Music, Paper and a hint of Shadows (Steel)

"Good night, honey, I'll see you in the morning!"

And three… two… one…

Bang! The door slams shut and my dad is out of the apartment for the foreseeable future and that allows me to slouch down on the wide floof in my room's corner and enjoy life. Life, being my favourite radio station, which my father greatly disapproves of but still allows me to listen to 'cause he's a good dad, and just sleep.

Again, another lie, I suppose because we all know this city never sleeps and who am I to ruin the mood? Instead, I'll just do absolutely nothing, with a little music on the side and reading for desert, just to lighten things up.

I waddle over at the door and flick the two safety bars shut, just in case, and turn around with my back against the door. The apartment is silent and dimly lit, with the gentle orange lamps hanging from the walls emanating enough light to allow each piece of furniture to cast their shy little shadows. I saw them when my father left, but they have always been a little shy and only decide to start dancing whenever they're with me, alone.

A light flickers and the shade of my mother's lamp shivers as if it was given life.They trust me you see, the shadows, they know I can keep a secret and just like that, they share their dances with me.

As I cross the living roof, running my hand across the spine of our couch, I feel my own shadow move with me, escorting me through our small apartment to my room. My fingers caress the edge of the doorknob, but before I dare turn it, something catches my eye, right in the corner of my vision. To my left, the wide window of our living room shields the apartment from tonight's casual rain, if you can call it that. It's an endless burst of soft tears of water, just enough to make the light coming from the city outside to disperse through the lens of the liquid and scatter in the forms of little dots on the carpet.

The tip of my mouth flickers into a soft smile as I stride into my room, where the only lighting comes from the window on the roof. This is why I love being alone, because I can dream of reality without anyone reminding me how shitty it actually is. Unlike the living room's lights, the moon casts its own silver rays through the thick glass, decorating my wooden floor with the silhouettes of the stickers I've put up onto the window.

Like a woman with places to be, I expertly avoid the shadows cast by the late, careful to not disturb them as they appear under the moon, only to then swiftly slide onto my bed. I won't lay down, of course, but instead…

I stretch just enough for my fingers to reach the desk that sits beside my bed, and turn the little wheel on my radio. Instantly, the darkness of each corner in my room breaks its silence and starts pulsating rhythmically side by side with the music of the radio. The dust, now visible thanks to the moonlight from above, dances in the smooth sails of the sax and each different shade of dark sparkles with each note the piano brought into the room.

As this breath of old, musty air full of smoke and liquor gently drips through the static of the radio, I pick up my book and quickly flip it to the last page I left it on, somewhere near the end.

With each word and every note, my body grows heavier, sinking into the mattress I lay on. Even as I read, the pillow embraces my head with the warm promise of tomorrow.

Tick, tick, tick…

I lower the book, glancing at the ceiling.

Above me, standing on top of the window is a pigeon so white that the waves must be asking back for their foam. "What do you have there, lil' guy?" I mumble and hop off the bed, standing right below the window, looking up.

With a playful qwak! It lets go of the piece of paper it held in its beak. As expected, the note phases through the glass, landing safe and dry on my palms.

Qwak! The bird greets me goodnight and flies away, hopeful back to his master.

I don't have to open it to know who sent it, but I do anyway, jumping on the bed with the letter already open and my eyes swallowing the words off the page. I fail to remember how long I spent reading it before I fell asleep, but I do know that my dad lectured me for sleeping with books on the bed...