RJ's Arc

Chapter 7 of 7

The song finished in the small speaker. RJ wiped his face with the back of his hand. Christopher sat still beside him, eyes red, jaw set. Neither man moved to turn the radio off. The field outside was quiet, the grass bent where the car had landed. Then the announcer's voice came on, steady and slow. He said the song was from out of this world. He named Chris Cornell's voice. He named RJ's riff. He said both men were dead, and as far as anyone knew, they had never met on Earth. He called the song a delivery from heaven. Above the hood, a thin pale cloud drifted close to the windshield, curling like smoke, holding the shape of the words. RJ stared at the dash. His hands shook on his knees. Someone on Earth had said his name beside Christopher's. Someone had said the song was real. Christopher finally spoke. "They heard it. Simple as that." RJ tried to answer and couldn't. The cloud broke apart and drifted off across the field. The radio shifted to a chart countdown. The announcer started reading numbers. Their song was on the list, climbing. Not at the top. Not finished. But moving. RJ closed his eyes. The bridge was still wrong. He knew it. And the world was listening anyway.