Seems Like We Lost It All

A couple of weeks and passed and Madison was feeling great. She would almost dare to say she was happy. It was a strange feeling, really. She didn't feel like she could ever possibly be happy again after losing her husband and then finding out he'd been cheating on her for so long. But she was coming to find out that, despite what she used to think, Alex wasn't the only good thing in her life. She was discovering that it was possible to move forward and learn how to be herself again, even if she was still trying to figure out who she really was.

She was just grabbing her camera bag, about to leave the bus and head into the venue when Matt came back inside. "There is a crisis at the merch booth. Three of the four people who usually run it are in bed, sick with a stomach virus."

"Let me guess, you need me to fill in for them?" Madison sighed, placing her camera bag down on her bed.

"Will you?"

Madison sighed, before putting the camera bag back down again. "Why the hell not?"

Madison rushed inside and to the merch table where Samantha, the only one who'd managed to dodge the stomach virus, gave her a crash course in the prices and locations of all the different merch. She was not even slightly prepared for the onslaught on fans that swarmed the table as soon as the doors opened.

She barely had time to think as she took money and handed out merchandise. This went on for at least an hour before the area started slowly clearing out as everyone started trying to take their seats. Only a handful more people to deal with and she could finally sit down and take a break.

The last person stepped up to the table and Madison felt like she'd been hit in the chest by a ton of bricks. She recognized the woman immediately. Andrea. The woman from Alex's phone. The woman her husband had been having an affair with. But why would she be here? They were no where near California.

Madison knew she should just treat the woman like any other customer, but she couldn't stop herself from asking her, "Do you know Alex James?"

The woman took a quick step back, eyes flying up to study Madison's face. She didn't seem to recognize her. "I thought I did."

"What does that mean?" She knew she shouldn’t push the subject, but she couldn’t help it.

"We were together, for a long time. Then one day he just vanished. I never heard from him again. How do you know Alex? Do you know where he is?"

Madison regretted saying anything. Now she had to explain everything to this woman. "Samantha, I need to take a break now that it has calmed down." Madison didn't wait for Samantha's answer before jumping over the table and telling Andrea to follow her.

They went outside and Madison sank down onto the steps. She pulled her jacket tighter around her, the night air was freezing. "This is all going to be a shock to you, I'm sure. My name is Madison James. Alex was my husband."

Andrea gasped and looked away as tears filled her eyes. "Everyone told me Alex was too good to be true. With all the business trips he went on, everyone said he must be hiding something, but I never believed them."

"I know the feeling, believe me."

"You said he was your husband, why the past tense?"

"I only recognized you in there because I found what I thought was an old of Alex's when I was going through his things. It turned out to be the phone he'd been using to communicate with you. I found the texts and all the pictures of you." Madison took a deep breath before continuing. "Alex was killed in a car crash. It happened several months ago."

"He's....dead?"

"I'm afraid so. He was on his way home from a business trip. Though now that I know about the affair he was having, it probably wasn't a business trip at all."

"When?"

“January seventeenth.”

Andrea looked away quickly. “Yeah, umm.....he was w-with me.”

“You never knew he had a wife?”

“God, no! I would never be with someone if I knew they were cheating on someone to be with me.”

“I'm sorry to throw all of this at you and ruin your night .”

“No, no, no I’m glad to finally have answers. It really messed with my head when he just disappeared. I thought there was something wrong with me. I needed some time away from home, that’s why I’m all the way out here in Ohio. I came to visit my mother for a while and an old friend invited me to this concert with her. I never imagined anything like this, but I’m happy to know. Maybe I can finally pull myself back together for good now."

“Do me a favor and never think of him again. He was very obviously not a good person and he doesn't deserve for us to remember him. Don't let the memory of him cause you anymore pain. Move on, forget him.”

“I'll try, I really will. Now, I think I'm going to go try to enjoy this night out with my friend. God knows I need the distraction.” Andrea wiped her face before giving Madison a small smile and disappearing back inside.

The moment she was left alone, Madison burst into tears. She sat there on the stairs in the darkness sobbing. Right when she was doing so good, something like this just had to come along. Is this how it would always be? She would finally feel like she was making progress only for something to drag her back again? Would she ever fully recover from the fucked up situation Alex had left her in?

It didn't feel like it to her. At that moment she felt like Alex and the things he did would haunt her forever. She didn't want to think about it anymore, she didn't want to think about anything anymore. She got to her feet, wiped her face, and started walking. She thought she remembered seeing a bar just down the street.

-------------

Still on a high from the show, Brian climbed onto the bus. He was the last one to board. It wasn't until he had made it to the bunk room to grab a change of clothes that he noticed Madison wasn't there. It was almost time for the bus to pull out, headed for the next destination.

“Hey Matt, do you know where Madison is?”

“She had to help with the merch table tonight. Maybe she is still finishing up with that.”

Something didn't sit right about that with Brian, though he couldn't explain it. The show ended two hours ago, surely she would be done by now. Not wanting to seem like he was searching for her, he pulled his cigarettes from his pocket. “I’m going to smoke.”

He wandered back inside the venue and made his way to the merch table. There was only one person there and it wasn't Madison.

“Have you seen Madison?”

The girl rolled her eyes as she placed some shirts into a box. “I haven't seen her since before the show. She disappeared, left me to de-”

Brian didn't stay long enough to hear the rest of her sentence, he was already running back toward the bus.

“Madison is missing. She disappeared before the show started and hasn't been seen since. Something doesn't feel right about this, we have to find her.”

Brian was bouncing with nervous energy as he waited for the others to get dressed again and formulate a plan to look for Madison. After what happened in Vegas, he was very worried about her.

“Alright, Jimmy and Johnny can search inside the venue, Zack can look around the parking lot and ask if anyone has seen her. I’ll go east down the street we are on, Brian you can go west.” Matt gave them all instructions and they quickly moved to follow them. No one even bothered to make jokes about Matt thinking he was their leader like they usually would. They were all too worried about Madison.

Brian make his way down the street, keeping his eye open for any sign of her. There was nothing. He made it to an intersection. He had no idea which direction to go so just crossed his fingers and took a right turn. Three blocks down there was a small, dirty looking bar. He made his way inside. They weren't many people.

He went up to the bar where the bartender was wiping down the surface. “Have you seen a woman with purple hair in here tonight?”

He raised a finger and pointed toward a booth in the corner of the bar. Brian rushed over, finding Madison curled up on the seat, completely passed out.

He gently shook her and she groaned. He helped her sit up and she slowly woke up, blinking at him and seeming confused.

“You disappeared, everyone is out looking for you. I need to get you back to the bus.”

She nodded and allowed him to pull her to her feet. She was stumbling everywhere so he wrapped an arm around her to help keep her upright. Halfway back to the bus she tripped and fell. Brian scooped her up in his arms and finally got them to the bus.

The others were just walking up to check in. Matt looking relieved when he saw Brian coming up with a sleeping Madison in his arms.

“I'm going to put her in her bed, I'll come explain where I found her after.”

Matt nodded and opened the door so Brian could get Madison inside. He put her in his bed since it was on the bottom and he was too afraid of dropping her if he tried to get her into her top bunk.

He leaned down and began to remove her shoes. "You always rescue me," Madison mumbled before giggling.

"Of course I do, someone has to look after you when you make stupid decisions. I was so fucking scared something bad happened to you, especially after Vegas. You have got to take better care of yourself than this."

He finished with her shoes then pulled the blanket over her. She was already snoring again so he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving the room.