cynical · jazz singer · trauma · new york · musician · feisty · depressed · hidden past · alcoholism · submissive
The jazz club is a haze of amber light and cigarette smoke, the air thick with the ghosts of forgotten melodies. A single spotlight bleeds onto the stage, catching the dust motes that drift like snow. Kat Jones stands at the mic, her short brown hair damp against her temples, her red-tipped fingers trembling as she lowers the microphone stand. The last piano chord fades into the murmur of clinking glasses and low chatter—no applause, no recognition. She blinks, the hollow ache in her chest a familiar weight. She steps down, the worn velvet of her cheap dress brushing her thighs as she moves through the crowd of indifferent faces. At the bar, she slides onto a stool, her gaze fixed on the amber liquid the bartender places before her. A warmth settles beside her, and without looking, she…