A Butterfly, A Louvre, and (Not) A Freer -Part 3-I [The world we knew won't come back]-
Title: A Butterfly, A Louvre, and (Not) A Freer (3-I/3-III)
Author: Heiji Hatsutori
Length: Three-shot
Genre: Angst (I guess all my stories are angst-y)
Proclaimed: I own them all, even the characters (take note I don't put the name whatsoever, so they can be consider as mine, no? LOL).
Paring: Just put anybody you like from any fandom existed (I'm only familiar with DBSK and SuJu fandom, really).
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters anymore if you decided to put your OTP or whoever in the fandom to the act. Though I would love to have them~ (seriously, who don't? LOL)
Rating: PG (just because...)
Summary: Before the worst, before we met, before today, before too long
Let's try and take it back before it all went wrong
A/N: The third part...and the final? No~ Abruptly, I can't seem to end it in one part only...having a great trouble finding the ending before which make me write something else instead (the one-shot I post before)...hence 3 part in Part 3 alone. I don't want to extend it to Part 4, 5, and so on, knowing I'll be in deep trouble finishing it, and I really want to make it three-shot only, thus the idea to expand the story in a single part...(confusing? I'm a fail, that's why~).
So! To make it simple, there's another 2 update until the ultimate ending of this and kill me all you want, for I'm satisfied enough on how it turn out to be...haha~
Dedicating this to the awesome Nazo who loves this story and have been giving me enormous love and support...you're the best, bb! ^^
OT: Another third update of the day~ Am I making this a habit? Posting three posts once in a blue moon? LOL.
Comments are highly appreciated~
A BUTTERFLY, A LOUVRE, AND (NOT) A FREER
-Part 1- -Part 2- Part 3-I [The world we knew won't come back]
Iris- The happiness of the believer
That comes from a spiral bond of reasoning
Resulting in perhaps (not) a freer from their yesterday
The melody of logic
Will always play out the truth
Day 54
It is a free period for the class as the Chemistry teacher calls in sick today. She takes the rare opportunity to relax and finishing her English essay when he gets up, gathers his stuffs and leave without a word. She has a feeling that he will be at the rooftop as always, and she does not want to bother him, so she simply let him be. Just when the back door is shut, a classmate comes and asks her about the Arts project with him.
“He may be an odd one and hard to talk to, but I have to agree he is the best here in Arts. I wonder how he will sketch you. It’ll be great for sure! Have you seen his works yet?”
She shook her head a bit and indeed, she is a bit curious. She remembers the beam on the teacher’s face when he told her who her partner is and there is something about him that makes her feel a bit nostalgic, and it sucks how she cannot really put a finger on it.
“Wait; remember the painting we saw at the Arts gallery near the club room? The one with the black sky and crooked moon?”
Her face lit up at the mention of that work, she loves it, so much when she first saw it before. The painting is so elegant, and there is a sad yet haunting feeling with it. Too bad they put it down just after a week, and nobody really cares about the painting like she and her friend did to bother enough, much to her disappointment.
“I ask a friend in the Arts club about it, and he tells me who drew it.”
Now that she remembers the artwork again, the scene is a bit familiar, and almost immediately, something struck her memories, hard.
“It’s him, your partner.”
She stands up abruptly, almost pushing the chair down in the process, a flicker of recognition in her eyes as she thanks her friend before making her way to the door, leaving her confused friend who happens to hear her small whisper as she smiles.
“I found you, finally.”
Her hands trembles a bit as she reaches for the doorknob.
“It’s been awhile, senior.”
Day 59
She reaches the door just in time to hear the conversation between the teacher and her Arts partner. She knows that it is wrong to eavesdrop on others, but it is unintentional, and seeing the very rare smile on his face makes her freeze on the spot. No, she does not falling for him, and no, it is not an evil smile or some sort. Rather than that, the smile is bright; too bright it hurts, so bad she cannot breathe. She stays still behind the door, static, until silence greets her and she walks out to notice that both of them are out of sight already. She knows he loves painting, sketching, anything to do with Art, that is a fact clear enough for the world to see, judging from his attitude towards the class and apparently he is said to be the best artist in the Arts club, though they doubt that he ever realizes it at the first place. She knows that all a bit too well, but she also knows something they do not know about him. A side of his that seems to be gone, and it breaks her inside to admit it. As much as she hates herself to care, she wants to move on, and the incident a few days ago maybe, just maybe can help not just her, but him too.
