The Stars in Your Sky Aren't the Same Stars in My Sky

I started as Mikey brought in the guitar.

Shit went crazy during that song. The rain picked up pretty suddenly and I decided during the second chorus to crowd walk and they picked up the chorus pretty fast. When we moved from that into Mobile Bones it just got crazier. It was like every kid knew that song and I had Mark and James scrambling to try and pull me from the pit during the song.

"Oh my god." I breathed heavily into the microphone. We only had the cover and Drown before the set was over, but these kids were insane.

"You guys are amazing, but we're going to slow it down." Someone threw my beanie up on the stage and I kicked it over towards the monitor board before helping James bring the keys board back.

"So as a few seem to know who we are, you will know that before me there was a singer named Jake. We've all known each other for more than ten years now." I tested the keys for a second.

"Well Jake holds a special place in my heart. Seeing as we're in a new place for the first time, I'd like to play the first song I ever sang for him in his honor. Are you ok with that?" They cheered again.

I started the opening notes and a few kids picked up immediately. They knew the song, with the band it was by being as popular as they were I wasn't surprised. The kids tried bringing lighters out, but the rain ruined that so I settled for some waving arms. The rain got a little heavier as the guys came in and Mikey played the solo.

All the action made me extremely emotional and was thankful that the wind carried the rain to me. Mark was snap happy the entire time and I looked over at the guys as it ended so that Drown would start. I was worried about our time.

The song end and we said our goodbyes before cleaning up the stage and helping Deez Nuts get everything ready. In the interest of being supportive, I stayed behind to watch them. They were really good, something different then what I was used to. I left the stage area after they announced their last song.

"Hey do we leave tonight?" I just nodded to Mikey. The boys had all showered while I watched Deez Nuts and Mikey handed me a towel so I could as well.

"Yeah, our flight is pretty late. I think we are all on the same plane though." I made a motion to everyone around me.

We were and thank god the boys were too tired to do one of their stupid sing alongs. I however didn't get the pleasure of joining them in that slumber. My mind had been much more preoccupied, as usual. The album was almost ready to go and I just needed to pull the pieces I had together. Thanks to my late night, I had a full eight songs. The only price I paid was being supremely tired all day the next day. When I finally sat down on the floor of the theatre with the guitar to track the full parts, I almost fell asleep right there. Amity did sound check while I kept recording and playing through the parts.

"Jaxxxxxxx" I turned around to see them all on stage just staring at me.

"How do we look?" Joel asked as the lights played through the cycle for Open Letter.

"Like shit!" They all chuckled while I stood and hopped up to the booth, grabbing the god mike.

"You'd look better in a cool wash instead of just white. There's too much red for the song." I practically pushed the guy out of the way and re-cycled the song and changed the pieces in the program.

"What are you doing?"

"Making you look better for Bel, just accept it." I let the light cycle through the song again and they looked pretty impressed.

"I forget that you do lights." I shrugged to Ahren.

"Probably could've saved ya a fuck ton of money to have me just do it...." I chuckled before going back to my computer.

Needless to say, the show went fucking awful. Everyone said it was fine, but the lack of sleep caught up with me. I fell about half way through the set and landed right on my fucked up ribs. I thought for sure that I was dying from how painful it was. The boys went out to the merch booth to sign some stuff while I went to the dressing room and tried to calm the fuck down. My ankle was also in a large amount of pain, possibly sprained.

I barely made it past the door frame before I collapsed, having an issue breathing normally. Tears welled up in my eyes and every inch of movement burned through my torso.

"Fuck...." I mumbled as I crawled towards the bathroom. Expletives kept leaving my mouth and at one point I gave up and laid on the floor to try and breathe. My fist moved out and I pound on the ground in frustration before groaning.

"Why the fuck does this always happen to me?!" I yelled before trying to pull myself to the bathroom again. I was about half way through when it was like the full show all over again.

My body twisted painfully as I spasmed and turned. I coughed twice before gagging and throwing up a large amount of blood.

"That was a great- holy shit" Someone was by my side in an instant pulling my hair back as I vomited.

"Go get a fucking medic!" They picked me up despite my protest, and brought me into the bathroom.

"What the fuck" I picked up my head to look at the person trying to help me and saw Real bad.

"Real bad isn't it Real Bad?" I asked him with a small smirk.

"How the fuck can you be joking right now?!" His eyes were wide as he started trying to clean up the blood.

"It's the second time, I have two fractured ribs..." He looked at me dumb founded before grabbing me and bringing me out of the dressing room.

"Fuck the medic, you're going to the hospital." He carried me through the hallway, past a few of the other bands, and outside where we met the medic that JJ had grabbed.

"She apparently had two fractured ribs and took a bad fall on stage. She's having trouble breathing and coughing up blood."

"Ambulance." Every venue here seemed to have one on hand due to the number of kids that attended. This time it was me going to the hospital instead of a kid.

Real Bad lifted me up into the ambulance and put me down on the gurney while the door closed. The sirens were on and we were moving before I could do anything.

"Which ribs were broken?" One of the paramedics asked. All I did was point. At this point, it was almost impossible to breathe. As they kept asking me questions, it was harder to think and respond. The last thing I remember was Real Bad yelling something before I passed out.