Between Your Body & Your Soul {Alan Ashby}

Chapter Two

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I groaned and sat up. I was exhausted. I turned my alarm clock off and searched for my phone. It had to be wrapped up in the blanket somewhere. I found it, along with my ear buds, music still playing. I unplugged the headphones and put my phone on the speaker. I pressed shuffle and Walls by All Time Low started playing.

As I sang and danced around my room, I packed the rest of my clothes. Today, I decided to wear a black bandeau, one of Austin's favorite Slipknot cut-offs I stole from him, a leather jacket, black ripped leggings, and black TOMS. I walked into the bathroom and started the shower.

When I finished showering, I didn't wrap myself in the towel, I wiped the mirror and just stared at my reflection.

"I am pathetic." I thought over and over again.

I opened the medicine cabinet and looked at all the pills I had to take. ADD meds, Bipolar meds, Anti-Depressants of all kinds, Anxiety meds, there were so many. I didn't even know how to pronounce half of them. Behind all the pills, I kept a little brown jewelry box, but there wasn't jewelry in it. Instead, there was something else shiny in silver that decorated my body with cuts and scars. I moved the pills and grabbed the box. I took the razor out and pressed it against my skin. I started making cutting horizontally against my wrists. I moved to my hips and made a few more cuts. I cried quietly, making sure that Austin wouldn't hear me. 

After I cleaned up and stopped the bleeding, I started getting ready. My dark brown hair naturally fell in loose curls and reached the middle of my back, so I decided to dry it and leave it. I got dressed and applied a little bit of make up. I put black eyeliner on half way on my bottom waterline and put black mascara on. I went into the bathroom and grabbed all my meds and the brown jewelry box and put them in my suit case. 

Once I packed everything I needed and brought it all down stairs, I heard the honk of a horn outside. Suddenly the house was filled with guys screaming and arguing. My breathing picked up and my hands where shaking, I couldn't find Austin.

"Are you okay?" Tino came by me and asked.

Almost everyone in the room went quite and I my legs went weak. I felt myself collapse onto my hand and knees. I felt sick to my stomach. My vision was fading and all I could hear was bells ringing. Then everything went black.

&&&

When I woke up, I was laying on a couch in, where I assumed was the tour bus. I sat up, only making myself dizzy and almost falling to the floor.

"Whoa there, don't want you passing out again." a guy with ginger hair chuckled.

I didn't think it was funny. I looked around and saw Austin was sleeping on the other couch. I looked back at the ginger.

"Who are you?" I asked. Austin never introduced me to everyone, so the only guys I knew were Tino and Phil.

"I'm Alan." he smiled and held his hand out. His smile was contagious. I smiled back and shook his hand.

"Annabelle, but you can call me Nabel for short." I said.

"It's nice to meet you Nabel." he said. "Do you want something to eat? Or something to drink?" he asked, standing up.

"Um, some water would be nice.' I said. He held his hand out and I grabbed it.

Alan led me to the front of the bus where there was a kitchen area. I sat down at the table and he grabbed a water bottle and a monster out of the fridge. I thanked him and he sat in front of me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking more serious and worried.

"I'm fine. I just get nervous around a lot of people." I forced a fake smile. He just looked at me with the same expression. He obviously didn't believe me. I looked down at my hands and started playing around with my fingers.

"I'm glad you are okay." Alan finally said, smiling.

"Annabelle?" Alan and I both jumped and looked up at a sleepy Austin.

"None of us picked our bunks yet, we wanted you to pick yours first." he yawned. I nodded and got up.

I walked through the bunk area again and picked up my things. There were three rows of bunks on both sides of me and three bunks going up in each row. I decided to take the 2nd bunk in the middle on the left side. When I set my things in the bunk, I stepped in the door way and watched the rest of the guys grab their things and pick their bunks.

Austin took the one above mine and Alan took the one below. Phil took the one to the right of mine and Tino took the one above Phil. Another guy, who I assumed was the new singer since Shay was out of the band now, took the one left of mine. The manager and merch people filled  the rest of the bunks. The new singer walked over towards me and hugged me.

"Hi. I'm Aaron, I'm glad you are okay." he said letting go and smiling.

"Thank you. I'm Annabelle, it's nice to meet you." I smiled back.

Everyone introduced themselves to me and I had to admit, I was excited. Maybe this was the start of a new beginning for me.