AN: This is somewhat resembling the ending I first intended. Of course if I hadn't gotten so busy and written it sooner maybe it would have been a little different. I am not at all disappointed at the outcome though. Thank you to everyone who has read this and especially to those who have left me reviews. If you are wondering about the whole alternate ending thing, the other two will still be written.
The Haunting of L.R.-Part Eight
My fingers strum over each chord with familiar simplicity. The producer is looking on with the equipment set up in the recording position. This is what normal used to be. That is, if the idea of normal exists in the first place.
The voice we hear belonging to ourselves isn't exactly what everyone else hears. To the outside world our voice is slightly modified. But it isn't really what you sound like as much as it is what you say with that voice that people notice most. My music is me using my outside voice to express the piece of my life I want to share with the world.
There is a kind of relief that comes over you when you finish singing that last line of a song. It's when your nerves can finally relax. You've finished what you came to do, even if you hit a rocky road on the way. What you don't expect is to take that one deep breath at the end, look up straight in front of you, and see the same vision of a person standing on the other side of the glass.
Being relieved is soon buried as I stand still, trying to act like I don't see the reflection this time. If I chase after something that isn't there again my friends are likely to send me to therapy or something. When I look over at them though, I get a surprise. They too are looking in the same place that I was.
I watch the producer flick one last switch before he looks up. He sees me as I start to walk forward towards the door. This time the reflection is failing to disappear, and the grasp of reality is inches from reach. My fingers close around the door handle and turn it with ease.
He isn't a reflection anymore. There is a full person standing in front of me. A real person whom I know isn't just a figment of my imagination. All I want and need to know is how this could be?
"Travis?" I ask in a voice so soft that even he probably struggles to understand me within even a close distance. I don't have to look around to know that there are many eyes placing their gaze between the two of us. From the corner of my eyes I can see a smile appear on Ray's face. Figures he would have something to do with this.
"I heard on the grapevine that you've come to a fork in your music career. From the recording I just witnessed I'd never be able to tell." He says to me before I can't hold back a hug any longer. I need more convincing that this is real, and that he really is here.
"I had a vision of this moment a month ago. You were here, but you were gone by the time I tried to go after you. I've never believed in people seeing the future, but this is all so unbelievable."
The producer breaks the silence of the others by asking us if we want to hear the rough copy of what we had just recorded. Each of us stands around as he puts it into a player, and we listen as it fills the room.
"Sounds like a record deal could easily be in your near future." The producer decides happily.
"One condition," Travis replies to my surprise and both the producer and I look up at him.
"What's that?" He asks.
"Need an intern?"