Unsung Requiem

by C. L. Stone

  For a long time, I was just gazing out the window. It already felt like a long day.

  Victor was leaning against me. We did have our seatbelts on but we were close enough he could press his arm against me as he gazed out the other window. Gabriel and Luke talked about going to grab something to eat after the concert and the trade was over and what places were on the way back.

  After a minute, while Gabriel and Luke were still talking to themselves, I pressed a little harder into Victor to get his attention. “Are you okay?” I asked in a quiet voice.

  “Sure,” Victor said.

  “Are you going to go?”

  “Where?”

  “When we move. Into a house.”

  His smile fell a touch and he shrugged. “I think so. I don’t know what to do about my parents... and you know, the other stuff.”

  “Wasn’t it hard to sneak around your parents? With the Academy?”

  “I didn’t think it was, no more than anywhere else,” he said. “I think I slowly got used to it. I’d lie about where I was going so much...” He sighed. “Maybe I’m no better than they are.”

  I reached out, squeezing his hand. “You’re much better.”

  He smiled.

  “I just can’t wait until we’re settled,” I said.

  “But you know, it’s going to take some time to find a house. Do you know where you’re sleeping tonight?”

  I glanced at Luke and Gabriel, still talking to each other, and then back to him, shrugging. “No idea. Back at Mr. Buble’s?”

  “You could go to Kota’s if you wanted.”

  “I don’t know if I should yet,” I said.

  “You don’t have to avoid her.”

  I knew I didn’t have to. But still, it felt awkward now. We’d snuck into her house, checked on her...

  If she was Volto, there was a high probability that she was associated with the drop-off tonight. We’d be one step closer to figuring out if it’s her. We might know tonight once and for all.

  It made the thought of going to a concert a little strange to me. I felt it was meant for us to relax a bit after the last couple of days, but my skin tickled with pins and needle feelings.

  The colosseum in Charleston was surrounded by mostly parking lots and one hotel next door. The sun was going down as we arrived. When Luke parked, we climbed out. There were two actual buildings but apparently the concert was in the smaller, round building.

  Gabriel and Luke led the way. I walked behind them with Victor. After only a few moments, I reached out for his hand, walking closer to him.

  Victor picked up his head and looked over at me. He squeezed my hand shortly.

  “I haven’t been to a concert before,” I said.

  “You’ve been to mine.”

  “I mean not like this.”

  “Are you nervous?”

  “A little...” I gazed over at other people heading in the same direction.

  He squeezed my hand again and then released it to wrap an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t be. I’ll be watching out for you. And them.”

  “Like Nathan usually does?” I asked with a grin.

  “That’s usually why someone else goes along, yeah? I’m the muscle.”

  I smirked and shook my head. “It’s weird. I guess. Even after all this time, I still can’t shake thinking my mom is going to get after me sneaking out.”

  “It takes a while to get used to being out, I bet,” he said. “I still anticipate my mom calling to remind me I have to be home for those people, or that dinner, or to rehearse for that event.”

  “I hope this feeling goes away,” I said.

  He nodded. “Yeah. At some point maybe.”

  He paused there and checked his phone, read a text message quickly, nodded, and then put it back into his pocket without answering it.

  “Who’s that?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Just Kota. Keeping me updated.”

  “We’re still set for tonight? For the tradeoff?”

  “Yup,” he winked at me and drew me in closer, kissing the side of my head, near my ear. “Let’s just have fun. We don’t have to worry about it. Too many people for Volto to try anything too crazy, and Mr. Buble will be in a bit later to monitor with North. If we happen to see familiar people, we just remember who we saw.”

  I wasn’t so sure. Volto willingly messed with other people, an entire stadium, once before.

  Still, I tried to relax. It had been so tense with Kota’s mother and trying to come up with how to handle it, Nathan’s house getting robbed, still dealing with Volto after all this time, too. I was just grateful that Victor didn’t seem all that worried. If he wasn’t, then what the others had said was true. Maybe we just needed to wait it out and find out what was really going on.

