Rhythm of Love

Alex's Point of View

I waited for my name to be called, my thoughts not really processing anything around me. It had been almost three years since that rival band, Behind the Unknown, had come to The Rev, before then completely disappearing off the charts. However, all of a sudden they were showing up tonight? Not right.

I glanced around. My brother was bobbing his blonde head, and just the sight of it annoyed me. If it had been my choice, I wouldn't have brought him along, but Mom had gone on and on about how she needed her alone time.

Her whore time, I thought darkly. He might not realize what Mom's up to so late at night when she's not there and we're stuck making crappy oven pizzas and such. But I do, no doubt about it.

I shook my head at the sight of him and headed back stage long before it was my time. They let me in anyways; Welcome to Paradise had been playing here for almost five years, and my face was well known here. My band lounged around in our room, but I didn't want to talk with them. I knew they were fuming just as much as I was about the reappearance of this new yet known band, but I didn't want to listen to them talk about it. I wanted to just...flow. It was a ritual I had before every concert; if I didn't let everything become a jumbled, incoherent thought in my head before the concert, everything would become that way during the concert, and everyone hated when that happened.

I watched as Behind the Uknown was introduced, and stared as someone almost completely unrecognizable ran onstage after the guys of the band. I vaguely recognized her; her name was... Nora. Nora Matthews.

I hardly remembered the girl, which may have sounded a bit harsh. I'd been told she was madly in love with me, or something along those lines, but I honestly didn't know much about her. How could she love me when I didn't even know her?

Or did I?

Something always nagged the back of my head when I tried remembering Nora, and now, as I watched her singing, I remembered what it was.

We were only five years old. She had a pretty white floral dress on, and a calm smile that made me smile too. We were running around my swing set, laughing and enjoying ourselves, until she caught up to me and pushed me down, crushing my fingers underneath her kiddie heels as she ran away.

"That hurt!" I cried. She laughed at me.

"Aw, come on, Alex!" she said, still giggling, hiding behind a swing. I got up, my white shirt covered in mud, my shorts ripped and muddy as well.

"That wasn't funny!" I cried out, running away.

"Alex! I'm sorry!" I ran into my house, and when I looked back at her as I was closing the door, she was crying on the swingset.

My mom caught sight of me, of how I was cradling my fingers, and told me I wasn't allowed to hang out with Nora anymore.

Not long after, Dad left and we moved to apartments.

I'd somehow associated what happened with Nora that day to why my dad left, since it had all happened within a few days time. Now, as I stared at Nora, fourteen years later as she sang her heart out on a cover of a song I couldn't possibly remember at the moment, I realized my five-year old mistake.

My heart was beginning to ache as they finished their round and my band made their way onstage, high fiving me in pre-show ritual. I followed slowly, and as everyone stared at me, I nodded at Welcome to Paradise and began the first song of the night.

"When you feel you're alone, cut off from this cruel world, your instinct's telling you to run." I could feel eyes on me, and I wondered if Nora was watching. I looked out, used to the bright glare of the lights, and saw my brother talking to another blonde person. I continued to sing. "Listen to your heart, those angel voices. They'll sing to you, they'll be your guide, back home."

As I sang, she looked up at me, her brown eyes smiling, and I recognized her. Yes, it was Nora. She was still here. She was listening to me play.

"When life, leaves us blind, love, keeps us kind. It keeps us kind."