Dean and Paul, all gave him two thumbs up. Joel laughed as he started to go into the backroom.

“Wait, Jo,” Dean called out. Joel turned around, giving him a ‘yeah?’ look. “Isn’t the back room locked?” Joel gave him an ‘oh’ look.

“Oh… I managed to find the key to it and open it. I just needed the back room earlier, to write a song.” Joel explained. They all nodded. Joel continued to walk away.

He was in front of the door of the back room. He sighed as he opened it.

--

“Guys!” Billy shouted out of nowhere. The other three jumped in shock. “What?” They said in unison.

“Joel said he never would open the back door, ever again!” Paul and Dean looked at each other. Benji’s eyes widened. He mouthed ‘s**t’ and looked at Billy. “He�"he was joking but he said he’d never open that back room unless he wanted to commit suicide.” Paul and Dean’s eyes were full of understanding. They all rushed to the back room.

The door was locked when they got there. Benji, together with Paul, Dean and Billy, pushed the door using their bodies with the force they could gather. The door opened at their first try.

There, Benji saw Joel hanging by a rope, a small chair a little below Joel’s feet. Benji hurriedly stood on a chair high enough so he could reach Joel’s head. He took off the rope from Joel’s neck so fast he didn’t really know what he was doing. He was just thinking these words: Joel, don’t die! Don’t die!

Benji was able to take Joel off from the rope. He put him down on the floor. Tears were rolling down faces. Benji’s, Paul’s, Dean’s and Billy’s faces. They couldn’t stop it. After a few seconds, Joel was coughing roughly. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the crying faces of his band mates.

“Why the fvck did you do that?!” Benji shouted at him, his voice shaking. Joel didn’t answer; he had a hard time trying to say something. Billy tapped Benji’s shoulder and gave him a paper. Written on the paper was Joel’s song, which looked like a suicide note. It had the reasons why he wanted to leave; it said that he was sorry for doing it.

“I’m sorry,” Joel managed to say as he, too, started to cry. “I’m sorry.” He repeated.

“Shut up. Just never do that again.” Benji said as he hugged his twin. Joel nodded. He promised his band mates he wouldn’t do the same thing again. He’d think before acting.

 

The song Joel wrote as a goodbye became a hit to all of the people. It topped charts.

The song that completed the album was a song dedicated to Joel, written by Paul, Billy and Dean. It topped charts, too. Good Charlotte became a popular and inspirational band since then. Nicole Richie became an inspiration for Joel Madden. He kept her in his heart. He was able to move on, but he would never look for another girl. He was decided about it.

Reviews

[quinfinn]

beautiful, frightening and compelling story, very nicely done!

[compositionc]

That was sweet.
Loss of a love can make us do stupid things.
Suicidal even.