London Foolishly

I love when the fans sing along. It let's me know they still care. I'm at my happiest when I know I made someone else happy.

"You all have been amazing!" I said as the sound of the last song began playing.

The concert came to an end and I was on a high better then any drug could give me. Performing always gave me such joy as I had never felt before.

I was first off the stage to the side room where towels and water awaited us. I picked up an ice cold water bottle and had it completely drank by the time my family finally entered the room.

"Man that was great!" Joe exclaimed.

"For sure, bro." I said throwing him a bottle of water.

He chugged fast then looked at me again. "Thanks."

Everyone in the room; my family, the band, and crew, talked amongst themselves while I stayed out of it all. We had to wait until the fans were gone before we could go and get something to eat.

"Alright everybody we can go now." My father finally announced.

"Yes! Food!" Joe yelled.

"Joseph no need to yell." My mother scolded.

I chuckled as I walked next to a pouting Joe.

"Yeah Joseph, no yelling." I teased him.

"Shut up." He said punching me in the arm.

"Hey! What did I do?" I asked as I rubbed the spot he hit.

Joe rolled his eyes and made a very dramatic sigh. "You were being an ass."

"Now Joseph you shouldn't use that language." Kevin said getting in on making fun of Joe.

We all went back to the hotel where pizza would be delivered for us. I would eat with my family and say my goodbyes before I left. I had my plan already made. I was going to do what Alexis did, leave a note in my room. If everything went as planed my family wouldn’t know I was gone until the next morning and by then I’d be long gone. I knew they would be confused by sudden disappearance, but I had to do this for myself or I’d go insane.

“Pizza is here!” Joe said bursting into our room the rest of my family and the band following him in.

I sat up more on my bed making room for our bassist Greg Garbo and our guitarist John Taylor. The boxes of pizza were passed around until all of us had a piece.

“Tomorrow we can look around London. If you’d all like.” My father said as he took another bite of his pizza.

“Awesome.” Joe said, his mouth was full food but that didn’t stop him from talking.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” My mother reprimanded.

I laughed along with everyone else at Joe and even joined my band mates in teasing him. I was having fun and had it not been for my father I would have abandoned the plan to leave.

“I think it’s time to go to bed. You have an early morning interview.”

The smile I had now slipped off my face. I looked at my brothers and saw their disappointment too; even Frankie looked upset.

“It’s still early.” My mother tried to reason.

“They need to sleep.” My father said sternly to her.

Hearing him talk to her like she was incompetent made my blood boil. I was about to open my mouth when Joe spoke up.

“Alright, dad, we’ll go to bed.” He gave me a warning look telling me with his eyes to keep my mouth shut.

Everyone filed out of Joe and mine's room talking quietly amongst themselves. I closed the door after they had all left and turn to my brother.

“Why’d you stop me from say something to him?” I demanded.

“You would have just upset mom. Do you want that to happen?” Joe turned away from and rummaged through us messy suit case.

“Of course I don’t want that to happen, but-“

“Then just keep your mouth shut. You make things worse when you try to be a hero.” Joe didn’t look at me as he changed into his night clothes.

“I’m not trying to be a hero.” I mumbled.

I found my own clothes and changed quickly then went into the bathroom to check my blood sugar. It was a little high so I had to give myself some insulin. I walked back into the main room and jumped onto my bed.

“I don’t mean to make things worse.” I said to Joe who was flipping through the TV channels.

“I know.” Joe said glancing at me. “But you have to know when it’s best to just stay quiet.”

I didn’t respond instead I turned over onto my side and stared at the opposite wall. The light from the TV flickered across the wall giving it a paranormal glow. Finally after and hour of watching a British late show Joe turned the TV off. Only moments later he was snoring loudly.

It was time to put my plan into action. I quietly changed into different clothes and packed my bag. I wrote a note for my family explaining to them where I was and when I’d be back. It was all I could do without giving away my exact location.

With one final look around the room and left. It wasn’t a long walk to the bus station in the middle of London. I would take a bus from London to Cambridge; it was and hour and a half drive. I had a hotel set up already for me to stay in for at least a week, and if I still need longer I could stay longer.

The cool foggy air made me shiver in my jacket as I continued to walk towards the bus station. It was spooky walking around on my own at night I had never been alone like this; it was freeing and unsettling at the same time.

I wasn’t paying attention in to which direction I was going and soon the street names made no sense to me. I looked at the map I had brought with me and saw that I had gone the wrong way and by the time I got to the bus station the bus would be gone. I sighed frustrated as I looked around and saw nothing but houses with no lights on. The only thing I could do was head to the bus station and hope there was another bus leaving for Cambridge. I hadn’t walked far before I heard someone walking behind me. When I turned to see if I was being paranoid I saw a girl with a heavy black coat on walked a few paces behind me. I tried to ignore her foot steps mingling with my own. If she was just going the same way as me there was nothing to worry about; or at least that’s what I kept telling myself.

“Where are you going rock star?” A familiar female voice said.

I stopped walking and turned around to face the unknown girl. “Sofia?”