My morning alarm rings out a pleasant tone as the new day starts. Shit, guess I really needed more than a nap. I stuck some of the songs Anon and I had made together on my phone and most of them are my alarms. They are far beyond the screeching sounds most of the old VVRUM DRAMA songs were. Each time I listen to them, it brings my dream that much closer to reality, and I think we really can make a living off this. Anon is still snoring away as I lean up and crack my neck, stretching the sleep out of my wings with a flutter and rubbing my eyes. No more time for sleeping…it’s moving day and I can’t wait for us to finally have a place of our own.

I jab Anon in the ribs and he snerks out one last snore as he groans. “Ugh, it’s time already? Thought I was done with these damn alarms after we got out of school.” He sits up and slaps around for his phone before snatching it off the table, groggily scrolling through notifications.

“It’s the big day, though. A place all to ourselves so one more shitty day of alarms is worth it, I think. Don’t you?” I kiss him on the cheek, a little smirk on his lips as he nods and I hop out of bed. Most of my clothes are already packed away but I left out some nice casual wear for this. A tank top and some blue jeans, perfect clothes for busy work. Not going to bother with a shower till we are done, else I’m just going to be taking fucking two of them. I slip my clothes on and gesture over to Anon as he begrudgingly rolls out of bed, hitting the floor with a groan. I don’t know why he does that nearly every time he gets up.

He snaps up off the floor and stumbles over to his own pile of clothes, throwing on his normal green jacket and jeans combo that makes up eighty percent of his wardrobe, and gives me a thumbs up.

“Let’s get this shit loaded into the moving truck,” he says as he lets out a long yawn. “Sooner we are done, the sooner I can get back to shitposting.” He flips his phone into his pocket and stacks a couple of boxes together and heads out the door, smacking into the wall as he goes. That dweeb is going to get himself killed one day.

I shake my head and grab a few bags of clothes as I take stock of everything. Instruments will be going in last; I do not want to start my new life with a pile of shattered guitars. I can hear my mom call out to Anon as I hear a loud thud. Oh, for fuck’s sake! I hurry down the stairs to find him rubbing his head as my mom helps him back to his feet, stacking the boxes and handing them to him as he resumes his constant battle with gravity.

She sighs as he gets out the door and successfully doesn’t faceplant off the first step of the porch. She looks back at me with a little smirk and a shake of her head. “That boy…you packed extra first aid supplies, right?”

I point to the kit by the door that’s nearly full to bursting. “Prepared for everything and anything he will eventually run into or try to blow up.”

“You are going to have your hands full with him.”

I shrug. “At least nothing will ever be boring.”

“I suppose that is true.” She giggles as she turns to go into the kitchen.

I get out to the truck to find him in the back gingerly placing the boxes as close to the wall as he can. The poor dweeb still looks half-awake as I hop into the back and drop the bags by the boxes. I walk up beside him, sliding an arm behind his back and wrapping a wing around his shoulder.

“Doing alright there, dweeb? Got a lot to do. Want to make sure I’m not going to have to play doctor for another trip down the stairs.”

The bags under his eyes sag as he chuckles. “I’ll be fine, Fang. Just didn’t get to sleep till late. You were out fucking cold, though. Guess that soup did a number on you.”

“That and the panic attack didn’t do me any favors.” I let out a heavy sigh. “I’ll be glad to put this all behind us. A new start, nothing there except the memories we will make together. Even if my room is comfy, the thoughts of that day still keep torturing me every night we spend there.” I pull him a little closer, nuzzling my cheek against his. “I don’t think I would have been able to stay here if you hadn’t been around, Anon.”

He wraps an arm around my waist giving me a gentle hug. “Was glad to be with you. Have to admit, haven’t been entirely happy in your room, either. Lot of good things happened in that room but the worst one still stuck out like a sore thumb. I was always afraid we’d find some reminder that would send you into another panic attack or I’d have some fucked-up flashback to that day.” He shakes his head with a tired groan. “But after we get all this shit loaded up, that’s over. We’ll start our new life, together.”

I tender smile curls on my lip as I lean against him. “We’ll do it right this time, a real couple instead of ghosts in the same room.” I give him one last squeeze before pulling away from him as I thumb behind me. “Come on…let’s get this over with so we can rest in our new home.”

