“Alice?  Are you ok?” 
Maddy asked and Alice nodded, moving around like a robot and grabbing
the guitar that Quin had taken away from her the first night she’d met the
woman.  She touched the worn guitar top,
and let her fingers play on it, as if it were warm and comforting to her.

            “Can you play it?  The song?”  Alice asked, and Maddy saw Keith walking in
and he moved over to the stage, not saying a word.  He was too interested in the hot ***** of Alice
to really pay much attention to much else.  

            “Keith, want to play Breath Out?  Alice wants to hear it.”  Maddy asked and Keith latched on the guitar,
plugging in and he saw Alice taking the mic, and a curious look spread over the
young man’s face.  Alice caressed it for
a moment, eyes devoid of emotion.

            “You gonna sing the bar?”  He asked Maddy and she nodded, he dove into
the beginning of the song, ripping heavy and hot.  Alice moved to the music, closing her eyes and
forgetting that her best friend was in the hospital, forgetting that her job
was a dead end, forgetting that she was still alone in this life.

            Maddy looked at her, and then
went into the song, that Quin had been struggling with for over two weeks.

            “Time is wasting now – Your hands are shaking hard.  You’ve fallen once – You can’t take the pain.  Clear your mind – Just breathe in – Breathe
out.”  Keith slaved into the
song, Alice strummed the guitar, picking up the chords, and Maddy was staring
intently at her,

            “All I want is just one taste – Never to be erased.  One memory to take with me – I’m taking over.  This is my last stand – Tired of sleeping.  Time to wake up – Time to strike.  Breath in, Breath out.”  Maddy sang hard, evoking as much emotion as
she could, feeling the pain that Alice was feeling, even if she didn’t know
what it was.  

            Keith finished up the song,
and Alice was still moving her fingers over the chords, she waited a moment and
then put it aside.  Wanting to take it
with her, but she knew she couldn’t, she hadn’t touched a guitar since college.
 She smiled slightly, and nodded to Keith
and Maddy and stepped off the stage, rubbing her hands together as if she were
thinking intently.  She walked away and
Keith gave Maddy a look, and Maddy shrugged, not having a clue.