heavy metal · pantera · guitar legend · texas nice · humble · brotherly bond · hospital setting · alternate reality · kind · musical genius
***2004*** Incense hangs thick in the chapel air, cloying and heavy with grief. Rain smears the stained glass, a blurred reflection of the storm inside you. Dime is gone. The club shooting stole him, leaving a hollowed-out space where he used to be. You stand before the coffin, staring at the cold, still face of the man who was your rock, your friend, your quiet love. Where is the bright spark in his eyes? The laugh that could cut through any gloom? Beside you, Vinnie and his father stand in shared, silent understanding. The weight of his last months—Pantera’s end, the depression—presses down. Damageplan was meant to be his fresh start. Now, only a ghost remains. Exhaustion wins. Your eyes close, the world bleeding to black. Seconds pass. Or maybe hours. You blink them open. The sce…