Another tired yawn escapes him as he nods and follows me back off the truck. On our way back, I see Naser carrying a couple boxes out the door and he smiles as we get up beside him. “Hey guys! Mom said I should help out. I mean I was already going to but she got my butt out the door.” He shrugs as he hefts the boxes into the truck and scoots them to the back.

“Thanks, Naser, I appreciate it. Moving suuuucks,” I say and he laughs as he hops back out the truck and follows us back in. With his help, we haul down boxes and bags quickly, my room becoming more and more bare as we pull everything from it. While Naser and Anon struggle with a dresser, I hop back up the stairs to look for anything we’ve missed and I hear the telltale sounds of power tools echoing from my bedroom. I peek around the door to see my dad busy breaking my bed down and carefully stacking the pieces together.

“Uh Dad, why are you taking my bed apart?” I stroll up beside him and he sets aside the drill to look back at me.

“You weren’t going to move out without taking your bed with you, were you?” He places another board on the stack as he crosses his arms.

I rub the back of my neck with a shrug. “I was just going to buy a cheap bed frame and a mattress after we moved in. Moving that thing would be a whole lot of fucking work with just me and Anon.”

“Fang.” His eyes zero in on mine as he smirks. “I know my daughter well enough to know you never would have been happy sleeping on some cheap cracker-thin mattress from a discount store in the mall.” He walks up and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Plus, you aren’t going to be moving all this stuff in by yourself. Naser and I will be coming with. I’d like to see where you are moving anyway, and I will not have any child of mine breaking their back on a crap mattress as they start their new life.”

I place my hand on his with a smirk. “Okay, you are right. I would have hated sleeping on a cheap mattress, but you guys have already done so much for us. I didn’t want to ask for anything more.”

His eyes soften as he sighs. “Fang, you could ask me for anything. You always could. I’ll always be there for you, trust me on that.”

I lean against his chest as I wrap my arms around him. “I know, Dad, thank you.” Not that there is too much more I want to ask of him. It’s my turn to live my life and if I just go around asking everyone else to do shit for me, I’ll never really be myself. We part and I grab my guitars as he gets back to breaking my bed down. I get back outside to see Naser and Anon finally shoving the dresser into the back of the truck before they wipe sweat from their foreheads.

I look inside to see the drawers still in it. “You morons know you could have taken the drawers out and it would have sucked a lot less to move, right?” They both look at each other before facepalming in unison. “Dweebs.” I hop in the back and find a place to safely secure the guitars so they don’t get crushed. Not a moment later, I watch Naser’s jaw drop as our dad hauls the mattress over his shoulder by himself before slamming it down into the back, making me jump.

“Holy fucking shit!” I stare at the mattress as he slides it into the back. “A little more warning, please? I don’t want to have a heart attack at nineteen, Dad.”

“Sorry dear.” He snickers. He fucking did that on purpose, goddammit. “Gonna go get the rest of it and we’ll be ready to go.”

He turns around only to be stopped by the petite form of my mother tapping her foot on the driveway. “Not without one more family breakfast, you aren’t.” She grabs him by the arm and drags him back into the house, all the while looking at us and tilting her head to the door.

“I guess we are eating before we leave,” I say and the three of us still by the truck shrug and head inside. Dad is already sitting at the front of the table as Naser and Anon fight over my chair before Naser flicks Anon on the nose, winning the battle as Anon backs away. I take my seat and Naser pushes me in before the two sit on either side of me. Moments later, Mom sets out a huge breakfast feast piled high with sausage, bacon, and eggs with fresh toast and orange juice. She sits down and smiles at us with a nod and we start picking at the pile.

I slowly put things on my plate, taking this moment to savor what might be the last time in a long time that I get fresh home cooking from my mom. It’s a feeling shared by the table as everyone—for the first time in as long as I can remember—calmly stacks their plates. No one is in a rush; all of us understand this is the day our family finally starts to go our separate ways. Naser is going to be moving out in a month. His classes begin at the end of summer, and he needs to get across the state and settled into his new dorm. It’s just going to be my parents all alone together for the first time in nineteen years.

My mom barely touches her plate, too busy looking at all of us as we enjoy our meal. I’m going to miss this, the fresh cooking that can chase any of my bad moods away in an instant, at least for a while. We haven’t been the closest for the past few years, but dinner with family was always something I looked forward to, even when I was acting out. From the corner of my eye, I see Anon picking at his bacon with a sad look on his face. He’s been loving having an actual family that gives a shit about him to spend his mornings with. His own parents haven’t even tried calling him since school ended…like he was a problem they were glad to be rid of when my dad took care of his college funding.