She can only make the step with that nameless tune, and she will do everything, anything, to hear it again. Even if it means she have to kill that smile, which she might gladly do so, for it looks a bit too fake on her eyes.
She hates it, for it looks nothing like how she remembered it used to be.
Day -955
She walks down the hallway and a ringing laughter catches her attention. She turns to her left and realizes that it comes from the old music room. Curiosity seeps in, and she finds herself peeping through the small opening of the door, only to get caught later on by a boy with smiling eyes and a shy grin, standing behind her.
“Want to come in?”
The door opens wider, revealing two students and scattered random sketches all over the floor near them. The place is quite deserted, for there are no other furniture saves for a black grand piano bathed in sunlight from the only window opened. The room is small but it feels nice.
“You’re late, and who’s that?”
The boy ushers her inside and closes the door behind them, paying no attention to the question before. He lets out a sigh at the sight before him and casually makes his way towards the piano, motioning to her to do the same. Somehow she just freezes there, unable to move. She recognizes them now, as she has the clearer view of their faces. The two of them are among the popular seniors in the school, one is the humble top scorer, and one is the loud soccer captain.
“You don’t answer me.”
“Should I?”
“It’s called ‘manners’, mind you.”
“Then tell me, why are all of my sketches on the floor?”
The one by the window smiles sheepishly and mumbles something like ‘it’s an accident’ and ‘I don’t mean it’ while the boy just simply raises one eyebrow and a not-so-whisper ‘uh-huh’ escapes with a slight smirk, skeptical written all over his face, the best student laugh out loud. People says that laugh is contagious and it is not long before all of them are laughing, including her. The boy turns at her direction, his droopy black eyes sparkling brightly, smiling. She can feel the happiness and warmth from them, even from across the room.
And the feeling glows inside her when they told her to come again as she leaves for class, the ringing bell echoes across the hallway.
Day -924
“What do you think of it? It’s not complete yet, but I got a feeling I can do this.”
The boy smiles inwardly, waiting for a reaction. A soccer ball hits the wall as the owner lunges forward and falls to the knee, holding the boy’s hand with admiration filling the eyes. She realizes she is not the only with broken heart about it as the honor student tries a little bit too hard to hold back the tears.
“This is awesome. Marry me. I’ll even give up my soccer dream to listen to this everyday.”
The boy rolls his eyes and a book flies across the room, hitting the brown eyed student square on the head.
“What’s that for?”
“For being an idiot, of course.”
“At least I don’t cry over a happy song.”
“You call THAT happy?!”
The two starts bickering, again, and she is not surprised. It has always been like this anyway. And no matter how long she knows this people, she can never understand the loud senior’s weird sense of logic. She is 100% sure the piece is a sad song. Each note tugs at her heart like an invisible string and it is beautiful, so beautiful it leaves her breathless until the last sound fades away from her ears.
Today is the last day of the term, and everybody is excited for the upcoming two-month break. She will go back to her hometown, which is a flight away while the seniors will go to a vacation with their respective families, except for the boy, who already planning on taking extra part-time job this holiday.
The argument seems unstoppable until he hit a key and both seniors freeze, heads turning to the one on the piano, eyes anticipating. He chuckles and stealing a quick glance at her, winking, he smiles, and plays a tune that only the two of them know. She repays the favor instantly, much to the happiness of the two other seniors, whom self-proclaiming as the biggest fan of his piano and her dance, the fight long forgotten.
She flies.
Day -946
“Those people are damn idiots. Heck, they are worse than the soccer-head. How can they miss such a talent like yours?”
It is the best student, standing right beside her, in front of the notice board. The result of the club audition is out and her name is nowhere to be seen, meaning she was rejected. She did not expect to see the senior around, she barely bump into any of them except at the old music room. Wait, how did this person...?
“We went to the audition the other day, of course; me and the soccer-head. Don’t ask about piano guy, he disappears into thin air that day, as usual. Really, even if I answered the entire Math question existed in the world I don’t think I can understand what is going on in his head. The same applies to the alien soccer, too.”
