“Only through struggle have I found rest, with a piece of me taken away. I begin to understand, hollow out this machine like chest. With its gears that turn to make me feel assembled. As I fade away. Only through struggle have I found rest. Only through struggle have I found rest. Remove from me, this deception I called love.”
There was a set of loud bangs on Jeremy’s door but he was still in bed and had no intention of getting up; he was glad his door had a lock. But after a minute he had grown tired of the banging that had no doubt been his mother.
“Get your ass out of bed and turn that shit off!”
He had barely heard his mother yelling at him from the other side of the door. He slammed his alarm off which had been playing “Through Struggle” by As I Lay Dying.
“Ok, whatever mom…”
“And don’t forget today’s picture day. I don’t want a recap of last year.”
A memory of last years picture day flashed through his mind. When he had paid the camera man to replace his picture with that of Doge, with the caption ‘such picture, much school, wow.’
He checked his computer where his calendar was attached with duct tape. December 7th… The day felt familiar to him for some reason but he didn’t care why. He picked up a pair of black jeans sitting on his computer chair and a gray shirt with the words “I reserve the right to arm bears.” With a picture of a bear holding a rifle to the right of it from his closet after marking off the date with a big red X then walked into his bathroom. After quickly undressing from his night attire he turned on his shower and jumped into the scolding water.
“Dammit every time!”
He had forgotten that the water needed to cool down in his shower. He waited 10 minutes after lowering the temperature. As he tenderly slid into the icy water he sighed. “Perfect.” He loved his cold showers. It only took him minutes to wash his arms, ankles, torso, and privates. He turned off the water and stepped out. He decided to air dry and walked around his room.
Still naked he cracked his door and showed to his mother. “Did you at least get me breakfast? Picture days are always have days. I have plans after school today.”
Across the house he heard his mothers reply. “Yes, it’s down here!”
Jeremy didn’t reply. He liked to keep verbal contact to a minimum. His mother said it was weird because when he was younger he would never stop talking and made many people angry because of it. But after an accident when he was younger which cracked his skull he became much quieter.
He dressed in the clothes he had picked moments before and his pair of Nike slides. On his way out of his room he grabbed his IPod and headset. His home was small it being a 2 bedroom with only him and his mother, once he left his room he was already in the living area. The kitchen was beyond that and no doubt that’s where his breakfast was. He passed the jacket rack and grabbed and put on his jacket. It was white with red, blue, and black splatter paint decorating it. On the inside of the hood it was almost like black wool was stitched into it. The punisher emblem adorned the front of it.
"I really wish you wouldn't wear that jacket to school every day. We live in Florida for god’s sake; you're going to have a heat stroke!"
His mother whined on and on behind him, but he tuned her out, her voice fading to a meaningless drone as his headset blared. Smirking, he scrolled down the list of bands she wished didn't exist.
Adelitas Way, All That Remains, Asking Alexandria, Atreyu, Apocalyptica, BattleCross, Breaking Benjamin, Bullet for my Valentine, Black Veil Brides, Escape the Fate, Godsmack, Hail The Villain, and many more, all of which his mother judged by name, not even bothering to listen to.
One of the myriad of reasons he despised his mother was her tendency to judge quickly. She judged by what she saw, rather what actual truly existed. Jeremy had many pet peeves, and that was a big one, judging without facts or evidence. In his mind, these were the real crimes he saw on television, on judge shows, where there was no real debate, only the inevitable prison sentence. But if the court got to know the person , and not the crime, then they would almost 90% of the time be cleared of all charges and no one would be sentenced for the enjoyment of the American people.
Picking up his breakfast he pulled a hash brown out of the McDonalds bag. Before picking up his messenger bag, it being filled with his drawing supplies, a few manga, 2 novels by Ted Dekker, and his note books which he wrote his ideas for novels in. Playing some Hail the Villain he strolled out of his apartment and to the bus stop.
He had eaten half of one of his two Mcgriddle sandwiches when he heard a voice talking to him. He moved one of the earphones off his ear.
“Eating as healthy as ever I see.”
He groaned before taking a bite of his sandwich. He was a bit overweight at 228 pounds, but he was 18 years old. Most people said he didn’t look a bit over 200. He turned to see her, Breana Bacon. She was more or less his only friend. She was many things especially loyal. They had known each other since the second grade. Before his accident which left him amnesic of the time before that. He still has no memory of 7th grade and lower. Even when he had moved to a different state, she pressured her parents into buying her a one-bedroom apartment in the same complex as him. Now they live across the alley from each other.
