To Pick a New Direction, to Make a New Connection

Alex was going to be late. The radio interview he was meant to be at was less than twenty minutes from being scheduled to start and he had no idea where he was. All he knew was that he was in an unknown city in Australia, on a winter’s day, and the grey sky over head made everything look the same.

It was cold out and threatening to rain, which wasn’t helping the panic feeling settling within his stomach. Alex was past the point of caring about making it to the interview in time or even at all, just as long as he could find his way out of the maze of streets and back to the hotel by the venue he’d be performing at tomorrow. Wherever that was.

What made this all worse was that his phone was on its last bar of power and had no choice but to turn it off until he really needs it. Which was right about now, but who could he really call? None of the guys would be able to pick him up. He didn’t even know what street he was on.

As he got to the end of the street, Alex stopped and glancing around noticing he had been past here already. Either that or somehow eight streets away their happened to be the same three shops right next to each other with the exact same displays outside their doors. Alex cursed under his breath settling for searching for a street sign.

It turns out the pole was on the corner like it was meant to be but no signs attached. Perfect.

Just then a short older looking lady in a bright purple coat carefully stepped around him turning the corner. On a split second thought Alex reached out tapping her shoulder gently, gaining her attention with a shy but confused smile.

“Excuse me, but do you know which street this is?”

The lady frowned almost apologetic shaking her head.

“No, sorry.” She said in a heavy accent Alex couldn’t really place. “I’m just on holiday here, all I know is that the bus station is down there.” She pointed down the sidewalk where she had been heading.

“Oh. Um, thanks anyway.” Alex murmured a little disheartened.

The lady shot him another apologetic look before continuing on her way. Alex sighed and decided to turn back the way he came heading for a small cafe he past not all that long ago. At least he thought it was back that way somewhere.

His wet shoes slapped the pavement heavily and about half way down the street a couple of water drops landed on his face, causing him to jump startled. Looking up with a frown, more fell on his face; light and misty, just enough to make him damp if he was out in it for too long. Alex trudged on trying to keep undercover much as possible which wasn’t all that easy considering most shop displays took up half the walkway. It was hard to imagine a sunny day where the streets were full of shoppers and trying to get down the street in less than half an hour.

As he passed a few more shops Alex spotted the cafe he had seen earlier. By now from walking in and out of the cold rain his hair was damp, stuck flat against his skin. The odd drop fell down his forehead landing on the front of his blue jacket that was getting just as damp. The fabric was only thin, letting some of the water though that was just as cold as the air temperature. He hoped that the cafe was warm inside.

Just as he was about to reach the closest table though, a lady roughly about the same age as him walked out, clutching a drink frowning thoughtfully at the rain like she wasn’t sure if she should go out in it.

Alex cut around one of the tables that were beginning to become wet to stand undercover where she was in the building doorway. It didn’t provide a great amount of cover though, just enough.

“Hello,” He greeted pushing away some of the damp hair that was sticking to his cheeks.

The girl looked at him startled for a second before smiling softly, settling for a small wave in reply instead of speaking.

“I’m kind of lost; do you think you could help me?” Alex asked biting down on the inside of his cheek.

If there was one thing that freaked Alex out, it was getting lost in a city by himself and then having to ask for help. It wasn’t that he felt week for asking strangers for help or anything like that, but there had been a few times where people had sent him in the wrong direction on purpose. He really did not want to end up with that problem again right now. He was lost enough as it is.

The girl blinked at him seeming to hesitate for a second, glancing around them almost a little unsure. Alex raised an eyebrow confused wondering if she could understand English. Though if she was just in a cafe by herself and ordered a drink, then she had to know at least a little, right?

Suddenly the girl did something Alex really didn’t expect. Placing her drink down on the table besides her, the girl - lady, whichever - picked up what looked to be like a notebook and pen hanging from her neck, which Alex hadn’t noticed. She scribbled something down and held out the tiny book for Alex to read.

‘Sure, where are you heading to?’

When Alex looked up from the book the girl reached up pointing to her throat shaking her head. She opened her mouth, no sound escaping before giving a little shrug. It took a second for Alex to realise what she meant. No voice.

Surprised, he looked at her throat noticing a faint scar running down the front only a few centimetres long. He blinked shocked before quickly clearing his throat hoping he didn’t seem rude staring.

