Alone With the Sunrise

Two months later...

I pulled my phone out of my pocket after feeling it vibrate, seeing that I had a text from Christofer.

Hey, ready for the tour tomorrow?

I smiled and started texting him back, still not believing that I was friends with the Christofer Drew.

Hell yeah, I’ve been ready. I still can’t believe that my parents are letting me go out during school.

Yeah, feels pretty awesome. Now rest up and be ready to leave early tomorrow.

I laughed and put my phone on my bedside table, falling back onto my bed, closing my eyes.

I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I really wish I hadn’t.

“Come on Stephen, we can go for five minutes, and then you can show me that surprise.”

Elizabeth begged as I was waiting for the traffic to let up so I could actually get out of the parking lot.

I laughed and put my head on the steering wheel. “Alright, five minutes, but that’s it.”

She giggled and hugged me the best she could from the passengers’ seat. “Thank you. I only wanna get a few things.”

“Oh, so now I have to shop with you? What are you gonna get? Tampons?” I asked, not able to keep the smile off my face.

She hit my arm. “No! I wanna get a movie for my mom, since it’s her birthday tomorrow.” She said. “Besides, you better get used to shopping with me, since we’re getting married.”

“Oh yeah! I need to get her something too...what was that last part?” I asked, the married part just hitting me now.

“What, were you planning on breaking up with me to get married to someone else?” She asked.

“No, of course not! I just haven’t thought about it yet, I’m only 16.” I said, getting my attention back to the road, the traffic still heavy, two guys behind me, honking away, getting impatient.

“Well I wasn’t expecting you to think about it, but you are gonna marry me, right?” She asked.

I looked at her and kissed her. “Of course I’m gonna marry you. I love you.” I looked back and saw an opening, gladly pulling out and taking it.

It turned out to be a mistake.

A car hit us head on.

Then from the side.

Then in back.

Each car was going in slow motion as my body got tossed around in my seat, as well as Elizabeth’s.

The windshield shattered from the impact.

I looked over to see if Elizabeth was okay, but then I saw the piece of glass go into her, blood spirting like in the movies. I never knew this could happen to anyone in real life. How could a moment so good turn out so horribly within a matter of a second?

My head slammed against the headrest on my seat and that’s when the world turned black.

I shot up off my pillow, drenched in a cold sweat, tears streaming down my face. I tried to dry my face of them, but more came.

I swear this is like punishment.

Punishment for having a good life after I wasn’t careful enough to watch for cars and kill her.
If this was gonna happen, I didn’t wanna tour. I didn’t wanna become like Christofer and have a huge fan base and make people happy with my music. What’s the point of making other people happy when you’re not happy yourself?

I wanted to call Ella or Joel or anyone, but I couldn’t find the will power to do so. It’s like I’m starting over from day one. I feel like my voice was lost again, like it couldn’t be summoned. After all those months of working to get it back, and it was back...all that work is lost. I could feel it. That emptiness I had three months ago has returned.

I was afraid that this would happen. Right before something I needed my voice for. How was I going to explain this to Christofer and everyone else?

I’m sure Ella and Joel will be disappointed. I’m disappointed in myself for letting it slip away, and so easily.

I looked at the clock: almost 8:30. Christofer would be texting soon to say that he was coming in an hour to pick me up, since we’re sharing the same bus on tour. I sighed and got up and went into the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror. My face was pale, a sheen of sweat covering it. I looked sickly. I washed my face and hopped in the shower, hoping that this would just ware off and everything would be back to normal by the time Christofer was here.

I got out of the shower and got dressed, going into my room and checking my phone, and seeing that he texted me, saying that he was gonna be there in, like I predicted, and hour or so. I flipped my phone down, then had the sudden urge to call Ella, just to see if I could get my voice out to her, since she’s the one that brought it back in the first place. She was coming on tour with us, too, so she could be up and getting ready as well. I scrolled until I got to her number, hesitant to press send. I pressed it anyways, nervous to see what happened.

“Hey Stephen. What’s up?” She answered, sounding awake.

