Soul Searcher by D.M. Richardson (novel24 .TXT) 📕

Shift

Sara was ten and standing next to her mother’s bed clutching her hand. Celia was trying to say something to her but couldn’t get the sound out. Finally her eyes closed and everything went dark.

I felt a sinking sensation as if I was being pulled down. I knew it wasn’t actually me so I let the feeling take me. Finally there was nothing.

I stepped back from Sara and opened my eyes. I had to grab the banister to keep from falling. It was all I could do to stay on my feet. I was light headed and horrified. For obvious reasons I had never experienced anyone’s death before.

I kept my expression neutral and managed a smile at Sara. She smiled back apologetically.

“I didn’t mean to squeeze so hard”

“No you’re fine. I should get going. I don’t want to be too late.” I walked past them and out the door. I took a moment to take a deep breath. That had never happened before. I had never experienced the memories from a first person point of view. And I had certainly never jumped from one person’s mind to another’s through a memory.

I also couldn’t explain why it happened from touch. I had never had to worry about touching anyone before. I just didn’t like to touch people. It was one of my many quirks.

I went down the stairs and started walking over to Zeke’s. I knocked on the door and Rob answered. He smiled in surprise, but welcomed me in immediately. I heard a bunch of men talking in the kitchen so I motioned for him to go into the living room. He did as I asked obviously out of curiosity. I explained what I wanted and he laughed. He explained that he and Zeke had spent the day working with some friends on a small construction project. He told me I could find Zeke in the kitchen with the rest of them and I walked in that direction.

No body noticed me when I walked in. They were all gathered around laughing about something one of them had said. They were all dressed in old torn clothes and various things covered them. Some had saw dust and sweat and some had paint stained on their arms and shirts.

I spotted Zeke on the edge laughing with the rest. He was wearing a wife beater that showed the muscles on his arms and shoulders. He was one of them that had saw dust covering him. I had to admit that he looked good. Too good. I had a hard time breathing.

Rob cleared his throat behind me and everyone turned. Zeke straightened up in surprise.

“Rayne. What are you doing here?” he asked and the guys made ooh and ahh sounds.

“Get cleaned up we’re leaving.” I told him. He walked over to me and I had to look up to see his face.

“Where are we going? I didn’t forget anything again did I?” he asked with worry. I smiled at him.

“No we’re going to a party.” he looked relieved and then confused.

“Who’s having a party tonight?”

“I can’t remember his name, but Will invited me.” he groaned.

“Not that music nerd thing.”

“Excuse me?” I asked in mock offense. He back tracked quickly.

“I didn’t mean that it’s just that it’s mostly for the music people, and I’m not a music person.”

“You don’t like music?” I asked expectantly.

“Of course I do.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I’m not in band or choir or anything.”

“So? I was told it’s an open invitation.”

“Well yeah, but-” he paused and gave me a pleading look. “Please don’t make me go.” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“You owe me.” he looked guiltily at the floor. “And I do want to go. I just don’t want to go alone. So go get ready I’ve got ten bucks, and my pride riding on this.” he stared at me for a moment and I made shooing gestures at him. “Well go hurry up.” he sighed and turned to go up to his room to change.

I turned to see Rob and his friends barely holding in their laughter. He gave me a thumbs up and I laughed. I waited for about ten minutes until he finally came back downstairs. He must have taken a quick shower, because his hair was damp. He had his traditional black shirt and blue jeans on. He gestured toward the door and I went out ahead of him. We climbed into his car and he turned to me.

“Why am I driving again?” I pulled out the paper with the address on it and handed it to him.

“Because I don’t know how to get there.” he looked at the paper and sighed. He started the engine with hunched shoulders.

“Oh cheer up I’m sure you’ll have fun.”

“What did you mean you had ten bucks riding on this?” he asked as he turned the corner.

“You’ll see.” I answered with a smile, and turned to look out the window and keep track of where we were.

We arrived at the house about ten minutes later. The main house was quiet, but the garage was well lit and I could see people walking around inside and out in the driveway. I could hear the music and had a jolt of excitement. This wasn’t something I’d ever done. He found a place to park and we climbed out.

