feste_sylvain

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3


The Phantom Girl
Chapter 4

Strangely, Jon felt calm on Friday. He showered, shaved, peeked into his bedroom to confirm that he'd have no witness getting dressed, and felt vaguely disappointed that he didn't. Whatever little paranoia demons may have taken up residence in his skull the night before were completely gone.

Dressed in his usual jeans and flannel shirt, he ambled downstairs for breakfast. Surprisingly, his dad was there, actually seated, and actually eating a whole bowl of cereal.

"Mornin'", dad offered.

"Kinda early for it", Jon responded.

The two males of the household shared some crunching for a while, but when his mouth was sufficiently clear, dad asked, "So, gig tonite?"

"Yup", Jon agreed around a mouthful of flakes.

"Expecting much of a crowd?"

"Think so", Jon said after a swallow. "We did okay last November, and some kids have been asking us when we'd play again. Took a while to get permission to use the gym."

"How do you put up flyers when your band doesn't have a name?"

"Dilip created a high-contrast picture of the four of us. Then the date and the word 'GYM' in block letters. It works."

"Clever", said dad, getting up. "I gotta run, but I hope somebody records your show tonite so I can hear it later."

"Might happen. See ya."

And Jon virtually skipped to school. His step was totally unlike his previous week's mood. When Dan saw him approaching, he got worried. "Hey! Writer! No good mood until after the show! We're depending on the brood-voice!"

That stopped Jon. Bill angled in from the hallway corner, and asked, "Didja listen to your song last night? That was awesome! I never really got why so many good bands did slow songs, but man that was awesome!".

Jon was now frozen in place.

"That's better", Dan assured Jon with a thump on the back. "You can go ahead and celebrate when the crowd cheers. But until then, I want you morose."

Jon snapped to. "Morose?"

"Yeah, morose. I had to look it up, but it really works in the Steinbeck book report."

"The report!" Jon whipped off his backpack in a panic, searched it frantically, and then let out a huge sigh when he found his report. "I thought I forgot this."

Dan shook his head as the first bell sounded, and everyone sauntered off for a school day that would not register in any of their heads.

Lunch was uneventful.

The afternoon was uneventful.

The walk home was uneventful.

Dinner was uneventful.

Jon strode upstairs after dinner, packed up his gig rig, looked at his computer desk, and sighed. "Oh yeah, as soon as she hears the song, she'll know. Thanks, Dan, but I don't think she'll ever know."

So with another sigh, he gathered up his stuff, and headed downstairs to borrow the car. So he didn't see a pair of white hair clips flicker into view, and then flicker away.

Jon swung the car around the block to pick up Dan. "Bill and Dilip are already there, dude! Bill had to set up his kit, and Dilip had to set up all the sound. He doesn't trust AV to do it."

"Would you?", asked Jon. Both boys shuddered.

But in almost no time, they were back at school. Jon pulled the car up to the big metal doors, which were propped open. They unpacked their guitars and amps, then Jon parked the car and joined the rest of the band.

Bill had put up a big banner over the stage that read, "Parallel Worlds".

Jon stopped again. "Oh, you have got to be kidding!"

"Not kidding. Not even a little. You'll sing that song, and by Monday, every kid in school will be singing that song. Then they'll know the name of the band."

"Isn't naming your band after your song kind of cheesy?"

"We're in high school. This is our last chance for cheese. Hey, here comes the crowd."

And sure enough, kids were coming in. Some parked themselves up in the bleachers, but most milled around on the floor. Girls were gathering in gaggles; boys lined up against the wall and watched them.

Dan stepped up to the microphone. "Just like we did it last night, guys. They want us to be good, and we are. One! Two! Three! Four!"

And they were off. They launched straight into the high-energy kick-off number, and Jon managed to keep his fingers on all the right frets. He looked out over the dancing crowd, and saw that most everyone there had apparently been waiting impatiently for months. Despite himself, he started banging his head while he was perched up on his stool.

Number after number, all fairly fast, all rocking, all the time. The covers that they'd picked up, they all went over well. Their original songs, Jon's original songs, those were at least as popular. The lights swung out over the, the, well, party! This wasn't just a concert, this was a full-blown event! Jon raised his head up to the ceiling.

And saw her.

She was up there, right next to the ceiling in the back, dancing away.

Jon's blood ran cold. The color left his face. If anyone in the crowd saw this, they must have thought it a fluke of the stage lighting.

Could she really be there? Could she really be there, up in the air, dancing on nothing at all?

