"Seriously, ma?" said Zoe trying to act as though it was all part of the plan. "Zoe, I love what you're doing... sure, I may get a little worried about just how focussed you've become, but can we keep it between you, me and the headphones, please?" said Mom trying her best to be all mama bear.

Still somewhat dazed from the dead silence and fall, Zoe somehow managed to nod her head in agreement. Mom obviously would have said something if she'd experienced the event. She was acting as if it had been nothing but a loud blast of electric guitar, trying to probably pre-empt any complaints from the resident curtain-twitchers. The ease and rarity of Zoe's conformity made her look twice, but shrugging it off as one of those moments when the stars align, she mooched off down the passage. As the scratchy slippers echoed their way further out of earshot, Zoe rolled over to look up at her ceiling of stars. Perplexed and bewildered, she wasn't sure about anything. Questions were ricocheting inside her head. What had just happened? Why didn't mom seem affected? Was it all in my mind? Maybe I should stop practicing so hard?

Wanting to tell someone without freaking them out, she tilted her head towards Dimple now appearing upside down on her bed. He was always ready to listen... unless he heard a tin opening. Luckily it wasn't din-dins and his slitty eyes made it look like he was literally giving her a cat scan. Gazing into Dimple's golden eyes, Zoe started to imagine what he'd look like as a Jack 'O Lantern. His eyes flickered as if candlelit from within. Coming back to her senses, she whispered "Dimp, what's going on? I know you felt that too. Did Dad's riff...". Cutting herself short, she looked down at her precious Stratocaster to make sure the crash landing hadn't damaged anything. She wanted to get to the point that she could afford to trash a stage like Kurt Cobain, but wanted to do it with purpose - if at all!

Zoe didn't swear often... so infrequently that their swear jar had been turned into a sweetie jar. It wasn't rainbows and cotton candy all the time, but she had been unsettled and felt enough nervous energy well up that she had to do something to release the anxiety. Using her senses, she tried to identify sights, sounds, smells and touch things around to calm herself down. Ironically, the relative quiet just reminded her of the incident. "FFFFFFFUUUUDDDDGGGGE!" she finally yelled, managing to reign in the Samuel L. Jackson attitude. Her neighbours had had enough excitement for one day. It had helped take the edge off, but she was still faced with the dilemna of telling mom or not.

Picking herself up off the floor, she was tempted to try the riff again. Wondering if it would happen the same way, struggling to deal with the aftermath and just wanting to regain some equilibrium, she slipped out of the Bart-riddled guitar strap and put Axe back on his stand. Somewhat rattled, she knew this was the beginning of something. She just wasn't entirely sure she wanted to be part of it. What was Dad trying to tell her? Was this even his handwriting? She'd cracked the code, read between the lines and facemelted her way into what seemed like another dimension. She was itching to play the riff again but managed to resist the urge out of fear.

Crippled by the big what-ifs, it just seemed better to forget she knew how to play. Life would return to normal, she'd be able to focus on being a typical teenage girl, keeping out of trouble until she could drive a car and get out of Dodge. Zoe was spiralling yet she could sense that everything would be okay again some day. Right now, she just wanted to get into bed under the covers with Dimple's gentle purrs to keep her company. Tomorrow would be better. Her world would make sense again then. She just had to speed up the process of getting there. Neatly folding and returning the scrawl to its hiding place as if going in reverse, she was determined to pretend nothing ever happened. "It was just an ordinary day", she murmured to herself clutching the blankets up high as Dimp arrived to cuddle.

The twilight was upon them, the luminous stars were too and for a moment everything seemed back to normal. Just as Zoe was starting to drift between the glowing stars, she sensed a presence at the door. Was it her father? Had she summoned him from the quiet place? "D-dad?", she stammered.