She simply nods. That was expected. The boy is the most quiet and perhaps the odd one of the three. People keep on wondering what did the two popular students sees in him, as he is simply average in everything, be it studying or sports. His art is awesome but still art is not popular enough in the eyes of others. He is just an ordinary student, like all of us, they thought. Of course, they have no idea about his piano, which is beyond amazing to her.
“You should continue dancing. You have the talent, really. I can’t believe how people can be so oblivious about it. Nobody knows about the piano and all the scores he wrote which won the competition outside of school, and the other guy just joined the soccer team last year, after been rejected three times in a row before.”
Her eyes widen, the captain is no doubt the best player the school ever had; how could the team rejected him?
“Of course, nobody really remembered that. Heck, he’s appointed as captain just after one year in the team. Just believe in yourself, like they did.”
A hand squeezes her shoulder.
“Somehow, I can see it in you.”
Day 66
“Thank you so much, really.”
He eyes her with confusion written all over his face.
“The story you told me before, about the tune and image and all. It inspires me somehow.”
She hands him a poster with a picture of a girl dancing with a black background, big, white-painted words filling the top, ‘Ballet Club is holding an audition to recruit new members. Come and join us!’
“I think, the image you saw is a ballet dancer, and this might sound weird but I decided to join after listening to your story. I already passed to the audition. I, think I should thank you. Thanks a lot.”
She is full of smile and he cannot help but smile back and congratulate her.
“I’ll re-learn the move to fly.”
And I make you remember it all, she swears, as she leaves him, smiling.
Day 76
She almost chokes on air when the Arts teacher displays his final sketch of her in front of the class. He earns an A for it, of course, and no, that is not the surprising part.
“I almost rejected this work because he was late in handing it, but I’m glad I don’t do so. I have to say this is your best work thus far!”
Everybody is gasping at the sketch and soon after, the sounds of people clapping fill up the class. The teacher even persuades him to sell the piece to him; “Just name the price!” much to her own amusement, which he politely declines to her relief as he take the sketch and sit at his desk. It is that amazing.
Later, she gave him a sketch of him sleeping the other day as an exchange gift.
“You’ll get a better A if you hand this sketch for the project. This is very good.”
She simply shook her head, saying B++ is more than enough already as she bid him goodbye. Inside her bag is the praise-earning sketch of her from the side view, in a ballet position, both arms stretched far from her in opposite direction, one leg lifted up higher than another. The background is dark, and ray of light comes from one direction, basking upon her. He may not remember it yet, she thinks, but she knows that it is there somewhere in his head, buried, but maybe not that far too deep, for the scene is just a bit too familiar. In the old music room, when she still dances and he still plays the piano, the two seniors still alive, and still breathing.
That is actually years ago, but it plays out in her head like it happened just yesterday.
Day 82
She found him staring at the Ballet Club poster she showed him the other day at the hallway, among the many posters for the upcoming festivals. His face shines with awe as his hands reach over and caress the poster slowly. It is haunting, the poster, for it brings some kind of feeling inside him, perhaps. At least that is what she hopes so. She walks closer to him, asking him to follow her to someplace, which he obliges easily, much to her own amusement; especially when he does not question her at all.
As they walk, she tries hard to stay strong. He is in for a shock of his life, and this might break him apart, she knows, but she still is going to go for it.
She just does not have any other way.
Day -864
It is raining, but to her it is sunny. She had spent the holiday brushing up her skills and she had come up with better and new moves too for the performance she secretly planned with the two awesome seniors, the captain gives suggestions on choreography and even comes up with a poster, which is actually the result of combining and editing a couple of his sketches behind his back, much to the other senior’s amusement, who come up with the storyline, set-up, and the main producer and director of this secret project. It is a dream of them to showcase his talent to the world to see, and she is just glad to be a part of it.
She hears the faint sound of her name been called, and she turns around, the captain is waving enthusiastically from across the road, while the other senior is smiling warmly, both sharing and holding an umbrella, and are they holding hands while at it? Somehow, she does not surprise at all. She eagerly wave back at them and the rain is pouring harder and there is a loud screeching sound past her ears and...
