Our Eyes Collide • •

[chance munro tracy]

Chance was like the man behind the curtain. His name, like his brothers, was listed as one of the proprietors of Back Alley, but he was rarely up top unless he was closing or opening, or had need to nip into the offices on the music floor. Often he was just in the basement, his music playing low while he worked, rough fingers shaping and fine-tuning the instruments he built until they were good enough to sell or give to the person who had commissioned the build. Chance loved keeping his hands busy with custom built string instruments, seeing them come together from start to finish. It was a therapeutic job for the man who had slipped into the shadows since losing his voice, and it meant he could still be a part of something he loved almost more than anything else. The only thing to top the music for him was his daughter. Even Emilie had inherited the Tracy talent for music, and Chance loved teaching her when she sat downstairs with him, or when they were in their pyjamas at home. He didn’t need his voice to communicate with the ten-year-old who had him wrapped around her finger. They had a million other ways – not just including sign language to make their feelings known. Chance considered himself a lucky man.

Things could have gone a lot worse for him. He had his family, his daughter, and he could still play guitar. He missed singing, and sometimes missed being able to strike up a conversation with strangers in the store, but he counted his lucky stars for the things he did have. When people wanted to put in a custom order, he used one of his brothers to help talk them through the steps, letting them play the mediator while he signed or scribbled depending on his mood and time allowance. Oddly, there were times when he had grown comfortable in the silence. Like now, for instance. Working with the instruments used to involve a lot of singing and mashing up of songs that filtered through his brain, but now there were no thoughts just like there was no voice. It was strange, but weirdly settling for him. The music playing barely even registered to him as he dusted his hands off on an old cloth and pushed himself to his feet from the swivel stool he had stolen from a drum kit of his brother’s several years ago.

Reed’s voice caught Chance’s attention and he turned his gaze to the store stairs. He listened to his brother talk, furrowing his brow as he realised Reed was building up to something. It was the only time he ever rambled. Eventually he mentioned music lessons and Chance immediately frowned. He hadn’t taught much at all since the shooting. He gave lessons to Emilie and some of his nieces and nephews, but only because they knew ASL and they were patient enough to sit through the hours with him. It was harder for Chance to communicate with strangers now, and though he enjoyed giving lessons, it was simply impractical. He shook his head at least three times before relenting and agreeing to meet whoever it was Reed had been talking to up in the store. “Special situation”, Reed had called it, but Chance couldn’t understand how anything could suit him that fell into that category. These days he fixed and tuned instruments as well as making them. That was his role in the family business, while occasionally joining his brothers on the bar stage to play guitar. He was still frowning ever so slightly when Reed beckoned him over to the female customer who must have been enquiring about lessons.

• • •

TAGGED! Merle Katherine Montgomery
WORDS! 665!
OUTFIT! Music Man!
LYRICS! The Hardest Mistakes - - - I See Stars
NOTES! <3

[Merle Katherine Montgomery]

Merle had never expected that she would be responsible for a teenager at twenty nine but she was. And damn it if she didn't want to do right by her brother. They'd lost so much in a short time, Kris more than Merle could ever dream. But he was a trooper and deserved all the good things that migrated his way. There really wasn't much Merle could do for Kris but the things she could do, she did happily. And one thing he did want were music lessons. He couldn't sing but he sure as hell could play and it was something he really wanted. So it was something Merle was going to make happen for him. No one should have had to go through what Kris had, maybe if their parents had still been around, it might not have been so hard to cope with, maybe it might have been worse. They would never know but Merle did know one thing; she couldn't coddle him. Kris had to live his own life and she couldn't stand in the way of that.

So when he asked for guitar lessons, Merle agreed instantly and started up her laptop to research music shops offering up lessons in the area. She didn't mind if she had to drive him to the other side of New York for these lessons as long as they catered to his needs and didn't make him feel like he was somehow inadequate or below them. She would let him live his life but she would absolutely not stand for such disrespect and judgement. Merle called every place on the list inquiring costs and the rest of the usual questions before giving Kris the list and asking him to pick one to check out in person. Understandably Merle was protective of Kris. Enough bad things had happened to him and he didn't need any more bullshit piled on. He looked them up and they talked about them all but eventually he settled on one only a fee blocks away. Even though Merle could have afforded a spacious Manhattan apartment, she had wanted a backyard and neighbours who were actually people and not just nameless faces, faceless names or just their apartment numbers.

