your static voice beside mine

time to say goodbye

Josh is still shaken. Nothing will be normal again. He can barely sleep, he doesn't eat much. His conversations have dwindled and faded out.

He can't even focus on his job, which Chris notices. He pulls him aside to an empty corner of the warehouse, but Josh barely reacts.

"Hey. You've seemed off recently. Are you alright?" Chris asks him with concern. Working together every day has made them good friends, maybe even more than Josh has come to know.

"I just...I have a lot on my mind." This wasn't necessarily a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

"You can talk to me," Chris says as he puts an arm around Josh's shoulder.

"No really, I think I'll be fine. I just...I don't know." That much was true. He didn't even know anymore.

"Ok. I'm here if you need me," he says, slowly returning back to his work. Josh looks around the warehouse. Empty. Silent.

Gone.

He had to leave. Before Chris could react, Josh was already heading out the door, trying to chase away the memories attacking his head. He makes it into his car and fumbles with the keys. They drop to the floor and Josh reaches to get them, only to discover something else.

He grabs a tannish brown paper sleeve and pulls it up to his lap, where a CD falls out. The CD that Chris gave him a while back with his band's music. As Josh speeds away, he pops the CD into his radio and loses himself.

He recognizes the first song called Time to Say Goodbye. The lyrics and the unusual nature of the work had stuck with Josh ever since the first time he heard it. He didn't realize he missed the sound of the song. The memories jab at his head again, bombarding him as he loses focus. Everything reminds him of...

He's gotta get out of here. Nashville never felt closer.

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

The mid-afternoon sun shines through his window as Josh stares at the unzipped duffle bags on his bed. His drums were gone, already packed up and (surprisingly) fit into the back of his trunk. Most of his things were small enough to be put in boxes, and none of the furniture was his anyways.

His clothes were neatly folded and put in his bags, his room now feeling vacant as everything was gone. He didn't like the feeling.

As he gathers the remainder of his things, he takes one last look at his apartment. He didn't even tell his roommates he was leaving. He'd find a way. Maybe while he was driving he'd call them. Or maybe he'd slip away without another word. Both wonderful ways to evade into bliss.

He closes the door of his apartment and slowly walks down the stairs, that same monotonous hull breathing life into his aging bones. He'd always overlook the daily constants of his life until it was too late.

He makes his way to his car and places the last of his belongings into the empty seats. But just as he was about to get in and leave this place behind, a magnetic force pulled him back.

"Where are you going?" Chris asks, sneaking into his view as he walks towards Josh.

"Nashville." Josh didn't have the energy to lie anymore.

"Nashville? And what are you going to do there?" Chris says with concern as he notices all of Josh's things stuffed in his car.

"Music. Or something. I don't have a plan. I just need to get out of here. And don't try to tell me to stay," Josh forces out, knowing that it needed to be said.

"I wasn't planning on that. I just wanted to invite you somewhere. I've been worried about you," he admits as Josh's gaze softens. "I guess it could be like your last hoorah before you leave."

Josh sways uneasily as Chris continues.

"You should come see my band again. We're playing at Newport this Saturday," Chris says coaxingly.

"Really?" Josh asks. He didn't even know if he'd be up for that.

"I know how much you liked it last time," Chris pleads as Josh thinks back to their first show that he went to. He has to admit that it was pretty spectacular. "I promise that you'll have fun. It'll be a short set too. Please?"

"Oh what the hell?"

At this point, he didn't have anything else left to lose.