Green Eternity: Lost and Running

I didn’t want to open my eyes, I wanted to keep the picture of Scarlett just sitting there with her eyes closed imprinted onto the back of my eyelids forever. Unfortunately Dan had other ideas.
“Jepha” he poked me in the arm.
I grunted and rolled over to face the wall, I’m not ready to open my eyes yet.
“Jepha” he cooed as he poked my sides.
“Gahh Dan what do you want?” I grumbled turning over to face him.
“Jeph, you’re awake!” Dan smiled at me.
“Yeah, thanks to you” I sat up and got out of bed.
“We’re here dude”
“Where is here?”
“Canada”
Had I really slept that long?
My head thudded as light seeped its way into my eyes, I needed green tea.
“Green Tea, now” I ordered Dan.
He bowed to me and walked out to the kitchen, shouting good mornings to the others.
I looked at the clock, it was nearly lunchtime. We should be leaving for a sound check soon, more fans to meet, more things to sign.
At least everything was normal.
Scarlett was just a fragment of my imagination and I think I’m starting to handle that, I can go back to visit her every night and I’ll be happy for the rest of my life.
I quickly got changed and walked out to join the others.
The next few hours were a blur, we sat around for a while then moved into the hotel rooms, after that we went to the venue to do a sound check, then we sat around for a while, then we went and hung out with fans, then we sat around some more, then we played.
By the end of the set I was exhausted, the fans were amazing as always and I was upset knowing I didn’t have enough energy to spend more time with them.
I passed my bass to the tech waiting with outstretched hands, following Quinn for a while before taking a different route back to the hotel, walking up what seemed like a thousand stairs and then falling into my bed, back to Scarlett.

I was back at the beach, the water gently lapping against the rocks, Scarlett still sitting with her eyes closed.
She exhaled and giggled, falling sideways into me.
“What?” I laughed too.
“I remember the first concert of yours I went to” she turned around to face me properly, her eyes lit up with joy.
“You what?” I never knew she was a fan.
“When I was younger, I went to one of your concerts here, I met you too”
This really hit me, but then I shook it off, knowing this was just a dream, Scarlett was not real.
“I’ve met you before?” I was curious as to what I had to say for myself.
“Yes! You have! You were so sweet, took a picture with me and everything”
Scarlett reached into her pocket and drew out her wallet, passing it to me.
“See that’s you, that’s me and that’s –” she had pointed to us, but as her finger hovered over the last person in the picture her eyes welled up.
“I’m sorry Jeph”
To my surprise Scarlett got up and ran off, disappearing between the rocks.
My vision blurred and everything began to move, then, black.