“Oh,” He blurted. “Umm...I’m trying to find my way to the, er, Kings Park Hotel.”

The girl nodded looking down the street thoughtful, if she was bothered by Alex’s reaction she didn’t show it while twirling the pen around in her fingers. It remained Alex of how Rian twirled his drum sticks between songs, it was very similar.

“I was going to the Hot FM studio but I doubt I would make it in time now, not that I know where that is either.”

A sudden cold burst of wind slammed into the doorway of the shop showering the two in the light rain for a moment. There was a squeal that came from inside the shop followed by laughing. Alex shivered and took a couple of steps into the almost empty cafe hoping the rain couldn’t reach there. The lady followed after grabbing her drink and slid in behind the wall away from the wind if there happen to be another random burst.

It was one thing to be lost in a city but another to be lost in a city on a shitty day like this. Today was the worst luck ever. Alex tugged his jacket closer around him crossing his arms in attempt to keep his hands from freezing. It didn’t really help.

A flash of paper caught his attention.

‘Hot FM is a long walk away from here. You’d need a taxi to get there today.’

“A taxi is the reason why I’m in this mess actually.” Alex muttered. “Plus I won’t make it there in time so there is no point really.”

The lady nodded and looked to have mouthed the word ‘okay’. She twirled the pen around in her fingers again looking down at her notepad. Another burst of wind whipped though, slapping Alex’s damp air against his forehead. It actually occurred to him then that he didn’t know this girl’s name yet.

“What’s your name?” He asks out of nowhere tilting his head to the side curious.

Unfazed, the girl quickly writes something down extremely fast and showed Alex with a smile. For someone that could write really fast it was very neat, but that wasn’t what surprised Alex. This woman seemed to be full of surprise so far.

‘I’m Anna, nice to meet you Alex.’

Alex let out a half choked off laugh shaking his head in amusement.

“You know my name?” He asked though it was a pointless question.

The girl – Anna, flashed a small grin nodding her head. She made a moment gesturing someone putting on headphones then pressing play on an invisible MP3 player. It was easy to understand that.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Anna.” Alex said honestly.

Really what were the odds of this? Arriving at a random cafe he happened to pass earlier, bump into someone that was possibly able to help him and be a fan of his band. Small world, but right now wondering about that wasn’t very important. All Alex wanted to do was get back to the hotel, out of the rain and into a warm shower.

He looked out of the cafe for a short moment checking the rain; it was still the same as before, light and dampening. The street now had an even cover of water making it look like a huge mirror reflecting the opposite buildings.

“Uh, is the hotel walking distance from here? Not that I really want to go out in that but I don’t want to catch another taxi, the first trip was bad enough.”

Once again Anna quickly wrote a new answer in her book effortlessly. Alex wondered for a moment how long she had to do that to communicate. Necessary as it was, wouldn’t it be annoying in the long run?

‘Yeah, it is. Taxis are known to be bad here. What happened?’

“At first he had no idea where we were going, and then he said something about an emergency call when there was none. He left me on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and I’ve been walking around for about an hour now trying to find where I am.”

Anna frowned and let out what was guess to be a sigh. Alex watched a little intrigued as she wrote in her book, her words flowing across the paper much like the emotions on her face as each new bit of ink marked the page. She was very expressive; Alex realised and wondered if he looked like that when writing new lyrics. It wasn’t really something you noticed people doing very often.

After staring for a moment too long Alex looked away back out at the street where the rain was more real droplets than drizzle now. He still didn’t want to seem rude and offend her, she was being helpful and he really needed help right now.

A click of fingers had him snap his head back around. Anna unclipped the book actually handing it over this time.

‘The hotel is not really close to here, but within walking distance. The easiest way to get there is to take a right from here, cross the street, keep going straight until you get to the one way street. Go right, left at the end of the street, right again and you should arrive across the street from the carpark at the back of the hotel.
I am actually heading home now which isn’t far from the hotel. I can walk you half way there if you’d like?’

Alex let out a breath almost in relief finally knowing that he would make it back to the hotel now without his band mates filing a missing persons report or something. He looked up from the book, a grateful smile pulling at his lips.

“Thank you. And that would be great. You’re not going out of your way though, if you walk with me?”

