The Fall of Sky: Part One by Alexia Purdy

did.
    “I got this, Saul. Nothing will happen. I got this.”
    “I hope so, seeing that you’re not budging one bit. Be careful.”
    “Careful is my middle name.”
    “I’m pretty sure it is.”
     

Chapter Ten
     
     
     
     
    Audrey
    SAUL’S FINGERS WORKED their way across the digital pads, caressing the buttons as they moved. I couldn’t help but stare. He was always in control, always calm and in check with each decision as his hands obeyed. I couldn’t look away. He popped on repetitive drum beats and nodded his head to the rhythm, and watching him was mesmerizing. It was late afternoon, and the bar was all but empty. Soon it would be crawling with hooligans filling their stomachs with cheap alcohol and dancing until their feet blistered.
    I wouldn’t mind sitting here all night watching him work his magic on the bundle of electronics splayed in front of him. Saul was so different from anyone I’d ever met—a gentle soul, strong yet couldn’t hurt a fly. Maybe he could. I didn’t know him well enough to judge that yet. Deep inside though, my intuition told me he was a good person. I prayed I wasn’t wrong. So many ways a person can be wrong, and I’d been ever so mistaken already many times.
    “Audrey?” Saul tilted his head up in my direction, as if he knew I was there watching him with studious eyes. How did he do that? It made me question if he was really blind. The blankness behind those pupils confirmed it somewhat. His eyes didn’t widen as they found me. They didn’t crinkle with recognition. How desolate it must be to live in darkness at all hours, without the relief which light can bring. What was it like? Was it lonely there?
    I’d shivered at his voice saying my name, like liquid silk off his tongue. It was as mesmerizing as the rest of him.
    “Yeah? Right here.” I stepped up onto the stage to get closer and waited for him to say what he wanted to. How does he make me hang on each syllable so easily?
    “Can you do some voice samples for me? I want to integrate them into the songs tonight. It’ll make it sound like you have a chorus of backups singing for you.”
    Raising an eyebrow, I was impressed. “Really? That’s fantastic. Okay! What do you want me to do?”
    “Start with our second song set, ‘Candy Case’.” He pressed a couple buttons, and the basic drum beat sounded off, repeating without further buttons pushed. Nice.
     
    “Don’t touch… you might break it,
    Don’t say….you could fake it.
    I only want the lies before you go,
    No goodbyes….put on a show.
     
    ‘Cause and effect
    Drop your sugar now
    Find it on my lips
    You might like what you see…”
     
    The music ebbed off as we ended. Looking at Saul’s face, I noticed he had an odd satisfaction swimming across his features. The echoes of the music were loud in the mostly empty room.
    “Was that okay?” His voice was low and faraway to me. I was still lost in my post song haze.
    I nodded, amazed at how different the music sounded with his mixed beats and keyboard notes hypnotically filling the space in between the words. “It was perfect.”
    “Like you.” He cleared his throat and shifted. “Your voice, too, I mean. It was flawless.”
    We stared at each other for moments. They ticked by, hovering about us like fireflies fluttering in my ears, making my face flush. “Thanks,” was all I could manage after what felt like the longest awkward silence I’d ever experienced. Sweat pooled in my shirt as the air turned heated.
    “You’re welcome.” His glassy blue irises appeared to be scanning my face, but the slight cataracts in his pupils made me remember they didn’t work. It had me wishing he could see me, see my face, my skin, the spill of scarlet across my cheeks. Could he know how he affected me? Could he feel the rolling waves of warmth seeping from my skin with him close? I wanted him to, more than anything else. I needed him to.
    Standing up, I hopped off the stool and raced down the