August was playing his guitar near the public phone where Wizard was negotiating again. "No, that doesn't cut it! No! Oh, it's that final? Okay, here's my final offer, we're history!" Wizard slammed the phone forcefully and walk straight to August. "Deal's off." He took the guitar away from August.
"But I want to play."
"You play when I say play; you breathe when I say breathe! You got that, boy?"
"But I have to play. Wizard I need them to hear!" August started to yell when Wizard pushed him away.
"You forget about your parents! They were pretty quick to forget about you!"
August felt like crying. How could he say that? My parents want me as much as I want them. They never forget about me just like I never forget about them. I know it.
"You don't know how it could be for you. You do not know how precious your gift is. You're just a kid, you don't know."
August was trying to look away from Wizard but couldn't because Wizard put his hand around him like he was trying to choke him. But it was only for a moment when Wizard took his hand off of August.
"I do, August."
When they arrive at Wizard's lair, they were cops everywhere. "Wizard! Wizard!"
"Shh…talk to me. What happened?" Wizard was whispering.
"It's Arthur. The cops chased him back here."
"Okay, split up. You know the drill." Wizard said to the kids.
"We gotta help Arty." August couldn't leave Arthur alone.
"Forget about Arty, alright. Arty's on his own. That's the book."
"No!"
"August, August!"
The lair was in a chaos. Everybody was running away from the cops. Then August saw the cops found Arthur. "There! Up there!" shout one of the cops. "You see him? Kid, don't move!"
Arthur had to do something. He can let the cops captured Arthur. "Hey you! Cops! Cops!" he waved his hands up in the air so that the cops can see him. "Over here!" He ran away from the police and from the building but was caught by Wizard.
"Listen, you can't let the cops catch you. If they do, you don't tell them your real name because they'll send you right back where you came from. You got that?"
August understood. The last thing he wanted was to go back to the orphanage.
"I don't want to lose you. But if we get separated, we meet at the arch. Do not tell them your real name. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Hey, when I say run, you run, okay?" Wizard quickly went to the cop nearby and attack him. "Run, August! Run!"
After running away from the cops. Evan Taylor or recently known as August Rush was once again lost in New York City. But this time, it was scarier than before, because this time it was in a middle of the cold night in New York.
Then something caught his attention. In front of him was a church and he can hear someone was singing inside. He walked to the church and spotted a choir singing. But in the choir, one girl outshined the others when she sang with a beautiful voice. August kept staring at her and it wasn't long before she noticed it.
Even though her voice captivated his ears, he had to find a place to rest his head for the night. Evan wasn't planning on sleeping in the alley at the dark streets of New York.
"Hi."
Richard Jefferies stopped to reply back to the woman who said it to him. He recognized this woman. It was the woman who was looking for her son yesterday. "Hi."
"I know how this looks, you know. I'm not crazy." Lyla explained it to him. He must've thought that she was crazy. Like everybody else did.
"Nobody thinks you're crazy. What's your name?"
"Lyla Novacek."
"Well it's like the woman explained it to you. You fill up a couple forms and then get-"
"No…no. Six months, they said. I… I don't have six months for forms." She cannot just wait another six months to find his son. She needed her son now.
"Then I can't help you there. Explain something to me now. Why now? Why not before? Why is it so important that you want him now?"
Great. He must've thought that she was the kind of mother who didn't care about her son and suddenly want him now. "I've always wanted him. I've waited eleven years, two months and fifteen days to find out that he's alive."
Jefferies was shocked. This woman in front of him didn't even know that her son was alive all this time. And most importantly, she's been counting the days she was not with her son just like someone else he knew. Evan Taylor. Could this be his mother? He remembered what Evan had said, "I've been counting."
Lyla knew the look on Jefferies' face. "I've been counting." She smiled.
Chicago, IL.
Louis Connelly headed straight to Lyla's apartment once he reached Chicago. He sat in front of her apartment waiting for her. He kept calling her but neither Lyla nor her friend was there. Where could she be? God, I should've come sooner. When he was waiting her, he wrote a song for her.
"What are you waiting for?" asked a cop.
