Chapter One: Different Beginnings

The crowd cheered as the beginning notes of the first song of the set rang out through the venue. All four members of Ruptured Souls gazed out into the crowd, trying to distinguish the different faces of the many bodies moving in sync with the music.

So our open wounds will bleed
Until our veins run dry
Now we have to take this thorn
And tear it from our side

Lead singer, Greg Sanders watched as the crowd reacted to his words. The pit becoming larger and after a few moments he couldn't tell where it began and where it ended.

I wish people wouldn't just come to our concerts for a good time. Sure, I want them to have fun but I want to know that our music affects people other than the four of us. I want to know that what we do isn't just because we wanted to live out our dreams. I want us to have meaning.

Agitated at the fault line
Still agreed to disagree
Your connected to the heart
But tonight we'll set you free

Bodies meshed and became one. Each individual becoming a part of something so colossal that you couldn't decipher if there was really one big creature or a bunch of individual ones. Each person had a part, except for one.

Samantha Peters stared, unmoving, at the four men on stage. Focusing on one individual belting out lyrics that truly defined her inner being. She had always been a lone in the world. Her parents having been involved in a fatal car accident when she was just 3 years old. Eight different foster homes, sixteen parents, not including her biological ones, 20 siblings, her life was unbelievably hard. As she locked eyes with Greg she lost all feelings and connected with him. Almost as if that one look had brought them together.

*He knows what I'm going through. He's been through the same thing. I have to meet him.*

And somewhere, in the very back of the club, three men were loading their guns.