Out of her parents house she let her boyfriend for many years Cody move in with her unbeknownst to her parents. Cody had dropped out the year before and now sleeps when he’s home but works at a nearby Publix supermarket during the day.
He shoveled down the rest of his food down his gullet cursing as he dropped a piece of pancake on his shirt. Breana laughed as her pulled out a napkin from her bag and handed it to him.
“Thanks.” He said as he began to wipe it off. “Much better, so anyway Bacon. You want to skip today? I mean, pictures are first period but I don’t want to be in a stuffy catalog with a bunch of idiots who are content with finishing their high school life with a picture and a single line of text.”
“Sorry can’t this idiots got to. Even though I’ve kept minimal contact with my parents they still want my class pictures. Sowwy." He opened his red bull while she was talking and sipped it a few times before handing it to her. She took it but instead of sipping like her had done she chugged half of it. He snatched it from her and lightly hit her on the head.
“Your loss man. Do you have your lighter?”
She produced a black lighter from her pocket and she handed it to him, while a pack of cigarettes immediately formed in his hand. He pulled on out and lit it and took a huge drag from it almost burning it halfway. He held it in for a few second before exhaling.
“I still want to know how you do that.” She held out her hand for one of his cigarettes. He obliged.
“Which one the cigarette pack thing, or the pull half the whole cig thing at once?”
She thought for a second as she puffed on her stick. “Both.”
“You get neither. By the way that’s your one for the day.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Thanks mom.”
A few moments later, the bus arrived, and they both sucked down what remained of the cigarettes and boarded. They were the only two at the stop, incidentally, the first of the route.
Atop the seat they sat together in daily was a black box adorned with a red bow.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Breana screamed from behind him.
That's right... It was his birthday after all. That’s why today felt familiar.
"Oh yeah... It’s my birthday isn't it?
He took the box and let it rest on his lap, while Bacon took a seat next to him. He opened the bus window, letting cool air roll through. It was enjoyable, at least until the wind agitated his contact lenses. He took them out and put his glasses on instead. When he was finished he noticed the box felt heavier. He looked down to see a smaller white box on top of it.
"That's from Cody," she said. He ripped open the smaller gift to find an iPod touch, marked 64Gb. He took it out to find it was fully charged and half full with music.
"It's got music on it? Lets check it out."
He adjusted his headset, so she could put her ear in one of the ear cups.
"I don't hear anything."
As he spoke those words, a low pitch tone started, and as started to rise in, it modulated into a vibrating beat. Next the high pitch tone dropped down to a deeper, resonating, throbbing beat, beginning a sequence of wubs, whomps, and other sounds which would have been hard to describe in words.
"What was that? That's the heaviest thing I've ever heard, it sounded badass."
"That was dubstep. You never heard of dubstep before?" she questioned.
He shook his head and continued to bang his head to the bass lines and drops.
"Then you're going to love my gift. But promise me not to open it until you get home from school."
He nodded his head and drank the rest of his Red Bull.
Soon enough they were at school, with only half the normal people on the bus. Breana began to walk to the schools gate, but he had walked away from the school altogether.
“Hey where are you going?” She asked catching by the arm. “I’m gone. I’ll see you at home at 2, I’m gunna catch a bus downtown. I’ll keep this safe down worry.” He tapped the black box, “and I wont open it till im home, see you later.”
Without another word from either one of them they both walked their separate ways. It was a short walk to the nearest public bus stop and right as he approached the stop the bus arrived right on time. He paid the $1.25 it cost to get on and sat behind the driver’s seat.
Jeremy played his new dubstep as loud as his new ipod would let him, which in reality was actually pretty loud, to the point where everyone avoided him on the bus. He didn't care-- he was too enticed with the spine-chilling, bass-filled new music.
As he approached his stop, a strange woman got on the bus. She looked rather skinny and was wearing white skinny jeans and matching top. But it wasn’t her clothes or her headphones that mattered to him. It was her glasses. She sported a pair of purple sun glasses that looked like they were cut from a sort of gem stone. They looked beautiful and he thought how much they had cost her. Even though he couldn’t wear them, even if he bought them. His prescription glasses made sure of that. They glistened when she moved and her hair was almost as intricate. A messy cut yet still neat looking hairdo, dyed in 2 different shades of blue. It looked completely ridiculous, yet he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
She noticed his staring and removed her headphones and looked him dead in the eye. She could hear every bassline and wub and she liked what she heard.
In all the staring, he missed his stop, but he didn't care. She walked toward him, his eyes meeting hers, even behind those peculiar sunglasses. She sat next to him, and, finally he realizing he was staring, he looked away, heart pounding, cheeks flustered and hooves shaking. She only stayed on for a stop or two and got off. He followed her off.