Anna shook her head before smiling. She placed her hands together showing two people walking forward before they split off into two directions. One came to a quick stop while the other took right, left then right again like she had written down. Alex chuckled at her little simple demonstration. Despite the fact Anna could not talk she defiantly knew how to get her point across in way anyone could understand. It was endearing.

Alex handed back the book for Anna to clip back on the long chain around her neck. She picked up her drink from the table besides her. Steam was still floating up from the open top, more noticeable with how cold it was. Alex looked away up at the menu board over the counter. A hot drink sounded so nice right now. And the sooner he got something warm sitting in his hands the sooner they wouldn’t feel like ice blocks anymore.

The smell of fresh coffee waffling around the room was extremely tempting. Even more so with the smell of rain outside. Alex turned around when he felt a light tap on his shoulder noticing a piece of paper held up for him to read.

‘The rain looks like it might stop soon. Do you want to wait a few minutes to see if it does?’

Alex glanced outside again. The light rain had turned back into drizzle and with luck it would stay like that or stop altogether.

“Yeah. I want to get something warm to drink before we go anyway.” Alex said nodding his head towards the counter. “Seriously though, it is always this cold here?” He added in an afterthought.

Anna’s face split into an amused grin like if she was laughing, just with no noise tumbling out of her mouth. Alex couldn’t help smiling as he turned heading towards the counter and wondered what her laugh would’ve sound like. Musical most likely.

It took hardly any time at all to place the order and be handed the warm plastic cup. It stung for a moment from the sudden temperature change but Alex clutched the cup close saying a short thanks to the cafe worker. Taking a sip he could almost fell the heat swirling around in his stomach. Alex defiantly went to the right place at the right time today that’s for sure.

He really didn’t want to think of what would have happened if he didn’t decide to come to this cafe.

Turning back towards the doors he saw that Anna was standing exactly where she was before; waiting while looking out at the road. She had been right about the rain and it had all but stopped completely now. It still looked beyond dreary and dull but the low lying clouds weren’t going to be gone anytime soon.

“I’m ready when you are.” Alex announced coming to stand besides Anna.

She smiled and gestured with her hand to go forth. The two stepped out onto the sidewalk and into a breeze of ice cold air. For a second Alex wondered if they really should leave the cafe at all.

They went right, heading for the end of the street. This time though Alex wasn’t trying to avoid the rain but the water drops dripping off the edges of the shop overhangs. For a start he didn’t miss many gaining a few ice cold drops down the back of his neck. With how seriously cold the water was you’d think it would be ice.

“It doesn’t really snow here does it?” He asked trying to remember anything he knew about Australia.

Apart from the cities he’s been to before and what he learnt about the native animals at the Sydney Zoo that time, he really couldn’t think of anything else. Anna shook her head making a slow movement with her hand downwards while wiggling her fingers. She then held her hand out catching a couple of drops of water. Alex could only guess that she meant rain.

They both walked around a huge puddle of water where a storm drain was obviously blocked and now causing that part of the street to lightly flood. Following Anna’s lead they quickened their pace to get away from it before any cars came along. That was when Anna handed over her notebook pointing to a sentence in the middle of a page that was part of a conversation she had with someone else at some point.

‘I’ve never seen snow.’ And underneath it wrote; ‘What’s it like?’

Alex doubt he was meant to answer the question but did anyway handing the book back.

“Snow is beautiful. Even better when it hasn’t been touched since the last fall. There are really nice photos out there but it’s never as good as seeing the real thing, and snowball fights are probably the best thing ever.” Alex said around a fond smile.

Anna smiled eyes bright with curiosity. They reached the end of the street and carefully crossed over avoiding more puddles as they went. A guy in a suit came jogging past mumbling about being late again holding a broken umbrella, he managed time to smile at them though.

Tapping Alex’s arm, Anna held out her drink which Alex took allowing her to flip to a clean page in the book to write something new down.

‘I’d like to see it one day, when I get a chance.’ She wrote. ‘Maybe take a holiday somewhere.’

“You’d love it; snow is defiantly something you need to see in person.” Alex smiled.

Anna eyes lighting up almost like a kid on Christmas and glanced around like she was trying to imagine the street covered in snow. Alex chuckled and was just about to hand the drink back but Anna unclipped her pen again.