It hurts me to see him like this. He made his mistakes, but nothing deserving of having his family just forget about him. The last thing he said to them was that he was dating me. They never answered again after that. I don’t like thinking about it because I know exactly what that means. His son is dating a dino and to some people, interspecies relationships between humans and dinos is the worst fucking thing in the world. I guess his parents are just bigots…good fucking riddance, then. We’ll be better off without them in our lives if that’s how they act.

My hand finds his under the table and I squeeze it gently, the sorrow in his eyes evaporating as he smiles at me before continuing to pick at his food. He has a new family now. Well, not officially…yet…but my dad all but adopted him after he saved my life, and my mom never stops checking in on him. He’s getting all the love he never had, and it’s done so much good for him. He carries himself with confidence he never used to have.

After we all finish our food, nothing happens for a bit. All of us just quietly look at each other before we all turn to look at Mom. There are tears in her eyes but she’s still smiling, looking right at me. I don’t know what’s going through her head. I know she’s gone through hell ever since I tried to take my own life. I guess…I guess she’s just happy she gets to see me leave, ready to begin again. A bright new future for me instead of having to look at a headstone for the rest of her life.

After a few more moments of silence, she gets up and starts to take the plates away. I stand up too and expect her to get mad, but she just smiles as I pick up the rest and follow her into the kitchen. She puts her armful in the sink and after I place the rest in there, I turn to find her gazing up at me, the brilliant amber in her eyes glinting in the light as she smiles at me. She doesn’t say a word as she walks up to me, wrapping her arms and wings around me as she pulls me down to her, nuzzling her cheek against mine.

“I’m so proud of you, honey. You’ve made so much progress in such a short time and here you are…moving out to be together with Anon.” She leans away from me, tears glistening in her eyes. “My little baby girl is all grown up and I couldn’t be happier. You are going to live a wonderful life together, I just know it. I’m just so glad…” She sniffles a little as tears begin to flow. “So glad that I get to say that.”

Without a word, I pull her back into my arms, tears falling on my shoulder as she trembles in my arms. She’s gone through so much hell, beating herself up for a mistake that was completely my fault. It’s something I’m going to regret for the rest of my life. One day I’ll make it up to her, and she’ll never need to feel this way again.

“Thank you, Mom…” I squeeze her one more time before letting her go and she wipes her face with a hand towel. “Don’t think about what could have been…just think about how I’m going to be playing shows all across town, lightning up the whole place.” I smile and she smiles back. “I’m never going anywhere…I’ll always be a short drive away or a quick phone call. I’m never going to leave Volcaldera, this is my home. You are never going to lose your little girl.”

Her smile could light up an entire room all on its own and she nearly chokes up again before burying her face into my shirt. “You need to tell me when you do your first show. I want to go to it.”

My lip curls and I cough. Uhhhh…I don’t know if it’ll be safe for my tiny mother to show up to my shows, considering we will have a mosh pit regularly. She seems to sense my hesitation and I see a devious smirk crawl up her lip.

“What? Don’t think your mother could whoop someone’s ass if she needed to?” Wait, did she just fucking cuss? That’s like…the only time I’ve ever heard her say anything even close to that. She pulls away from me, placing her hand on her hip as she flicks out her claws. “Where do you think you got your sass from anyway, dear? I wasn’t always the dutiful housewife. I can teach those kids something if anyone tries anything dumb with me.”

Welp, this is an entirely new side of my mother I never fucking knew about. Okay, maybe she can handle it…or maybe I should put up a warning sign for everyone else that shows up. I shrug…what the fuck, she can handle it. “Our first show is in a week, Mom. It’ll be at Dino Moe’s. Well, most of them will be there for a while until we start hunting around town. Are you sure you want to come?”

“Of course, dear! I’ll have to check your father’s work schedule, but if we can’t make it to the first one, I’ll make sure he gets the time off for the next one.” She relaxes her hand and returns to her joyful self. “I haven’t been to a good concert since you kids were born. I can’t wait!” She hops up and kisses me on the cheek before she walks over to the sink and starts the dishes. “Now you get out of here. You need to get moved in so you and Anon can settle in properly before your first show!”