  I leaned into him, nuzzling his body a bit with my cheek. “I’m glad you’re with us,” I said.

  As he walked beside me, the fire that was in his eyes before, was there, though diminished a bit.

  I was too nervous to ask why.

  ♥♥♥

  Moments later, we were standing in front of our seats. The stage ahead of us was dark.

  To my left was Victor, to my right, Gabriel, and then Luke. With all the black, in the dark, it was like we were floating heads in the shadows.

  Surprisingly, for a school night, a lot of the audience were younger than us, with numerous kids that appeared to be about twelve or so. There were several groups that were teenagers, and very few parents, or if they were there, they were much higher and away from the stage. Around us were rows of people, some sitting and some standing in anticipation.

  The concert started, most of the area went darker as more lights went off except for the stage. Everyone stood. People screamed at the musicians. Some people carried glow sticks and waved them around.

  The boys next to me hooted. For some reason, I found the whole thing funny and just laughed.

  The music got pretty heavy, and soon Luke and Gabriel were banging their heads forward and back, had their arms up in the air, making hand signals, similar to what others were doing nearby.

  Gabriel bumped into me, and then grinned, leaning in. “Rock on. Come on, you can do it.”

  I didn’t want to bang my head, so I lifted my hand up and just waved it back and forth a little.

  Gabriel glanced at my hand and then giggled. “Good job.”

  Luke leaned over him and laughed. “Hey, it’s this way.”

  I compared my hand to his. I’d put out a thumb, first finger, and pinkie finger. He’d just did first and pinkie.

  “No thumb?” I asked.

  “No, let her use the thumb,” Gabriel said. “It’s adorable.”

  “It doesn’t mean the same,” Luke said.

  “Sure it does,” Gabriel said and switched his hand up. “It means we love the band.”

  “You don’t even know who's playing,” Luke said.

  “Do we care?” Gabriel said and laughed.

  While Gabriel was swinging around, Luke was looking at me, still laughing.

  “What?” I asked. But I felt my voice was probably lost and I did sign language instead. “What does it really mean?”

  He signed back but spelled the letters out, “I love you.”

  Oh. I giggled and realized what I was doing.

  Gabriel and Luke started doing the same. I did as well. I had no idea if anyone else was even paying attention or cared what we were up to. I didn’t recognize anyone near us.

  Victor beside me kept his arms crossed over his chest. He watched the concert, sometimes rocking his head, but he wasn’t dancing around like Luke and Gabriel.

  I leaned into him, pressing my cheek to his shoulder a bit.

  He turned to me. He glanced at the others and then down at me again. “Okay?” he mouthed.

  I nodded.

  The band played several songs. I had no idea what was being sung as the lead singer mostly screamed. Sometimes there were flames from the stage and I coul
d feel the heat on my cheeks.

  After about an hour, as far as I could tell at least, Gabriel poked me in the shoulder. “I’m heading to the bathroom,” he shouted at us. “Who wants to go?”

  “I do,” Victor said.

  I assumed I couldn’t go and leave Luke alone so I remained behind.

  The boys left our row and headed for the steps that would take them out into the corridor that surrounded the stadium.

  After they left, Luke turned to me. “You know,” he said, “one day we should go on our own date.”

  “This like a date?” I asked.

  He smirked at me. “One day I’ll get you by myself.”

  “Tomorrow?” I asked. I had no idea what was happening tomorrow, but I realized, too, that a lot of my time lately was spent among them, but not with them. Often, when I did speak with Lily, she encouraged me to listen to what they were saying, and if they needed me, to be available. Not everyone would need me the same amount of time, but they’d say when they want something.

  Luke’s eyes flashed brilliantly in the light from the stage. “You’re serious?”

  I nodded, although I was nervous. “I’m not sure what jobs will be needed tomorrow but...”

  He scooped up my hand quickly, bringing my knuckles to his lips and he kissed my hand. He turned it over gently and kissed my palm.

