Page 3 of Fame & Chaos

Everything about him seemed larger than life. He was tall, tattooed, confident, and famous. He could walk into a room and own it without even trying. And when he played guitar for the first time in front of me, I remember sitting there completely mesmerized.

That was it for me.

The moment I knew I wanted music in my veins too.

I wanted to be exactly like him.

I wanted his life.

His confidence.

His talent.

Most of all, I wanted him to stay.

Things seemed to finally be getting better after years of hospitals, sickness, and exhaustion. Then the transplant testing happened, and everything fell apart all over again.

We were at the manor when the doctor arrived with the results. Everyone gathered in the living room while I sat curled into the corner of the couch, trying to stay awake. Mum hovered beside me, kissing my forehead every thirty seconds while Colt paced the room anxiously beside Dee and Hux.

The doctor explained that neither Colt nor Hux was a compatible donor.

Mum looked crushed.

Then the doctor smiled and said Colt’s mother was a match.

My grandmother.

Suddenly, everyone cried and hugged each other because it meant I finally had a chance to survive.

I didn’t realize then that Dee and Colt had separated.

Not properly anyway.

I only learned later that Dee believed Colt should be with Mum and me because we were his ‘real family’ now. Looking back, it breaks my heart because she couldn’t have been more wrong.

But at seven, selfishness came easily.

I didn’t care about any of that.

I just wanted Colt, my dad.

Then everything exploded.

One minute, people were celebrating, and the next Colt’s voice thundered through the manor so loudly it made me jump.

I’d never heard him yell before.

Ever.

“He isn’t mine!”

The words cracked through the room like gunfire, and I remember the silence afterward most of all. The kind of silence that feels wrong.

Heavy.

Dangerous.

I didn’t understand what was happening, only that Mum had gone pale while Colt looked absolutely shattered. The doctor kept speaking quietly, but nobody seemed to hear him anymore.