Stepping into the music shop, Merle had only one hope; that Kris wouldn't be treated like some broken person. Immediately Kris ran off to check out the instruments. Merle couldn't blame him, the place was impressive. While she was scanning the area, she was approached by an employee, no doubt one of the Tracy's as the website had boasted a family run establishment. That was one of the reasons Merle had been hoping Kris would pick this very shop. Merle didn't bother keeping her voice down, Kris was used to hearing her tell enough of his story to ignore her until she actually called out to him. And she only ever told the bare bones of it to begin with; it was his story to share after all, not hers. The man's eyes sparked like he had some brilliant idea and asked her to stick around a few minutes to which she agreed. If they didn't walk out of the shop with lessons planned, they would at least have the necessary equipment for a budding musician. When the man, Reed, returned to her, she was nervous, expecting the worst. When he called over another man, she became more relieved than nervous, thinking they would taken on the special case. "Hi, I'm Merle. I hope you can help my brother, Kris out. He really wants music lessons, guitar to be exact but it’s a special case. He's mute." She explained quickly, jumping right into their situation in the hopes that if he knew he would break the news to her faster. There were only two ways this could go; he could say yes or no. It was that simple.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || chance munro tracy
Words || 651
Clothes || Rock n' Roll Sister
Music || Love Me Like You Mean It --Kelsea Ballerini
Notes || <3

[chance munro tracy]

Being a parent was never easy. Chance hadn’t figured it out before the shooting, and he had been even more confused about it all afterwards, too. Emilie was a good girl, but he was thankful for his mom and sisters sometimes, especially now she was getting older. It wasn’t as though he had anticipated being a father to a ten year old at this point in his life, but things happen, and Emilie was his ray of sunlight on a dark day. When parents came in with giddy kids they all understood because most of them were at a point in their life where they had children of their own now. It was why there was no serious eye rolling or complaining about hyper children in the store; at least not unless something got broken, but then all eye rolling happened in the basement anyway. Chance missed working up top sometimes, but it was difficult to help customers when he couldn’t talk to them conventionally. Regulars to the business knew his story, but anyone new didn’t, and he didn’t want it to be told over and over like he was the charity case of the Tracy family. He didn’t let his own relatives fuss or pander him so he certainly wasn’t about to let some stranger do it.

Still, Chance didn’t mind the quiet of the basement. He had often been down there before the accident anyway. Working on the guitars there had been his thing since he was young. The only real difference now was that he got through any repairs quicker since he didn’t also have lessons coming and going, and he managed to make custom builds a lot more often, too. He actually didn’t mind the alone time down there. It wasn’t as though he locked himself away for hours and hours on end. He came out to collect Emilie from school, and then helped go through lock up, and grabbed dinner with his daughter and whichever siblings also happened to fancy joining them that night. Chance hadn’t become some unsociable hermit. He still had friends, still made connections. He might have done all of this even if he hadn’t been caught by the intruder that night. Maybe it was just growing older as well. He didn’t go out partying like in his youth, but that had stopped short when he’d become a father and gained that responsibility. Emilie’s mother was not fit to look after a baby and Chance had done everything to ensure he had custody of his daughter so that she was safe and away from the unfit mother.

Reed was a pain in the ass. Chance glared at him whilst his brother sported this ridiculously huge grin. The customer, Merle it was, seemed to reveal his cunning plan, and Chance let out a long breath. Reed had to make a big show of things, but he couldn’t just cut to the chase and keep it all simple. “He’s not the only one.” Chance signed, taking a leap of faith and assuming she understood ASL if her brother was mute, too. He highly doubted Reed had told her a single thing about his situation, from the fact he was mute, how he had ended up that way, or even that he rarely taught music lesson any more. No, his brother had just seen a brilliant idea and got so excited with it that he had developed tunnel vision. Now, he hovered close, shifting his weight between his feet while Chance waited to see if this was going to turn awkward enough to allow him to run back off to the basement while Reed cleaned up his own mess for a change.

