Free Silent Song (Ghostly Rhapsody) by Ron C. Nieto Page A

home, anyway?”
    Keith smiled, a gesture so different from the radiant smiles of his father, even from the grins I vaguely remembered form our childhood and the carefree ones he had been giving me that same evening. It was a sad smile, just like his music had sounded a tinge too sad no matter how beautiful the theme.
    “Because it will shame you,” he said, simply.
    His tone was so accepting, so matter of fact, like he was only stating that the sky was blue or that it was night. As if he didn’t expect any better.
    How can he accept that? Think so little of himself?
    The horrible voice of guilt told me that I had given him reason to be like that.
    “It won’t,” I said without thinking, just to fight the sudden hurt. “You are nothing to be ashamed of.”
    On impulse, I gripped his arm as if to establish a physical link between us and prove my words. He didn’t snatch it back and didn’t point out that I had been too haughty to look at him in the eye for six long years. In return, I kept holding onto him when we hit the driveway of my house and when Anna stood up from the steps to my porch.

CHAPTER 10
    “Hi.” Keith’s gravelly voice pulled me out of the deer-in-the-headlights trance I had fallen into.
    “Hey, Anna.”
    She waved at us, halfheartedly, not really looking me in the face.
    “Right,” I said, trying to find a solution to the disaster before the losses became too great. “So… do you two want to come inside?”
    Anna remained silent and Keith shook his head.
    “If you consider yourself safely delivered, then I’m going back to my place.”
    “Okay. I’ll see you, then.”
    He nodded to me, turned his back and disappeared into the dark streets, walking fast. Anna and I said nothing for a minute.
    “So you’re together,” she said at last, her tone flat.
    “No!” My negative tripped over itself in its haste. 
    “It would explain why you were holding his hand,” she went on.
    “Look, this is… it’s late. Why don’t you come inside for chocolate and we can talk?”
    She didn’t jump at the chance to share girl time, but she didn’t turn away either, so I took her silence as an affirmative and opened the door.
    “Hello!” I called out. “Anna and I are here! We’re going up to my room!”
    “Okay, sweetie!” Mom’s voice came from the living room. “Would you like me to bring you some hot chocolate up?”
    “That’d be great!” I cried back, already mounting the stairs two at a time.
    Once safely locked away in my room, I plopped down in the bed and tried to find the best starting point for my argument. Anna beat me to it.
    “Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing him?”
    “Because I’m not.” I sighed. “It’s the first time I’ve seen him outside the school, and I hadn’t talked to him before the theatre project.”
    “It didn’t look like that from where I was sitting.”
    “Had you been waiting for long?” I asked, worried. And, let’s be honest, trying to curve the ball out of the court.
    She shook her head no and we stopped for a minute for my mom to leave us a tray with two steaming mugs of cocoa and a plate of cookies. When we were alone again, I realized it was time to make a choice between my secrets and my friend.
    I hoped against all hope that I wouldn’t be left with neither.
    “Okay, so, this is weird, I know, but you did know that Keith and I knew each other from before high school,” I started.
    “Yeah, from when you wore diapers, according to you.”
    “Actually, he lived close by until we were eleven or so, but then he left and I knew nothing of him for the next few years—until I saw him again in high school. By that time, he’d changed a lot and I never bothered to talk to him again.”
    “Because he had become Dracula in Drag.”
    “Yeah, whatever. Anyway, the thing is… I knew he played music.”
    “But you were surprised when Lena brought it up.” She frowned in confusion.
    “I was surprised because I didn’t expect her