A Star Among Others (Book 1)

Chapter 3

Matthews house is not much. In the basement of a house in an abandoned village. He drags me inside and sits me down on a bench. Books and research line shelves and are cluttered on desks. 

"Wow Matthew what-"

"Shh." He starts to frantically flip through things muttering along the way.

"Matt what's going-" 

"Shh!" He says louder, "Gosh, where did I put it!" He runs a hand through his hair then walks over to one of the high shelves. He grabs out a book and lands on one page. He slowly places it down and pulls up a chair.

"May I?" He says. He points to my hands and I show them to him. He studies them for a moment then writes something down in a book. 

"Okay, Story time." He says. He motions to a chair and Mackenna takes it and sits beside me.

"When the Redeemers came, about 50 years go, they eliminated most abilities. Nobody really knows how, it kind of just happened." 

He pauses, "Not everyone agreed to that because some of them saw them as talents. Not something to be competitive over. Just things that some people were better at. Now of course we were not here to experience what having a talent felt like. We were born into this world." 

He gets up and looks towards where we just came from, "Some rebelled," He glances at me, "and we created the underground market. A place to remember those who were great and to find our potential again." 

He walks over to us and leans against a shelf, "I for one, was curious if our talents could ever come back. If there were some of us who could learn to teach others." He lets out a laugh, "I thought that was going to be hard. But then I found the answer."

Matthew walks over to a cabinet and pulls out a wooden shape with strings. Then he pulls out a stick, with more strings attached. 

"This is a Cello. When I saw it in the market I felt almost like a tug just to walk towards it. I picked it up and started to play. It just flowed out of my body and the must beautiful music I've ever heard." My heart skips a beat.

He places the Cello in front of him and starts to play. A sound I can't explain comes out and I almost want to burst out laughing and crying at the same time. I slowly stand up.

"How can you do that?" I say smiling. He stops playing. His eyes are lit on fire.

"There really is no logical explanation for what just happened and I have no idea. But at the same time.... I feel like I know it all."

"Bri, that's what happened to you!" Mackenna jumps out of her seat. 

"Ya! I felt the exact same thing that Matthew described!" Suddenly, I feel that same tug again and I make eye contact with Matthew. I walk towards the stairs and see the boys carrying my piano.

They come closer and set it down. 

"Do your magic Madden." One of them says. I sit on the bench and play.

It comes out again. But this time, I'm not freaking out. I'm smiling and getting to feel my connection with the keys. I know this song, but not like I've heard it before. I just know. I put my whole body into it, moving along with the flow of the song. Mackenna sits down on the cracked concrete steps, and Matthew leans against the wall. The boys look like they need to leave but don't. The music almost puts everyone to sleep with a smile on their face. At that moment, I feel the need for everyone to hear it. James, Mom and Dad. I finish off the song and nobody moves.

"Debussy." Matthew says.

"Clair de Lune." I say looking back into his ocean blue eyes. They light up for a second until Mackenna comes and sits down next to me. 

"We should get going." She says.

"Ya." I say staring down the keys. I get up and close the lid. I look to Matthew.

"Take good care of her please." I say in a whisper. 

"Come back soon."

__________________

I step into our room and see James walking to the kitchen. 

"Hey Bri, wanna help me make some dinner!?" He yells down the hall.

"Sure just give me a sec." I run into my room and change into some sweats and a black t-shirt. I put my hair into a short ponytail and run to the kitchen. James took out some pasta so looks like we're tackling spaghetti.

"So I have no idea how to do this. I've watched mom do it a couple of times but that was before." He says looking me in the eyes. Because I know exactly what he means. We didn't have any personal robots. But right now, it was just me and James, with the exception of the robots downstairs.

"Okay so we have to get the spaghetti strings soft, so we boil the water." I clang around to find a pot then fill it with some water. I put it on the stove and dump in the spaghetti.

"Great!" James says. He walks over to the pantry and takes out a can of sauce, "This is for after."

We get distracted looking for another can, until we snap back hearing the sizzling of water overflowing. I scream and turn off the stove and we both burst out laughing. I take the pot and almost dump all of it down the sink.

"J, toss me a spoon." I say. I drain the water out and plop them in a bowl. 

"The sauce." I say. So James being James, thinks I say to throw it. So he does, while I'm turning back to look at the spaghetti and it shatters, splashing everywhere. I stand gaping at the red all over the floor and our clothes. I look up at him and smile. He runs a red hand through his hair and doesn't notice, while I'm laughing to the point where I can't breathe.

"You just smushed sauce all through your hair!" I yell still laughing, my voice 4 octaves higher. We laugh some more until he goes into the shower and I clean up the mess.

We finish off the evening by sitting at the table with half hard, half soft noddles and a hint of sauce, making the noddles pink.

"Don't forget the OG!" I say sliding a cup to him. I sit down beside him and he pulls me in for a hug.

"Love you Bri."

"Same here J." Then we spit out the spaghetti at the same time.