Page 19 of Lost
“And there you go.” Lysander gestured to the first profile on the new list. His other hand went to the back of Zack’s chair to steady himself. “That’s her.”
Zack clicked through to the profile.
He was met with the face of a bright-eyed, dark-haired girl. His first impression was that this couldn’t be her. In his mind, she had looked just like her brother — blonde haired and blue eyed, tall and athletic. And while this girl most definitely had the same steel blue eyes as her brother, her hair was a dark shade of brown and she looked so fragile that all thoughts of athleticism flew out the window. But the more he stared, the more he knew it to be true. This was Lysander’s sister. This was Dakota. They had the same lips, the same nose, the same facial structure...
This was his daughter.
“B-Savage, right?” Lysander was saying behind him. “I’m Lysander.”
“Good to finally meet you,” Brendan replied, shaking the boy’s hand just as Pat had done. “Call me Brendan. Savage is my stage name.”
Zack left them to make their own introductions, almost as overdue as his putting out a message to the fans. He knew he probably should have done it, but he was struggling to keep his own thoughts straight. Dakota stared back at him. He’d have liked to say that if he’d passed her on the street he would have looked twice at her, recognising her as something more than another face in the crowd, but that wasn’t true. She looked like every other girl Zack saw at his shows — so much so that he wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d seen her before and looked right past. Guilt reared its ugly head, even though he knew it wasn’t his fault. If he’d known he had a daughter out there, chances are he would have looked harder.
But even then, would he have noticed her?
When he finally managed to tear his eyes away from the photograph, the first thing he noticed were the videos posted to her profile. He clicked through to the newest one, posted just over three months ago, and hit play. Lysander grabbed another chair and sat down beside him. Brendan scooted his chair forward a fraction. All eyes were focused on the screen.
Up came Dakota, so busy tying her long hair back that she didn’t seem to notice the camera was rolling. Those were always the greatest moments, Zack knew — the moments when people didn’t know they were being watched. The moments that were real.
She was sitting at a piano, a digital Yamaha that looked like it had been through it. A decent choice for a beginner, Zack observed. Hair secured behind her head, her fingers met the keys lightly and gave them a few experimental strokes before she turned and looked to some point just above the camera.
“All right. I’m ready when you are.”
“It’s already rolling,” came Lysander’s response from somewhere off-screen. He chuckled at the dark look that she gave him for it. “Just get on with it, will you?”
Dakota rolled her eyes to the camera and said, “My idiot brother, ladies and gentlemen.” She turned back to her instrument.
Then she was playing, and a moment later singing. Zack straightened in his chair. He didn’t know the song, but he didn’t need to know it to recognise a great musician when he heard one. Her playing was flawless — whether from hours of practice or a natural talent, he couldn’t be sure — and her singing was good enough that he couldn’t have complained if he’d wanted to. But then, as her father he might have been biased.
He looked at Brendan. The guitarist’s attention was fixed on the screen, watching and listening intently. It wasn’t until the song had ended and the camera had stopped rolling that he finally turned to his friend.
“Kid’s got talent,” he said. Then, turning to Lysander, he asked, “Lessons?”
“Piano lessons since she was five,” the boy confirmed. “None for the singing, though.” He beamed. “She’d die if she knew you two had watched that. She always wanted you to see.”
“I wish we’d seen it earlier,” Zack said earnestly. “I would have liked to surprise her with a comment.”
He went back to her main profile page, his eyes once again landing on her photograph. She smiled back at him.
“Y’know,” Lysander said, “if you wanted to know about my sister, all you had to do was ask. I can tell you more than any Internet profile can.”
“Actually, we were looking for pictures,” Zack replied. “Bren had the idea to ask the fans for help in finding her, but we needed a photo so people would know what she looks like.”
Lysander’s gaze darted between the two men. He looked…surprised? Doubtful? Zack wasn’t sure what to make of his expression.
“You’d really do that?” Lysander asked. “I mean...getting your fans involved. Someone might work out who she is.”
“So?”
“So are you ready for them to know?”
Zack hadn’t even considered it. Although he hadn’t intentionally been keeping it from the fans, he had never entertained the thought of telling them, either. Rockstar or not, he was entitled to his privacy. Whatever little he could get of it. But…the idea didn’t bother him nearly as much as he’d expected. Telling the fans about an addition to the family was always a welcome thing, and that was all this was, wasn’t it?
But it wasn’t only his decision to make. “As long as you and your sister would be okay with it, then yes. I’m ready for them to know.”
Brendan nodded. Like he’d known what Zack’s answer would be.
“Dakota would be fine with it,” Lysander said, his eyes back on the screen. On his sister. “But…I’d prefer you didn’t mention me. I don’t think I’m ready for that.”
