Читать книгу The Last Musician - Jason Peterson - Страница 9

Kristoffer splashed cold water on his face. He had left Ethel and Elder Heckle, telling them he needed to use the bathroom. What he needed was time to think.

Could he just say no? Leave them all behind? Go and find another place to live?

Forget about the music. The note. All of it.

Maybe this was all just a bad dream. He pinched himself and splashed more water on his face. No, it wasn’t a dream.

Ethel. He kept coming back to Ethel. She had taken him in and loved him as her own son. He thought of how she encouraged him in whatever he wanted to do. How she listened to him – really listened – unlike anyone else he had ever known. He couldn’t just leave her with this town falling apart.

And Greenwood. It was the only place he had ever known, and even though he never felt like he belonged, the people here were good people. If he could help them, he should. Right?

Then there was his life. Who was he? Where did he come from? And why was he chosen to be this way?

Kristoffer looked at himself in the mirror. He was not strong or tough. He knew that about himself, and he saw it in his own eyes. He could fail, and Greenwood would destroy itself. All he knew and loved could fall apart because of him. But he should try. He would try.

Kristoffer opened the bathroom door and walked back into Elder Heckle’s bedroom where Ethel and Elder Heckle sat, looking at him with anticipation. Kristoffer heard the angry voices outside. People fighting each other and fighting to get in. All because music had gone missing from their lives. The thread that held it all together. He would find it.

Kristoffer took a deep breath and looked at Ethel.

“I’m in.”