Watching Them Burn: My Rebirth Story novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Note Perfect

Darby's POV

On the Thursday before Homecoming, Bree got us into the auditorium through the loading dock.

She had joined the stage crew in September because she liked cables, and she still had the badge.

"Back row," she whispered. "Keep your hood up."

Luka came in behind us with a black cap pulled low.

We sat in the dark at the very back, three seats from the aisle.

The stage lights were on.

Down front, a woman in a headset was shouting numbers to two men with cameras.

Dane sat alone in the first row with his elbows on his knees.

Willa stood at the center of the stage in the white dress from the banner.

She looked beautiful, and she looked like she had not slept.

Dane's father stood to one side with his arms folded and his platinum watch catching the light.

"Quiet on the floor," the woman in the headset said. "Willa, whenever you're ready. Take your time."

Willa lifted her chin.

She closed her eyes.

Then she began to hum.

Three notes, going down.

I felt it in my chest.

She hummed the line again, soft and slow, and then a third time, and on the third she let the last note fall a little further than the others, with a small catch on it.

It was exact.

It was every note I had ever hummed, and the small fall at the end.

"Oh, no," Bree breathed.

Luka's hand closed over mine.

"They taught her," he said, almost without sound. "Off the recordings."

"Dane's recordings."

"He let them copy them. Of course he did."

Down in the front row, Dane had both hands over his face.

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