Music Masters: CD One

SAD TOMORROW: PART NINE

Loud car horns and taxi drivers cursing the traffic framed the scene behind Kim, as she stood on the top step of a pristine stoop.

Quickly, she checked her phone again.

750 East 16th Street, Union Square. It was definitely the right address.

After rummaging through all of Seth's old polaroid albums and even digging a little on social media, she'd finally tracked her down.

As Kim walked through the lobby door, she could feel apprehension welling up inside her as she approached the apartment buzzer.

Her heart began to rise in her throat, and suddenly the thought of facing Ayla Syntara again seemed less frightening than the prospect before her.

But Ayla was almost certainly gone for good. A recent article in the Village Voice, detailing the discovery of over a dozen missing persons from the last decade, only further cemented that fact.

Kim let out a deep breath, before hitting the buzzer and hoping for the best.

Three flights up and three doors down, Kim Ramone stood alone in front of apartment 14C.

She'd been buzzed in without an issue, and now all that lay between her and her target was nothing more than a simple push of the doorbell.

Everything about this building felt oddly familiar to Kim. Something about the scent of the air, and the sound of the steps, and even the window outlooking the city nearby, gave her the most powerful feeling of deja vu.

She only remembered so much before the age of seven, so it wouldn't be surprising to Kim if she'd been here before.

But now was not the time to daydream like Michael.

Instead, she sucked up the rest of her lingering apprehension and pressed hard on the doorbell.

She was greeted with a few seconds of silence, until a female voice yelled out from some feet away behind the door.

"Coming! Oh, not now, Lennox!"

From behind the door, Kim's acute hearing caught shuffling and the faint noise of a cat meowing. Finally, after the turn of the lock and chain, the door was opened, revealing the apartment's occupant in full.

She was taller than Kim, with light peach skin and short, spiky black hair.

Kim could only assume the cold didn't bother her, since she was dressed in a red t-shirt and skinny black jeans that seemed to hug her hips almost uncomfortably.

She stared Kim down with wide eyes, unsure what to say at first. It was only when her cat appeared, nuzzling up against her leg, that she broke from her self-imposed trance.

"Hi." she said, picking up her cat in the process. "I was wondering when you'd finally come by."

Lennox purred in response, and that was enough for Kim to follow as she was beckoned inside.

Kim's mind deconstructed the person before her as they remained silent upon entering the living room.

So this was Billy. This was Seth's old girlfriend, the same one Ayla and Seth had name dropped alike. And it appeared that she recognized Kim, though Kim didn't remember her.

But of all the things, the strangest one to ponder over was for Kim to be able to see a living example of her older brother's taste in women.

It was both incredibly awkward and revealing at the same time.

"Have a seat." she motioned, putting her cat down. Lennox scampered towards Kim sitting on the couch, eventually deciding to lounge next to her on the empty seat.