I kiss her on the cheek. “Thank you, Mom. I’ll let you know what our schedule is.” She smiles with a nod as she scrubs away, and I head back into the living room. “Alright, guys. Hop in the truck—I’m driving.” My dad glares at me. “Okay, Dad is driving but let’s go. I want to actually relax after we are done.”

They all get up and we hurry out to the truck. Naser and Anon are stuck in the back since my dad instantly puts me in the front seat and they don’t dare try to fight him on it. He waits until we are all buckled in before turning it on. I punch the address into the GPS and he largely ignores all the directions and takes his own route there. I mean, he has been across this city a dozen times over chasing criminals everywhere. I doubt even the GPS could know more than him about this place.

It doesn’t take long before we arrive in front of our new home. It’s a small apartment building maybe a mile away from the community college in town, with Dino Moe’s only a mile the other way. I wanted to be close to both my work and college, mostly for Anon because I’m very sure I’m not going. The pastel blue paint job across the outside doesn’t do it any favors but it’s what we could afford on two jobs at Dino Moe’s. Lucky Anon gets to clean the back and I got stuck as a waitress. Something about my natural way with others or whatever the fuck Uncle Moe said. I don’t think he understands that my natural way with others is getting them to leave me the fuck alone.

A quick check-in with the building manager gets us a pair of keys to our new home. Second floor with no one above us, thank fuck for that. The last thing I need is some person stomping across my ceiling all throughout the day when I’m trying to get my ten hours of beauty sleep. Plus, we can get away with playing music stupid loud with only one neighbor across the hall.

I put the key in the lock and push open the door to our new home. The white paint of the interior is far more relaxing on the eyes compared to the blue outside. Devoid of everything except the essential kitchen appliances, it’s still pretty well put together. The carpet is fresh, without a single speck of evidence of furniture outlines. The walls only have a couple of nail holes in them, which I will fix by adding a ton more myself later. The bathroom is large, but the shower will only fit one…not that it matters anymore in our own place as we won’t need to be so fucking careful about…well, that. The bedroom is cozy, and the window faces the lake with a view of the fountain they’ve got in the center of it. All in all, for how little we are paying for it, it’s far more than I would have expected.

My dad takes stock of the place before giving it a nod of approval. He heads out the door and starts hauling in boxes by the half dozen moments later. I offer to help but he shuts me down as he hauls Naser and Anon out to help him get to work. Fucking hell…I’m never going to stop being his baby girl, even when I’m living on my own. I sigh and lean against the counter—not like I’m going to have anything else to do until they are done. Box after box and bag after bag, they empty the whole truck in a matter of hours. Naser and Anon look dead on their feet, drenched in sweat, while my dad looks like this was barely a morning walk to him.

He turns to face the two and they do their best to stand at attention. “You two go get us something to eat while I put the bed together. There is a decent Italian place I saw on the way up, not Dino Moe’s. Need something more than pizza to start these two off.” He tosses a tightly packed bundle of bills to Naser and points to the door. “Get plenty to eat. Fang doesn’t need to worry about grocery shopping right after moving in. Get moving.”

They both nod before staggering out the door. Poor bastards won’t be getting a break until after he leaves. After he shuts and locks the door and they speed off down the road, his whole demeanor changes. He gestures over to a pair of chairs and takes a seat as I sit across from him. I don’t know what’s going on, but he looks so…broken? I don’t know. I can’t get a read on him.

He pinches the bridge of his nose as he sighs, struggling to get through whatever is on his mind as his eyes drift up to mine. “You know…” His shoulders sag as he keeps his eyes focused on mine. “I always thought I’d dread this day. When you’d find some guy, get together, and move out on your own.” His eyes mist over a little as he continues, “I thought I’d be pissed. Doing everything I could to make sure that they were good enough for you. Never trusting that anyone would have been enough for my daughter, but…” He struggles to keep it together as his hand reaches over and takes mine, gingerly running his fingers across mine. “Now I’m just fucking happy you’re still here.”

I open my beak to speak but he shakes his head. “I need to get through this, Fang.” I nod and close my mouth. “I’m…fuck.” He rubs his face, squeezing away the tears. “I’m just so fucking sorry I hurt you like I did. I spent so much time screwing up because I thought I knew what was best for you. I know we’ve been to therapy, but we’ve never just sat down and talked, just us. I wanted this chance before you left to just say…I’m sorry, Fang. I’m sorry I never supported you when you were going through the tough times in your life. I’m sorry I never really put enough effort into understanding you and helping you when you were questioning yourself, even your entire gender identity.” A tear streaks down his cheek as he peers into my eyes. “I’m going to do better for the rest of my life, I promise.”