  It tickled, and I retracted my hand away. “Don’t, it’s ticklish.”

  He laughed and stopped.

  He held up the hand signal, like before, except instead of directed at the band, he aimed it at me.

  My mouth parted and my cheeks radiated. I almost froze again, in near shock.

  I didn’t want to delay, like last time, but I was genuinely a mess of feelings.

  Slowly, I held up the same hand signal.

  I nearly floated where I stood. I didn’t notice anything else in the moment. What concert? And it felt so natural.

  I did care about him a lot. My heart lifted around them all.

  He brought his hand over, still signed, until we crossed fore and pinkie fingers and met our two knuckles together.

  With his other hand, he reached over and held the tip of my chin.

  He kissed me.

  I was a little nervous the others would return and see it, so I only kissed him for a couple of minutes before I backed up a bit.

  He seemed to understand me. “And that’s why we need our own date.” Instead of kissing me, he kept his arm around me, a hand at my waist.

  I tucked into him. No more bouncing around. Just enjoying being near him.

  I wanted this. So much. I wanted to be around them, at concerts and other places. I liked being with them together, and alone, and I hated that we were so distracted that we never felt we could get a break except in rare moments.

  Luke nuzzled my head, kissing near my scalp.

  His hand slid down to my hip and held me close to him.

  We remained close, watching the band, me nearly floating out of my spot because I kept thinking of his hand signal to me. My hands twitched to do it again.

  Two more songs played by the band, and the others still hadn’t gotten back.

  Concerned, Luke held my hand and indicated to get out of the row. We followed signs around the building to find the closest bathrooms.

  We found the right place, with a small line for the women’s and the men’s side didn’t seem to have a visible one.

  “Where’s your phone?” Luke asked.

  I brought it out.

  “Put someone else on the line while I go in and see if they’re there.” He snapped his fingers and pointed at my feet. “Don’t you move.”

  “What if there’s a fire?”

  “Don’t start a fire,” he said, giving me a gentle chop on my head before heading into the boy’s bathroom.

  I picked Silas.

  He answered instantly. “I was thinking about you,” he said in lieu of saying hello.

  I blushed. I was aware we weren’t supposed to be alone ever and someone was probably next to him. “Are you busy?”

  “Nope.”

  “Gabriel and Victor ventured off and Luke is checking the bathrooms.”

  “You’re in the concert?”

  “Yeah. Where are you?”

  “Outside the concert,” he said. “With North.”

  “You’re here?”

  “We don’t have tickets. We’re scoping out the trade spot. It’s on the far side of the parking lot.” There was a deep voice, North’s, that came across on the phone but I couldn’t actually hear what he was saying. “He wants to know if the concert is over.”

  “I have no idea.” I listened and the band was still playing. “I guess not yet.”

  More North talking. Silas relayed, “When it is, get them to drive by here but don’t stop. It’s around the back of the building you’re in. There’s a small hill with a single lane nearby that leads to a gate. Have them back up to the gate, like they belong there, park, and wait. Looks like some maintenance shed but there shouldn’t be any traffic there at this time of night.”

  The girls’ line was getting shorter but still no sign of Luke and the others. “Okay...”

  “Just wait inside there. Make sure we don’t get our butts kicked.”

  “Is it just you two?”

  “We’re not going in. It’s Mr. Buble and he’s got another... person. I haven’t seen who it is yet.”

  Academy person. Did we owe a favor for this? “So we’re all monitoring?”

  “North and I will go in if there’s more than two people,” he said. “We don’t want to be outnumbered here. We assume it’ll go smoothly, trading cash for the trunk, and we get to identify who is there, ask a few questions. This is just if things get out of hand.”

  I had no idea what to anticipate. With so many of us here, and likely witnesses as there were bound to be people from the concert in the parking lot as well, how would this work?

  I was going to say something else when Luke reappeared, half carrying Victor, whose eyes were rolling into the back of his head and he was grinning.