‘You must see a lot travelling around.’ She wrote sounding more of a question than a fact.

Nodding his head, Alex grinned launching into a whole bunch of different tour stories of places he had been to. Including holding the Koala at the Sydney Zoo once and feeding the Kangaroos. It was easy to talk to Anna, Alex quickly noticed.

He had sort of expected to feel a bit of an awkward void back at the cafe when he first learnt she couldn’t talk. But it wasn’t there at all and it was almost like talking to a person he had known for years. Anna wasn’t the first mute person Alex had met but far the most open, and not being all star stuck over that fact he was in a band she liked made everything easier. He really couldn’t remember a time lately where he had talked to someone like this that he didn’t live in a tour bus with; it was refreshing in a way.

It was sort of a given fact but she was a really good listener, adding to the conversation whenever she could, however she could. Bright smiles, hand movements and silent laughter. Being mute didn’t even seem to faze her or hold her back any.

The question burned on the edge of Alex tongue though; why couldn’t she talk, why did she have the scar on her throat? He wanted to ask, but would that be rude asking after only knowing her for roughly half an hour or so?

When they were about to cross the third street – or was that fourth? - Alex took a deep breath before drinking what remained of his coffee. Curiosity killed the cat, or saved it, either way.

“You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but...why don’t you have a voice?” He asked a little timid and unsure. “Sorry if-“

Anna cut him off holding her hands up and shaking her head quickly. She reached over patting his arm in a way of saying it was ok. As they got to the other side of the street she stopped, flicking through her book quickly searching for something. Alex had his hand out ready this time when she passed it over.

The page was more tattered then the rest Alex had seen, ink fingerprints and smudges littered the side proving the amount of times she had to show this to people. It had to be the most used page in the book though it had only been written on once. Alex frowned feeling bad that he had asked now, but read what was written nonetheless.

‘I was in a car accident when I was ten; a four car pileup. One of those cars was carrying huge sheets of window glass. On impact it went everywhere causing one shard to be imbedded into my throat. Somehow it missed almost everything vital apart from my voice box and windpipe. The doctors tried to reconstruct my voice box but there wasn’t much they could do; too much scar tissue. I can squeak a little which hurts, but that’s about it. Been silent every since.’

Looking up slowly Alex and saw a small smile shine on Anna’s face. She flipped the page over. This one had a lot of scratched out words and sentences like she hadn’t know exactly what to write until she finally settled on something.

‘I’ve lived with it for more than half of my life now. I’m used to it. It’s just another reason why I stand out different from a crowd, shine in a different light that not many people get to.’

She was still smiling shyly when Alex looked back up at her and shrugged, starting to walk again. Alex blinked a couple of times then jerked into movement following, catching up quickly. Another burst of cold wind slammed into them ruffling their hair around but it went ignored for the most part.

“That’s...” Alex started shaking his head a little lost for words.

It wasn’t like he really had anything he expected to be the reason why, but still. Trying to be sneaky about it Alex glanced at the scare on Anna’s neck and being closer than he was before he could actually see how jagged it was.

He also noticed there was more than one scare; there were three.

“That must be hard though having that happen at such a young age.” Alex eventually settled on saying.

Anna nodded softly and lifted her hands up in a ‘well, what can you do about it?’ motion before flashing a bright smile. Once again she flipped the page over in the book revealing not only words this time but a cartoon picture of a girl – looking very much like Anna – sitting by a tree watching the clouds. Under the picture wrote ‘there’s beauty in silence’.

Alex smiled looking down at the little drawing. For a moment he couldn’t believe the courage this lady had. To go thought something like that, loose her voice at ten and then growing up completely adapting to it without it changing the view on herself. She openly showed it, embraced it and just lives life the best she could when she could have chosen to let it bring her down.

None of the other mute people Alex had met was like this; they were all desperately shy relying on whoever they were with to do a lot of things. Anna was independent as they came in the best of ways. It was rather inspiring.

Alex was just about to say as such when a sudden drop of cold water landed on his hair rolling down his scalp towards the back of his neck. He gasped as it sent violent shivers down his spine. Next to him Anna jumped slightly and that was all the warning Alex got before a heavy downpour of rain surrounded them out of nowhere.