• • •

TAGGED! Merle Katherine Montgomery
WORDS! 619!
OUTFIT! Music Man!
LYRICS! The Hardest Mistakes - - - I See Stars
NOTES! <3

[Merle Katherine Montgomery]

Merle would forever live with the regret that she hadn't been living closer to her parents and her little brother when their whole world shifted so drastically. She'd been too far away to be of any help at all. And then she'd had to make calls and figure out who was going to watch her dogs for her because she didn't want to take them when she would be in the hospital for the majority of her stay. She'd been so young, naïve when her parent's died. Sure, she'd been living the high life in New York, partying and enjoying the freedom that came with not many responsibilities. She'd had her job, which she could do in her sleep, or hungover. And even at her age, she'd been a higher up, able to work from home if that's what she'd wanted. She'd brought her work laptop with her, just in case she needed a distraction but she'd been too busy being worried about her family. And then the worst of the worst could have happened to her parents and it was just to traumatic for her to handle work as well. She didn't know how to tell Kris about their parents and then to have to tell him he would never speak again. The old saying that said everything comes in threes sure got that right, and then some.

It had been a tough battle but they fought it together and Merle and Kris were closer than ever for it. She hadn't thought she would be caring for a teenager at her age, maybe a toddler but definitely not someone as old as her brother but that's how the dice landed. Still, it was to tease him about having a teenager in the house who couldn't talk back when she gave him hell for leaving his running shoes in the middle of the entry or because he'd left his stinky socks on the floor by the couch. He gave her attitude, of course he did, he was a teenager but she warned him if he kept it up, she would take away the video games or the TV or worst of all, shut down the internet altogether. And she knew she had it easier with him because she was his sister and they had a different situation and neither one of them wanted to hurt the other. The things they said were always in the moment or totally unintentional and apologies were out faster than the original lines.

He was a good kid, all things considered, so Merle had a habit of letting him get away with a lot. She didn't baby him but she also didn't let him get away with a lot. A hell of a lot more than he should but not so much that he didn't know when he truly crossed a line. And getting as distant as he was from the new friends he'd made and even her, she knew she needed to do something to perk him up. He'd been practically begging for guitar lessons, saying that just because he couldn't sing, didn't mean he couldn't carry a tune. And before the accident, he'd had a decent voice; very reminiscent of the man he'd been named after. Merle's blue eyes widened at the surprise, and the reason the other brother had gotten giddy and run off after telling her to wait. "Oh, now that makes sense. Do you prefer ASL or mind me talking? I'll admit, it's been a while but I still mess up sometimes." She admitted, using her voice and her hands to talk to him. She'd learned quite a bit about the community she and her brother were now apart of and though some didn't mind her talking to them while she was signing, it was easier for her to remember the gestures, especially when she'd been learning and messing up every other word but others got irritated that she could speak at all. They were the ones that hadn't yet come to terms with their new life usually and hated the world in general.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || chance munro tracy
Words || 684
Clothes || Rock n' Roll Sister
Music || Love Me Like You Mean It --Kelsea Ballerini
Notes || <3

[chance munro tracy]

Chance didn’t regret what had happened. He missed singing and telling his little girl bedtime stories, but he would rather it had been him than anyone else in the family. He felt awful that they had to worry about him while he was in surgery and recovery. Still, he wouldn’t wish his fate upon anyone he loved, or even hated. He could still feel how the bullet entered him, hit him hard. It was white hot, burning, and the pain was indescribable, even now when time had passed. Chance hoped nothing like that night happened to his family again. It could have been any of them there. It could have been any of them hurt. The very thought of it made Chance feel sick to his stomach. He could live with his fate, he was resigned to his muteness, content with his life and happy to raise his daughter alone if that was what had to be. He didn’t want to see pain and hardship befall his siblings. They were good, loving people, and he wished upon them only the upmost happiness for their lives. They deserved to love and be loved.

He wasn’t worried about himself. It was rather difficult to get to know someone when he couldn’t talk and most people weren’t familiar with ASL. Chance didn’t expect them to be either. He knew some people believed very strongly in making sign language heard – so to speak – but he understood that if people didn’t need it they wouldn’t have cause to learn it. No one in his family had understood it before the robbery, and even now it was often only Chance who used it. He didn’t mind, so long as they could all understand what he was trying to say. It was nice to hear the noise of the shop, the sounds of their voices, even if he couldn’t respond in the same manner. For Chance, their voices were his normal. He would rather them act like nothing was different than go out of their way to make everything some strange place where everyone was overly cautious about what they did or how they did it. Installing the bell so Chance didn’t need to traipse up and down from the basement when he needed something was quite enough, but even so he rarely used it. He was mute, but there wasn’t a thing wrong with his legs; the stairs weren’t his enemy.

