The Consequence of a Dream

Ch. 17

Demi's pov

"Nick it doesn't fucking matter! If she wants to change her setlist that's fine! My band knew that was a possibility so I don't know why you care so much! It's my hand she's using! Not yours!" I yell.

"Demi, that's the 5th change in 7 days! She hasn't even kept a setlist consistent! She can't just keep changing it everyday! It's a totally new setlist than what she started with! We haven't even made changes and she has!" He argues.

The bus door opening causes both of us to turn our heads and Max just looks at me mortified, "She's gone."

"Who's gone? The dog? It can't be that far." I say.

He rubs his face stressed, "Not just the dog. The dog and Phoenix. No one saw her leave but she's gone. She's not in the arena at all. We've looked everywhere. She's gone."

I stand absolutely frozen. She can't be gone. She wouldn't.

Nick let's out a sarcastic laugh, "Great our opening act bailed on us."

"She's not an opening act you asshole! She's a child! She's a person! Is that all you see her as?! An opening act?!"

"With the arguing, you two have been doing, she probably got scared and ran off." Max rolls his eyes.

I leave the living room and go to my bedroom and slam my door shut. I lock it and grab my phone off my bed. I go to my contacts and find phoenix's name and tap. I tap her name and number only to hear my call go straight to voicemail. I try again, but same thing. I try one last time, but same thing.

I open snapchat and go to the map and see she's somewhere much different than here. I screenshot it and walk out of my room, "She's at a park."

"I'll go get her." Max says.

"I'll go get her. You two idiots need to leave her alone." I hiss.

"You're not going alone Demi. You don't know how many people are there or-"

I turn my head to him, "It's more than getting her back on this tour bus. That's not what I'm aiming for. I'm going to talk to her and I want to do that alone."

"Demi-"

Before max can stop me I grab the keys from his hand and get off the bus. I walk to the rental car and I put the location of the park into my phone and drive. Once I get there I see a small figure and dog walking across a bridge in the lake and make my way there.

In an attempt to not scare her I walk slowly which leads me to overhear her conversation with the dog, "You know technically if I jumped off and drowned it would be accidental. No one would know I did it on purpose. And then no one may ever know. I mean depending on how deep the lake is, I may never be found."

Is she suicidal? Is she really wanting to drown herself?

"I won't, stop whimpering, I'm just saying. I'm only putting the idea out there. You're stuck with me and I'm stuck with you. That's how it has to be now. I'm not gonna leave you. Someone already hurt you, I'm not going to hurt you too." I hear her say.

I wait until there's silence before I sit beside her, "I see you decided to give Harley a change of scenery." I say.

She jumps and back away from me and looks at me with nothing but fear in her eyes. Her arms wrap around the dog protectively and she moves a good 5 feet away from me.

Ok, so I did something clearly. Because she's never been this scared of me.

She looks behind her before standing up and taking a few more steps back, "It's just me, no one else is here. I'm not here to yell at you or hurt you either. Just try and figure things out."

"You're lying." Her voice shakes.

"Phoenix have I ever lied to you?" I question.

I watch her shake in fear as she only takes a few more steps back.

"Phoenix, when have I lied?"

She takes more steps backwards as her eyes begin to water. I stare at her feeling my heart break, "Phoenix, look, whatever I did to upset you, I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention. Can we talk about it?" I ask.

I watch her drop the dog and go into a panic, "Phoenix." I say calmly.

I see her look at the water as she takes a few steps back and I know exactly what she's about to do, jump.

"Phoenix, let's try and cal-"

Before my statement is finished she dumps onto the wood railing of the bridges and I run towards her in a panic. I wrap my arms around her as she jumps and pull her back to the bridge.

I hear her begin to hyperventilate as she begins to try and fight out of my grip. However I don't let her go. Because as much as I want to if it means she'll calm down, I know she'll just try it again.

"Phoenix, stop fighting, please. I won't hold you as tight if you can calm down, I promise" I say.

After moments of fighting me, her energy runs low and she stops fighting. Just hyperventilates in my arms.

"I'm not going to hurt you or yell at you. That's not what I'm here for. I care about you far too much to do that. I love you too much to do that. I know more about you than you realize and I'd never intentionally hurt you. I came here because I care. If I didn't care I wouldn't be here. I'd have just said she's not my problem, whatever. But I didn't. You aren't my responsibility at all, no where in the contracts signed does it say you're my responsibility. But I care about you and I've made the decision to take care of you and be responsible for you. I don't know what happened, but if I did anything that hurt you, I'm sorry." I say.

She shakes in my arms like a scared puppy and the horror has not left her face. The fear in her eyes hasn't left. The tears haven't stopped. Her breathing hasn't evened.

I loosen my grip on her but still hold her somewhat tight as I'm not sure what her intentions are right now.

Phoenix's pov

She doesn't care, she meant to get angry. She just wants me back on the bus so she doesn't get in trouble. If she didn't mean to be mean, she wouldn't have. But she did get mad at me and slam a door in my face. It's all for show. She's an actor, she's good at lying. She's not to be trusted more than my dad. She made me think she cared once and she didn't. She's lying again. I know she is.

I feel a lick on my palm and I look down slightly to see Harley licking my hand. Too focused on other things, I don't stop her.

"Phoenix, I'm sorry. Whatever I did, I'm sorry. I was angry at someone else and I know I took it out on you in the dressing room. But I was not angry at you and it was very wrong of me to take it out on you. I promise that I'll do better and not do this again."

I was so close to doing it. I should've jumped sooner. All my problems would've been fixed. But I fuck up everything. Of course I manage to fuck this up too.

"I know what you're thinking and you're wrong. What'd Harley do without you? Hmm? She loves you a lot and dogs go through depression and grief when their owners aren't here anymore. Sometimes they end up dying not too long after because they won't eat or drink anything. And you know believe it or not, there are more people who care about you than you think. You might not believe me when I say it, but I do. It's a weird thing. I've never known someone in such a short period of time and have felt this much love for them. Or felt the need to protect them. I'd jump in front of a bullet for you. You deserve the world Phoenix and you deserve all the happiness in the world. But you can't end it before you have a chance to see the world or give it a chance to get better. This is a permanent solution to a temporary thing. It gets better, I promise it gets better."

It'll never get better. You don't know my life. You think you do, but you don't.

"How about we drive around for a bit and talk and get you out of this place? I give you my word that this isn't just me trying to get you on the bus. This is me just trying to help you right now." She says.

I don't believe her, but I know that she's not going to let me stay here. So I just give a nod and she lets me go. I pick Harley up and just follow her slowly.

I feel like this is a huge lie. She's taking me back to the bus isn't she?