Where they were on the street, there was no cover. No trees or anything that could slow the flash downpour any. Anna suddenly took Alex’s wrist pulling him along almost looking like she was laughing a little while shielding her face the best she could with one hand. Alex was still holding the little notebook and quickly shoved it in his jeans pocket for safekeeping tugging his jacket down in hopes to cover it more.

They ran almost all the way up the street, gaining weird looks from people sheltering inside doorways huddling together like wet birds. By then Alex was laughing along, ignoring the fact the rain was seeping in through his jacket like he wasn’t even wearing one. Sure the rain was cold, really fucking cold with the wind, but it was fun. It was made even better when they came across a spot where another storm drain was blocked leaving a huge puddle they ran though, splashing water everywhere.

Alex noticed the little hidey-hole first; just a small gap between two buildings with enough shelter from the rain for maybe two, three people. Somehow he managed to spin around in front of Anna placing his free hand on her waist and tugged them both into the tiny dry area. They hit the wall with a soppy thud and water dripped down around their feet. It was safe to say Alex was soaked now, Anna feared better wearing a light raincoat but that didn’t look like it far from bleeding water too.

“Well, I didn’t expect that.” Alex chuckled a bit breathless.

Anna nodded letting go of his wrist breathing a little heavily herself. She poked her head around the corner only to pull back quickly as a gust of wind whipped the rain sideways right past her face.

“Whose stupid idea was it to walk on a day like this?” Alex smirked playful raising an eyebrow.

Laughing silently Anna pointed at both her and Alex. He chuckled squishing himself into the corner further to avoid the wind. It was hard to tell which one was worse; the wind or the rain? Maybe even both.

Alex remembered the notebook in his pocket and quickly pulled it out. One of the corners was a little wet and the back cover was damp. Overall though, it looked like the pages were saved from any serious water damage. He took her hand placing it gently in her palm. Anna smiled thankfully at him clipping the book back onto the chain, and then tucked the whole thing under her coat.

They both huddled against the dry bricks watching the rain hoping it would stop at least sometime today. For around ten minutes it kept looking like it was starting to lighten up before coming down just as heavily as before. The wind continued to blow the water sideways soaking everything in its path. Now all they needed was it to start thundering and they had the perfect storm.

Eventually it lightened up enough for Anna to suggest walking again and nice as it was standing where they were, there was no point waiting around. It wasn’t like they couldn’t get much wetter than they were now. That hot shower Alex had thought about sounded even better than food right at this moment.

He agreed letting Anna lead the way again and almost got whipped in the face by her long hair stepping out of off the hidey-hole. Just a couple of meters away there was a ‘one way’ street sign pointing right. Didn’t Anna say something about turning right at a one way street? Or was it left? Alex couldn’t remember.

As they got closer to the sign Anna slowed down the pace until they came to a stop on the corner. Being out in the open away from the buildings the wind felt like it was coming from all directions pushing what was left of the light rain in their faces. Alex realised that he could no longer feel his nose, much less his whole face anymore and that his hands and feet were tingling almost painfully. He was surprised he wasn’t shivering though, probably too cold to even do that he figured.

Next to him Anna almost shook wrapping her arms tightly around her waist. Alex wanted to reach out, pull her closer into his arms acting as some kind of wind block. Even if he did, it wouldn’t do anything being wet as they were. There would be no warmth in the embrace.

“Is this where we split up?” Alex asked after a beat controlling the frown wanting to pull at his lips.

Anna nodded a little sad like. She looked up at him unravelling her arms and pointed left across the street. Making an invisible house drawing with her fingers, she gestured the way she pointed holding up eight fingers.

“You live at number 8?” Alex guessed confused.

Anna shook her head.

“You live eight houses down that way?” He guessed again receiving a bright smile in reply. “Do I have far left to walk?” He asked after a beat.

Shaking her hand in a so-so motion Anna unzipped her coat pulling her notepad and pen out. She shuffled closer to Alex and used their bodies to try and keep the page dry as she wrote, letting him read over her shoulder at the same time.

‘Not really. Turn right here and walk to the end of the street, cross over to the left. At the end of that street go right and keep walking until you see the carpark opposite of you. That’s the carpark at the back of the hotel.’

Anna ripped the page out giving it to Alex on a second thought. Just in case he got confused and ended up lost again. That was the last thing she wanted to happen, plus Alex had been lost enough for one day.

