Page 92 of Beneath Cherry Blossom Memories

“Yup. Perfect,” I grind out, eyes narrowing on the sign above the door.

“Cold feet?”

I turn to face the voice and see a sweet looking woman in scrubs holding a Starbucks. “No,” I all but growl, stomach knotting.

“Just showing up is a huge step.” She smiles.

Fuck this bitch. I want to leave. I want to crawl into a hole anddie.“Sure.”

“I’m Brenda.” Her hand outstretches to mine. “I’m a nurse here.”

“Alright.”

She chuckles. “What’s your name?”

I hesitate—the urge to bolt rising higher and higher. Eventually, with her increasingly bright smile and expectant stare on me, I cave. “Eli–er–Elijah.”

“Madden?”

“Yes?” I say suspiciously.

“I saw the intake form last night. If you’d like, I can walk in with you.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d like to. Kindness never hurt anyone.” She beams before taking a sip of her drink.

I glance back at the door, chewing my lip raw. “Is it…bad…in there?”

“Define bad.”

“You know…like straight jackets ‘n shit.”

She chuckles. “No. Come on. Let me show you.”

I watch her walk ahead of me, and then she beckons me with an outstretched hand. Swallowing hard, my right foot takes a single step. Then, the left follows. I swear this lady must be a witch or something because she’s luring me in with her stupidly friendly smile. I briefly wonder if she’s related to Jorge. Shaking the thought away, I trail behind her and go inside the building.

“Let me clock in, and then we’ll get you started on your path of healing, Elijah.”

Fuck.

“Okay.”

Phoenix

One Month

Our new song is taking off faster than we thought.

I guess I’m happy about that, but mostly, I’m depressed.

I can get it together enough to get through the set when I'm on stage. Feeling the music helps, although every time we play Isolated, I get almost violently nauseous. Those words just aren’t true anymore. Having Jorge sing about the man I love being some evil villain feels wrong. I have half a mind to change the damn lyrics. I won’t do that because it’s still our most popular song.

Jorge wrote the new one.

He’s been working on it for about six months, fine-tuning the lyrics and the melody. We were all there for support. I do love that about our band. No one feels less than or left out in the creative process. Everyone gets their time to shine. I’m still stumped on why Jorge insisted we name the song its title.Strange Lad.

I’ve gone over those lyrics countless times, and I still can’t figure out what the song means or who it’s about.

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