Chance knew what it was like to be treated differently. It might not have happened to him until he was a fully grown adult, but it was still a frustrating situation to be in. He couldn’t believe how many people seemed to think that he couldn’t hear them talk about him! He was mute, not deaf, and yet they chatted away about ‘his poor daughter’ and the ‘tragic future they had’, when Emilie was a happy little girl, and Chance was living his life like he had always done. He craved no pity, and he rarely took advantage of the disability allowances he was granted by the city because of how he had come out of the other side of the robbery. He felt like it was wasted on him. Other people were out there struggling far worse than he was. He could write down requests and questions if he was on his own, and he communicated with those he could through modern technology or ASL if they knew it. He was far from struggling despite the tragedy. For some reason it was just difficult for the world to believe a man could be happy after all of that. “Whatever you are most comfortable with.” Chance replied with an easy smile. Signing was second nature to him now, and he barely thought about it as he moved his hands, but he was perfectly fine when people struggled if they simply preferred to talk to him and have him text or write a response.

• • •

TAGGED! Merle Katherine Montgomery
WORDS! 660!
OUTFIT! Music Man!
LYRICS! The Hardest Mistakes - - - I See Stars
NOTES! <3

[Merle Katherine Montgomery]

Merle wasn't sure she would ever be comfortable with sign language. She constantly made mistakes that had people smirking and snickering at her and only occasionally correcting her gestures. She was a fish out of water but she was doing it for her brother who required it all for communication. She could understand it a hell of a lot better than she could sign it. Merle was a stubborn girl, willing to grit her teeth and smile through the irritation of someone talking down to her over a simple mistake for Kris's sake. If it had been for anyone else, she wasn't sure if she would have been able to control her temper but her brother needed her and so she did what she had to so she didn't accidentally on purpose kill someone. But the kid was too sweet for his own good and had already gone through so much that she wanted to give him something he could sink his teeth into.

If Kris had wanted to start painting for writing or something, she would have signed him up for classes for those, went out with him to pick up all the supplies he'd need and watch the progress he'd make. He'd wanted a guitar and music lessons. Merle had been concerned at first because the chances his voice would ever return was practically nonexistent. The doctors had said it would never happen though the one they'd spoken to had also conceded it wasn't impossible, that miracles happened every day and it could happen, but it was exceptionally unlikely. This whole thing had broken Merle's heart more times than she could count. It seemed like every time they went to the doctors, something else was said or explained further, making her wish, not for the first time, that their roles had been reversed and she'd been the one left without a voice.

"Three years so you'd think I'd be better at it." She admitted with a soft chuckle because she wasn't. It had been three years, closer to four, since she'd lost her parents, and a few months after that, when Kris was discharged from the hospital, they started their lessons. After all that time, she should be a pro but Kris didn't like it when she used ASL at home, preferring her to call out to him and then speak to him like there wasn't anything different from before, especially when they were out in public. He didn't want to be treated differently and she could understand that so she did as he asked and talked to him, even when he signed back, she spoke up. Though there were those times when she wanted to say something about an asshole on the streets that she used her hands to communicate which usually got her a silent chuckle. "Anyway," she started again with a shake of her head. "As I said, he's mute, seventeen and feeling not at all like himself, which is something I want to give him back. He lost too much when he lost his voice and he should be able to be a kid for a little while longer," she said, lowering her voice a little and keeping an eye out for Kris so he wouldn't sneak up on her. The devil her brother was, had a habit of popping up and scaring the ever-loving Christ out of her. Plus, she was talking about him but she shouldn't have worried. He was engaged in an animated conversation with the first brother. It was the first time in a long time she'd seen that spark in his eyes. "I want him that happy all the time," she said softly, blinking twice before realising she'd said that out loud.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || chance munro tracy
Words || 623
Clothes || <3
Music || Love Me Like You Mean It --Kelsea Ballerini
Notes || <3