He arrived at Innsbruck Airport. During the flight he was able to sleep for a few hours but yet he still felt tired. He sighed and stretched and when he heard the sign he unbuckled his belt and got up from his seat. The passengers left the plane and headed for the luggage belt to collect their luggage. Brian followed the crowd and put on his phone in the meantime.
There weren’t that many people who knew he went on retrait. His parents, Kevin, management and his neighbours offered to take care of the mail and watering the flowers and that was about it. It was a conscious choice to be selective who he informed. Brian had been feeling burned out the last couple of months and his voice suffered from it. Of course, they all had felt the stress around the latest world tour. It wasn’t just the dancing, singing and everyday routine. They all had their own issues and personal lives with lots of stuff and drama going on. He and Leighanne broke up a couple of months prior to the tour. He hadn’t heard from her since, which he found hard to deal with. He had been with her for almost 16 years and in a split second it was over. Just like that. The guys tried to support him but, and he perfectly understood why, at a certain point the understanding and support went down for him. The news went old. Simply because other stuff happened. Nick and Lauren got married, AJ and Rochelle where expecting their second child, Kevin and Kristin just got their second child and the same was for Howie and Leigh. So he sucked it up and went on with the show like everybody expected him to. He went on an on until the end of the tour. Smiling and joking around but inside feeling tired, sad and bored of pretending to be someone he wasn’t any more for quite a while now. So with the end of the tour in sight they all agreed to take a break for a couple of months.
The phone bleeped a few times and he received a few texts. Kev, to ask him if he had arrived safely. His parents asking the same thing and a “welcome to Austria” from the telephone provider. He grinned, finally he was here. Austria, the country where he was able to feel pure freedom. The mountains where beautiful and there were lots of possibilities for outdoor activities.
He waited at the luggage belt to collect his luggage and when that was done he headed to the car rental offices outside of the airport. He identified himself, paid the deposit and got the keys from the rental car. The guy from the rental office guided him to his car, checked for damages and after it all was taken care of the car was his for the next 3 months. He stuffed his luggage in the bag of the car and programmed the navigation. His destination was Serfaus – Fiss – Ladis and specifically Serfaus. He’d heard about it from others who’d been there skiing in the winter, but also spent their summers there. It sounded perfect.
He reached the highway and Queen blasted through the speakers with the song Breakthru. Brian sang from the top of his lungs. It felt like such a relieve. “If I could only reach you, If I could make you smile, that would really be a breakthru”. Freddy Mercury and Queen had always been a big influence.
After an hour of driving he reached Ried in Oberinntal where he took the road to Serfaus – Fiss – Ladis. It was a beautiful road with a few sharp bends through some impressive high mountains. After another ten miles he reached Serfaus. A beautiful little village in the heart of the mountains.
Story Notes:
Feel free to give me feedback on my story. The village does exist (I know I've been there numerous times). The storyline is complete fiction but the environment is real. So enjoy.
