I've Got You

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Andy?!" I whispered into the darkness. I repeated the plea for help. I needed to know how I got here, what was going on, where we were going, how long I was out...pretty much everything. I hadn't felt this lost in a while. A knot built in my throat, signaling I was about to cry again. My eyes smarted, but no tears came. My breathing became shallow and restricted, my chest muscles tightening with each breath. I felt dizzy. I needed to find the answers that I didn't know. I spoke, now, not caring who I was about to awaken.

"Andy?" My voice shook, coming up past the lump at the back of my throat. I heard a grunt. At this point, I began to shake. What if Andy wasn't here? What if I'd blacked out or something and went on someone else's bus somehow? What if this was actually a public transport coach to another city that I'd gotten on? It was possible. My flashlight didn't provide much clarity as to what kind of bus I was on, or who I was with. My headache got stronger. I broke into a cold sweat, panicking more and more with each passing second. I tried to stand up. I was suddenly dizzy, probably from the rapid breathing, and lost my balance. It was like falling in slow motion. I threw my arms out in the blackness to find something to grab onto, but there was nothing. I hit my head on something hard, and I was out like a light. How ironic.

I woke up for a second time. This time, it was actually light around me. However, I was laying on my back again. It felt like I was on the same surface that I woke up on in the middle of the night. It was leathery, and stuck to any skin that was laying against it. I was definitely on a tour bus. Turning my head, the upper half of the right wall was a single tinted window. From left to right, there was a counter, a single-person booth, a table, and another booth. Following that, there was a small fridge. It was all I could see from this position. I sat up. The side of my head was throbbing. I spun my body so I was able to sit with my feet pressed against the floor. To my right, there was an armchair. There was a note on the seat.

"Wake me as soon as you get up. I'm the top bunk on the left. I'm worried about you. I iced your head before I put you on the couch. - Andy"

Stumbling to the back of the bus, I grabbed onto the wooden frame around the bunks. There were six of them - stacked on top of each other, three on each side of the bus. There was a small privacy curtain for each. I tugged on the top left curtain. Behind it, there was Andy's precious face. Expressionless and angelic. I put my hand on his cheek.

"I'm up," I whispered. "I saw your note." His face was puffy from sleep. Andy put a finger up to his lips, and pulled the curtain all the way down to where his feet were. He swung himself out of bed and stood in front of me, studying the left side of my face. I instinctively reached up to touch it. I winced, and tears sprung to my eyes. Just from the light pressure of a finger, I'd given myself another headache. Andy's eyebrows furrowed, and he grabbed my hand and pulled it away from the injury. He shook his head. We went into the small bathroom that was on the left, after the bunks. I looked into the mirror and gasped.

"That happened in the middle of the night?" With a nod, he spoke. His voice was deep and rich from just waking up.

"Yeah. What happened? I came to check on you around 5, and you were passed out in the middle of the floor." I sighed and looked back in the mirror. On the left side of my face, right above the corner of my eyebrow, there was a lump the size of a golf ball. It was purple, with black veins running through it. The bruise extended about an inch all around the lump.

"I was calling for you in the middle of the night. I had no idea where I was, and tried to get up to find you. But I got dizzy and fell over." With a shrug, I continued. "Just my luck, you know?" I felt a bitter smile cross my face. Looking up into Andy's eyes, I saw that he could tell how bad things were.

"What happened before you got there? I thought everything was going alright...?" Concern was his main expression, but there was something underneath. Possibly fear? I could either come clean now about everything falling apart at home, or put it off. Tour didn't start until tomorrow officially, that's when the first show would be. But I could ruin the day off. I was so stressed already - what if they decided it was best for me to not be on the tour? Andy turned away and shut the bathroom door. When he spun back to face me, all the other emotions had left his face and were replaced with determination. He sat on the edge of the bathtub and patted the toilet seat, motioning for me to sit. I obliged.