  Gabriel attempted to help, but he was laughing too much to do so.

  “I can’t believe you do this now,” Luke said. He waved to me. “Give me a hand.”

  “Gotta go,” I said to Silas.

  “Don’t let them get into any trouble,” he said and hung up.

  Might have been a bit too late for that.

  I walked over to Luke and Victor, only the smell of something rancid, like a skunk smell, was so strong near them. I waved my hand in front of my nose. “What happened?”

  Luke contorted his face. “They were smoking who knows what...”

  “It was just fucking pot!” Gabriel corrected.

  “With a bunch of idiots...”

  “It was Jay!” Gabriel said. “And Rocky!”

  “They’re here?” I asked.

  “They were in the bathroom,” Victor said and stood up on his own, tugging his arm away from Luke. “Stop dragging me.”

  “Was Karen with them?” I asked.

  Gabriel shrugged, but grinned as he did so. “Girl in the guy bathroom? No waaaay.”

  Luke closed his eyes and pinched at the bridge of his nose, “I can’t believe I’m the one dragging you two out... you... ugh.”

  “Hey,” Victor said, and giggled. “Don’t... you shouldn’t be rude.”

  “Let’s get them out of here, Sang,” Luke said. “Get Gabriel, make sure he doesn’t wander off.” He took Victor by the hand.

  Victor tried to take his hand back. “We don’t need to do this.”

  “Oh yes I do,” Luke said, reclaiming Victor’s hand. “I don’t care if people think we’re a couple. We are for ten minutes until we get to the car. I don’t want you wandering off.”

  I did the same for Gabriel, only Gabriel didn’t complain. They did want to let go a lot, getting distracted by people they thought they wanted to talk to, the food section, wanting to go back to the conc
ert.

  It was better out in the parking lot. Most people were inside and we only had to direct them down the row of cars. They kept trying to get into different ones.

  “Well, I can’t remember which car we brought,” Gabriel said. “There’s too many of them. Fuck. Do we own a Corolla?”

  “It’s the Jeep,” I said.

  Gabriel laughed. “Oh yeah.”

  Progress with them was so slow. It took ten minutes simply because they kept changing their minds about what to do or just stopping and not wanting to go.

  It was like Victor was drunk all over again, only now there were two. “This was pot?” I asked. I had seen TV shows and movies and a few kids at school high on pot, and they didn’t act like this.

  “They’re lightweights,” Luke said, still hanging on to Victor’s hand and guiding him down the rows of cars.

  “No, we aren’t!” Victor insisted.

  “Yeah,” Gabriel said. “We’re not!”

  Luke rolled his eyes.

  At the Jeep, Victor and Gabriel collected in the back seat. I sat in the passenger seat.

  “I... can’t believe...” Luke got in the driver’s seat and inserted a key to get the Jeep started.

  “We have to stay here,” I said. I told him what Silas said.

  “We can’t do that,” Luke said. He motioned with a hand at the back. “Look at these two!”

  With that, Gabriel and Victor burst out laughing, with Gabriel doubling over until he nearly slid onto the floor.

  Luke whipped around, pointed a long finger at them. “I can’t believe that you two... of all people...”

  I was getting a bit flustered, too. “Yeah!” I said. They knew better! And at such a critical time. “I can’t believe this.”

  “You’re going to make us parent you two,” Luke said to them. “When we finally get time off...”

  “Smoking pot on a job,” I mumbled, shaking my head. I was completely stunned this happened. It wasn’t like them.

  Gabriel took one look at me and instantly his expression changed until he was crying. “Fuck me. Sang, don’t look like that.”

  “I’m mad,” I said. “We went all this way. They got us concert tickets. You dressed us up. And you two—We didn’t even get to stay for the whole concert.”

  “You’re hanging out with Jay and Rocky in the bathroom smoking pot until you’re like this,” Luke said. “I didn’t even see them in there. They left before I got to you.”