‘And that was All tim…’ The radio said before I switched it off. I was driving in a car, it looked rather old, and a bit run down. I can’t seem to put it together of where I am going, but I’m driving. In the dark. In the wet. Something which I hate the most. The rain fell onto the window, forcing me to switch on my wipes, which rapidly moved across in front of my eyes. It sound of the rain hitting the car, sounded so peaceful, so relaxing. The trees swayed from left to right, like they were waving to me, saying hello. I couldn’t help but smile.
But that’s when I saw bright lights, someone forgot to turn their high beam off. So I slowed down a bit, but not a lot.
The light became closer and a lot brighter. They weren’t on their side of the road anymore. I immediately put my foot on the break and then, the car spun out. The driver’s door, right facing the light.
Everything became a blur of lights and tears.
I didn’t scream.
I didn’t blink.
I stared into the lights like a bug ready to kill itself.
I gripped onto the steering wheel and prepared for the impact.

I jolted up and blinked my eyes. I looked around, to see myself in an unfamiliar room, it was smaller, less equipment and it was brighter. I felt a hand get pressed into my back. I snapped my head to the left and I saw Sarah standing there, with tears in her eyes.

‘Stella, what’s wrong?’ She questioned, bringing me into an unsure hug. I didn’t care if I didn’t remember her, but I could feel the connection so I hugged her back.

‘My dream, I was driving a car… and well, I think it was the night of my accident. It was raining and dark. The car, it skidded and the impact. It woke me up.’ I said in a mess of sobs. Sarah pulled me out of the hug and wiped the tears away.

‘How about I continue with the story. Get your mind off your dream? And look, you’re getting somewhere. You’re remembering.’ Sarah said, pulling a chair to the side of the bed, never letting my hand go.

‘I’d love that, thank you Sarah.’ I said. She smiled and started to explain.

*Back to Past*

‘You did not! No fucking way!’ I screamed looking to Sarah than to mum and Austin.

‘Oh but we did.’ Austin said, laughing a little as I had jumped out my seat and was jumping around.

‘Are you serious? Like we can go?’ Sarah said, not moving as much.

‘Well, yes. It’s not until like, middle of next year but we are going for two years.’ Mum said. I just jumped even more.

‘BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER! I CANT WAIT TO TELL VIC!’ Sarah yelled, screaming after. I ran over to her and placed my arms around her neck, swaying her while we chanted.

‘We’re going on tour! We’re going on tour!’ We yelled.

‘Okay girls, let’s eat.’ Austin said, dishing up some food.

After a while of eating and drinking, I thought I’d be annoying and ask questions.

‘Okay, so I have a pile of questions. So, where about’s are we touring?’ I asked.

‘Well, we are touring everywhere, all in one go, because. Well, no easy way to put this… Tonight alive are breaking up and Of Mice and Men are going to stop making music. So, we start in America, go to South America, and travel to Europe, Asia, than Australia. We have to go everywhere and anywhere, where we know we have fans because, now that we have winter, we want to see her grow up. I know that sounds bad but I mean, we love you guys as much as we love her.’ Mum explained.

‘So we get to see the world?’ Sarah asked. Austin just nodded his head.

‘Uh, so we leave in June or July?’ I asked.

‘June. You’ll go home in January, and we’ll pick you up in June. So we can kick start the tour.’ Austin said.

‘What other bands are going?’ Sarah asked.

‘We Are The In Crowd and A Day To Remember’ Ausitn said, smiling.

‘Yay, I get to see Tay!’ Sarah screeched.

‘And girls, you can’t tell anyone, okay. It’s a secret. Obviously, tell your dad Stella, and Sarah, tell Jackie but, you can’t tell Vic and all your other friends.’ Mum said, sad smile lingering her lips. We just nodded, this is a secret worth kept.

Finally, Sarah and I were in our room, well, she was asleep and I was arguing with myself, if I should message Nathan or not.

To: Nathan: Hey, It’s Stella… Uh, how are you?
From: Nathan: Oh hey. I’m good, how are you doing? By the way, you seem very nervous, it’s cute.
To: Nathan: How do you know I’m nervous. I’m not nervous. I was just a bit unsure, you could have been working.
To: Nathan: Oh and I am good.
From: Nathan: Oh, I’m not working. Good thing hey. I get to talk to you now. :)

Nathan and I talked until about 1 am. Wow, it’s sad, I’m not this dedicated to Jamie. And I like him for Christ sake. Sleep, come at me.

