Sitting on the back bumper of the van, Caleb stared off into space, trying to clear his mind of stage fright as his band was about to go on next. The roadies were unloading the trailer and setting up inside the venue. The venue was made from red brick and had a set of metal double doors in the back that wore a slight coat of rust. In front was a big glass window with a large poster covering it that advertised the band’s name. Deven and Ben stood by the back door, waiting anxiously to play.
“Are you ready for tonight?” Deven asked Ben.
“I’m so excited. This feeling never gets old.”
“Me too, I can not wait to go on.”
“Caleb looks like someone just scared him.”
“It’s his stage fright. He will get over it before we go on.”
“I hope so.”

It was time for the band to go on. They stood there in the dark as the crowd cheered. A few lights came on and they started to play. Smoke came up from the back and sides of the stage. More lights came on and you could visibly see them on stage. Caleb cleared his throat as he was about to sing, but when he opened his mouth nothing came out. Everyone stared at each other as Caleb stood there mute. The rest of the band whispered from behind him, trying to get him to speak. Caleb walked off stage and the rest of the band followed after him, Ben stopping to apologize to the audience.

Once outside questions started to asked.
“What was that?” Deven said.
“Yea, why did you not say anything?”

Caleb tried to say something to them but still nothing came out. He went to the van and grabbed a pen and paper and began to write.
“I can not say anything,” he wrote down.
“Why not?” Ben asked.
“My throat had been hurting me for awhile so I went to see the doctor and he said that there was something wrong with my throat, but they have never seen it before,” Caleb continued to write.
“What does that mean?”
“The doctor told me that I needed to be careful because there is a possibility I could lose my voice.”
“So is this the end for you?”
“I did not tell you guys or stop singing because I did not believe him and was a bit scared that it could be true so I ignored it, hoping it would go away.”
“This is the end for us, is it not?”
“It is probably going to take some therapy but I am sure we can still make this work. We will just continue working until I get my voice back then we can continue playing shows.”
“This is going to be a lot harder but I am sure we can do it.” Devan chimed in.

They helped the roadies pack up their gear and headed off back home. This was hard for all of them to hear and they were all unsure exactly if they should continue. Over time, the motivation slowly died down.

After a few months or so, Caleb called the guys back up and told them that he had finally gotten his voice back. They were all surprised to hear his voice.
“It has been a while since I have heard that pretty voice,” Deven said him.
“Be quiet,” he said back with a laugh.
“So are we back?” he asked Caleb.
“We sure are. Let’s all meet up this weekend and work on some stuff. I have some songs I have been writing while I was going through therapy.”
“Awesome, I can not wait to get back to playing and work on some new stuff!”

They got together that weekend and started working on their new songs they had to show each other. After a couple weeks of practicing with each other they felt like they were ready to go back out and play shows. Caleb had found a way to care for his throat while singing and started to take care of it in fear that he may lose his voice again. After they got back together they continued to play shows and all was good.