Page 19 of Ordinary Secrets

I ignore her. She says that about me at least once a week.

Our sound manager responds with a chuckle. “Monique, you say that about him every week, yet ya still like the kid.”

“I’d like him more if he didn’t purposely try to make my job harder.”

I chuckle to myself, then press a button on my mic pack. “Monique, we all know you enjoy yelling at me as much as I enjoy making you yell at me.”

She growls again. “Get to your position, Grant.”

I rarely get nervous before a show., but tonight, my mind feels chaotic. My body’s here, about to perform, but my mind’s still with Arella, trying to figure her out.

Focus!I order myself as my bandmates and I step out onto the stage, still hidden behind the giant black curtain. On the other side, the audience is screaming at the top of their lungs. I allow their intense energy to rush through me and take control. Hopefully, it’ll drown out the tension in my stomach.

The crowd gets louder when the lights flash and our intro music drops over the speakers. A heavy drum beat with a guitar riff plays, then comes Liz’s recorded voice.

“Like a sunrise on the darkest day or a shining star within the black sky, you’ll always see us because we are... Flames in the Night!”

The crowd chants along with the countdown. “Five. Four. Three. Two. ONE!”

As my bandmates march out from behind the curtain, the rumble of screams pulsates through my veins. I’m always the last to come out. When I do, I lift my guitar into the air, and the crowd gets wilder. Their rush of exhilaration slams into my head so hard, I almost lose my balance.

With my Empath powers having the range of a quarter mile, I can sense hundreds to thousands of people at once. Usually, I’m able to minimize my range to only those within a few steps of me. It makes the emotions of everyone else in the distance feel like a low hum—still present, just not as loud.

On stage, I like to expand my range to everyone in the audience. Being able to sense every single person as I perform is one of the few perks of this empathy gift—a gift I never would have chosen. Not that anybody gets to choose.

Marcus ticks off four beats on his drumsticks before going into his drum solo. After eight measures, I enter with my guitar. After that, the rest of the band joins in, and we play our usual opening song, “Fired Up!”

The more I sing and play, the more I lose myself in the moment. Music has always been my escape. It helps me forget about my bullshit childhood and seeing my parents die in front of me.

6

TREY

Eighteen yearsago

I’m aboutto finish building the first wall of my Lego castle when Mama comes into my bedroom and sits on the floor with me.

“Hey, honey.” She grabs my teddy bear and puts it in my lap, then drags her fingers through my hair. I usually love it when she does that. Tonight, I know she’s only doing it to distract me from how she feels. I can’t ignore it. Her heartache is making my heart ache.

“What’s wrong, Mama?” I rub the wetness off her cheek with my fingers.Did I do something wrong?

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Then why are you crying?”

She wipes her tears off on her sleeve, then pats her lap. “Come here, baby.”

I listen to my mama and crawl onto her legs.

“Let’s sing our song together,” she says.

Last year, Mama wrote a song for me. She said that whenever I’m sad, I should sing the song and it’ll remind me thateverything will be okay. I love the song, and we’ve been singing it together every day.

I pull Andy, the bear I named after Daddy, closer to my chest as Mama and I sing.

When you’re lost without me,

you’ll always have Andy.

---