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It happens at once.
The shield I’ve unknowingly erected to hide my past comes falling down. Before my eyes I see the moment in such clarity, you’d think I’d gone backward in time.
It’s her beautiful music that often calls to me in the dark halls of our home. I follow the sound, always so ensnared from the first breathtaking note.
I wander for what feels like miles. At first, I do so quietly, hoping to remain unseen so not to spook her. Then I pick up the pace. I trot down the hall with a heart pounding in anticipation.
She’s supposed to look up and smile sweetly at me. A shy, pretty smile.
But that wish is only in my dreams—they never let her do anything but play. Instead, tears are often wetting her eyes as she plays again and again and again.
The screams fill the dark air. I stomach them… sometimes. But tonight they’ve become too much. Too painful and frightening to my ears.
They’re hurting her!
They have to be. I sprint down the halls with desperate pants, hoping I make it in time.
…instead, there’s blood. Everywhere.
Seeping into the floors. Spreading far and wide ’til it reaches my feet.
And tears. Sobbing.
A small, bloodied little girl sits crumpled in the corner, clutching a knife in her tiny shaking hand. She’s bruised and swollen, sporting injuries from what they’ve done to her.
I look around.
Her mother lays dead in a pool of her own blood. A few feet off is my father… his cane has fallen from his hand. He’s sputtering for air, still alive, but just barely due to the deep gashes in his face.
So. Much. Blood.
I don’t know what makes me do it. I don’t know what runs through my head. But as I look back at her bruised, tear-streaked face, I have to help.
I pry the knife from her shaky fingers and hold it securely in my own. “Run. RUN!”
She flees. She hops up on her skinny, weak legs and flees faster than you’d think possible. I kneel down in the puddle of blood and wait.
I wait until there are flashes of red and blue lights and sirens whirring from outside the parlor window…
The past fades before my eyes and leaves only the present behind. Lyra standing before me with teary eyes and a soft smile.
“It was your music. You were the girl playing,” I say brokenly, my voice hollow. “You were the sound in the halls I heard. I used to run toward it… and hope for the day you’d play for me. That you’d just smile at me. But you were always so upset.”
She nods. “I couldn’t stand being apart from you any longer. I had to see you again. So I found a way.”
My gaze narrows. “Are you saying…”
Her softness melts away, replaced by an almost catatonic wave that comes over her. “One of my Cyber Fan subscribers, Francesco, explained to me he was a wealthy Italian businessman. He wanted to extend an invitation to me to attend the Midnight Society party. I hoped you would be there. I tried to meet you… but you were so different. You were so closed off. I had to get your attention somehow. So I found a way to get invited on stage.”
“You didn’t want to be up there.”
“You’re right. I didn’t want to be up there… to suck Klein off. But I knew doing what I did would get your attention. I’ve never lost sight of you, Kaden. I never forgot you.”
“As in… you know? About me?”
She smiles again. “I guess the stalked was also the stalker.”
“You were aware I was? That I was stalking you?”
