Dance Me to the End: Part Two

Dance Me to the End is set in the Magic Revealed universe. It is completely free. I'm posting it as I write it, so it is unedited, but proof-read.

This is Part Two.

Virginia couldn't see, couldn't breathe. Even as she burst through the door and into the chill of the night air, she felt too hot, like the air around her would suffocate her. A cold sweat ran down her back as warm tears fell down her face. That was her song! She swallowed down the memories and the lump forming in her throat.

"Gin!" Jack called again.

Virginia's stomach churned. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. She knew that if she looked at him, he would smile his pretty boy smile (even though it had aged into a ruggedly handsome smile) and she would melt. The cold finally hit her and she hugged herself to keep warm.

"Don't," she choked out, her breath foggy in the cold air. She looked out onto the street. She knew better. She shouldn't have gone out with her coworkers. She should have stayed home, taking care of Dad. But Dad had guilted her into it. He told her that she didn't have to become a recluse on his behalf. Virginia's chest hurt just thinking about him. Her frazzled nerves didn't need the added shock of seeing Jack again.

How long had it been since she had slammed the door in his face? Had Valkyrie's album gone out yet? Or was it before the tour? Virginia shook her head as though that might retrieve a memory. She had been so strung out then that the days blending into the months which blended into the years. Even if she lacked the memory, she knew the timeline. She slammed the door in his face and marched herself into rehab two years later. She was fifteen years sober after a bad relapse in the middle of recovery. She did the math in her head. She was forty-two now, which meant she had been twenty-two when she walked out on Jack. Twenty years.

She thought she had healed from this pain. Valkyrie had broken up and Virginia could avoid their songs. When the virus happened, well, society was never quite the same after that. Virginia stopped listening (and writing) music altogether. Now that she was back home, she occasionally played their rundown piano for Dad in the evenings. It was the piano she learned to play on, a great-great-aunt or someone's prized possession. As Virginia played, she realized that a part of herself had been missing without it.

But shaking, in front of a local bar, Virginia remembered all too well why she shut off the part of herself.

Her sadness brightened into anger, a smoldering ember erupting into brilliant flames. This was all his fault! He stole her songs, he profited off them, and he didn't even have the decency to give her credit. Sure, she would have loved to be rich off the royalties, but what she really wanted was the recognition. Critics and audiences had praised Jack for his songwriting skills. That was all a lie. The songs were hers, starting with End of Love.

"Gin," Jack said softly.

It reminded her that she was still standing here, biting her cheek, and shivering in the cold. She wasn't twenty years old anymore, high on drugs and life and love. Thanks to Jack, she'd never feel that way again.

"It's Virginia," she said, enunciating each syllable like taking bites out of something. She finally turned to face him. Ice in her veins, but a fire in her heart, she narrowed her eyes at him. She looked into his mud brown eyes, which she once thought were beautiful, and waited for an explanation.

"Virginia," he repeated softly with a good-natured smile on his face. He had an attractive face and an easy charm about him that made everyone they knew fall in love with him. Jack had barely taken advantage of it when they were younger, but Virginia saw now that this was practiced. He knew how and when to be charming now. He had honed his craft and thought it would work on her. He shook his head. "I can't believe it's really you."

There was an affection in his voice that made Virginia want to forget twenty years of heartbreak.

But End of Love was still ringing in her ears.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?"