---

‘Happy birthday Stel. And have a save flight home okay.’ Mum said as she brought me into a hug. I hugged her back and then pulled away. I walked up to winter and gave her a quick hug and kiss.

‘Goodbye sweet pea. I’ll see you soon.’ I said kissing her head.

‘Bye, bye.’ Winter replied. I just smiled and looked over to see Dean, Sam and Nathan all standing behind mum. I’ve already said goodbye to them all. Same goes with Sarah. All we had to do was get on a plane and leave. Which was what we were doing right now.

Walking off the plane, finally back home, to see dad, Jamie and even meet Hannah.

‘Dad!’ I yelled, running to hug my dad, he smiled and opened his arms, picking me up and spinning me around.

‘Hey sweet cheeks, happy birthday!’ Dad said kissing my head.

‘Hey Oli.’ Sarah said approaching dad, they shared a hug and then we left.

‘So, dad… What’s it like to be engaged?’ I said, jumping up and down as I walked.

‘Well, it’s pretty great!’ Dad said, sounding like a girl who was fan-girling so hard.

‘So when do we get to meet her?’ Sarah said from the backseat.

‘Right now, she’s at home. Oh Jackie said that you’re staying at ours for a couple of night, if your cool with that?’ Dad said.

‘No problem with that at all.’ Sarah said, smiling. The rest of the way, we explained what happened while on our holiday, a part from the shooting.

We arrived home and dad was pushing me through the door, Sarah grabbing my bags, she insisted on it. I grabbed the door knob and turned it, opening the door, my head staring at my dad.

‘Stop pushing me, I ca…’ I started to say, but the light was switched on which a bunch of people screaming ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ I rolled my eyes and frowned towards me dad.

‘It wasn’t me.’ Dad defended.

‘Thanks for being the best sister EVER!’ Sarah said as she jumped in front of me and hugged me. By now, everyone who yelled at me, were talking in their own little groups.

‘I hate you so much.’ I said, letting no emotion slide.

‘Well, we both know you don’t. You saved my life.’ Sarah said, pushing me into the crowd of people. I smiled to a couple of dad’s friends who I’ve known forever to be met with Vic, Jamie, Tony, Brendon, Pete and Patrick, all smiling at me.

‘That’s fucking creepy. Stop that.’ I said standing in front of them. They all laughed a little and then they again smiled to me.

Sarah walked over to Vic and they shared a very long hug, Vic shredding a tear or two, seeing as Sarah did get shot and he couldn’t be there. I walked over to Tony and Brendon and smiled to them.

‘So, I hope I have news.’ I said to them both. Tony blushed as Brendon grabbed his hand and nodded. I screamed and gave them both a hug.

After a talk with Brendon and Tony, I smiled and hugged Patrick and Pete congratulating them on their relationship. Now, I only had to speak with Jaime and I was beyond excited.

‘JAIME!’ I yelled, running up to him. He picked me up and spun me around, leaving me dizzy when he put me down.

‘Stella! I missed you so much!’ Jamie said, bring me in for another hug. I nodded and laughed.

‘How was Christmas?’ I asked him.

‘A little hard. It didn’t feel like Christmas but Tyler and I had a good time.’ Jaime said.

‘How about tonight, I come over and we can open them presents that we need to open.’ I say, smiling to him. He nodded his head and was leaning in to give me a kiss, right until my dad showed up.

‘Baby, come meet Hannah!’ Dad says, pulling my arm and pulling me away from Jaime. I mouth a sorry before I am faced with a young looking girl, who had a bunch of tattoos, the same height as me, nearly and she had jet black hair.

‘Hannah, my darling, beautiful daughter Stella. Stel, my gorgeous fiancé, Hannah.’ Dad said, smiling.

‘Hi, it’s finally nice to meet you.’ Hannah said, bringing me into a hug.

‘It’s lovely to meet you also.’ I said. Now to say that it was awkward was an understatement. This was way more awkward then it should have been.

Notes