Emily must have nodded off because the next thing she knew she was waking up to the sounds of everyone else entering the bus.

"Hey chick," Nick said, coming over and gently mussing her hair, "Marcus said you were in here... did you get all your stuff?"

She nodded as she stretched and sat up quickly in her seat, making room for Brian who plopped himself down beside her.

"Hey," he said giving her a wink as he pulled out a book filled with crossword puzzles and carefully began scribbling in the answers.

"Hey." she responded.

Aj fell into the seat on her other side and offered her a Tootsie Roll Pop.

"No thanks," she refused, waving him away as she leaned back into the seat again.

He shrugged and took out his Ipod, adjusting the headphones over his ears and humming along to the beat of whatever song he was listening to.

As the bus pulled onto the highway, Nick and Howie both headed off to the rear lounge to do a call-in radio interview, leaving Emily to sit quietly in between Brian and Aj. They sat in silence for a long while, the only sounds were those of the bus engine rumbling and Brian's pencil scritching back and forth on the paper each time he came up with a new answer in his puzzle.

Emiy stared out the window beside her, watching as the miles slipped steadily by. When she could hardly keep her eyes open any longer, she stood and walked towards the bunks as Brian watched her questioningly. They always watched her like that now and she hated it. They always needed to know what she was doing... where she was going. They always worried about her. Not that she could blame them. I guess it was her own fault. She'd certainly brought it upon herself.

"I'm just gonna go lay down for a while," she answered, before he even had a chance to ask the question. Brian nodded his head slightly before returning to his crossword.

Emily slipped through the curtains that lead to their bunks and crawled down into her own at the very bottom. It was quiet in there. Maybe even too quiet. She dreaded the quiet almost as much as she dreaded the darkness. She'd hated them both ever since she was a little girl.

She curled up into a ball beneath the blankets and closed her eyes. Hoping if she fell asleep quickly enough the silence wouldn't have a chance to bother her. And she did. The rhythm of the road and the roar of the engine had lulled her to sleep almost before her head could even touch the pillow.

She was 11 years old and she was running down a long, narrow hallway. There was a light at the end... a window... but otherwise everything was dark. She could hear his footsteps crashing up the stairs behind her. He yelled over and over again for her to 'stop, or else!' Her heart was pounding in her ears.

It would have been so easy to stop. So easy to just let go, to give up... but instead, she kept running.

She reached her bedroom door and ducked quickly inside, slamming it closed behind her. She locked it quickly and dashed towards the closet, throwing herself into the bottom, curling up into the corner and cowering there as he beat on the door outside. She stayed there for a long time... for what felt like forever. Just listening.

Waiting for him to find a way in.

But the sounds stopped.

All was quiet now and she allowed herself to breathe. She stood up and peeked out the door. Everything was as it should have been. Everything was still, and silent. She walked over to the window and glanced longingly at the tree outside. Maybe she could escape. Maybe she could climb, or jump down and run away.

And then all of a sudden there was a crash behind her and she whirled around to see him barreling towards her. She dropped to the floor, trying to make herself disappear... praying like hell that she would become invinsible. She always prayed to become invisible.

But it was too late. He picked her up and threw her forcefully onto the bed. He struck her repeatedly across the face with the palm of his hand. He was screaming at her, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. He let go for a second as he stepped back and removed his belt from his pants. And in that moment she knew the worst was coming.

"Please no!" she whimpered as she watched him coming towards her, raising the belt high into the air. "Please don't hurt me anymore!"

Emily's eyes shot open and she found herself alone in the dark. It took her a minute to realize that she was on the tour bus and not still there in that bedroom... with him.

She was breathing heavily, sweat pouring down her face and neck. She heard a thump on the floor outside her bunk, followed by quickly approaching footsteps. She wiped the tears that had found their way from her eyes down her cheeks, and tried frantically to steady her emotions. But she couldn't. The tears kept coming. The emotions were far too strong to force back.

The curtains were pulled aside seconds later and she glanced up to see Aj crawling in to sit on the bed beside her.

"Hey sweetheart," he said comfortingly as he stroked her cheek softly with his hand while she continued to struggle to catch her breath a fight the urge to burst into tears. He just sat there calmly, continuing to stroke her cheek, "hey, it's okay now... you're okay..."

Emily shook her head.

She was not okay. She was never okay these days... and honestly she was starting to believe that things would never be okay again.

"What's wrong? What happened?" He asked concerned as the tears continued to spill down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and shook her head again. She couldn't tell him. She couldn't tell anyone.

"Another nightmare?"

She nodded. It was useless to lie. The nightmares were becoming more frequent now. Everytimes she closed her eyes he was there destroying her happiness.

"Should I get Nick?"

"No," she sniffled, rubbing her eyes. She took a deep breath and tried her very best to compose herself. "I'll be fine."

"Emily," he said, taking her hand in his and looking deep into her eyes, "if you're sick, you know, if you're depressed, you can talk to me. I mean... I've been there too. I'm always here to listen."

She closed her eyes and nodded, "thanks Aje."

She wished she could talk to him. Tell him what was really bothering her. But she couldn't. And it wasn't the same... what Aj had been through. It wasn't even close. This wasn't depression, and he had never been here before. None of them had ever been here before.

"You gonna be okay?"

"Mmm hmm," she mumbled, leaning into the pillow and curling in beneath the blankets. "I'm alright I guess... I think I'm just gonna try and get a little more sleep."

Maybe if she pretended to sleep he'd go away.

He nodded and stood, "you know I'm always here if you need me."

"I know."

He closed the curtains once more and she listened as he walked out into the lounge. She rolled over and stared up at the bunk above her. She said a silent prayer to God to see her through as she wiped fresh tears that spilled down her cheeks.

This newest dream, this newest memory... it was scarier than all of the others she had before.

She continued taking deep breaths of air, reminding herself that he couldn't hurt her anymore. But it didn't seem to help. She could hear the guys out in the lounge talking. She strained to hear what they were saying.

They were talking about her.