We Will Be Unbroken

Marilyn and Sammi took Andrea back to the bus. At this point, everything was falling apart. Marilyn felt defeated. All she wanted to do was break down and cry. By the look of things, so did Andrea. They sat her down on the couch.

"Everything will be okay." Sammi soothed.

Tears began to roll down Andrea's cheeks and tears began to fill Marilyn's eyes as well. They heard the door to the bus open and Andrea braced herself for the sight of CC.

"Just tell him what happened. He'll understand." Marilyn said.

The heavy footsteps got closer and closer.

"Hey, what's-" It was Andy. "-going... on..." He looked at the teary Andrea, the concerned looking Sammi and then at Marilyn. "Uh, what's going on?" He repeated. "You all look like you're about to burst into tears."

Marilyn blinked back her tears and tried to swallow the lump growing in her throat. "Nothing. What do you need, Andy?"

"I just came to see if you'd like to come see our set..."

Marilyn looked over at Sammi who gave her a nod and a go-ahead-I'll-take-care-of-Andrea look.

"Uh, o-okay." Marilyn stood up and followed Andy off the bus.

"So, why does everyone look like they're about to cry?" Andy asked.

Marilyn thought about what to say. She didn't want to tell Andy about Andrea's problem because she knew he would immediately tell CC. Marilyn wanted this to stay between Andrea, CC, Sammi and herself. It was no one else's business, so she told him about Ronnie.

"I told you to stay away from him, Marilyn! I told you he would be like that." Andy shouted.

"Andy, calm down! It's fine. I'm fine." She tried calming him down.

They arrived at the stage where the rest of the band had already gotten fitted for ear pieces and were waiting for Andy.

"Two minutes!" A stage tech called out.

Andy went to get his ear piece fitted and then returned to Marilyn's side.

"Good luck!" Marilyn said to Andy on his way out onto the stage.

He looked back at her and smiled before running out to the microphone and starting the show.

About half way through the show, they played The Legacy and Andy was beginning to get lost in the music. He placed his microphone in the stand and stood at the edge of the stage.

Marilyn knew what was going to come next but she hoped for some crazy reason that she was wrong. "Don't do it, Andy." She pleaded under her breath.

Sure enough, as she predicted, Andy jumped out into the crowd and surfed his way across the length of the stage. When he reached the end, security managed to pull him out of the crazed fans but Andy stood on the railing of the barrier and jumped to the stage.

Marilyn gasped as his feet left the railing. His body slammed into the side of the stage and he fell, lifeless, to the ground.

"Andy!" Marilyn called out.

All she could see from where she was standing were the yellow shirts of the security as they surrounded Andy. She saw a flash of black hair a few moments later as they helped Andy up onto the stage and he finished the show as if nothing had happened.

After the show was over, Andy stumbled off the stage holding his side. He collapsed into Marilyn's arms. She tried to hold him up but his tall frame was too much for her small body to support. Ashley and Jake ran over and took Andy off to the side and sat him down.

"Marilyn!" CC called out.

"CC!" She replied.

"Hey! Have you seen Andrea anywhere? I've been looking all over for her."

"CC... Something happened."

"Yeah, with Andy? I don't know what happened. I couldn't see over my drum set."

"No..."

"What do you mean...?"

"Andrea. She's... back at the bus. You need to go talk to her. Now."

CC pulled Marilyn into a hug before running off to the bus to find Andrea. Marilyn watched CC disappear and then walked over to where Andy was sitting.

"Jinxx just called the ambulance." She heard Jake telling Ashley.

She sat down next to Andy. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, my side hurts, though."

"You jumped from the barrier to the stage and missed. Obv-"

"I know what I did. I don't need you to tell me how stupid it was because I know."

Andy closed his eyes as he heard the screaming sirens approaching. He coughed a little and had a rust taste fill his mouth.

Marilyn looked over and saw Andy's lips turning a deep red color. He coughed again and looked down at his hands to see them stained with blood.