Alex let his shoulder slump in relief and any panic that was still sliding around in his stomach disappeared completely knowing now that he was so close to being back with his friends and having a solid roof over his head.

“Thank you. Really. I would be still wondering the streets lost if you hadn’t of helped. The band probably thought I’ve been kidnapped or something. So thank you.” Alex said full of honestly and relief along with a thankful smile.

Anna smiled bashfully pink dusting her cheeks and mouth two words slowly for Alex to understand. You’re welcome.

Alex grinned beyond grateful for her help. Not only she give in directions, she even walked him over half way - though it was on the way to her house - just to make sure he didn’t get lost again. It was probably one of the nicest things someone had done for Alex in a long time, not including all that fan art the band received on a daily bases.

“Can I have a hug from my rescuer?” He asked holding his arms open, soppy jacket stuck to his skin.

Letting out a silent laugh Anna stepped into his arms. It felt a little awkward with all the wet clothing and numb limbs but they made it work. It was probably the wettest and coldest hug Alex has ever had but probably one of the best considering. He held her a little tighter hoping to prove how grateful he was. If only he could do something in return.

An idea popped into his head and he pulled away holding out the piece of paper she had given him.

“Are you going to the concert tomorrow?”

Anna grinned nodding enthusiastically eyes brightening up like they did when they were talking about the snow. Alex could help but chuckle at her excitement.

“I’m going to try and set up something for you as a thank you,” Alex stopping, holding his hand up when Anna looked like she was going to shake her head. “I want to. You helped me so I’m going to help you get you the best All Time Low concert experience I can. So if it’s not too creepy, can I have you email?”

She nodded taking the piece of paper Alex held out and quickly wrote down her email. Clipping the pen back to its place on her chain, she looked at Alex in slight disbelief and shook her head softly. She reached out pulling him into another hug; her doing the thanking this time.

Without any warning a new flash downpour of rain slammed down on them and the pavement shocking them both. Releasing Anna from the hug, Alex pulled back with a bright grin that she matched despite the fact they were once again caught in heavy pouring rain.

“We better get out of this rain before we get hyperthermia or something!” Alex called over the noise the rain made of the tin sign next to them. “Hopefully I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

Anna nodded smiling again as she tried to cover her eyes. With only a slight moment of hesitation she turned looking for cars and half ran across the street.

Alex didn’t let himself leave yet, not until she had made it across the street to the opposite corner safely. She turned around waving and only then Alex started walking but not before waving back.

Her smile was the last thing he really saw before they both turned around at the same time heading home. Or temporary home in Alex’s case.

He already missed her company; loud and bright in its own unique way. He smiled though remembering the last hour, glad that the taxi guy left him lost in the middle of nowhere. If it wasn’t for him Alex wouldn’t have met her and instead would be at the radio station wrapping up his interview hoping that something more awesome happened on this dreary day.

The rain for a moment felt like it was getting heavier with how much it stung hitting any bear skin and after about ten steps he started to run. It didn’t help much with the amount of water splashing into his face and eyes but he needed to get out of the rain, into a hot shower and dry clothes.

Repeating the directions Anna gave him over and over in his head, he managed to cross both streets in a record time without taking a wrong turn. And finally, fucking finally, he caught sight of the back of the hotel. Or what there was to see of it in the sheet of water.

It took another five minutes until he finally reached the hotel lobby looking like a drowned rat and completely out of breath. One of the ladies behind the desk gasped along with a couple of other people. He paid them no attention trying to figure out if there was any possible way to getting to the elevators without soaking everything he touched.

“Alex!”

Snapping his head up Alex saw a mop of brown and blond hair rush towards him. Jack slammed on the breaks though, stopping his leap for Alex in midair once he realised how wet the lead singer was.

“Dude,” Jack laugh. “What the hell happened? You looked like someone dropped a pool on your head!”

Alex laughed shaking his air out sending a whole bunch of water at Jack who yelped. He smiled thinking back on the last hour. Sure he got horribly lost, stick in the rain, whipped and slammed by ice cold wind...but it all felt just minor details compared to the fact he got to meet someone like Anna. A person that defiantly shined from the crowd in her very own light.

“It’s a long story.”