Breeze of Life by Kirsty Dallas Page A

worn their way into my fingers had disappeared long ago.
    “Now is as good a time as ever to turn those baby soft fingers into instruments of brute force and strength.” Harper urged the guitar forward into my lap. I chuckled as my hands reverently felt the familiar instrument, tracing the lines painted under the perfectly varnished timber finish. As I gave the strings a gentle strum, my eyes fluttered shut. It was like sinking into a familiar feeling of harmony. In this moment, I couldn’t for the life of me understand why I had given this up? Because one day it would be gone forever and that wasn’t fair. I squeezed my eyes shut as I checked the tune of each chord. Life wasn’t fair, but it was still life. I was still breathing, my heart still beat, the world moved forward while I battled to accept my fate. I needed to find a way to embrace here and now, worry about tomorrow once I reached it. It seemed so easy, it should have been easy, but it wasn’t.
    “Don’t wound my pride, Breeze, I already tuned it at home, come on I’ll even sing a couple with you.” My eyes opened at Harper’s words. I knew how much he hated singing in public, so to offer was a big deal. After strumming a few chords, I fell into an easy tune I thought most people would recognize, Green Day’s Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) . Heads started to bob and smiles consumed the faces of the strangers sitting around me. The music quickly lifted me above the clouds of sorrow and fear. The joy in the faces and eyes of the strangers around me made me fly. As promised, Harper joined in, quickly followed by Lacey’s husband who had an incredible voice.
    By the time I had finished, everyone looked at me with genuine pride, my music and words moving them all. Well, maybe not so much Chantelle. She looked like she had eaten a lemon for lunch and, strangely enough, that made me smile with immature delight. Someone from another camp site brought out their harmonica and we played a few songs together. Cat Stevens Wild World and after that Neil Young’s Heart of Gold and then Steppenwolf’s Magic Carpet Ride . My heart was floating on a euphoric cloud of music. This was the place my guitar and songs had always lifted me. With my fingers now feeling a pinch of pain, exhaustion climbing to my shoulders, I was all too soon pressed back to earth. Harper of course noticed immediately and rubbed the back of my neck. He took the guitar gently from my hands.
    “Come on, baby girl, bed for you.” He dragged me from the ground and I found myself passing around hugs to Lacey, Eric, Marz, Yoshi and Riah like they were long lost family. With his hand in mine, Harper walked me to the tent and held the flap open as I flicked my flip flops off and crawled in.
    “I haven’t had a shower or brushed my teeth,” I realized.
    “That’s the beauty of road trips and camping, Breeze, you do what you want when you want. Change into your PJs and get in that sleeping-bag. I’ll come back and check in you in a bit.” Harper gave me a chaste kiss on the forehead, holding me close for an all too brief moment. His breath was warm on my cheek, laced with the subtle scent of beer. “You truly are a treasure,” he whispered as he drew away. “I’ll be back soon.” With that he zipped the tent back up and disappeared. My mind spun with yet another of Harper’s declaration. His affection for me was unashamed and open. It would be too easy to lose myself in his tender care. I found my familiar leather encased notebook in the bottom of my backpack. Flipping through the pages, the dark and morbid words that had crowded them made me feel sick. My words, all ugly and hollow. I hated those words, I hated the girl who had succumb to those feelings. I began to rip the pages out one by one until all that were left were blank empty pages. With a new beginning, a fresh start, I began to write.

     
     

 
    Chapter 8
    Flat & Glassy Perfection
     
    Flat clean ocean, not even a ripple;