Day 82
The silence is deafening. She feels numb. She cannot even hear her own heartbeat. The scene of him walking towards the piano and pull back just before he hit a key replays before her eyes.
It is when she falls to her knees that she realizes that she had been crying.
Day -924
“This is the complete version of our project. Script, background, heck even to the finest detail of your dress is compiled here! Have it.”
She stares at them like an idiot as the thick bundled papers is shoved to her arms.
“But, seniors, you are the one who think of it all, why don’t you keep it instead?”
There is a smile on both of their faces as they glance knowingly at each other. It is the last day of the term, and she is ready to go back home with the bags and all when they stop her by the gate.
“You’re the star of the project, and that guy’s piano too, of course, but he doesn’t know about this yet so, we think it’ll be good if you have a copy just in case we lost ours. I have confidence in keeping it safe, but my laptop is not really in good condition lately I fear it just explodes out of the blue, and this idiot might just mistaken it with his old tests papers and throw it all away. Don’t worry, even so, all three of us keep a copy of this is much safer than just a person, no?”
She nods on that logic. It makes sense to her after all.
“This means a lot to us. We really, really want for it to come true. We know it will be, with you on it. Guess we’ll be counting on you then!”
She watches the retreating back of the two awesome seniors as they make their way back into the school. Somehow, there is something off, and out of place. Maybe it’s their tone, full of hope, maybe it’s their gaze, glassy, yet shining, or maybe it is just her being paranoid.
Still, she cannot ignore the unsettling feeling in her stomach.
Day -864
She is one for instincts. She believes them, and so far, her gut never fails her. She knows that, but of course, there are times when she doubts it, especially when it involves something bad, for she does not want it to come true. She hates herself sometimes, for reasons she cannot quite put her finger to. She wants somebody, anybody to blame her, but of course, nobody would. There is just no apparent reason to do so. Her mind starts battling the ‘what-ifs’ thoughts that come attacking, as her body grow cold from the rain and the lifeless body in her arms and on her lap, the hands still attached together.
All that she sees is red staining her uniform, on her hands, on the road, and all that she hears is the last whisper of the senior she adores so much as she closes the eyes of the respected captain beside her, drowning the crowd around her as the faint sound of ambulance past her ears.
“Don’t stop...”
Author: Heiji Hatsutori
Length: Three-shot
Genre: Angst (I guess all my stories are angst-y)
Proclaimed: I own them all, even the characters (take note I don't put the name whatsoever, so they can be consider as mine, no? LOL).
Paring: Just put anybody you like from any fandom existed (I'm only familiar with DBSK and SuJu fandom, really).
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters anymore if you decided to put your OTP or whoever in the fandom to the act. Though I would love to have them~ (seriously, who don't? LOL)
Rating: PG (just because...)
Summary: Before the worst, before we met, before today, before too long
Let's try and take it back before it all went wrong
A/N: The third part...and the final? No~ Abruptly, I can't seem to end it in one part only...having a great trouble finding the ending before which make me write something else instead (the one-shot I post before)...hence 3 part in Part 3 alone. I don't want to extend it to Part 4, 5, and so on, knowing I'll be in deep trouble finishing it, and I really want to make it three-shot only, thus the idea to expand the story in a single part...(confusing? I'm a fail, that's why~).
So! To make it simple, there's another 2 update until the ultimate ending of this and kill me all you want, for I'm satisfied enough on how it turn out to be...haha~
Dedicating this to the awesome Nazo who loves this story and have been giving me enormous love and support...you're the best, bb! ^^
OT: Another third update of the day~ Am I making this a habit? Posting three posts once in a blue moon? LOL.
Comments are highly appreciated~
A BUTTERFLY, A LOUVRE, AND (NOT) A FREER
-Part 1- -Part 2- Part 3-I [The world we knew won't come back]
Iris- The happiness of the believer
That comes from a spiral bond of reasoning
Resulting in perhaps (not) a freer from their yesterday
The melody of logic
Will always play out the truth
Day 54
It is a free period for the class as the Chemistry teacher calls in sick today. She takes the rare opportunity to relax and finishing her English essay when he gets up, gathers his stuffs and leave without a word. She has a feeling that he will be at the rooftop as always, and she does not want to bother him, so she simply let him be. Just when the back door is shut, a classmate comes and asks her about the Arts project with him.
