Where She Went

Alone on the bridge, Adam thinks about the various bands he has been in. They were bad at first and he only played at house parties. When he began doing acoustic solo shows, the response was better. It was at one of those shows that Liz, the drummer for what would become Shooting Star, recruited him to be her guitarist and vocalist. Soon they were playing larger venues, and eventually stadiums. Through it all, Adam was always bothered by the noises of the crowd. He hated that he could never pick out Mia’s voice cheering among all the others. He realizes what is bothering him the most about her and their past: he has no idea how she knew he begged her to stay. Had she heard him in the coma? 

Adam stops a jogger and asks if he can borrow his iPod for a day. The guy recognizes him and says yes, asking him to drop it off later at the place where he works. Adam listens to several of the guy’s playlists before hearing someone yelling his name. It’s Mia. She says she’s ready to tell him everything. After moving to New York, she began seeing therapists. Ernesto eventually convinced her to try hypnotherapy. Under hypnosis, she began having memories of things that were said to her while she was in the coma, including Adam’s impassioned plea for her to stay alive, and his promise that he would let her go forever if she would just stay in the world. But she also says she has memories of other things that she couldn’t have known, like a memory of him standing on the street, looking up at all of the hospital windows. Adam begins to sob in the diner where they are having coffee. 

Adam remembers the night of the accident. He had arrived at the hospital and looked up at the windows, wondering where she was in the building. After seeing her in the coma, he had returned with a Yo-Yo Ma CD and had played it for her. That’s also when he made the promise to her. He now realizes that it was selfish to ask her to stay, but also that he would do it again, just to hear her play another concert like he had the previous night. He is crying, finally, not from sorrow, but from gratitude. 

Adam takes a nap at Mia’s house, which is nearby. When he wakes, he walks through the house, looking at all of the pictures of her family. He makes coffee and shares it with her when she wakes up. She says that she has something to give him before they say goodbye. Upstairs in a safe with a combination, she has a guitar. It’s his first guitar, which was sold at auction for a huge amount. He had no idea that she was the buyer. He asks why she bought it at a time when she hated him. She says that it’s because she loved him as well. She gets her cello and they begin playing music together on their two instruments.

They play for hours and Adam misses his flight. He calls Aldous and says he will make it to London for the start of the tour, but that he will not be there before that. He also calls Bryn and breaks up with her gently. She doesn’t hate him. It seems as though she knew it was coming, and she’s not surprised to hear that he’s now with Mia. Then he and Mia have sex and fall asleep. Afterward, he tells her that he’s going to quit the band when the tour ends. He is going to follow her wherever she goes. She says that she only wants him to quit if it’s what he needs, and she’s going to rearrange her schedule so that she can see him play at the music festival in London.

Adam remembers the first time that Mia brought her family to one of his concerts. Teddy, her little brother, enjoyed it most of all. It was one of the most perfect shows Adam ever played.

Adam arrives in London and stays in the same hotel as the band. Mia goes downstairs with him. They’re all annoyed with Adam but overjoyed to see Mia. They do not take it well when he says he has to leave the group, but he believes they will understand in time. As he plays the show on what may be his last tour, it is Mia’s voice that he hears in the roar of the crowd, and the sound of her cello matching the rhythm of his guitar.