Page 82 of The Backtrack
Her finger hovered over the play button. He nodded his approval, and without much fanfare she pressed it.
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“Damon?” Sam whispered. She could hear Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life” through the headphones. Part of her didn’t want to disturb whatever mysterious forces were at work that made it possible for Damon to listen to the CD.
Damon had closed his eyes, relaxed his shoulders and now he was still. So still, in fact, that she wasn’t entirely sure if he was even breathing. She put her head on his chest and heard the franticboom boom boomof his heart, but he wasn’t responding to her touch, or her voice.
Was this how she’d been when Bonnie had found her the other night—unresponsive? She poked Damon’s shoulder, scratched a fingernail down his beard.
“Woah,” she said.
Damon was totally and utterly immersed in the song, or a vision—but either way, he was going through something.
He let out a breath, lurched forward and began to cough uncontrollably. She hurried to grab a glass of water as he took the headphones off. His eyes were wide and clouded as he took the glass from her and gulped it down.
“Well?” she impatiently asked. “What happened?”
He set the glass down and abruptly stood from the couch. “What the fuck was that?”
“You saw it?” She was relieved, and hopeful and overwhelmed from the fact that she wasn’t making this up.
“Yeah, I fucking saw it.” He pulled on a wad of his hair until it stood up at all angles. “How could you not tell me about this?”
“Believe it or not, I didn’t want to frighten you,” she said. “But come on, what did you see?”
Damon sat back on the couch and put his head in his hands. He spoke to his lap. “I saw us. High school. The night I asked you...” He drifted off, then looked at her. “But this time, you kissed me.”
“Yes, that’s what I saw, too!” She was excited. Too excited, because she wasn’t alone in this anymore.
Damon, on the other hand, looked like he’d just been punched in the gut. “Why didn’t you tell me how bad my hair was with those red highlights and all the gel?”
“Thatis what you’re thinking about right now?” Sam chuckled.
Damon swallowed and picked up the player. He rotated it with awe and horror. “What, uh, whatisthis, Sam?”
“I don’t know.” She threaded her fingers together in her lap. “I’ve been trying to figure that out. I was hoping you might have an answer.”
“So every time you play a song, you get a new...?” he cautiously asked.
“Exactly.” She nibbled her lower lip. “It’s like, the memories I have from that time are a different version of our life.”
Damon exhaled, then leaned back into the couch and put the headphones on. “Again,” he said. “Show me another one.”
“Are you sure?” Her voice was full of caution, but she still sat next to Damon. “You could take a minute,” she said, thinking of how long she’d waited in between songs, and how she’d needed time to process.
“I need to understand. I need to know what you know.” He handed her the CD player. He could’ve just as easily hit the play button himself. But maybe having Sam there with him was a comfort.
She waited for him to close his eyes and, when he did, she pressed Play.
“Wow, Myles,” Damon said after listening to the next track. He pulled the headphones off and wiped a hand down his face.
“I tried to tell you, but you seem to think he’s a nice guy.” Sam sat cross-legged next to him. Should she warn Damon about Myles, and what she was going to do with him later?
“When you saw this last vision, did you also see...baby Marissa talking to me at the end?” Sam wasn’t sure if Damon’s vision was exactly as hers, or if he was seeing more through Alt-Damon’s eyes.
“Marissa?” He looked off, as if trying to remember. Then shook his head. “No. The last thing I saw was me, or theotherme, walking away with a big grin.”
“Gotcha.” Sam opened up her notebook and glanced at the track list. If he was experiencing these visions, but through the lens of his teenaged self, then he may not see all of the details she had. He was present in every single song, up until “The Curse of Curves,” when he showed up at the ice cream shop in the middle of Myles flirting with Alt-Sam.