No. Jon decided he was crazy again. Fading in and out of his room was one thing, but she just couldn't be up there at all, let alone tonite, let alone at this concert.

Dan cleared his throat. "C'mon, dude, take the mike." Jon blinked, looked at Dan, then let his strap hold his guitar while he adjusted the microphone.

Naturally, when Jon started to speak, the microphone let out a squeal. Jon backed off, and tried again. "We're going to slow it down now. I wrote this for someone who..." Beat. "I wrote this for someone." And then he opened with the noodling chords, and the rest of the guys came in to fill.

You float into my life
You float into my sight
You seem to look thru me
You never speak to me
It's as if we're just sails unfurled

So why do you haunt me?
It's not like you taunt me.
I'd think that you're spurious
But you remain curious
Like we're living in Parallel Worlds

With that, there was a general "Ohhh" around the crowd, as the banner was now attached to something in particular. Jon looked up to where he'd seen her dancing before, but the space was now empty. This allowed him to catch his breath and launch into the bridge.

My grandfather knew of this feeling
He'd say "Ships in the night are stealing"
How do I signal my feelings for you?
Would you even find me appealing?

I will leave you a sign
Where you will look and find
A token of my love
If you hold it above
And don't let ambiguity curl

In the plainest of scenes
You will know what it means
If you want to learn about me
And you don't need to doubt me
We can join both our Parallel Worlds

And with the end of the song, the full gymnasium of kids applauded.

But then there was a gasp. A hundred-voiced gasp. The girl in the white uniform, jacket and trousers, and white hair-clips holding back two black pig-tails, was running down from the ceiling! Everyone watching her could have sworn that she was running down stairs, except that there were no stairs. Jon was completely frozen in place. Dan had been hoisting his guitar in the air, and he left it at full arm's length above his head as he watched the impossible.

Jon was thinking three things:
"She's here!"
"She heard the song!"
"Everyone else can see her!"

But there was no mistaking it: she was there, she was seen, and she had the biggest smile on her face. Now that she was getting closer to the stage, bounding down invisible stairs, Jon was able to make out something else: in one of her hair-clips, there was a white daisy.

The girl apparently leaped from about six feet off the ground down to the stage, which was only four feet off the ground. She landed right in front of Jon, and her feet thudded onto the stage. This so startled Jon, he tossed his guitar almost straight up. As her body collided with his, all he thought was "Lucky my strap didn't catch on me". She was quite solid. She was pressing her chest against his. She was pressing her lips against his. Out of the corner of his eye, Jon saw Dan catch his guitar in his empty hand.

And then Jon and the girl hit the floor. Not the floor of the stage, but the floor of the gym underneath the stage. Suddenly, the sounds of the crowd were muffled, even as it was mixed with applause and screams. The girl was still kissing him as he landed on his back and got the breath knocked out of him.

"Oh! I am sohry! Are yoo all right?" The girl rolled off Jon and onto the floor beside him. Jon gasped a bit, caught his breath, looked around in the darkness, and faced where he thought she was.

"You're real! You're really real!"

"What you say? Of course I am rilly rill! We talked on yoor Toozday!"

"I think I love you."

"I know yoo doo! I listened to yoor song. Nobody ever wrote me a song before."

"What's your name?"

"My name is TuhNuhYuh. Yoor name is Joan."

"Jon."

"Jon?"

"That's right, Tuhnuhyuh. Jon."

"I call yoo JuhNuh. That is a good name."

"Then I will call you Tina. That is a good name here."

"Tee-Nah. I like it, JuhNuh."

"How do I get out from under the stage? How did I get under the stage?"

"I do that. I get you out now." Jon felt a hand on his foot. "Get up."

"Get up? I'll smack my head!"

"No, yoo won't. Get up."

Jon hesitated. "Will I see you again?"

"I'll be back in our room."

Jon stood up, and found his head and shoulders above the stage. He also found a general panic in the room, but a fairly happy one. He placed his hands on the stage, and hoisted himself up as if he were hoisting himself out of a pool. He looked down, saw her hand on his foot, then watched the hand let go, wave, and duck down below the very solid stage.

"'Our room'", thought Jon, as every eye in the place swiveled back to him and applauded. "I like the sound of that."

Jon picked up his guitar from the stand, where Dan had carefully set it down. He packed it away, picked up his things, and headed out to the parking lot, even as Bill, Dilip, and Dan were virtually shouting at him to tell them how he did that.