Page 98 of Graves | AllFreeNovel

Koh

I’m already standing outside Harriet’s door when Pixie starts barking. A song catches me off guard, its deep and meaningful lyrics pulling me in. I glance at my phone, surprised.

Grave Sinner. The track is called “Lights,” taken from the band’s last album, released almost six years ago.

The dark, slightly raspy voice sounds familiar, but I never would have guessed it was Aran’s.

My hand hovers for a second before I pull out my earbuds and ring the bell. When Harriet opens the door, Pixie jumps up against my leg, tail wagging and barking with excitement.

I’m glad Harriet enjoys watching her. In return, I do her grocery runs now and then. We usually chat for a bit, but tonight I just want to get home and listen to the song again.

It doesn’t stop at one song.

With every Grave Sinner track I play, the negative image I had of Aran Graves dissolves and reshapes into something new.

Zoned out, I made myself something to eat and have been sitting on the couch ever since, listening to “Crashed” for the seventh time.

I’m blown away.

I never thought Aran’s lyrics could reach me like this.

The evening flies by. The dirty dishes are still sitting on the coffee table, Pixie is curled up asleep beside me, and I’m already on my third listen-through of their last album.

It’s not that I didn’t know any of their songs—the big hits were everywhere back then, impossible to escape. But music never played a big role in my life. Only in the past year did I start to understand its power. Putting on headphones and shutting out the world helps me lock away memories of Luke and stop obsessing over my own failures.

Music has always been important to Nahla—no surprise for a dancer. Once she noticed me opening up to it, she started dragging me to concerts. It was only natural that I ended up going to the Grave Sinner concert with her.

That night, I hadn’t paid any attention to the lyrics. I was too stunned by Aran’s stage presence and the way he commanded the entire room. It was like he’d never stopped performing, even though he’d spent the last five years in prison.

Now I’m floored by one profound lyric after another. And I’m shaken, because Aran is singing about things I know all too well. He brings back memories I thought I’d buried over the last few months. It feels like he somehow knows what I’ve been through. Like he’s taken everything I’ve felt but never said and turned it into a song.

You are the fire, the frost within my veins

You break me open, breathe me whole again

I steel myself for you—

to keep our trembling love alive