Chapter One

The sky was dark, only occasionally being interrupted by bolts of lightning which was followed by a downpour. As a result, the street ended up deserted with just an occasional driver or two trying to find their way through the semi-blizzard. Out of the deserted space, a figure could be noticed rushing under the rain, using her jacket as a cover. She seemed lost, as she kept checking the windows of all the buildings she passed by, as though searching for something in particular. Finally, she stopped as she glanced into the window of the local town bar. She then stared at the sign with illuminating signs in front of the bar which had 'Karaoke' highlighted, and seemed to be in contemplation, but she shrugged and stepped in.

The moment she stepped in, she was absorbed by the loudness of the jostling and bubbling atmosphere, and the warmth it was filled with thanks to the fact that it was crowded. She slowly put her jacket down, folding it into a square and keeping it under her arms. Struggling, she finally found her way to the counter, but had to stand while giving her order since there were no free seats.

'What may I help you with?' asked the lady behind the counter, who had piercings that covered both of her ears and lots of tattoos. She had a very scary demeanor, and the girl who had walked in gulped when she stared at her.

'J-j-just a beer, please,' came out her stuttered reply.

The lady behind the counter just gave a barely audible 'hmmmph' as she walked away to get the beer.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed the guy to her left staring at her intently, but she didn't dare to act like she had noticed it or turn to look at him. She wasn't much of a talker, and definitely not a people's person. She had a slight stutter, which wasn't that bad, but nonetheless it was a hindrance to perfect speech for her. It had always been something she had been insecure about and still was, especially considering the fact that all of her siblings were perfect public speakers.

She was the last child out of three, all girls. Her sisters had all been preferts, captains of prestiged teams, valedictorians, and all those sort of things that made one noticeable in high school and college, while she had always been just her. Her parents kept on constantly comparing her to each of her sisters, and she couldn't say that hadn't affected a lot of her self confidence and esteem.

Her eldest sister, Nora was now running a very successful publishing business, ran a lot of other equally successful side businesses and was on her way to becoming one of the most successful women of this generation - or so her mum said. Her parents had kept trying to marry her off, but she would have none of it. She was a very active feminist, and wouldn't stand being under the control of or even submitting to a man. Of course, she would find herself in situationships with the opposite sex every now and then, but they never ever led to anything serious. They always just ended as flings. Eventually, her parents had given up on marrying her off or setting her on blind dates - which was saying a lot considering how persistent her parents were.

Her elder sister, Molly on the other hand, was married with a daughter and another kid on the way. She was a pharmacist, and her husband was a businessman. He was constantly on business trips while she had a lot of work to do. So, her daughter, Crystal was brought up mostly by nannies, her grandparents and her aunty who was the last child of the house. Molly always tried to put up the perfect appearance of a happy home and marriage, but those around her knew it wasn't all that true. Not too long ago, she had caught her husband, Clive, in the act of cheating. It wasn't the first time, but this one seemed to have shook her more than the other times. Not only that, Clive was an alcoholic, combined with his very busy schedule meant he was never at home or if he was, he was rarely sober. Everyone was shocked he hadn't resorted to abusing Molly domestically. It still was possible he had, and Molly was just hiding it.

And then there was her, Juley, plain and average her. Unlike her sisters, she wasn't quite a beauty and neither was she successful or business-oriented. She had barely managed to graduate from high school, and it was a miracle she had been accepted into any college. But alas, she had dropped out midway through her second year. Her dream was to pursue her one true passion, and that was songwriting, something her parents would have nothing of. They didn't understand it was the one thing she was good at, and wanted her to follow in her sisters' footsteps and live a very much reputable life. But Juley didn't want any of that.

She remembered the first time she had listened to the sound of the guitar vividly as their neighbour, Old Man Pete played it. It had sounded like peace and comfort to her. The next thing she knew, she had run to his house and insisted that he teach her how to play. He had chuckled, before carrying her in his lap and teaching her the notes of the various strings. She had been seven years old then. She spent most of the rest of that summer, with Old Man Pete, learning to play the guitar.

When her parents found out about it, she was sent to a boarding school the next year, but that didn't stop her. She became acquainted with a senior who had a guitar and knew how to play, and perfected her skills. The senior was even the one who introduced her to the piano. Juley learned eagerly and caught on very fast, and couldn't wait to tell Old Man Pete about her new found talent. But that wasn't meant to be.

When she went back home that summer, it was to receive the news of her first mentor's passing away. She remembered crying herself to sleep several nights and the immense pain she went through during that period. She had no friends, hence naturally had no one to share her pain with. Plus, she knew her family would never understand. It was this great burden that gave her inspiration for her first song.

Juley wasn't talented at singing, and never learned how to, so she stuck with just rhyming words to rhythm in her head and jotting them down in a notebook.

She joined the school music club as the lead guitarist and the church choir as the pianist. Still, her family never supported her passion for music.

When she graduated from high school and was to submit applications into college, her first choice had been a music school, but her parents immediately declined. They forced her to study business, and used their connections to get her into a very prestigious school. She somehow managed to get through the first year, and things became more bearable when she met Arnold.

