Christopher Corn's Arc

Chapter 6 of 12

Christopher stands at the fence line with Chard beside him, watching the bubble fade into nothing. The house behind them still smells like fresh wood and smoke. Chard doesn't ask what Christopher's thinking. He just waits. Christopher turns back toward the barn, ready to get back to work, when he sees someone walking toward the gate from the dirt road beyond the property. The man moves slowly, carrying something pressed against his chest. Christopher squints against the sun. The walk looks familiar — measured, deliberate, like someone who used to count beats for a living. When the figure gets close enough to see clearly, Christopher's stomach drops. The face is impossible. The man stops at the gate where a gravestone stands, carved with Chester Bennington's name and a poem Christopher knows by heart. He's holding a flyer bordered with flowers. Chris Cornell's memorial service details, printed in elegant type. Christopher can't move. This man should be on Earth. This man should be alive and touring and nowhere near Loud Garden. Christopher finally forces his legs to work and runs to the gate. The man looks up and his face breaks into something between relief and confusion. Christopher doesn't recognize who the man is at first because his brain won't accept it. Then it hits him all at once. He grabs his friend and pulls him into a hug so tight neither of them can breathe. "Why?" Christopher says into his shoulder. "Why? Why?" He keeps saying it because no other word makes sense. His friend doesn't answer. He just holds on and lets Christopher repeat the question until his voice cracks. Christopher pulls back and wipes his face with the back of his hand. His friend is still holding the flyer like it's a ticket he's supposed to present. "I don't know," the man finally says. "I was there. At the service. And then I was here." Christopher takes the flyer and stares at the dates, the location, the flowers printed around the border. He looks past his friend to the road beyond the gate, then back at Chard standing by the fence. This isn't another band member. This is something else entirely. Christopher grabs his friend's arm and pulls him toward the building with the glowing red sign that reads ROCK & ROLL. They need to get inside. They need to figure out what this means. Because if Earth is sending people who attended Chris Cornell's memorial, then Loud Garden isn't just a place to build a band anymore. It's becoming something Christopher doesn't understand yet, and that terrifies him more than any failure ever could.