Wild Ride - The Alternative Version (Book 2)

Epilogue

14 YEARS LATER

I stood off to the side with a guy wearing a headset, holding a clipboard, who'd been walking around quite frantically until now. Now he was right beside me, saying all sorts of things but I wasn't listening because I already know the drill, I've done plenty of interviews before and they're all the same when it comes to getting ready to go out there and face the crowd and the interviewer. Nonetheless, I usually love doing them, I think they can be a lot of fun depending on the interviewer. 

As for this particular interviewer, this is the third time in my career that I've done an interview with him. His name is Michael, and he is clearly the bomb-dot-com. I seem to have the most fun with him, and it's a shame I've only done two, nearly three, full length interviews with him. At events such as award shows and what not, he's been waiting along the sidelines to get interviews with band members as they enter the venue like the interviewers do at the Grammy's or the VMA's, and he's caught me quite a few times. 

This time, it's going to be a little bit different. Tonight, I'm doing a two-hour long special with no commercials whatsoever. Michael does this with big-name rock musicians every so often where you really get into that musician's life. I've watched some as he's done some of my favorite musicians and musicians that I've worked with. It can get pretty deep, and I have a feeling mine might end up being the same way, because tonight is the night I open up about my dark past publicly to my fans for the very first time. 

I've been a drummer in a band called Finding The Void with my best friends which are Tyler, Ella, and Isaac, for eight years now. After I returned from two years of college, with the three of them already out of high school, we all decided to form a band because they also wanted to try to make it big. We wanted to do it together, so that's what we did. Ella had planned on going to college until we got a record label, and then that went out the window and we focused on becoming great. Five albums later, that's exactly what we've done, and we're not slowing down any time soon.

We've been on tour now for five months, to celebrate the release of our fifth album which charted number one for an entire week after being released a few months ago. We've been promoting this new album and playing shows all around the U.S., parts of Canada, and parts of Europe in these last five months. We did it kind of backwards this time as to how we usually do it, going to Europe first, then Canada, and then the U.S. But it's been a lot of fun, as it always is, and the fans are so great for all the support they give us. 

Now, it's almost time for me to come home. I'm back in California, and after tonight I get to go back home to those who love me and who I love the most; my family. I'm so excited to see them all again, and I know that three very special people from my family are here tonight in the audience for the interview. Mom, Dad, and my little sister, Kaylee, though she's not so little anymore. She's eighteen, just about to graduate from high school in a week or so. We've had our fair share of issues within the last year or so, but that didn't mean I wasn't still proud of her.

There were two other people who I would get to see later when I return home, and I was even more excited to see them. These two people are my whole entire world, and I love them both more than anything in the universe. They're my favorite part about coming home. 

"Ok, Abbie, after Michael calls you out there, just walk straight this way--" The frantic man with the headset started, but I stopped him short by holding up a hand.

"I've been here twice, I know how it works." I reminded him.

He smiled wearily. "Right, sorry. Force of habit." 

I smiled back at him. "It's alright, you're just doing your job. I get it." I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

He laughed a little. "Yeah, it's one of those jobs where after you do it so many times, it just comes naturally to you when it's time to do it again. You don't even think about it, it just happens."