Page 232 of Kiss Me Tenderly

“As you know, I’ve been absent for the last few months. There is a reason for that. I was in a really dark place for a while there, and the worst part was that I wasn’t even able to write or play. But then something happened.”

My heart does a little flip as I listen intently, as does the rest of the audience.

“I met somebody. And not only did she give me back my muse, but she also changed my life for the better.” Sebastian strums his guitar, his voice dropping lower, a lover’s caress. For me. “This one’s calledBirdy.”

The crowd cheers as I let out a shaky breath, tears burning my eyelids as I listen to that low baritone sing.

Screaming, crying,

No way out.

Lost in the darkness

With the demons wrecking my mind

Nobody can understand,

Nobody wants to see,

The pain rising under my skin

Broken with no way out

Tittering on the ledge

Walking the fine line

The weight of my sins

My mistakes,

A chain dragging me under

Until there’s nothing left

Ready to let go,

When I hear her call

The melody so haunting

Her pain dripping from every line

A stab to my bleeding heart

What are the secrets you’re hiding

Behind those violet eyes,

Little bird,

Good girls like you,

Shouldn’t have the demons dancing in their eyes

But something in you

Calls to the darkness in my heart…