Prologue

The rain fell, intermixing with his tears as the train sped past the countryside.  He was alone. 
Alone in the cabin, alone at home...Alone...And damn it hurt so much.  She had done what he
hadn’t seen coming, what he never would have suspected from her; she left him, finally getting sick
of his demanding schedule.  Every word she had said, he had memorized and it all danced around
in his head until thoughts were jumbled and feelings all became a big slush of loneliness and
emptiness.  Never before this had he experienced exactly what he sang, never before this had he
known all the words for what they were.  Before, they were just words, just lyrics.  Now they
stabbed at his heart and haunted his dreams.  He closed his eyes and swallowed back against the
lump of tears threatening to spill more.   The coolness of the window pane soothed slightly the
headache he had but what he really needed was sleep.  Sleep that had become so foreign to him,
just like everything else in his life.  He quickly swiped at his eyes when Lori slid open the door to
their cabin and glanced yet another worried glance at him.  Funny how a stranger seemed to care
more about him than his own bandmates.
“ Is it okay if I stay?” She asked, hesitating after he nodded.  She sat down on the seats opposite
him and watched his face as he watched the scenery.
“ Are you-”
“ I’m fine,” He said flatly, coming off as more aggressive than he had intended.  Out of the corner of
his eye, he saw her lips purse as she focused her gaze out of the window also.  He almost smiled. 
They certainly shared the attribute of short tempers.  The remainder of the trip was passed in
silence with no disturbances except for the occasional times Nick or Brian would poke their heads
in the cabin to see what was up.  The train finally slowed down to a stop at the station and AJ felt
the familiar butterflies in his stomach.  Back home after all this time...

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