CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 28
DYLAN BORNSTORM
WHEN Dylan was discharged, he arrived at his house and rested for another two weeks — he was in complete isolation — not even his imaginary friends had his attention, much less Monique.
His mother visited him every day for those two weeks.
He just thought about what his life had been like until that moment...
How did he feel?
It's hard to say how Dylan felt at that moment... Beloved, but at the same time with no one to share the happiness with. Accomplished, but the most damned of men... in fact... Dylan felt everything at the same time, it's hard to face reality when you hit rock bottom at the height of a brilliant career, it's hard to understand that.
He finally did his last show...
Dylan announced it to all the press, they did all the publicity. The show was in the gym of my favorite basketball team — the Detroit Pistons — and they made sure to give up the venue for their last show.
Dylan sang all of his greatest hits, plus the four unreleased songs he had written in the hospital. It was amazing how suddenly her life was reborn.
Jennie came close to him and hugged him. The public went wild, Jennie had received the invitation from the Republican party to be the candidate for president. One of the songs Dylan had written in the hospital was exactly the song for the campaign, and the chorus couldn't have been different:
We are all winners...
Jennie thanked the audience for all the love and left.
WHILE SINGING the penultimate song, Dylan saw a woman crying in front of him, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
At the time he thought...
Okay, here we go again, me and my imagination...
But she was different... Dylan looked at her and at the same moment everyone looked too, he stopped the show asked her to go on stage, and asked everyone...
— Do you see this girl?
Everyone answered with a resounding YES...
At the same moment his heart beat very hard:
— What is your name?
— Karin... — she said a little awkwardly — Karin Studdy.
— Wow! What a beautiful name, Karin — he spoke louder than he wanted to.
Everyone laughed at the way he spoke — even her.
— I just wrote a song — Dylan told her — I'd like it to be dedicated to you Karin.
She was instantly speechless.
Dylan started playing a new song at that very moment. He sang a song out of the blue for her, but it was a song that came from her heart at that moment, if it wasn't for the recording, I wouldn't even be able to sing it again, but it was more or less like this...
My love...
What to say when the heart is silent
In the face of all the truth that reason tells?
Yes... My eyes show me the truth that dwells in me
Reflect in your eyes all that is good
That there is truth inside of me
Please...be my angel
Yes... Come and save me from this life
I cried a lot tonight
But your smile made me smile again
I don't want to sound stupid and not even a lonely singer
That deludes itself in verses sung in meaningless sounds
No, no...
I know, my love... Now it's for real
You made me see this truth
My heart won't let me lie
Hold my hand
And let the wind of love take us...
Where? Oh! to anywhere
When I'm with you, I'm at peace...
Karin... Karin...
Without a doubt, that was the best song he'd ever written in his entire life — and the truest too.
The audience gave him a standing ovation, there were more than three hours of show, now with five new songs.
Dylan asked Karin to stay there in the dressing room with him that night, he wanted to celebrate that special night with someone special. I didn't know anything about her, I just knew that somehow she was special, she was for real, I could see true love this time.
WHEN THEY WENT TO DINNER at the stadium restaurant, Dylan noticed that she was very smart, independent — and very beautiful.
Monique... who was Monique?
Dylan didn't even remember his past that condemned him anymore, he just saw a future, Karin...
That's what a real woman was, a girl without labels, without blemish, she had the glint of love in her eyes...
She was looking at him the same way he was looking at her.
Karin said:
— It's a dream to be here with you, I've been your fan since the beginning of your career.
— After that night, I became your fan too.
She laughed.
— I don't have anything so special for you to have a fan, especially not you.
But she didn't see herself the way he saw her.
Karin couldn't believe it when Dylan said he'd written that song then — but it was true, the purest truth.
When Dylan saw Karin, it was as if he saw his own salvation, saw her new beginning, everything was different.
They took a taxi.
Dylan dropped her off at home, and they shared their first kiss on her doorstep...
EVERYTHING WAS SO DIFFERENT now, for the first time in his life Dylan knew what real happiness was, fulfillment, Dylan wrote the song that every songwriter dreams of writing his whole life...
That song that comes from the deepest of your heart...
The one that comes out of your innermost self, your own truth. Now he knew what David felt when he wrote that song for Ivy.
They started going out together.
It was all new to Karin — she wasn't used to being on the covers of newspapers, being invited to interviews and other trifles that the media loved to emphasize, but even so, they believed in love...
And it was pure love...
She gave Dylan the strength to do that tour really clean. She quit her job to go with him everywhere-so Dylan wouldn't fall back on drugs-but that was the last thing on his mind. Dylan knew that love was greater than anything he had ever experienced in his life, he was cured of everything, drugs, alcohol, illusions and even his loneliness.
That tour was simple, I didn't want to do the shows in stadiums, Dylan just wanted to play in small places, concert halls, but he did very few shows.
Dylan did a lot of television shows, he was so happy about it all, yeah… — really happy — not deluding himself with happiness like other times. Making her own happiness, no... this time it was real love, she was even younger.
His appearance changed radically, he had a youthful air, as if he had gone back in time. After two years of touring the world, Dylan decided to return home so he could marry Karin. Her family still didn't know her, had only seen her through magazines, as she was being considered as the new Cinderella.
When he visited his mother, she was amazed at what she saw, she thought Karin was extremely beautiful, she said that this time he had hit the nail on the head...
They became very friendly.
Too many friends... in my opinion — but it was all too good...
When Dylan went to talk to his dad, he couldn't find him anywhere, he found him in the last place he'd ever think of — at Dannie's house again — because they were back, even after everything she'd done to him. Dylan didn't take Karin to meet him, didn't want her to have a disappointment like he did.
Her father gave a sarcastic smile saying that she was the woman he loved — Dannie with all the usual madam pose — was pregnant and God only knew if that child was really her father's, as everyone knew she was blatantly cheating on him. Dylan got tired of seeing her in restaurants with other men, and even women.
Dylan never meddled in his problems, his father deserved to live everything he did, and now...
More than ever...
Good thing he had a mother who was worthy of both of them, because if he depended on his father, he would surely be screwed. Dylan would be on drugs to this day, as she never went to visit him, even after all he's done for him...
Ingratitude is certainly the biggest flaw of a human being, because anger, hate, lack of love, are things you already expect from anyone, but the ingratitude of a person you love, it really hurts the heart, kills our soul...