Playing Without Him
彼のいないステージ
For a whole week, the three musicians have been practising without their missing .
Leo, Mia, and Nora have been meeting every single evening in the quiet garage.
The who left them has not spoken to anyone since the terrible argument.
They have been trying to fill the huge silence where his steady beat used to be.
Mia has been tapping the rhythm with her foot, but it never feels quite right.
The empty that Sam used to sit on stares back at them each night.
"Something important is missing," said Nora, who has been feeling sad all week.
The songs that they have been rehearsing sound thin, , and .
Leo has been listening to their old recordings again and again at home.
In every good , it was Sam whose drums gave the music its beating heart.
The friend who once annoyed them now feels completely impossible to .
"We have been pretending that we don't need him," Mia finally admitted aloud.
Leo, who has been quiet for days, suddenly stood up with a clear decision.
He said that he would go and find the who had angrily walked away.
He has known Sam's address since the very first week of the band.
That evening, Leo knocked on the door of the small where Sam lived alone.
Sam, who had been avoiding everyone, opened the door with tired, red eyes.
"We have been playing without you, and honestly it sounds terrible," Leo said.
He explained that the band who had started together should also finish together.
Sam admitted that he had been missing the music every single day.
The two friends who had argued so bitterly stood quietly for a long moment.
"I have been waiting for someone to ask me back," Sam said very softly.
Leo smiled warmly at the whose empty had haunted their practice.
"Then come home," he said , "because the contest is only three days away."