I swallowed, clearing my throat, then opened my mouth. “Ella...I...I had the worst dream...ever.” I said, words broken as I started getting choked up again.

She gasped a little. “What was it?”

I sat on my bed, my hand covering my mouth, trying to hold back the sobs. “The crash. Everything about it. I...I almost lost my voice again.”

“Oh no, Stephen. Do you want me to come over?” She asked, concern flooding her voice.

“Please. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do the show tonight.”

She sighed, sounding like she sat down on her bed. “Stephen, don’t let this get in the way of your career. This is your first major tour! Don’t let a nightmare of your past get in the way.

Besides, everyone’s gonna be there supporting you. You’ll do just fine. I promise. I know you can do it.”

I smiled and sniffled. “You remind me so much of her.”

She let out a short laugh. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Good thing. I love you, Ella.”

“Now my question is do you love me for me or do you love me for her?” She got scary serious. “Because I don’t think it would be fair for me to be loving you while you’re not completely returning the favor.”

My mouth hung open a little. “Ella, you’re crazy! Of course I love you for you! Just because you remind me of Elizabeth doesn’t mean you are her. I know she’s not coming back, and I know that I need to move on, no matter how hard it is. And I have. I have you, and you’re everything I could ask for in a girl. You’re perfect, and I love you so much.”

I sensed a smile on her face, and it was in her voice when she said, “I love you, too, Stephen. I’ll see you in an hour when Christofer comes to get you, alright?”

“Could you come over now? I could really use some company right now.” I asked sheepishly. Thankfully she only lives a little ways away from me.

She sighed. “I guess I could come over. One less trip for Christofer then. I’ll see you in a couple minutes. Love you.”

“I love you, too.” I hung up and stuffed my phone in my pocket, grabbing my bag of clothes and other necessities downstairs so I could just grab it and go.

I heard the door open and close. I turned around and immediately hugged Ella, kissing her.

“Thank you for coming over.” I whispered. “I have a surprise for you.”

I let go of her and grabbed something out of my back pocket, a little black box to be exact.

When I got down on one knee, she started getting teary-eyed.

“Now, I know that this is really early for me to be asking this, but I’m sure this is what I wanna do. I don’t wanna go into the corny ‘when I first saw you’ speech, so I’m just gonna cut to the chase. Ella. You are everything I’ve always wanted, and I’m hoping you feel the same about me. Will you marry me when it’s legal?” I asked, opening the box, exposing the ring.

She gasped. “It’s so pretty! And yes, Stephen. I will marry you when it’s legal.”

I smiled a big toothy smile and got off the floor, hugging her tightly, kissing her fiercely, sliding the ring on her finger.

“I don’t think there’s a word out there to describe how happy I am right now.” Ella said into my chest.

I leaned her away from me, still smiling. “I’m feeling the same way. I love you. And I’ll always love you.”

I heard someone knock at the door. I let go of Ella to grab it, but she grabbed onto my hand to come with me. Like I was expecting, it was Christofer.

“Hey guys, thanks for finally answering the door. I’ve been standing here for five minutes.” He said.

“Oh, have you really? I’m sorry!” Ella said.

Christofer laughed and put his arm around Ella’s shoulders. “Nah, I’m just jokin’ with you. I just got here. I heard some excited commotion going on in here. What’s it all about?”

Ella showed him her ring, and he gasped, smiling. “Congrats, dude, but aren’t you only 17?”

“Just because we can’t make it legal til we’re both 18 doesn’t mean I can’t claim her for now.” I said, hugging her into me.

“You make me sound like a piece of luggage.” She said.

I laughed, kissing the top of her head. “Don’t worry, baby, you’re definitely more than that.”

“Well I hate to break up the whole love fest going on here, but we gotta get going. Tour life waits for no one. You have everything, Jerzak?”

“Yup, I’m packed.”

“Are you sure? I think you’re forgetting two very important things.” He said, looking towards my room, then back at me, his arms crossed.

