I Remember {MJ FANFICTION}

Chapter 3

The following morning, I travelled into town. Now badly regretting the fact that I hadn't taken a portion of Nanu's rice home with me from the previous day as I planned to do before Abraxas decided to tag along and I felt too greedy in doing so. I marched hangrily down to the open area where Shani was already singing. She soon saw me from a distance.

"Michael!" she waved me over quickly. As I approached her friends suddenly stopped dancing and all of them turned to gawk at me. "Time to sing." Shani said happily and seemingly oblivious to the change in atmosphere.

"Cool...no pressure..." I muttered under my breath feeling the heat of their stares burning hotter than the sun. I cleared my throat. "Hey, any chance I could have that apple before we start?" I asked through my crabbiness. She tossed it to me out of a bucket. I erased it in the time it took for her to bend down and pick up her instrument again.

"Ready?"

I dropped the core and buried it in the sand underfoot.

"Okay. What do you want to sing?" she smiled widely.

"How deep is your love."

She began to play without another word, immediately halting any objection that would have come from me. I settled for a slow nod .

Nothing like a hit song I shouldn't be singing to stick in the minds of the people who probably shouldn't be hearing it.

She waited for me to start and I first knelt down on the ground in a comfortable position, hoping to shrink myself and forget about the intense attention that was on me.

"How deep is your love, how deep is your love..." I began. As I glanced out into the small crowd, I noticed the girls were still not dancing instead they exchanged glances at each other then glanced over to me and back again. I felt awkward and nervous now, unsure about what my parched throat truly must have sounded like to them. I tried to keep going despite it and closed my eyes for the remainder of the song trying to get into a zone of my own.

For a moment I dreamt that I was back home, in my studio with a guitarist, practising in private. It helped to relax me, but it also caused me to get home sick. I felt a strong degree of sadness that I'm sure came out in my voice as it strengthened. I'd been trying to hold it together the past few days, but my situation still overwhelmed me greatly and in the back of my mind, the fear that I would never get home was always there.

Shani and I finished the song.

Only then did I re-open my eyes to see a much larger crowd than we had started with, made up of both adults and children all now glaring at me collectively as though I were an alien from a different planet. I scrambled to my feet and looked around at the dramatic change of environment. I mentally prepared myself to run, feeling like this was it, I had been found out, and they were going to get me.

I was certain that they were heavily suspicious and would likely kill me over it.

You could hear a pin drop and even Shani stopped playing. I swallowed deeply then somewhere out in the thick of people, somebody began a slow clap, then others joined in until the whole area was filled with applause. One of the girls stood at the forefront was crying with uncontainable emotion. I bit my lip at their overwhelming reaction, and I looked over at Shani.

She began to play the next song and we continued to sing together.

Slowly but surely, I noticed the people begin to pile goods in front of Shani and I, grains, pots of seasoning, fruits, dates.

My eyes popped and I sang louder for the people in the back. They kept it coming until the cloth Shani had laid out on the ground before us was full. I cleared my throat after and smiled.