Flying On Crippled Wings • (Sixx:AM)

Rock On The Range (Part One)

FYI... This chapter turned out to be 15K words so I had to split it in half... This is part ONE and next week you'll get part TWO (which will continue directly where this ends). I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope you guys enjoy it...

PS: I also want to apologize for such the long gap in between updating... Don't you hate when life gets in the way ?!

***This is a deleted chapter/scene right out of "RELIEF" -- it is set between chapters SIX & SEVEN (titled: "Miracle" & "Relief").***

This takes place during the ROCK ON THE RANGE music festival in Ohio... Sixx:AM performed there during their 2016 tour and James's family attended & spent the day with him... Also, James was sick with a bug for a few days around this time and still performed like a god through it -- (I'll leave more notes regarding references at the end notes!)

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JAMES'S POV:

Columbus, Ohio - 8:00am

I peek my head through the curtains of one of the windows in our rumbling tour bus. A smile creeps across my face.

Ah... another day, another dirt field...

With a sigh, I draw the blackout curtains back in and release my hand from the window, letting it rest in my lap.

I've stopped counting how many dirt fields we've driven through while on the road.

That's what life has been for the past few days, at least. When we're booked to play a music festival, our tour bus always ends up parked in a desolate festival dirt field... They all seem the same at this point... I hardly ever know where we are anymore. When you're crammed into close quarters for days on end, you tend to forget that the outside world exists... That is until we start our busy days of press, signings, and performances, at least.

My morning felt very hectic... It's still pretty early, but I've been up since at least five, so to me half the day feels like it's gone by, even though it hasn't been eventful, thus far. That's excluding my immune system's efficiency, at least.

The moment that I woke up, curled up in my cozy bunk, I felt an achy burn in my throat... I have been feeling this way for days but figured that if I ignored it, maybe it would go away. As usual, to my dismay, it didn't, and now I know that I've definitely come down with something...

This wouldn't be the first time this has happened while on the road. In fact, on our last tour, I had to play multiple shows when I had the freakin' flu... It wasn't fun, but I managed, and I'm not even sure if anyone noticed. Thankfully, this time around, it seems to just be a nagging cough; a finicky cold.

All morning I've been drowning myself in hot soothing drinks, like green and ginger tea. Cough drops would probably be the best option, but the problem is the sugar content... I think you already know my thoughts around refined sugar, so I don't need to go through that again. All I can say is thank god for Nikki sharing his stash of healing teas with me a few days ago... I could have gone out and bought my own, but it's hard to find a feasible way to do that when you're stuck on the tour bus, traveling to new cities overnight... Unless we have a hotel room booked, we ain't leavin' this hot sweaty thing...

Luxurious, truly.

Ever since I've started drinking tea on a daily basis, I've felt this weird sense of release ... Tea and lemon water have been known as detox, cleansing drinks for years, and I believe they live up to that title... I could swear my energy has skyrocketed and I can't think of any other reason for that, but the change in my hydration patterns... Not to mention, the pesky water retention gets put at bay if you drink more; at least, that's what I've been discovering.