“He may be an odd one and hard to talk to, but I have to agree he is the best here in Arts. I wonder how he will sketch you. It’ll be great for sure! Have you seen his works yet?”
She shook her head a bit and indeed, she is a bit curious. She remembers the beam on the teacher’s face when he told her who her partner is and there is something about him that makes her feel a bit nostalgic, and it sucks how she cannot really put a finger on it.
“Wait; remember the painting we saw at the Arts gallery near the club room? The one with the black sky and crooked moon?”
Her face lit up at the mention of that work, she loves it, so much when she first saw it before. The painting is so elegant, and there is a sad yet haunting feeling with it. Too bad they put it down just after a week, and nobody really cares about the painting like she and her friend did to bother enough, much to her disappointment.
“I ask a friend in the Arts club about it, and he tells me who drew it.”
Now that she remembers the artwork again, the scene is a bit familiar, and almost immediately, something struck her memories, hard.
“It’s him, your partner.”
She stands up abruptly, almost pushing the chair down in the process, a flicker of recognition in her eyes as she thanks her friend before making her way to the door, leaving her confused friend who happens to hear her small whisper as she smiles.
“I found you, finally.”
Her hands trembles a bit as she reaches for the doorknob.
“It’s been awhile, senior.”
Day 59
She reaches the door just in time to hear the conversation between the teacher and her Arts partner. She knows that it is wrong to eavesdrop on others, but it is unintentional, and seeing the very rare smile on his face makes her freeze on the spot. No, she does not falling for him, and no, it is not an evil smile or some sort. Rather than that, the smile is bright; too bright it hurts, so bad she cannot breathe. She stays still behind the door, static, until silence greets her and she walks out to notice that both of them are out of sight already. She knows he loves painting, sketching, anything to do with Art, that is a fact clear enough for the world to see, judging from his attitude towards the class and apparently he is said to be the best artist in the Arts club, though they doubt that he ever realizes it at the first place. She knows that all a bit too well, but she also knows something they do not know about him. A side of his that seems to be gone, and it breaks her inside to admit it. As much as she hates herself to care, she wants to move on, and the incident a few days ago maybe, just maybe can help not just her, but him too.
She can only make the step with that nameless tune, and she will do everything, anything, to hear it again. Even if it means she have to kill that smile, which she might gladly do so, for it looks a bit too fake on her eyes.
She hates it, for it looks nothing like how she remembered it used to be.
Day -955
She walks down the hallway and a ringing laughter catches her attention. She turns to her left and realizes that it comes from the old music room. Curiosity seeps in, and she finds herself peeping through the small opening of the door, only to get caught later on by a boy with smiling eyes and a shy grin, standing behind her.
“Want to come in?”
The door opens wider, revealing two students and scattered random sketches all over the floor near them. The place is quite deserted, for there are no other furniture saves for a black grand piano bathed in sunlight from the only window opened. The room is small but it feels nice.
“You’re late, and who’s that?”
The boy ushers her inside and closes the door behind them, paying no attention to the question before. He lets out a sigh at the sight before him and casually makes his way towards the piano, motioning to her to do the same. Somehow she just freezes there, unable to move. She recognizes them now, as she has the clearer view of their faces. The two of them are among the popular seniors in the school, one is the humble top scorer, and one is the loud soccer captain.
“You don’t answer me.”
“Should I?”
“It’s called ‘manners’, mind you.”
“Then tell me, why are all of my sketches on the floor?”
The one by the window smiles sheepishly and mumbles something like ‘it’s an accident’ and ‘I don’t mean it’ while the boy just simply raises one eyebrow and a not-so-whisper ‘uh-huh’ escapes with a slight smirk, skeptical written all over his face, the best student laugh out loud. People says that laugh is contagious and it is not long before all of them are laughing, including her. The boy turns at her direction, his droopy black eyes sparkling brightly, smiling. She can feel the happiness and warmth from them, even from across the room.
And the feeling glows inside her when they told her to come again as she leaves for class, the ringing bell echoes across the hallway.
Day -924
“What do you think of it? It’s not complete yet, but I got a feeling I can do this.”
