"Don't you ever get tired?" Mrs. Davidson inquired softly at the empty room that had been a lovely company with my piano play collection for the winter ball.
"No, I'm fine." I smiled when she walked in front of my piano and smiled back. She was the one who kept encouraging me to keep playing even after my mom died, it was my therapy.
I was destined to keep playing as the passionate hunger kept increasing within me when I grew up.
It was an escape from the amber-eyed guy I had seen. I had been thinking a lot about him, he gave off the scary face and the haunting past vibes but it only made my curious side appear even more. Every time I stopped now, I would start thinking about him so I instantly focused more on the piano keys, the guy faded into the back of my mind.
"I'm going to lock up now." She announced regretfully for stopping me, I let it go as I nodded and closed the piano lid.
"I'm sorry I made you wait." I apologized as she patted my shoulder.
"It's okay, I had a meeting." She explained and I stood up with my bag that Alexa packed for me after school. I usually play after school for two hours, this time I went for three hours as the gloomy weather started to get clouded indicating a storm was approaching.
We both bidded each other goodbye and I took a stroll to my home that was nearby. I saw a silhouette of a guy in front of me but I didn't pay much attention as I saw the music notes I had in my hands.
I bumped into someone's back as the music sheets flew from my hand to the ground. I quickly bent down and took them before the wind made it the victim of the Michigan storms.
"Are you fucking blind or some shit?" He yelled and the familiarity of the amber eyes I had forced myself to forget came back again, he was tall and strong with sharp structure and curls that were swaying from the slight wind.
He had turned to face me as I self consciously put the baby hairs behind my ears when I finished packing the music notes and stood up to face him.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. There were only the two of us as his eyes began speculating me like I was an insect he couldn't wait to get rid of.
"Are you following me? Are you a part of the cops' plan to put an eye on me?" He asked in a rushed tone with furrowed eyebrows. I fidgeted in nervousness since I not sociable towards anyone and my only attention was the piano.
"No," I replied, my voice wavered as he stood intimidatingly with his hands in the sides of his jacket pockets.
"Then why are you following me?" He snappily asked.
"I was walking to home." Something shifted in his eyes as he ran a hand through his hair at the mention of home.
With nothing left to talk about, he turned around and began walking casually. I was left wondering about the guy who had been chased by the police. I was shocked that he was this late outside, didn't he have a concerned dad or an anxious mom waiting for him?
I rang the doorbell when I reached my house, my caring father opened and hugged me. I hugged him back as he let me enter quickly, afraid of the storm.
"How was your day at work, dad?" I asked as I hung my coat and placed my bag beside the stand. Dad was in his early fifties with a kind face and a smile gracing his face. He learned to let go of mom and never tend to go for drinks to tame his anger after my mom was defeated in the arms of cancer.
"It was okay." He replied, he had been dazed off lately, lonely even but I did my best to keep him company and be like the son he never had. Like the baby that didn't come out of my mom's womb when she died, didn't make it alive. We knew about the boy after mom died. He died along with her.
"That's great." I made dinner and placed it on the table in the dining room, dad's pay was enough to make us live in a small cozy house. I wasn't asking for more and I was the optimistic side of the sad house with the lonely dad.
"How was your practice?" Dad asked as he held my hand for prayer before eating. We finished praying and conversed.
"It was good, I think I'm almost ready for the winter ball," I announced and he sent me a happy smile, squeezing my hand.
"That is fantastic news, you worked so hard for it." I didn't want to mention the money they would give me for working as the school pianist in events. I had to surprise him when he comes to watch me play on stage. It would make him even more elated.
I had worked so hard to help us live the way we were living now, I finished working in three jobs and concentrated on the soft melodies to chase my dreams. Dad got promoted to a sales manager in the environmental Michigan company for manufacturing eco-friendly stuff. It wasn't his dream, he wanted to be in a band but he was discouraged after what happened to mom.
Some dreams weren't meant to be chased.
The boy that had anger issues continued to dance in my mind, his amber eyes spoke volumes, he was pleading for me to save him yet he was independent alone. I dismissed him from my thoughts as I concentrated on my dad as he talked about the news. I couldn't take the act of peace maker when he didn't want me to.
"Are you going to die?" The seven year old me said after I discovered that both of my parents went to the hospital when mom's case worsened.
"I am going to die, but I am alive inside your heart." She poked her needle that was in her hand for life support at my chest as my little fingers wrapped around hers with a smile.
"Mommy, why is he beating you all the time?" I said, hands shivering around the thin quilt."Because even love is in the form of darkness." She said back with a smile as we both were locked up in the room."Where were you, kid?" My dad yelled as he shoved me to the couch. I laughed at his surprising question, he never asked unless he wanted me to take another blonde fuck for him."Walking." I hissed as my back ached from the rough push. My dad had good aim. He was always like that around me and my mom, he never loved her.The foul smoke erupted everywhere in the small apartment. We only had one living room where dad slept and my tiny room since dad liked to spend more on prostitutes and drinks.
