Chapter 12: My Changing World

My fingers slid gallantly, asking the keys to dance. To which they agreed. The piano rose slowly into a vivid rhythm in E major. Clara Schumann flashed ever so briefly before me. Her words in my voice spelled the name of the piece, Impromptu.

A gentle melody filled the air, fluttering around me joyously. It invited me to dance, despite me playing such a trance. Even so I danced, my left hand patiently at least. Each finger diligently stretching its dance with its key, sadly letting go only to dance with another. My right hand danced recklessly. Each finger toying with its partner in a swift touch and go.

Suddenly the rhythm turned slow, instilling doubt in my heart. From my subconscious, a silhouette danced before me. To the beat of the piece, doubted forever more. It boasted a dirtied white baseball outfit and flowing brown hair.

"Ray..." My hands tumbled to a calm C minor. My heart skipped as she danced elegantly amidst the dusty floor. Her feet slid on the tip of her spiked, muddy shoes. Her arms swung in gentle arcs, opposing the forceful notes in my voice. I tried to shake it off, but it held me captive, my aching heart.

"You like me, don't you?" a gleeful voice echoed as she moved her lips. Her golden eyes tainted with a condescending look. "No, I don't" denial filled me with anxious zeal. I pushed away into the keys, hammering them into an aggressive beat. Tears fled through the piano keys as its wails filled the room. Despite them being Clara Schumann's words, they sounded agitated.

"So you like me" Again her lips mocked me. I kept trying to say no, but my voice, my piano, it sung in doubtful cries. "Why, why, why?" My breath broke as I kept playing. My fingers drilling words into the keys, only for noise to take their place.

Her malicious figure mocked me as she danced away to the piano's cries. As I kept playing it soon scraped at my ears, the cries of my piano. I kept playing and playing, but at one point I heard nothing. My earlier smile had faded, the surrounding colors dimmed as I hung my head. Despite the window being open, my world has gone dark.

A devilish smile sneaked its way onto her lips as she faded away into nothing. Both my arms hung beside me as I looked into the open window. Its light barely grazing my eyes. My heart has stopped racing, but I felt its pulse in every beat. Closing my eyes, I dug away into my memories, into my broken world. From the past, as it flashes in red. To the present shining away in colors.

"Yes, I like Ray," a silent confession sneaked its way into my lips. A crooked noise spelling them into the dusty attic. And as I relished in its regretful tone, hurricanes blow out my nose. With a deep breath, I turn to face my piano.

"I'm sorry" the same crooked noise echoed as I bowed before my piano. My plain blue shirt hanging below my chest as I did.