How to Save a Life

Tour had been over for three months now and I couldn't get the nagging feeling about Shiloh out of my head. I knew that something serious had happened the last night I had seen her but I didn't know what. I had flown to Chicago for a vacation of sorts and the very first day I went to the hospital I had taken her to.

"I'm sorry but I cannot disclose anything about a patient if there's no relation between the two of you," the same nurse as before told me.
"But she's my best friend! I've been worried sick about her for the last five months!" I whimpered. "Can't you at least tell me if she was released or something?"
"Fine," she sighed. "She was released. If you hadn't of gotten her in here when you did, she would have been removed in a body bag."

My jaw dropped and I stared at her in shock. If I didn't get to Shiloh when I did, she could've died? I had saved her life? I should have felt amazing but I felt horrible! I had attacked her step father but he was an ass and deserved it.

"Sir?" I heard someone ask and I looked up. Standing in front of me was another nurse from the night I had brought Shiloh in.
"Yes?"
"Come with me," she smiled gently and started walking away so I followed her.

Once we were outside, she turned to me and I stared at her. I had no clue what she wanted from me but I just wanted to know if Shiloh was okay.

"Alex, you need to relax."
"H... How'd you know my name?"
"I'm an All Time Low fan," she laughed. "I was at the show the night you rushed that young lady in. Was she the one you were talking about when you mentioned Kyle coming out and humping Rian's face?"
"Yeah," I sighed as I sat down on a wall. "I haven't heard from her since that night. I don't know if she's dead or if she's okay."
"I can promise you that, because of you rushing her in like that, she's going to be okay."

Smiling, I continued talking to the young lady for the duration of her break. We talked about everything and everything. We discussed the rest of tour and a bunch of other things. Just as she was heading back inside and I was heading back to my rental car, I heard a very familiar and unwanted voice from behind me.

"Alex?" I cringed.
"Hi Lisa," I sighed as I turned around.
"What are you doing here?"
"Vacation," I replied as I continued walking towards the parking lot. "You?"
"I moved here."
"Oh. Well, it's been great seeing you. I'll talk to you another time, bye," I quickly finished as I got into the car and drove away.

Once I got back to my hotel room, I collapsed onto the bed and sighed. I stared at the ceiling for what felt like an hour but when I looked at my phone, I had thirteen missed calls, ten voicemail messages and about thirty texts. On top of these, I had at least four tweets from each of the guys and about a hundred from the fans wondering if I was okay. I listened to all the voicemails and deleted them before posting on Twitter that I was fine and I was just taking a nap. I sent the guys a text telling them that I was fine and that I hadn't had been taking a nap; I had gotten caught up in thought.

I spent the majority of my time remaining in Chicago locked in my hotel room. I had an inspirational moment and felt the need to just let it flow from my brain and on to paper. I knew that I had a great song that I wanted the world to hear.

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Upon arriving back home, I went straight to the studio and booked recording time for the whole band. While I was in Chicago, I had written an entire song by myself. I had no idea how to write the music for the bass and drum tracks so I did my best and I'd get Rian and Zack to go over them when they got to the studio.

Once the guys were there, I handed each of them a copy of the lyrics and Jack received a sheet of notes as well. I handed Zack and Rian theirs and told them that they might need to go over them to see if I had done it correctly or not. I also told them that if any changes needed to be made, to go ahead and make them.

It took us a grand total of three days to record the entire song and master it. The guys, once they read it, knew exactly where I wanted to go with it and they were amazing with the recording process. The four of us agreed that this would be the first song we released. Well, first song we released as a studio version, that is.

"Well, what are we going to call this one guys?" Rian asked once it was finished.
"I think we should call it Time Bomb," Jack randomly threw out.

We all agreed that the song should be called Time Bomb. We kept it under lock and key for a few more weeks before we released it. It was my idea to first play it at a local acoustic set before releasing the studio version.

The fans really seemed to enjoy it which brought a smile to my face. I was glad that they were enjoying this song and they couldn't wait for the album to be released. Deep down, I was still upset with who what the song was actually about.

I had stayed in the hotel room that Shiloh had while I was in Chicago. I didn't realize it until I was in and saw the wall behind the door. There was a small indent from the chair and a scuff from my guitar case. I had sat down at the desk and started writing while thoughts of the short time I had with her ran though my head. I remembered everything about her.

I remembered how she had re-energized everyone on tour when we were at one of the emotionally weakest points of tour. All of us missed our families and the familiar sights from home. Sure, we all loved being on tour but we just wanted to go home and sleep in our own beds. I missed my dogs and my parents so much and I didn't know why. It's not like that was the longest I had been away from them.

All I knew was that I needed to get these thoughts out of my head and onto paper. If I didn't, I would probably go crazy and destroy everything within these four walls. There was something about Shiloh that just made me happy and kept me sane.

Without her, I could barely stand myself. I know the guys would deny iy but I was getting on their nerves, too. I needed to find Shiloh; or at least know that she was alive.