Strings Attached

~Chapter 8~

Just then, the Manager of the Planet of Guitars comes sauntering towards me. "Ready to rock, Mr. Hasan?" "As ready as I'll ever be," I tell him, grinning. I don't like him much but tonight, it seems different. "Good. I wanted to thank you though," he says. "And why is that?" "Ever since you started singing here, our popularity has certainly gone up. People love coming here." "That's great, I guess." "What are you talking about? It's way better than that!"

After the performance of some old hag has ended, I high-five my friends and go up to the stage. A sudden shrill of fervor erupts from the crowd. God! They love me. I tilt the mic and bring it near my mouth. "I say, hello, my lovelies!" I greet them, and they wave at me, shouting like crazy. "Tonight, I'm gonna sing... 'I'm glad you came' by The Wanted, and I wanna hear your approval." There are whoops of appreciation from all around the room. "Good. And believe me, I am glad you came." I let out a small chuckle at that but promptly get serious as the crowd goes silent and the lights go low.

The sun goes down

The stars come out ;

And all that counts

Is here and now;

My universe

Will never be the same;

I'm glad you came.

I'm glad you came.

I'm immensely enjoying myself today. I love this song and it's a marvel how it came to me when I was thinking about that detestable girl. Well, she did come to be of use, after all. What's amazing is the fact that I don't feel down or lonely as I do most, if not all, times that I come here. There's no feeling of that kind. I feel optimistic about my life; I feel I can make it through. Maybe, everything is not lost. Not yet. There's still time to pick up the pieces of my life and make myself a palace out of them. A palace full of love, belonging, laughter and life! And I keep singing, dreaming of a contented future.

Even when the song ends, my confidence doesn't drop down into the deep abyss of distress. Instead, I find myself elated and strong. I don't know where this newfound happiness is coming from but I'm not for one to complain! "Wanna go down to the Iridescent to grab a drink?" Chuck, Tyler and Harte ask me almost all at once, slapping my back hard to congratulate me for getting 3,000 pounds' worth of cash. I earned it!

"Nah, man. I don't feel like drinking tonight. I'm actually thinking of crashing at Seth's place. What say, devil? You up for sheltering me for the night?" turning to the guy, I ask him. "I'm all for it," he answers a little too excitedly. "Keep it down a little. You don't sound right," I inform him, shaking my head. Sometimes, I do wonder if he is right in the head.

______

We play on Seth's Xbox for three hours straight, not once getting our head's up from the game until his mom shows up, shouting at us to come down and eat something she made. She is a great cook, or maybe I haven't tasted that many people's cooking yet. Molly's is all I've ever tasted and she is just... okay. There's another thing I like about Seth's mom. She treats me like her own son, always including me in whatever they do together as a family. That's more than anybody would ever do for me.