[1] Blank Slate || Julie and the Phantoms ✔

CHAPTER 18: Night Terrors ✔️

A FAMILIAR TUNE plays and I recognize the sound of my own voice singing the words. Have you ever remembered a tune, yet not been able to recall any of the words for the life of you? That's how I feel right now. As each word escapes my lips, I know this is a song I should recognize. In fact, it's probably something I wrote in my journal.

But I have no power in this dream.

I can't control it. It's like watching a movie from the point of view of a character, not knowing what thoughts are provoking your own actions. It's torturous.

I must be having fun.

I can feel the skin stretch across my face, taut and sore from the wide smile plastered on me. It's not fake for cameras. It's genuine.

My head spins to a girl from one of my earlier memories.

She's beaming.

My heart jumps as we get to my favorite part of the song. The crowd has their arms in the air, swaying back and forth. Old-fashioned cameras are in their hands. I even see the occasional flip-phone.

What decade is this?

I wish I could get a good look around the room, but once again I am trapped in my own body. I am limited to what younger Lila sees.

The equipment is far from the latest. We're not wearing disco clothes or singing rock music so it's not the 80s. Maybe 90s? 2000s?

In the middle of the second chorus, I hear feedback that jolts the organs in my body.

Not in a good way.

I was already vibrating from the volume, but this is different. My hands are at my ears, removing the earpieces that threaten to burst my eardrums. Our backup band stops playing.

Sparks fly down. The crowd collectively intakes a breath and my heart pounds in my chest.

The thumping is so loud my mind focuses on that one sense: the feeling of my blood furiously pumping through my body. I know for sure that I have a stage high, but this is something different.

The audience murmurs amongst themselves, their attention focusing on one spot of the auditorium.

I follow their gaze up, up, up to what was at the level of the nosebleed balconies. This stadium is huge.

Glass particles rain down on the stage, glittering like little fairies.

That's when I spot the source. We're having technical difficulties. One of the lights has overheated and the glass shattered. The sound of the overheated system is what caused the feedback.

"Everybody calm, we'll have a short break to fix these technical difficulties," the girl who was singing with me says. "Take five."

The crowd releases the breaths they've been holding. The theater fills with sound as hundreds of people converse at normal volumes. Collectively their voices blended together are as loud as our music.

I remove my guitar and set it in its stand, strap and all. After that's secured, walk to the girl.

I hear something snap.

She's already on her way to speak to me. My eyes drift up and I realize she hasn't noticed what I see. The noise wasn't loud enough for her. She still has her earpieces in.

My voice catches in my throat and I'm rendered speechless as I try to scream her name.

The anticipation is killing me, but the sinking feeling in my stomach alludes to the fact that this story isn't going to end well.