I was aware that I had been staring at him quite a few times when he would go to his lectures or smoked in the empty hallways. It was the lunch break and I had to go practice but something allured me to enter the cafeteria."Is this real?" Alexa's eyes broadened when she saw me, I blushed as her friends guarded me with their eyes, "no way, it's the first time you come to the cafeteria." She gasped and I gave a smile to everyone before sitting next to Alexa, who was too busy gaping at me."Don't be dramatic," I flatly said as my eyes assessed the red and white stripes on the walls of the cafeteria, "and I will practice more after school," I added just for her info."That means you can always come here during lunch breaks?" Her eyes widely sparkled at me.
I didn't know. Something about the way she played made the deepest of my fears alive. Maybe it was how at ease she was with everyone or the way she closed her eyes as her delicate fingers consumed the piano like it was her own favorite miracle. That scared me because whenever I looked into her soft green eyes, I had to know everything that she did and felt; it was like we were connected by unbreakable strings. I couldn't get enough but something inside of me told me that I shouldn't have let her in because love was like killing yourself slowly. I loved my mom but she left, so I was biased about love.She stopped playing and took a deep breath as if she was afraid to speak to me. It was something about the aura I radiated around her but my colored eyes couldn't leave hers. It was like our eyes were interlocked into an attraction phase that made the whole world around us stop.
I was still feeding my heart on the piano music sheets and trying out the keys for the newest piece I wrote. The pressure was hard since the winter annual ball was on Saturday and I only had two days to go to practice; it was only Wednesday.The thoughts of that guy, Ryson, invaded my mind again. He was so mysterious to the eyes with his stony gazes and strict expressions. It was like he never had any fun or enjoyed anything. But I could tell that the piano interested him when he saw me play before.Closing the piano lid after Mrs. Davidson reminded me it was closing time, I grabbed my bag filled with sheets and a textbook on how to have key control with the steady rhythm that I was studying for the winter annual and Julliard."Have a great evening," I said to Mrs. Davidson politely, s
Evangeline reminded me of what it felt like to lose my mother when she was rolled on a stretcher to the hospital room. It was agonizing; she made me reveal my emotions and I was tired of fighting the sorrow. Waiting outside while the nurses do their job was the torture I had to endure, I couldn't even fucking get comfortable sitting on their hard rock chairs so I kept pacing."Young man, is your girlfriend going to be okay?" the old woman asked with apprehension imprinted on her face. The mere thought of Evangeline irked me because I didn't want to feel that way towards her. I had been trying my best to get away from her yet here I was, waiting for her to get better. I wanted not to care and just go back to the disruptive father and his prostitutes but I couldn't get my feet to go along the path of the hospital entrance. I wanted to make sure she was better.
I was resurrected to life when the tears of pain formed a huge puddle on the bathroom ground. I wasn't going to cry out for him anymore; my howls became silent and my beating heart calmed down after the mental exhaustion I had put myself through. He was going to leave sooner or later and I had to come back to my stable tracks.I stood up from the ground and walked with my wet blue hospital gown and severely pink aching cheeks with dried tears. I tried so many times to keep him just like my mom but he left. He didn't want anything to do with me in the first place and I was slowly starting to embrace it."We were looking everywhere for you," the nurse grabbed my arm when she saw me at the front of the men's bathroom. "Come with me, darling." This time I didn't rebel, I complied. Like the goody-two-shoes I was.
"What the fuck?" I yelled, grabbing my dad away from the prostitute, who was half naked and now on the floor, "you need to wake the fuck up, you just came out of the hospital, you bastard excuse of a father." I spat out at his angry face, I didn't care, I had reached the limit where I was immune to dad.The living room's stench was unbearable and I had to get out of there before I lashed on dad again.I pushed him as the stripper dressed up and ran away from the crazy household. He didn't say anything, he was too furious to so I left him.I let go of that flashback about what happened before catching the man that had Evangeline and wanted to trade her for slavery. Mr. Yeman was a vile man of no morals, I knew him when I was a part of his gang, he disgustingly
It was time. I wiped my hands on the rich navy long dress I wore in anticipation. I had done a lot of these shows before but none of them meant something like the bigger inside of me. This was my chance to show the Julliard executives that I was worth it.Mom, I hope you're watching this.This is for you.The sound of the audience rushing in to get to their seats made my heart beat faster and my hands sweaty. I closed my emerald eyes and prayed for success, prayed that I don't mess this up.The white stage lights illuminated the stage like a circus show and the audience stopped making noises of approval, the red curtain that was in front of me opened, the grand piano that was my friend in all my times of need placed