Chapter
15
The
next day, Brian was released from the hospital.
He was still sore and achy from all his abrasions, but most of his pain
was not physical, it was emotional.
Suddenly, he had gone from a happily married man to a widower. He knew that Leighanne was gone, and there
was nothing he could do about it, but that didn’t stop his grief. There was also guilt. He knew the crash was not his fault; it was
the fault of driver of the truck that had plowed into them, who they had found
out had suffered a fatal heart attack at the wheel. But still, he felt that maybe if he would
have swerved the other way, taking the impact on his side of the car, Leigh
wouldn’t be dead. But then, he probably
would be, as well as Ashalyn, and Leighanne and Mike would be the ones going
through the pain that he and Ashalyn were going through.
In
just the past few days, since that night in the hospital, when they had held
each other, he and Ashalyn had grown extremely close. They had been friends for months now, but
they now had a bond that stretched past the bond of friendship. They were both going through the same
horrible experience, and they both knew they needed to be there for one
another. Somehow, when Ashalyn was there
with him, Brian still felt the grief, but he didn’t feel the despair, as he did
when he was alone. When he was with
Ashalyn, something deep inside his soul told him that it would eventually turn
out all right.
Only
a week after the fatal wreck, Brian, along with the members of JADE, went back
to the studio. Their album was due out
in only a month, and the girls, as well as Don, their manager, had all agreed
that Ashalyn’s song, “Slowly Dying” needed to be included on it. The girls had been delighted to hear that
Brian and Ashalyn were going to be singing it together. They knew it was going a great song.
Once
they were in the studio, the five of them warmed up and finally took their
places in the recording booth to record their vocals.
The
slow, melancholic music began to play, and the five of them leaned close to
their mics to sing the chorus together.
Then,
Brian went into the first verse, his eyes shut, his voice filled with emotion.
Why did you have to leave me?
Why did you make me cry?
This is not the way it should be.
I wish I could tell you goodbye.
They
all repeated the chorus again, and then Ashalyn took the second verse, singing
just as Brian had done, expressing the pain that filled her heart through her
voice.
Why does my heart feel so broken,
Why am I so empty inside?
I wish I could have awoken,
And found you right by my side.
After
repeating the chorus again, Brian took the third verse.
Why am I so full of sorrow?
Why does my soul want to cry?
How can I get through tomorrow?
Oh, why did you have to die?
They repeated the chorus again, and Ashalyn sang
the final verse.
When can I end the pain?
When will my heart go on?
I feel like I’m going insane.
Now that I realized you’re gone.
Finally, they all repeated the chorus again and
again, finally fading out.
“That was gorgeous!” Don cried from outside the
booth. “It’ll be wonderful on the
album.”
Ashalyn turned to Brian, tears shining in her
eyes, to see that his own eyes were shimmering with tears as well. Wordlessly, he opened his arms and she walked
into them, letting him hug her to his chest, as if sheltering her from the
horrible grief that had invaded her very soul.
***
