Time After Time || Chris Cornell

1. Hang My Head, Drown My Fear, 'Til You All Just Disappear

Detroit Michigan, MGM Grand Hotel May 17 2017

(Chris is 52, Andi is 29)

CHRIS: Feeling exhausted, I lean back in the chair a bit, run my fingers through my hair and then my palms over my cheeks, feeling the stubble on my face. Fuck, it's been a long night, and damn this ringing in my ears wont stop.

This is it. I'm gonna do it this time. I'm done.

I get up from the chair and head to the bathroom. I rummage around in the bathroom and find exactly what I'm looking for. I take in a deep breath close my eyes and know that at any moment, I won't have to worry any more.

No more pain. No more burden. No more sadness. I will be free.

Suddenly I hear a loud crash, then a scream that sounded like nothing I ever heard before coming from the next room over. I flick my eyes open, let go of the breath I was holding and look around the bathroom for a moment to realize what I was just about to do. I start to pant and feel shaky as I take the rubber exercise band off from around my neck. Then there was another loud noise  in which I started to panic.

"What...? What the fuck?" I say to myself and throw the rubber exercise band on the floor and storm out of the bathroom.

I quickly make my way to the door, open it to see the hotel hallway dimly lit, and someone disappear around the corner. The door to the room next to mine was wide open but no lights on at all. I could feel my heart pounding as I peer in through the door and see a young girl laying curled up, face down on the floor completely naked. I look around the hallway and see no one, then look back and walk in the room to see if she was alright. As I approach her I could see that she was breathing, but she wasn't moving at all.

"Holy shit..." I say to myself and grab one of the hotel sheets from the bed  and move over to her, crouching down beside her to cover her up. I didn't know what to do.

Should I wake her? I need to wake her to make sure she's ok.

"Hey... uh... miss?" I clear my throat and gently rub her shoulder. She groans and suddenly begins to cough, loud and hard.

"Jeezus, are you ok?" I ask worriedly.

I move my hand up to her face where her dark curls lay strewn across and push them away to reveal her young features. She turns her head as she tries to stop coughing, her brow furrowing as she attempts to catch her breath. Her eyes flick up to me, dark and slightly clouded as she looks like she's trying to make out just who she was looking at.

No fucking way...

"Hi.. you uh, you alright?" I ask again. I wasn't exactly sure what to say to her. Suddenly her eyes grow wide, gasping as she quickly sits up, shrinking away from me.

"Hey, no it's ok... I'm not going to hurt you," I say trying to re-assure her. She looks down at her self, her dark curls falling down around her shoulders and a few curls falling in her face, realizing she was completely naked in front of me and quickly grabs the bed sheet to pull it up to her bare chest.

She flips her curls out of her face and looks around the room, looking like she's trying to figure out where she was. She looks back down at herself examining her arms and legs almost looking like she's trying to make sure everything is intact and then flicks her eyes back to me.

She then lets go of the blanket she was holding and before I could stop her, she moves so quickly over to me and wraps her arms around my neck, embracing me in a hug.

I was so surprised at first that I just sat there for a moment but the feeling of her hugging me was something I didn't know I needed until it happened. I slowly move my arms and place my hands on her sides, slowly moving up her back, feeling her soft smooth skin under my rough calloused fingers. She continues to hold me and I can hear her softly crying as I move my arms to hold her tighter to me.

Holy Shit...

"Shhh... it's ok..." I say softly. She slowly pulls away from me, wiping her tears from her cheeks, but seemingly not caring that she no longer held the bed sheet to cover herself.

"I'm sorry," She half giggles, still wiping away her tears. I glance over her, and my heart begins to pound.

It's her... I can't believe it's her.

"It's ok..."I give her a half smile trying my best to not make it awkward for her, and she moves back to wrap her arms around me once more.

It's been years, but it's her. I didn't think I'd ever see her again. She's so young but so gorgeous and I feel all those feelings bubbling up to the surface again.  I've known her since I was 15 years old, she's still exactly the same and so incredibly beautiful.

She came back to me... She finally came back to me.

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