The boy smiles inwardly, waiting for a reaction. A soccer ball hits the wall as the owner lunges forward and falls to the knee, holding the boy’s hand with admiration filling the eyes. She realizes she is not the only with broken heart about it as the honor student tries a little bit too hard to hold back the tears.
“This is awesome. Marry me. I’ll even give up my soccer dream to listen to this everyday.”
The boy rolls his eyes and a book flies across the room, hitting the brown eyed student square on the head.
“What’s that for?”
“For being an idiot, of course.”
“At least I don’t cry over a happy song.”
“You call THAT happy?!”
The two starts bickering, again, and she is not surprised. It has always been like this anyway. And no matter how long she knows this people, she can never understand the loud senior’s weird sense of logic. She is 100% sure the piece is a sad song. Each note tugs at her heart like an invisible string and it is beautiful, so beautiful it leaves her breathless until the last sound fades away from her ears.
Today is the last day of the term, and everybody is excited for the upcoming two-month break. She will go back to her hometown, which is a flight away while the seniors will go to a vacation with their respective families, except for the boy, who already planning on taking extra part-time job this holiday.
The argument seems unstoppable until he hit a key and both seniors freeze, heads turning to the one on the piano, eyes anticipating. He chuckles and stealing a quick glance at her, winking, he smiles, and plays a tune that only the two of them know. She repays the favor instantly, much to the happiness of the two other seniors, whom self-proclaiming as the biggest fan of his piano and her dance, the fight long forgotten.
She flies.
Day -946
“Those people are damn idiots. Heck, they are worse than the soccer-head. How can they miss such a talent like yours?”
It is the best student, standing right beside her, in front of the notice board. The result of the club audition is out and her name is nowhere to be seen, meaning she was rejected. She did not expect to see the senior around, she barely bump into any of them except at the old music room. Wait, how did this person...?
“We went to the audition the other day, of course; me and the soccer-head. Don’t ask about piano guy, he disappears into thin air that day, as usual. Really, even if I answered the entire Math question existed in the world I don’t think I can understand what is going on in his head. The same applies to the alien soccer, too.”
She simply nods. That was expected. The boy is the most quiet and perhaps the odd one of the three. People keep on wondering what did the two popular students sees in him, as he is simply average in everything, be it studying or sports. His art is awesome but still art is not popular enough in the eyes of others. He is just an ordinary student, like all of us, they thought. Of course, they have no idea about his piano, which is beyond amazing to her.
“You should continue dancing. You have the talent, really. I can’t believe how people can be so oblivious about it. Nobody knows about the piano and all the scores he wrote which won the competition outside of school, and the other guy just joined the soccer team last year, after been rejected three times in a row before.”
Her eyes widen, the captain is no doubt the best player the school ever had; how could the team rejected him?
“Of course, nobody really remembered that. Heck, he’s appointed as captain just after one year in the team. Just believe in yourself, like they did.”
A hand squeezes her shoulder.
“Somehow, I can see it in you.”
Day 66
“Thank you so much, really.”
He eyes her with confusion written all over his face.
“The story you told me before, about the tune and image and all. It inspires me somehow.”
She hands him a poster with a picture of a girl dancing with a black background, big, white-painted words filling the top, ‘Ballet Club is holding an audition to recruit new members. Come and join us!’
“I think, the image you saw is a ballet dancer, and this might sound weird but I decided to join after listening to your story. I already passed to the audition. I, think I should thank you. Thanks a lot.”
She is full of smile and he cannot help but smile back and congratulate her.
“I’ll re-learn the move to fly.”
And I make you remember it all, she swears, as she leaves him, smiling.
Day 76
She almost chokes on air when the Arts teacher displays his final sketch of her in front of the class. He earns an A for it, of course, and no, that is not the surprising part.
“I almost rejected this work because he was late in handing it, but I’m glad I don’t do so. I have to say this is your best work thus far!”
Everybody is gasping at the sketch and soon after, the sounds of people clapping fill up the class. The teacher even persuades him to sell the piece to him; “Just name the price!” much to her own amusement, which he politely declines to her relief as he take the sketch and sit at his desk. It is that amazing.
Later, she gave him a sketch of him sleeping the other day as an exchange gift.
“You’ll get a better A if you hand this sketch for the project. This is very good.”
