Page 52 of Behind the Lights

Worse than when you found me

I need to find my own way

Not rely on anyone else

Stand on my own two feet

With no one holding my hand

It’s time to stop dreaming and face reality

The one where your heart doesn’t belong to me

I need to find another to give mine to

But you have no idea how hard that will be

Chorus:

It’s time to move on

Time to let my heart heal

You’ve broken me down

Left me failing to believe

You failed me, when I put my trust in you

And I failed myself by believing what you said, was true

Finally able to stand on my own

Living in no one’s shadows, but my own

Feeling the sun shine down on me

Reborn…to my own…

Now the time has come

For me, to move on

“Dude, this song is depressing as fuck,” Diamond complained.

“Yeah, but it’d make a stellar ballad,” I added. “Good call on making it an acoustic.” But it was full of so much pain that it made me sad. We used to be able to talk about everything, Stoli and I, and more than anything I wished he’d open up to me again. I missed us.

I glanced over, hoping to catch his eye, but he was looking everywhere but at me and was once again fiddling with the dog tags around his neck. We were still broken, and I needed to find a way to fix it before it was too late.

He played the music he’d written alongside it while I tried to fit the lyrics in. After a couple of tweaks, we were good to go and ready to record it. Stoli had done all the leg work and it was clear this one had been at the forefront of his mind.

“Stoli,” I whispered, hoping only he could hear me.

“Yeah?” He kept his eyes focused on tuning his guitar.

“This song,” the words bunched up in my throat. I stared at him, willing him to read my mind.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He stormed off down the hallway.