She walked into a bar not far away from the stop, it was one he knew well, called Samuel's Shelter. He waited a few minutes, to offset any accusations he was stalking her, in case she noticed him walking in. He walked in and sat at the bar, where he saw the glorious woman sipping on some sort of drink. He couldn't tell what it was.
The owner walked up of the bar walked to him.
“Hey Sam, how’s it going?” He asked his eyes still on the girl.
“Hows it goin Je’r what’l it be?”
The owner of the bar Samuel or Sam for short used to date his mother and would let him participate in a few of his drinking games. Sam knew that Jeremy could hold his own in a bar and let him drink but only when it he wouldn’t get called out by others.
“Whatever that girls having.” He pointed at the woman with the blue hair.
"One apple cider coming up." She looked over at Jeremy when she heard Sam say apple cider. He met her stare head-on. Sam slammed the mug on the table. "3 bucks, stallion."
As he paid, somehow the woman got a hold of Breana's present, still in its wrapping. "How did she do that?", he thought. She had it completely uncovered by the time he had even managed to get up, revealing what looked to be studio equipment.
"Fuck dude, this is some wicked shit."
Seemingly impressed by the gift, she picked it up and walked over to where he sat.
"Sorry about that, but i noticed you followed me here, and I wanted to be sure you were cool."
She held out her hand which he took and kissed without realizing it. “Am I cool?”
“Hell yes!”
Startled by the sudden outburst, he let go of her hand.
"I'm Jeremy. Who are you?"
"Umm... Call me V. I'll tell you my name if we actually become friends. You gonna drink that?" she asked, pointing to his cider.
"Naa."
"Sweet."
She snatched it, and quickly chugged it down, releasing a huge belch.
"So, you make music?" she asked.
"No, why?"
"In that box is music-making equipment-- some good shit too."
He looked at her in awe, amazed at how friendly she was.
"I heard that stuff on the bus, you have good taste in music. We should chill."
"Sure. But how did you know I was following you?" He asked her confused.
“Dude!? You never turn down your music I could hear you a mile away! Even now your roaring around your neck. “
“Oh shit!.” He realized she was right and quickly went to turn off his music. He pulled out his new ipod to pause it mid-song.
“What’s that thing?” She asked looking at the ipod.
"An iPod, you don't know about them? They're little devices that store files. Music, pictures, games, pretty much whatever you want. I just got this today for my birthday.
"Oh. It's your birthday, is it?" She paused. "I can't think of a good gift, so i'll just tell you my last name. It's Scratch."
"V Scratch? Cool. Come with me, we can chill at my place."
"Sweet, and I can check out this tech. Lets go."
They left, and on the bus ride home, she explained different types of music, ranging from dubstep to hardstyle, speed core, trance and many others. It was an amazing conversation, but eventually they arrived at the apartment complex where he lived. He unlocked the door and let his guest in. His mother had left for work, and wouldn't be back for a few hours. He went into his room, where he took off his jacket and shoes. V made her way through the house, looking at everything, eventually making her way to the fridge.
"You're a vegetarian?"
"Yus."
"Well there's fruit and juice in the fridge, and Pop-Tarts and other snacks in the pantry. Just help yourself. I'll be in my room, it's right down here."
A few minutes later she arrived in his room, with a box of Pop-Tarts and the carton of orange juice. Jeremy opened the box of studio equipment to find a microphone, some software on a disk, and studio box, which he guessed hooked into the PC. He glanced at the clock, which read 9 o'clock. He had plenty of time to hang with V before Breana arrived.
V helped him hook up the equipment, then showed him how to use it. Quicker than he would have thought possible, they had a track up and running. With V's experience at making music, it already sounded better than anything on his new iPod.
V powered through the box of Pop-Tarts, and almost all of the juice. He looked at the clock again, which read 11:54. They had already spent a good 3 hours making music and jamming to it. Jeremy couldn't believe how time had flown.
"Hay what's that?" V snuck up on him, placing her breasts on his shoulders and let them rest there, while looking over his head. Without thinking, Jeremy closed his eyes and pictured her breasts. He let a single word slip.
"D"
"What was that? Did you just guess my cup size?"
"Did I? Cool." She hit him on top of the head. "Ow." He didn't flinch.
"Anyway, this is something I fill my time with. My life is either filled with music, sleep, games, and art." He said pointing to the reference sheet on his computer screen.
"Did you say games? What games?"
"Mostly fighting, like Mortal Kombat, Soul Calibur and others."
