The late afternoon sun poured through a grimy window, casting a warm golden beam across the garage's concrete floor. The air was thick with familiar scents: old wood, the metallic hint of dust, and the faint buzz of overworked electronics. Alex sat cross-legged on a worn-out rug, completely locked in on the two small speakers sitting on the messy workbench. A hypnotic, slow beat pulsed through them—steady and deep, like a heartbeat he could feel through the floor.
In the center of it all, bathed in the bluish glow of a laptop screen, sat Finneas. He leaned in, eyes sharp with focus, one hand hovering over a keyboard while the other adjusted dials on the Focusrite interface.
"Alright, Billie—one more from the top of the chorus," he said into the mic, voice flattened by the talkback system. "Try a clean third above on the second line. Keep it simple."
Inside their makeshift vocal booth—just some heavy packing blankets draped over mic stands—Billie shifted on her stool. Even through the layers, Alex could feel her frustration. A second later, her voice came through the monitors—clear and intimate.
"I've never fallen from quite this high…"
She sang the harmony exactly how Finneas had asked. Technically flawless. But it wasn't right. The note landed like a weight—perfectly on beat, but it stripped away all the mystery. It felt too... deliberate.
Through the speakers, they heard her sigh.
"It's... I don't know, Fin. It's too there."
Finneas leaned back, running a hand through his reddish-blond hair. "Alright. What if we try a fifth? Give it some air—let it breathe more."
They gave it another shot. It was better—but still didn't feel like it belonged. The harmony was still standing apart from the lead, like a polite guest at the party, not part of the song's soul. Alex could practically see Billie shaking her head inside the booth. The emotion wasn't landing. And for Billie, that was the whole point.
From across the garage, Leo paused his pacing and lowered his phone, which had been documenting everything.
"Okay, new approach," he said, slicing through the tension with his usual flair. He marched forward, camera pointed at the booth. "Forget about harmonies. Sing it like you're a sad ghost who just lost her ghost dog."
Billie laughed—a sudden, bright burst of sound that crackled through the monitors.
Finneas shot Leo a half-serious glare. "Thanks for the deep artistic advice, Leo."
"Hey, I'm the audience!" Leo shot back with a grin. "I bring that crucial, non-musician viewpoint. And I'm telling you—this song needs more ghost dog, Pirate."
"Okay, that's enough," Billie called, trying to suppress another laugh.
As the teasing continued, Alex shut his eyes. He tuned out the noise, the clutter, the jokes. In his head, he played Billie's lead vocal over and over. That fragile thread of her voice, the way it curved, the breath she took right at the end of the line. The problem wasn't the note itself. It wasn't about theory—it was about feeling. This second voice... it didn't need to join the melody. It needed to haunt it.
"Wait," Alex said quietly.
The room fell still. Finneas and Leo turned toward him. Even Billie stayed silent.
"It shouldn't sound like someone else is singing with her," Alex said slowly, trying to shape what he was hearing in his head. "It should sound like… the memory of the note she just sang. Softer. Higher. So light you're not even sure if you actually heard it—or imagined it." He looked toward the blankets. "Like... a ghost harmony."
Leo gasped dramatically. "He used my word! But smart! That's it. That's the thing!"
Finneas didn't react to the joke. He was staring at Alex, processing. He always trusted Alex's instincts—especially the way he heard things nobody else did.
"So not a real harmony. More like… a shadow vocal? Filtered?"
"And with more reverb," Alex nodded. "Let it hang. Like it's late to the party."
The talkback mic clicked. Billie's voice came through, calm and certain:
"Do it again."
It wasn't a question.
From the tiny gap in the blankets, her eyes locked onto Alex's. Wide and ocean-blue. In that split second, something unspoken passed between them. He didn't need to explain more. She already understood.
Finneas caught the moment and nodded. "Okay. Rolling."
The track started again. Billie sang, and her voice was as raw and honest as ever. Then, at the chorus, the second voice floated in.
It was exactly what Alex had imagined—light, ghostly, barely there. Not a clear note, but a whisper of one. A silver thread hovering just above Billie's melody, always a step behind, like it came from another room—or another time. It didn't add something to the song. It uncovered something already inside it. The sound of longing, caught mid-breath.
As the final synth faded, silence filled the room. Only the ghost harmony remained, hanging like a sigh, just long enough to leave a chill before it disappeared completely.
No one moved.
Even Leo lowered his phone, mouth slightly open.
"Whoa," he whispered.
Finneas turned in his chair, slowly, stunned. He looked at Alex and shook his head in amazement.
"A ghost harmony," he repeated. "Damn, Alex… That's…" He gestured toward the speakers, at a loss for words.
The blankets rustled, and Billie stepped out, slipping her headphones down around her neck. She didn't say thanks. She didn't need to. She just gave Alex a small, quiet nod. A shared signal: We found it.
A warmth bloomed in Alex's chest—pure, simple joy. In that moment, nothing else mattered. Just the four of them, in this dusty garage, chasing a sound—and finally catching it.
"I'm calling it!" Leo announced, his energy snapping back. "That's a wrap on the greatest song ever. I'm ordering pizza. Two larges. My treat. We are celebrating this."
Laughter broke the spell. Finneas started saving files. Billie calmly coiled a cable. Leo argued with the pizza place on speakerphone. And Alex leaned against the drywall, taking it all in.
Leo's antics. Finneas quietly humming the new harmony. Billie glowing with quiet pride.
This was it. His place. His people. And for the first time, the future felt like a wide-open road, sunlit and certain.
He had just helped make a perfect moment—and didn't even realize it was already a memory.
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Hi guys,
This is a rewritten version of the novel with a slightly different backstory. I hope you give it a shot and let me know what you think.
Also, I haven't made a book cover for this yet, so I'm leaving that up to you all. If you want to give it a try, just join as a free member. We've got a community chat there where you can share your cover designs.(patreon.com/hellothere2024)
One more thing, the updates for this novel will only properly start next week. This is just a small sneak peek. I'll be uploading each chapter to Patreon as I write them. Once I've built up a head start of around 30 chapters, I'll start posting here daily too. That way, you guys can read a chapter every day without having to wonder when the next one is coming, and I can take some breaks in between (which I really need because things are super busy right now).
Thanks for the support! Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing your designs.