She simply shook her head, saying B++ is more than enough already as she bid him goodbye. Inside her bag is the praise-earning sketch of her from the side view, in a ballet position, both arms stretched far from her in opposite direction, one leg lifted up higher than another. The background is dark, and ray of light comes from one direction, basking upon her. He may not remember it yet, she thinks, but she knows that it is there somewhere in his head, buried, but maybe not that far too deep, for the scene is just a bit too familiar. In the old music room, when she still dances and he still plays the piano, the two seniors still alive, and still breathing.
That is actually years ago, but it plays out in her head like it happened just yesterday.
Day 82
She found him staring at the Ballet Club poster she showed him the other day at the hallway, among the many posters for the upcoming festivals. His face shines with awe as his hands reach over and caress the poster slowly. It is haunting, the poster, for it brings some kind of feeling inside him, perhaps. At least that is what she hopes so. She walks closer to him, asking him to follow her to someplace, which he obliges easily, much to her own amusement; especially when he does not question her at all.
As they walk, she tries hard to stay strong. He is in for a shock of his life, and this might break him apart, she knows, but she still is going to go for it.
She just does not have any other way.
Day -864
It is raining, but to her it is sunny. She had spent the holiday brushing up her skills and she had come up with better and new moves too for the performance she secretly planned with the two awesome seniors, the captain gives suggestions on choreography and even comes up with a poster, which is actually the result of combining and editing a couple of his sketches behind his back, much to the other senior’s amusement, who come up with the storyline, set-up, and the main producer and director of this secret project. It is a dream of them to showcase his talent to the world to see, and she is just glad to be a part of it.
She hears the faint sound of her name been called, and she turns around, the captain is waving enthusiastically from across the road, while the other senior is smiling warmly, both sharing and holding an umbrella, and are they holding hands while at it? Somehow, she does not surprise at all. She eagerly wave back at them and the rain is pouring harder and there is a loud screeching sound past her ears and...
Day 82
The silence is deafening. She feels numb. She cannot even hear her own heartbeat. The scene of him walking towards the piano and pull back just before he hit a key replays before her eyes.
It is when she falls to her knees that she realizes that she had been crying.
Day -924
“This is the complete version of our project. Script, background, heck even to the finest detail of your dress is compiled here! Have it.”
She stares at them like an idiot as the thick bundled papers is shoved to her arms.
“But, seniors, you are the one who think of it all, why don’t you keep it instead?”
There is a smile on both of their faces as they glance knowingly at each other. It is the last day of the term, and she is ready to go back home with the bags and all when they stop her by the gate.
“You’re the star of the project, and that guy’s piano too, of course, but he doesn’t know about this yet so, we think it’ll be good if you have a copy just in case we lost ours. I have confidence in keeping it safe, but my laptop is not really in good condition lately I fear it just explodes out of the blue, and this idiot might just mistaken it with his old tests papers and throw it all away. Don’t worry, even so, all three of us keep a copy of this is much safer than just a person, no?”
She nods on that logic. It makes sense to her after all.
“This means a lot to us. We really, really want for it to come true. We know it will be, with you on it. Guess we’ll be counting on you then!”
She watches the retreating back of the two awesome seniors as they make their way back into the school. Somehow, there is something off, and out of place. Maybe it’s their tone, full of hope, maybe it’s their gaze, glassy, yet shining, or maybe it is just her being paranoid.
Still, she cannot ignore the unsettling feeling in her stomach.
Day -864
She is one for instincts. She believes them, and so far, her gut never fails her. She knows that, but of course, there are times when she doubts it, especially when it involves something bad, for she does not want it to come true. She hates herself sometimes, for reasons she cannot quite put her finger to. She wants somebody, anybody to blame her, but of course, nobody would. There is just no apparent reason to do so. Her mind starts battling the ‘what-ifs’ thoughts that come attacking, as her body grow cold from the rain and the lifeless body in her arms and on her lap, the hands still attached together.
All that she sees is red staining her uniform, on her hands, on the road, and all that she hears is the last whisper of the senior she adores so much as she closes the eyes of the respected captain beside her, drowning the crowd around her as the faint sound of ambulance past her ears.
“Don’t stop...”