Shit Happens (A Day to Remember)

20 - Breaking Point

Song: Crown the Empire- Breaking Point

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been really busy and really uninspired, but hopefully that's changing soon.

Neil

It was around four in the morning when I finally decided to go to bed. We were a week into the tour and everything was going incredibly. I had stayed up late, having a few drinks with some of the guys from blink. Imagine telling teenage Neil that that would one day be a thing...

I crawled into my bunk next to McKenna. She had gone to bed much earlier. She said she had to be up at like six in the morning. She was beginning to worry me lately. I hardly ever saw her. She's constantly buzzing around, running errands for everyone and even when I did get to see her, she seemed just as busy in her head. She's either taking on mass loads of work, or tucked away in our bunk, asleep or pretending to be. But she said she was fine.

I laid next to her, pulling the bunk curtain closed and the blanket over me. She was facing the wall, so I wrapped my arm around her side and pulled her closer to my chest, kissing her shoulder softly.

As I began to fall asleep, I felt her begin to stir. She was whimpering slightly and pushing herself farther into my body.

"McKenna," I whispered. She didn't respond, but instead starting kicking her legs.

"No! NO!" She cried. "No, stop."

"McKenna. McKenna, wake up." I gently shook her shoulder. She thrashed about and rolled onto her other side so she was facing me. "McKenna, baby, wake up. You're having a bad dream." She started pushing on my chest, so I took her hands and held them firmly. "Baby, wake up." She stopped fighting me. I could hear her panting, so I flipped the light switch for our bunk on.

She stared at me with wide, confused eyes, like she didn't know who I was.

"McKenna, its me. It's Neil. It's okay. You had a nightmare." I released her hands and put my hand on her face. "I'm here. You're okay." She let out a breath of relief and curled as closely as she could into me.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ran my fingers through her hair.

"No." She said firmly. "No, please."

"Okay. We don't have to." I assured her. "Do you think you'll be able to go back to sleep?"

"I don't know." I heard her sniffle like she was crying. "What time is it?"

"Four."

"I guess there's not really any point if I'm getting up in two hours." She sniffled again. I kissed her forehead.

"Why are you getting up so early?"

"I have stuff to do." She said dismissively.

"What stuff?"

"Just...stuff." She shrugged.

"Mikey, you're starting to worry me. You've been working so much lately and when I do see you, you're hardly there." She pulled away from me to look at my face. She had definitely been crying.

"I'm fine, Neil." She smiled, though I knew it was fake.

"I don't believe you." I admitted.

"Can you let me out? I'm gonna go in the back lounge and watch a movie." She frowned. I had upset her.

"Can I join you?"

"You can if you want...but you should really sleep." I got out of the bunk so she could crawl out.

"I'll be okay." I said quietly, so I didn't wake the others who were sleeping in their own bunks.

"Alright. Let's go."

We went into the back lounge and Mikey put on The Hangover. I laid my head in her lap and quickly dozed off.

When I woke up, Mikey was gone and the sun was out. I sat up and rubbed my eyes tiredly. Kevin was sitting next to me, playing a video game.

"Where's Mikey?" I asked.

"She said she had to run some errands." He said distractedly.

"Does she seem...off...to you?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I haven't seen her much lately."

"Right." I frowned.

I went on with my day. I was strumming some random songs on my guitar in the green room about 5 hours later when McKenna finally walked in.

"Hey, baby." I greeted. I set my guitar down and walked over to her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me.

"How's it going?" She asked.

"I'm fine. How are you? What have you been doing?" I asked her, brushing some of her hair away.

"Just running some errands." She smiled.

"That's what Kevin said," I smiled back at her briefly before it faded. Her smile quickly faded too.

"What's wrong?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She pulled away from me and sat down on the couch. I sat next to her and took her hand in mine. "What's going on, McKenna?"

"Neil, I told you. I'm fine." She said firmly. Her tone had quickly changed and I could tell I had upset her again, but I needed to know.

"You don't seem like yourself." I told her. "I miss you."

"I'm right here." She shook her head.

"You've been 'running errands' for five hours, McKenna." My tone changed to a harder one.

"What are you trying to say?"

"We're not needy people. We don't have that many errands for you to run."

"Its not just for you. I have stuff I need to do too." She looked away from me.

"Like what?" She said nothing. "Please talk to me."

"I have to go talk to the venue's manager about catering." She abruptly stood up and began walking away.

"McKenna please." I sighed, but she was gone.

I was going to get to the bottom of what was bothering her, one way or another.