He's still been beating himself up so much for the past. No matter how many times I say I’ve forgiven him, I guess it’s still going to eat away at him for a while. I mean, I get it…I almost died, that alone is probably going to haunt him for the rest of his life. But still…I do love him.

“Dad…” He flinches a little, like he’s preparing for the worst. “We’ve been over this. I’ve already forgiven you. Yeah, it sucks that I never really had a dad in my teenager years to help me through, but…we have a lot more life to live.” I can see that hurt him a bit as he looks at the floor and I squeeze his hand. “There will be plenty of chances for us to connect in ways we couldn’t when I was growing up. I’ve been in a dark place for years, ever since Naser got hurt…it took till only a little while ago for me to get over that.” I place a hand under his beak and lift his head up to look at me. “I love you. Please don’t hurt yourself over this anymore. We’ve both made mistakes, but we’ll make it through this, okay?”

A wide smile spreads across his beak as he nods, sniffling back tears and wiping away the others with his sleeve. “You’re right, we will.” He clears his throat, regaining his normal stoic composure as he looks around the room. He leans down and kisses me on the forehead before pointing at the pile that was my bed. “I’m going to get that set up. You just relax, alright? Let me take care of all this for you. It’s the least I can do.”

“Alright, Dad.” Not that I would win if I tried to fight it anyway. He’s nothing but stubborn when he’s set his mind to something. The apartment is a whirl of movement and power tools as he quickly reassembles my bed and throws the mattress and covers on it. He helps me as I hammer some hooks on the wall and hang my instruments on them, putting up my posters and photos across the wall. It almost looks like home, almost…but different enough that it won’t bring back any memories. He slides my dresser into the corner and I stuff all of our clothing back inside. It doesn’t take long until we’ve unpacked everything…well, until he has, He only let me touch the things he had no idea what to do with. In less than an hour it looks like a home. My home, at last.

I look around again, taking in the moment now that everything is unpacked. This is my new life, my fresh start, and its mine. I sigh to myself. I’ve been thinking about this for too long and I need to tell him. I can’t lie about this anymore…college is not going to happen. I tap him on the shoulder, and he turns to face me. “Dad, I’m not going to college.”

“What?” he says, half confused. I sigh warily but I stand my ground.

“I don’t want to. I don’t need it, and I want to spend that time practicing and playing around town.” His brow furrows but I clench my teeth. “I know you don’t like it, but I want to live my life the way I want to. I’ve spent so much of it doing whatever everyone else wanted. I’m making this choice for me, and I want you to respect it.” I cross my arms as I stare back at him with every bit of determination I have. “If you can’t, then that’s a problem for you, not me, because I’ve made up my mind.”

He doesn’t say anything at first, just stares at me with an air of confusion but I don’t see any anger in his eyes. He takes a moment to think and then nods. “If that’s what you want, then it’s what you will do.” I’m taken aback…the fuck? I thought he’d give me shit over this. “Fang, I’m not going to control you. I did that once and how did that go?” I wince a little and he sighs. “I’ll be here no matter what, and if things change and you want to go to college in the future, let me know. That’s all that needs to be said.”

I stand there dumbfounded for a moment before I sigh happily and give him a hug, wrapping my wings around him as best I can. “Thank you, Dad. I won’t let you down.”

He kisses the top of my head. “I know you won’t. The boys are coming, and they better have brought food. They’ve been gone long enough.”

The boys knock at the door and after my dad opens it, they walk in with tray upon tray of Italian food that they set on the counter. Naser pulls the rest of Dad’s money out and hands it to him. Must have gotten a good deal because he barely put a dent in it. Or at least I thought that until I noticed the fucking thing is mostly made of twenty-dollar bills. Fuck me, that’s a lot of cash. Naser swiftly sets out some paper plates and serves us all. It’s nothing like Mom’s cooking but it’s not bad. The sauce is fucking delicious and I slurp the noodles down, which is actually a pain in the ass with a beak but I’ll live. We spend a good chunk of time chowing down; feels fucking good after so much work today.

