Featured Title
The
Rock Star
Genie
Gabriel
Excerpt
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Heat Level: 3
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Spotlights
flashed in rainbows across the stage. Red. Green. Blue. Crisscrossing until
they merged into one white-hot light on Geoff Chastain’s face, evoking memories
of other times. The screams of thousands of teenaged girls washed through his
memory as he pulled the microphone from its stand.
The
first notes of his daughter's favorite song filled the auditorium and his
breath caught, jagged, in his chest. Pain pulsed through Geoff's heart with
each beat of the drum. He nearly dropped to his knees, longing to crawl back
into the self-imposed exile where he had existed since his daughter died.
The
faces of the kids in wheelchairs looked up at him with bright expectation. The
whispers of the singers waiting in the stage wings curled around him in
concern.
Daddy, promise you won’t
let the music die. His daughter’s last request haunted Geoff. He never suspected life
would become so desolate he would forget to eat and sleep, let alone lose touch
with the music that had always flowed so easily from his soul.
A
singer moved from the wings to stand beside him. Her presence drifted around
him in silent encouragement. Her sweet contralto coaxed him to sing with her.
Focus, he ordered his brain,
staring at the woman. Waves of auburn hair framed her face, then tumbled
halfway down a lush body barely covered in spandex and sequins. A woman
designed to stir a man to action.
Geoff's
voice rasped with disuse on the first verse; the woman's harmony covered it. As
he started the second verse, an image of his daughter swam before his eyes and
Geoff's throat closed. The woman picked up the melody without missing a beat,
as if they had planned this duet.
He
grasped at her hand and drew a deep breath. Her soft scent filled his nostrils,
drawing his attention away from the pain. Giving him the strength to dig deep
inside where the music had lain in silent mourning.
Geoff's
voice mingled with hers on the chorus, then soared as he soloed the third
verse. Their voices chased each other through the final refrain, then their
eyes met and held on the last triumphant note. Awed silence hung for a moment
before applause erupted and the crowd was in motion.
A
sea of well-wishers swarmed onto the stage. Not the frenzied near-riots of
years ago, but the exuberant cheer of celebration. Smiles and congratulations
wrapped warmly around Geoff as men pumped his hand and women kissed his cheek.
But
the mysterious auburn-haired woman who saved his musical butt had disappeared.
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