We walked up to the party but Zeke kept dragging his feet. I couldn’t stop smiling. I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled.

“Come on I’m not going to spend the night waiting for you to take baby steps inside.” he sighed again and picked his pace up to normal speed.

We walked into the garage and I could see a band set up on a make shift stage. The people playing were all people I recognized from this class or that. But as I looked around I knew half the people from choir. Will saw me from across the room as the band was changing players and a different singer took the stage.

Will approached and stopped in shock when he saw Zeke.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! How did you do it?” I had my hand held out and he put a ten in it. I pocketed the money and smiled.

“He owed me a favor. Told you I’d get him here.” Zeke stood there staring at us with an open mouth. He snapped it shut and glared at us.

“You made a bet for whether or not you could get me here?” he asked me.

“Uh huh” he shook his head and the band caught my attention. They started playing Bruno Mars’ ‘Just The Way You Are’. The band was great and the vocalist really knew what he was doing. “Wow” I muttered and Will smiled at me.

“It’s awesome isn’t it?” I nodded and he chuckled. “Do you guys want something to drink.” I shook my head and pulled a bottle of water out of my pocket.

“Yeah is there any beer?” I shot him a disgusted look. I hated beer. Will shook his head.

“Nope sorry this is a parent funded party.” Zeke grunted and decided he’s have a water.

We stayed to the back and listened to the band play a couple more songs. I was really enjoying myself and I looked over at Zeke. He had relaxed and his foot was tapping to the beat. He probably wouldn’t admit it, but I could tell he was having a good time.

Will walked up to me and leaned in so I could hear him.

“Hey Rob told me you know how to play the piano.” I nodded and he continued. “I’d like to sing ‘For The First Time’ by The Script, but no one knows the piano part. Do you?” I thought for a minute first I had to get the tune in my head. Most of the time if I’d heard the part I can play it. When I had it firmly in my head I nodded. He smiled really big and motioned for me to follow him. I took my jacket off and handed it to Zeke, and did as Will asked.

We walked up to the stage and he signaled the singer. He nodded and after they finished the song they were playing they all got down off the stage. After they were down Will and a few other guys climbed up. One took the drums and another took the guitar. Will urged me up and I climbed up to look at the piano. It was actually a key board but sounded just as good. It had a microphone above it and I nodded to Will that I was ready.

Zeke

I watched as she climbed up on stage. I was actually really surprised. I had expected her to stay in back and just listen. When she was settled at the key board she nodded to Will. All of the guys on stage looked to her. She took a deep breathe and started playing.

Will started to sing and the crowd cheered. I watched as she played and saw a smile start to spread across her face. One of the guys backed Will up on part of the vocals and then backed off when he was supposed to. Then all of a sudden she started singing with him. She didn’t go over him she just joined in when he needed it. He was right she had a beautiful voice. He looked at her in surprise, but didn’t break from the song just smiled at her.

After the song was over and everyone was clapping she started to walk off the stage, but the guy on the drums stopped her after a look from Will. He handed her a microphone and she looked back on him in confusion. A guy with a violin walked up on the stage effectively cutting off any escape she had.

He started playing and looked down at her. She watched his hands for a second listening to him. Then she put the microphone up to her mouth and started singing. I recognized the song. ‘Give Your Heart A Break’ by Demi Lovato. A few girls climbed up quickly and started singing back up for her. She turned to the crowd and started to really get into the song. She moved to the beat and singing with real feeling throwing herself into the music.

I had seen her angry, and embarrassed, and even mostly happy. As happy as she seemed able to be anyway. But this is the first time I had ever seen her glow. She let herself go for the first time and it was like she was a totally different person.

When that song was over she tried to hand off the microphone, but no one would take it. Someone brought her a stool and the guy that had been playing the guitar whispered something into her ear. She nodded at whatever he had said, and sat down on the stool.

The guy on the key board started playing and she flowed with him into a different song. Again it was something I recognized. ‘Dark Side’ by Kelly Clarkson. This time her singing was a little different. She