"You see, I know this girl that lives across the street. Ly…Lyla Novacek." He felt so happy when he said her name. "I've been standing outside here waiting, you know. I wrote her a song."
"Really? Well, good luck with the girl, then!"
"Thanks."
Louis wasn't planning on giving up. He waited and waited until an old lady approached him. "May I help you, young man?"
"Oh, um…my name is Louis Connelly. I am waiting for a girl that lives in this building. Lyla Novacek. Do…do you know her?"
"Lyla Novacek? Oh…yes of course."
"Do you know where she is?"
"Yes, I do. Wait…" she stopped when some realization hit her. "Oh, you're the musician!"
Wait, she talks about me? Louis wondered.
"She keeps me up half the night. But I haven't seen her in a few days. She's off on her honeymoon," the old woman continued.
What? Honeymoon? Oh, no…Not my Lyla. No… she can't be married. I love her and she… "Thanks." He forced himself to speak even though it killed him. His heart broke into millions of pieces.
Marshall was right. I am such a fool. How can I still believe that she loves me after all these years? Lyla…Lyla…Why are you doing this to me? I never do anything to hurt you. Never. And now you're married. You're not my Lyla anymore. You're someone else's Lyla. You don't belong to me. I hope you're happy, my love. I hope he can make you happy. Whoever he is, he's a lucky man.
Louis couldn't wait there any longer. What's the point? He should get back home to his friends and family in San Francisco. He didn't belong there. He wasn't planning on waiting for Lyla anymore. Not when he finally got his answers. When he reached the airport, there are two planes are boarding. One to San Francisco, the other to New York. In a split second, he made his choice. He chose to follow his instincts and chose to get back to his musical roots.
New York, NY.
"Please, tell me what happened." Richard asked Lyla once they were in his office. "How come you didn't know your son is alive?"
Lyla told Jefferies everything that happened. Starting from Louis, to his father and her story now.
"So, this wasn't your signature?"
"No."
"You do realize that he's probably already been placed with a family, correct?
"Do you have children, Mr. Jefferies?"
"I… I did." Richard was touched. No one ever asked him about his son before.
"Then you know."
"What his birthday?" he tried to change the conversation.
"December 17th 1995."
"Right…I know." He chuckled after realizing that Lyla's son's birth certificate was right on his desk. "Excuse me a minute." He said before searching for the information of Novacek's son.
Lyla was looking at a board filled with missing children reports but one picture got her attention. She saw familiar blue eyes that belong to a boy. She walked slowly towards the picture. When she got a close view of the picture, she knew that boy was her son. She had no doubt. The boy had the same blue eyes like Louis. Just like she'd imagine. His face had a mixture of Louis and herself.
"This is him." Richard showed her the same picture she was looking earlier.
She was right. The boy was her son. I've found you. I've found you. Thank you, God. I've found him!
"Yeah."
August Rush, formerly known as Evan Taylor, the weird kid in the orphanage, found himself waking up not in a bed, but under a bed. Last night after an hour wandering around the church, he ended up following the girl with the extraordinary voice and slept under her bed without her knowing. Or at least, he thought she didn't.
"You're the one who slept under my bed?" she asked without even looking at him. She was concentrating on playing the piano. That made Evan even more curious.
"Do you live here?"
"Me and my grandma do, until our boat comes in," after a short pause she added, "Do you like music?"
You gotta love music. More than food, more than life, more than yourself. Something that Wizard told him before."More than food."
She gave him a strange look. "Do you know your notes?"
"I've never seen them like that before."
"See here," after he sat comfortably next to her, she continued, "Every, Good, Boy, Does, Fine," she explained the formula of reminding notes. "On the lines, F, A, C, E, in-between. Great, Big, Dogs, Fight, Animals, and All, Cars, Eat, Gas," she looked at him directly in the eyes and asked, "Get it?"
Evan was so amazed by her tutelage. "You're like an angel."
"Okay, I gotta go," she whispered. After realizing what she was doing, she said in a normal tone, "I gotta go to school."
"Can I borrow this?" he pointed at the sheets.
She nodded as an agreement. "See you later."
Later that evening, Hope entered the music room. After looking around the room she started cursing.
"Holy…"