Then it hit me. “Oh duh! How could I forget those!” I ran back up to my room and grabbed my guitar and ukelele.

“Sorry about that. Alright, lets go.” I grabbed my bag and Ella grabbed hers, and we piled into Christofer’s van. It was neatly painted with peace signs and bright colors.

“I love your van!” Ella said.

“Thanks. I did it one day ‘cause I was bored. My roommate Carter was not pleased with me, but it’s growing on him, even though he doesn’t want to show it.”

I laughed as he drove off. I hugged Ella to my side in the backseat, kissing her forehead. “Future Mrs. Stephen Jerzak.” I whispered.

She giggled, blushing, hitting me lightly. “That’s so not fair. I can’t call you any cute names like that and embarrass you.”

“And for that I’m glad. You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed.”

“Stop it!” She whined.

“You’re cuuuute as a button.” Christofer sang from the front seat.

“The things you dooooo sure are somethin’.” I joined in.

“Are you running out of breath from running through my head all night?”

Ella was hopelessly lost in a sea of giggles and blushes.

I smelled smoke from Christofer’s cigarettes as he lit one up and cracked the window. “You two don’t mind, do you?”

“Well it’s not awesome, but we can deal with it.” I said.

“Sorry, I should’ve asked first. We’re almost to Joel’s anyways, so you won’t have to endure it much longer.”

One month later...

The tour has been great so far. I never imagined that it’d be this much fun.

We’ve made good friends with Christofer’s roommate, Carter, who just so happened to be Carter Hulsey, which I was stoked about.

The show tonight was gonna be the night that I debut my new song to everyone, called I’m In Love, written for Ella.

We were backstage, waiting for Carter to finish up his set, since me and Joel were next. I was shaking slightly, like I did before every show.

After Carter’s last song, Mariana, the crowd cheered and he left the stage, giving everyone high fives.

While they were setting up our set, I went to find Ella backstage. I heard a bunch of girls scream as I walked by the open curtain. I waved, smiling, and continued on.

I found Ella standing by one of the tech guys, talking to them.

“Hey babe.” I said, hugging her from behind, kissing her cheek.

“Hey! You excited?” She asked, a big smile on her face.

“As always. I have a surprise for you tonight.” I said in her ear.

“Oh? Then I’m extremely excited, since your surprises are always nothing short of amazing.” She said, turning her head to kiss me on the lips.

“Oh, sorry, Ella, I gotta get on stage, I love you!”

I heard her say love you back as I walked out on stage. The light was slightly blinding, but I got used to it right away.

After I started playing a few songs, including Cute, Heartbeat, Small Town Celebrity, and my cover of My Girl, I got the crowd’s attention for my new song.

“Now, for this next song, it’s new, not even recorded, hot off the press, and I wrote it for my beautiful, amazing, wonderful fiancee, Ella. She’s backstage right now, but she’s not gonna wanna come out, she has stage freight. So I’m just gonna go on with the song. It’s called I’m In Love.” I picked up my uke and started strumming the beat.

I’m in love with a girl
Who is out of this world
And she don’t know that I love her so
When she’s around
I always find a way to make a fool out of myself
And on a scale of one to ten she’s a twelve
And I love her so

And I’ve givin’ it all that I’ve got
Just to say
That you’re the only one I want with me

I’m in love with a girl
She is so beautiful
She don’t know that I love her so
I adore when she opens up her eyes
She makes my world alive
I’m in love with her

And I’ve givin’ it all that I’ve got
Just to say
That you’re the only one I want with me
You got my stomach up in a knot when you say
That you’re the only one I want with me

Sometimes, I awake at night
And you’re the only thing that’s on my mind

And I’ve givin’ it all that I’ve got
Just to say
That you’re the only one I want with me
You got my stomach up in a knot when you say
That you’re the only one I want with me

The crowd went crazy. I was smiling, looking back at Ella, who had tears streaming her cheeks. She came out from backstage and hugged me. “I love you, Stephen Jerzak.”

I smiled into her hair. “I love you, too, Ella Jerzak.”