We spend a few hours chatting away as the afternoon fades into evening. Dad is more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him. He never even has that look of impending doom when he talks to Anon anymore. I remember clearly how much he wanted him dead after our first date…now he looks at him like he’s a long-lost family member. As the hours dwindle into night, he takes one last look around the place to make sure we have all that we need to get started before gathering his tools.

“Alright. If you two need anything fixed or any help getting more furniture, let me know and I’ll be down here as quickly as I can.” He puts the drill into his toolbox before standing back up. “Enjoy your new home. I hope it’s everything you hope it will be.” He gives us both a hug before tapping Naser on the shoulder.

“I’ll catch you guys later. You’ll still be by at the dinner party before I go to college, right?” Naser asks as he gives me a hug.

“Of course, dork. Like I’d miss seeing you off.” I roll my eyes as he shrugs.

“Never know. You guys coulda been busy with all that band stuff you are going to be up to. But great! I’ll catch up with you guys then.” He waves at me and nods to Anon. “Take care, you two.”

“See ya, Naser. See ya, Mr. Aaron,” Anon says as he waves at the two of them. My dad grunts in approval before closing the door behind them. Anon still hasn’t been brave enough to call him “pops” but for his own health I’m glad he hasn’t tried yet. Dad may be indebted to him, but there is only so far you should go if you want to keep your skull.

I throw away the rest of the trash from our food before checking the fridge. Fuck yeah, we are stocked up for a good while. There must be like twenty fucking pounds of food in here. Pasta for the week, it is…which will suck for my weight. Guess I’ll need to go on a few extra walks this month. I close the fridge and Anon smiles like an idiot at me.

“Uh…the fuck, dweeb?” I cock an eyebrow at him as I put a hand on my hip. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Becaaaaause.” His smile only grows. “We’ve got our own place, Fang! It’s all ours! No worries about making too much noise. No fear of your dad deciding to cave my skull in with a nine iron if I fuck up.”

“No worries about my dad walking in on us in the middle of the night.”

“Yeah, that too. Wait, what??” He stumbles through his sentence as I snicker at the dweeb.

“Just making sure you were paying attention.” I smile and kiss him on the cheek. “Come on, I want to go to bed. I didn’t get to do much but I’m still tired as hell.” I hook my arm with his and lead him to the bedroom. A feeling of comfort washes over me as I fully realize that I’m in my new home. No old memories left to haunt me or to scare me in the night. A place where I’ve made no mistakes, only where my dreams begin and I can start my new life as a local musician. I’ll never be rich, probably, but I don’t need to be. I just want to live my life for me. I’ve spent too much of it bending over backward for everyone else. Now it’ll just be for me and Anon, our new life together.

I sigh happily as I fall with him in my arms onto the bed. I gaze into his eyes as a smile curls on my lips. I draw circles on his chest with my clawtip as he quietly smiles back at me. So many ways my life could have gone, just as many ways it could have ended before I even got this far. Thanks to the caring love of one dweeb, I’ve got a chance to be myself. I get to live the life I’ve always wanted. To be a musician, to play music for all the people in this town, and to live the rest of my life without regret.

I pull him close to me as I rest my head next to his. “Anon…”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you…for being there. For everything. I can’t wait to start our new life here. So much I want to do. It’s going to be fucking awesome.”

He chuckles as he kisses me on the forehead. “Glad to do it, as always, and you are right. This is the start of the rest of our lives. I hope college doesn’t suck too much for me.”

“It probably will, but at least we’ve got each other, right?”

“Right.” He pulls the covers over us and we cuddle up close under them. “Let’s get some sleep. Plenty of shit to do in the morning getting ready for our show next week. You excited?”

“Like you even need to ask, dweeb. Of course I fucking am.” I poke him in the cheek before giving him a kiss. “The first show to start off our career as musicians.”

“I can’t wait.” He smiles at me as I snuggle up to him a little closer.

“Good night, Anon.”

“Good night, Fang.”

In a week, we play our first show. After that…who knows where we will end up. All I know for certain is that I’ve never felt happier in my life. I can’t wait to get started and play across this whole town like I always dreamed of back when I first started VVURM DRAMA. It’s going to be different with Anon on stage instead of Trish, but I can’t see anyone else by my side up there but him. Not after all he’s done for us. For the first time in ages, sleep takes me quickly and I don’t feel a single twinge of anxiety.

I’m home.