"Lets play. Soul... whatever."
He slotted the game into his PS3, and the game began. She had obviously never played the game before, but she was naturally quite good, even matching his considerable skill. After a while the two of them got bored, so V made a suggestion.
"Hey want to play strip Soul Calibur, we both use the same guy over and over again and if we lose a round we take something off."
Wasn’t she getting a bit too friendly? He didn’t care he hadn’t had this much fun in his life. The Clock read 1 when they started there strip game. They were still even until Jeremy landed a KO on V she threw the controller down in protest and took off what was left on her Jeremy was down to his Boxers and his shirt and V was down to her bra and thong. She took off her bra and gave Jeremy an eyeful.
"You like what you see?"
She put her arms under her breasts and lifted them up and down. Jeremy couldn't help but stare. V just laughed, they continued they game and V one the next round and Jeremy took off his shirt.
"Not bad. Maybe get rid of that belly and lose that tan and you would be perfect." Jeremy just smirked and flicked one of her tits. "Hey!" She shouted almost angrily. Jeremy's smirk turned to a smile. They continued the game and Vinyl won again which forced Jeremy to remove his boxers. "Ohh nice. One of the biggest ive seen." She said jokingly
.
Jeremy got embarrassed and popped a boner but she didn’t notice because her attention was back on the game. “Thank god” He whispered.
V tried to play a dirty trick and tried reaching for Jeremy's dick in the middle of the fight to win but when she noticed his boner he stopped and he dropped the controller to cover himself the controller hit the special move button as it hit the ground and killed V's character she looked up shocked to see her character bleeding out.
"What the Fuck? Ohh well"
She stood up and removed her thong and tossed it in his face. She giggled as he started to walk over to him moving her hips back and forth spinning to give him a full view his boner had grown even bigger and vinyl scratch got on her knees.
"It looks like we’re all out of clothes what will we do now?"
"It looks like we're all out of clothes what will we do now?" She stood in front of him her breasts staring him right in the face.
“I’ve got an idea.” He stood and walked to his computer the sound program from before was still up and he decided to play the song that they had made.
“Does that set the mood for a girl like her?” He asked himself but even before he turned around he heard her reply.
“You bet your ass it does.” He turned around to find her already on her knees.
“Whoa you're quick to start aren't you,” He stated matter of factly. “Of course the sooner we start the longer we have.”
He had no objections and let her start. V placed her hand on his penis and began to rub shaft up and down. It continued like that for only a minute before she forced her head down onto it. She started sucking and teasing his head with her tongue. It felt like she was master giving blowjobs and within a few minutes he felt he was close to cumming.
“Im close.” He simply said wondering what she would do. Much to his surprise she tore her head away from his dick still stroking harder and faster than before. It didn't take for him to cum when he looked down he saw V had opened her mouth for the cumshot. His seed was all over her face and hair even in her mouth. Before he could say anything she swallowed and licked around her lips catching the cum around it.
“That all you got?” She said asking for more his penis got hard again almost instantly “Good boy, now come on. I need some lovin too.” She said as she bent over his computer desk.
Quickly he slid his rock hard dick into her slick pussy and with one hand he held her hip and with the other was teasing her nipple. She moaned with pleasure and placed a one of her hands on his holding it tightly. She then looked back and kissed him.
This took him by surprise and he stopped. “What’s going on? I was close cumming!” He grabbed her by the hips and threw her on his bed then jumped up as well and adjusted her so that her back was on the bed.
“Don’t worry your sexy little head you’ll get there.”
Jeremy said just before he forced his penis inside her again he pumped in and out of her she was screaming with pleasure he was sweating with love. He grabbed one of her tits with his hand the other he lifted up her leg and the same time he was sucking her nipples
.
"Oh god.Oh God. OH GOD."
She came right there but Jeremy want done he was still thrusting his being at her licking and biting her nipples he pulled out flipped her over and before she had time to realize what was happening he slipped into her ass. it was the tightest thing he’d ever felt and after a few words of negative remarks by V she let him do as he pleased. She started to enjoy it and she started to moan which turned into full screams of pleasure and ecstasy. He pulled out one more time and put it in her slim pussy again but this time he had a great reason.
"Let it out! Cum in me, its ok!"
He did just that and as he came the doorknob jiggled and opened. Bacon stood there astonished at what she just witnessed. But it seems that they had not witnessed her walk in. Jeremy gave V a kiss and let his once again soft dick fall out of her dripping wet pussy.
"Vinyl." said V
"What?"
"My name is Vinyl Scratch"
