Ronald Cooper is a thirty eight year old man who has struggled all his life. He grew up in an unstable home, so most things were out of his control. However some of things he has done and the outcomes of those situations were because of his own choices.

One thing however that brought him some stability and comfort was music. He loved all the classic rock bands such as The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty and the heartbreakers, Pink Floyd and many many more.

But his favorite out of all of those bands was was Fleetwood Mac. He discovered them when he was seventeen years old in 1977. Fleetwood Mac had a new guitarist and singer. Their new album, Rumours had just been released.

He even went to his first Fleetwood Mac concert sometime after the Rumours album was released and there he was absolutely mesmerized by Stevie Nicks.

He became obsessed and as Fleetwood Mac released album after album, that obsession grew. Even more so when Stevie Nicks went solo.

The little money he had, he would spend it on albums, posters and magazines. He would get his money by mowing the lawns of his neighborhood and random small yard work. Then as he got older, he was able to get a job as a dishwasher at a local diner.

His home life from the outside looked perfect. But once you looked behind the closed doors, you would see his abusive father hitting his mother daily. His father also would hit him and yell at them for any little thing. This went on for years.

When he was eighteen years old, he moved out of his childhood home and moved into an apartment. He was able to keep up with his job and keep up with bills and such. He was very proud of himself.

However, a year after moving out on his own, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The symptoms came on suddenly after the death of his mother. She passed away due to suicide.

Without her son at home, she didn't find a reason to get out of bed which caused her husband to abuse her even more. She felt that the only way out was to take her own life.

Ronald took his mother's death hard and that's when he began to hear the voices inside his head. He took medication for it and for a while, he was doing well.

Now, however, here he was at the age of thirty eight and his mental health declined. He stopped taking his medication and he lost his job. He had gotten tired of having to take medication and the voices grew louder.

He was now living in a small run down apartment and his way of making money now was by picking through people's garbage cans for aluminum cans. He would then take them to a recycling plant and exchange them for money.

He would save and save as much money as he could because that was the only way he would be able to eat.

Although, his grandmother, his mother's mother, left him a sum of money that would have helped him live a comfortable life.

But, he didn't care about living a comfortable life, all he wanted was to see Stevie live in concert. So, with his grandmothers money, he would spend on going to every Fleetwood Mac or Stevie Nicks concert he could whenever they toured.

Each tour Fleetwood Mac would go on, Ronald would pack up his car and just drive from show to show. He would sleep in his car after every concert and during the day, he would collect more cans and find local recycling plants so he can get money to have gas money and to eat.

The voices in his head were constant and he never had a moments peace. The only time they would quiet down was when he listened to Stevie's music and especially when she was performing stage.

But once the concerts were over, and the albums were done playing, the voices would start up again.

Ronald was becoming desperate, he just wanted the voices to stop. So, he came up with a plan to talk to Stevie Nicks into helping him stop the voices.

Today was October 19 1998, and Fleetwood Mac was doing a show in Irving, California.

It was perfect because it was only thirty minutes away from where Ronald lived. So he didn't have to drive far.

Ronald was currently in his apartment going over his plan and trying to plan things to perfection.

He sat on his bed and said. "Stevie, you have to help me." He stared at the many posters and cutouts of Stevie that litters his entire bedroom. "I know you can help me. You're Stevie fucking Nicks!"

Stevie is not going help you, idiot. Why would she? You are worthless. A male voice said.

Don't say that him. He isn't worthless. You're just a mean piece of shit! A woman's voice replied.

He is worthless! Look how he is living! You think Stevie Nicks is going to help someone like him. The male voice said again. His name was Rick.

Look, I don't know for sure, but it won't hurt to try. The woman's voice said soothingly. Just don't hurt her Ronald! Her name was Amanda.

"I'm not!" Ronald said. "I would never do that. I just want her to help me stop everyone inside my head from talking!"

Even me? A child's voice said tentatively.

"I'm sorry, Evie. But yes, you too." Ronald said. "You have to understand, that I hate it when you all talk to me. I mean, you're sweet Evie, but, I just want it all to stop."

The child inside his head sighed and the males voice began to laugh. It made the child upset.
There were more voices, but at the moment, these three were at the forefront of his mind.

Before anything else could be said, Ronald quickly got out of bed and turned on his record player. He put on Stevie's album Rock A Little. He then laid down and drifted inside the album. The voices were still there but they became muffled with the music on.

Ronald sighed and just got lost in the music and counted down until show time.

Stevie and Lindsey laid naked in bed in Stevie's hotel room before the show tonight. They had played in Irving two nights in a row so they didn't need to go to sound check or do much. So they decided to spend more time together; they made love and just wanted to be close to each other.

Through this tour so far, Stevie and Lindsey rekindled their relationship. They talked about a lot of things that kept them from making their relationship work before. But now, they were in a much better place.

Stevie missed singing beside Lindsey each night and she felt optimistic about their future.

Stevie lightly ran her fingers over Lindsey's chest making random shapes. Lindsey played with her hair and felt so at ease.

"I wish we could stay like this forever." Lindsey said.
"After the tour is over, we can." Stevie said shyly. "I feel so sure about us this time around, Linds. It feels different. It feels...right." She was trying to come up with the correct words but they failed her.
"No, I understand." Lindsey said as he took her hand in his. "We are in a much better place mentally and we already talked about our issues. I don't see why we can't make it work this time."

Stevie nodded and said. "I'm scared though. What if...what if we don't work out?"

Lindsey sighed a little. He then kissed the back of her hand and replied. "We can't let fear keep us from trying. We have to try, Steph. I love you too much, to not fight for us."

Stevie looked up at Lindsey and looked into his blue eyes. She smiled at him and kissed his lips. "I love you too and you're right. I want to fight for us too."

Thoughts?