Nowhere But You

Chapter 26

Robin sprinted out of the bus, glanced over to her left to see the crew bus already parked and immediately after to her right when she heard the distinctive, squeaky voices and giggles of a group of fans that had been following them for most of the duration of the tour. Her lip curved to a half smile and she kept walking towards the main entrance of the hotel.

Her sight was blurry, almost as if she needed glasses. She was just drained. Drained, but satisfied.

As she made her way to the front desk, her mind roamed back to just three weeks prior, when she held a copy of One Life Remaining's debut album in her hands for the first time. Only two weeks before that, a photographer was taking the cover shot: the band against a giant, abstract backdrop Nathan painted himself. The green-eyed boy took charge of the artwork, the logo and the album notes.

The images inside the booklet were candid pictures taken by Robin, including that first snap of the whole band before their first ever live show.

And merely a few days before that, songs were literally bursting out of the members of the band in the studio. So easy. So meant to be. The melodies that lived inside River's mind traveled to his fingers into the strings and the pickups of his guitars like through a high voltage line. It's what he liked best and felt more comfortable doing: creating music.

Music.

Johnny came up with words about life, death, love, frustrations, past experiences, experiences of others, all carefully crafted to seem metaphoric and literal at the same time, like only he knew how and just in a matter of minutes. Liz picked up the pace even quicker than that, providing an energetic, sturdy base to every song. Nathan knew exactly how to cradle every tune and even came up with two compositions of his own, and finally Eli sprinkled notes and riffs into the melodies, almost like seasoning a fine piece of steak before the grill.

Only a couple of takes and very few overdubs were required for each song. The band insisted they wanted that raw essence of a live record.

Soon, their debut album would be done. It would simply be called 'Bird.'

The Newtown scene was already familiar with One Life Remaining and, although their 'fame' from before helped them in the very beginning, people understood this was a completely different beast. Their EP continued to get good airplay, not only in their home turf but in other alternative and college radio stations everywhere else. The album was highly anticipated already and they began getting recognized in the streets, something that amused some in the band and put off others.

It was time for the world to take notice. A live music video of a first single was shot and sent to music channels across the country. A tour around the country was set; small venues and colleges were to welcome them. Robin was appointed as the tour manager, which would allow her to be with River for the entire duration of the tour and keep contributing to the band's growth. Liz would help with all the accounting needs and financial shenanigans and Nathan, as per usual would be in charge of all artistic matters such as merch design, stage props and fanzines.

Everything was almost too good to be true. That fear was nestled inside everyone's minds, but no one would voice it.

Late November, 1996. A sweaty, jumpy, powerful show for hundreds of college students. A show that had to be moved to one of the larger gymnasiums at the last minute due to higher-than-expected attendance.

The word on One Life Remaining was spreading around like disease. A night pretty much alike every other for the past month: music, adrenaline, heat, emotion, mosh pits, crowdsurfing... Music. Music is what it was all about.

And just like every night, that one-and-a-half hour of craziness and bliss ended, and band and crew picked up and carried on their way. Except tonight, they arrived at one of many tiny hotels in Middle America, where they would spend the night in a room for the first time in four days.