He was pretty much the school bad boy and like her, was forced by his parents to study what he wasn't passionate about. They had a lot in common, so connected instantly. They would spend most of their time in each other's arms, talking about the life they would have together once they managed to get out of their parents' grasp and into the world. It was then that Arnold made a plan for them to skip town together, and go somewhere else where they could be accepted as themselves.

Juley didn't take him seriously, as she thought all they could do was dream about that happening. But midway through their second year, Arnold turned that dream into reality when he woke her up from her sleep one late night and told her to hurriedly pack a few of her belongings.

They escaped together, and managed to find a decent place in a small town a little away from where they grew up. Juley's parents had called her, scared and worried, but she had told them not to be, assured them, and told them she was fine. She somehow convinced them not to come looking for her, and they begrudgingly complied. They regularly called and told her to come home, and so did her sisters, but she refused. In anger, her mum had told her that Arnold would one day break her heart and she would come crawling back. That was the final straw that made her cut contact with all of them.

Arnold managed to secure a job as a delivery boy, and Juley as a waitress. They managed to make ends meet, while still trying to pursue their passions. Arnold wanted to be a DJ, and succeeded in securing a few gigs every now and then. As for Juley, the best she could secure was a job teaching little kids how to play instruments. Luckily for her, she was noticed by a local producer, and he showed interest in her work.

She was so excited, and was literally bustling with joy when she informed Arnold. She was so excited that she didn't notice how envious he became after that. All she noticed was the change in his attitude towards her. He was unnecessarily paranoid most of the time, and got mad at her for no reason. It got to the point where he stopped coming back home at night, and would stay out for a couple of days. Whenever she tried to question him, he would tell her it wasn't her place to do so.

Then one night, when she had had enough, Juley told him she was leaving him. He started throwing things around, telling her she was going nowhere. Scared, she had locked herself in the bedroom, while he kept on turning the living room into a mess. He even resorted to banging on the door, but Juley didn't dare to open it.

The moment Juley heard him open the door of the house and get out, she hurriedly packed the few belongings she had and left. She was out of cash and options, so she had no choice but to call one of her relatives, so she called Molly. Sobbing, she explained everything to her sister, and begged for her help. She even said she was willing to go back home.

Molly sympathized with her, sent her some money, and told her to look for the quickest way to come back home. Not needing to be told so twice, she had immediately left for the train station to get a train back home. But on arriving there, the last train heading for her destination that day had left, and the next one would be leaving only the next evening. Torn, Juley decided to find a place to spend the night. While she was doing so, it suddenly started to rain heavily, and she had to find some shelter. And that was how she ended up at this bar. She couldn't believe that her mum's words had finally come true.

'Hey,' the guy to her left gently tapped her on her shoulder , bringing her back to reality.

'Hey,' she replied, with a forced smile. She couldn't help but notice that he was actually kind of cute, had a good haircut and was well dressed. She wondered what someone like him was doing in here. Probably he was also taking shelter from the storm.

At that moment, the waitress arrived with her beer. 'There you go,' she said as she uncorked it. 'We're out of glasses, so you will just have to make do with what you have.'

'That's alright, I'm fine,' Juley said, but the waitress turned away so fast that she wasn't sure if she had even heard her. 'That was kind of rude,' she muttered.

'What did you say?' the handsome stranger beside her asked.

'N-n-nothing,' she hastily replied, and took a sip from her bottle.

'I'm Gary,' he introduced himself and extended his right hand.

'Juley,' she shook his hand.

'Juley,' he repeated, as though enjoying the way her name rolled over his tongue. 'That's quite an unusual name.' After a moment's hesitation, he stood up from his seat and extended it towards me. 'You can have it. I can tell you need it more.'

'Oh! T-t-thank you. That's nice of you.' She took the seat.

'Don't mention it,' he waved it off. 'I'm guessing you're not from around here, I mean I have never seen you before. And yours is a face I don't think I can ever forget seeing.'

She gave him a slight nod before saying, 'Yeah, I'm sort of new here. B-b-been here for a couple of months though.'

'Then how come I've never run into you?'

She gulped some of my beer before shrugging her shoulders. He seemed nice and courteous, but she wasn't in the mood for a discussion. She tried turning her head in the other direction to give him a clue as to that, but he didn't seem to take it as he asked her another question.

'So what is a girl like you doing all by yourself at this hour under such conditions?' When she gave him a skeptical look, he added, 'I mean, you don't exactly look like the late night hangouts type to me.'

'I was trying to find my way home.' She replied curtly.

'And where would home be?'

'You k-k-know what? I t-t-think I'll find a seat somewhere else. You seem nice enough and all, b-b-but I really am not in the mood for a conversation right now.' She stood up with her beer in hand, but he held her back.

'I'm sorry, it wasn't my place to pry. I'll let you have your peace and quiet. I just thought you looked kind of sad and alone, and wanted to lighten your mood. It wasn't my intention to make you uncomfortable.'

Hesitating slightly, Juley sat back down and continued staring into nothingness, taking an occasional swig from her bottle. She continued observing Gary from the corners of her eyes, and noticed that he kept watching her and wanted to talk to her, but didn't want to make her mad again.

Juley felt kind of bad for him, but she didn't plan on making ammends. All she could think about was the number of hours she had left before she could go back home. A place she couldn't believe she missed this much.