Don't Miss A Note(Lucas)

[Rachel Kells]

The summer was almost here and Rachel was hiding away in the auditorium. Dressed for the summer she had come to the auditorium to get away from it all. She didn't want to go home and she was probably just gonna stay at the school anyway. The paino here was one of her only solaces. She snuck away whenever she could , or whenever there wasn't ballet, or voilin to hold her attention. She also frequented the stables for her horses, Masie, and Thistle.

Often Rachel would be in here, but this time she had skipped her english class. They were discussing shakespeare. Which she already didn't like. The dead guy spoke in riddles and she didn't like the fact that she was falling behind but she wasn't going to put more effort into something that confused her anyway. Why couldn't it be history, she liked learning about ancient cultures.

Sitting on the piano bench she began to play. Fur Elise was one of her favorite songs to play, as the melody ranged from lonliness to despair. The music filled the empty auditorm, and she began to think about the first time she played this. It was at her first major recital, and her dad was sitting right in the front row. She hadn't won anything, but she had made him smile. She wished she could make him smile again.

Instead she was stuck here, never going to make him smile again. She frowned as she played the notes, choosing to focus on them, instead of what she didn't have. A dad. Gulping she missed a note. She decided to start over, and immediatly lapsed into the first section again. Rachel knew that she couldn't miss a note again. And so she played.

[Lucas Blacke]

So he was graduating, big whoop with a cherry on top, you would think, but his last days at Hammel were a bit.. sentimental to say the least. Not to mention the fact he still had that letter from his parents, and he knew that the time to open it had arrived.. right before needing to move and all, maybe it held a surprise, though knowing his parents this would be a pretty slim chance. He couldn't even take the letter in his hand without being torn between thoughts; if only they could see him now, if only they gave a damn, if only he was here. But in the end, they weren't, and probably didn't care.

His uncle, now his uncle would be a big deal. The dude practically raised him, taught him everything he knew from outside of his power, which made Lucas wonder if the guy even knew about his power and even knew about where he went to. Just thinking about that tied a knot in his stomach once more, not only had he not attended the funeral of the person closest to him, but that person probably didn't even knew where Luke went. Fat chance his parents told him.

Which brought him back to the letter, he felt half compelled to just rip it in half, but he knew he needed to read it sometime, and probably soon. Somewhere he was eager to hear from his parents, almost causing him to forget that flunked call earlier that year where he just hung up without saying a word. Maybe he needed to go slow, but for now his mind wasn't in the right place. He put the letter in his back pocket for now. (after checking for breakable stuff ofcourse)

Slwoly he made his way over to the place he had lots of memories that year, the auditorium. The piano was there, and it always reminded him of his uncle and put his mind at ease, though when he got there he heard a familiar tune with the sounds of a piano. Fur Elise. The first song he learned from his uncle, even just hearing it brought him back as he slowly opened the door, listening, not saying a word as he watched the piano be played.

He sighed silently as a single note was missed and the entire tune was started again. Maybe.. just maybe he could do what his uncle did.

Walking up to the stage, trying to stay low profile, he listened closer, he drew closer. The memories seeped in.

''So much emotion..'' He whispered, his hand moving with the rhythm of the song, his fingers mimicking hers.

[Rachel Kells]

Rachel knew that her tune would carry throughout the auditorium. She knew that it would be the music that would float through the empty seats. She knew this, and yet, she knew that her audience, the invisible presence would be ashamed of her if she were to fail. Most of all, her father, there in the front row, would be ashamed. Of course he wasn’t really there, but she felt like he was. Before she manifested,he was there at every recital he could be at. Now? Not so much.

After all, she was a monster. In both of their eyes. She knew this as her fingers played the notes on the piano. After all she was basically playing from memory. This was one of the first songs she insisted on learning. She knew the notes, and was hitting them with every movement of her fingers on the keys that splayed out in front of her.

They held her life in their monochromatic existence. The keys were her tools for self perseverance. They would allow her to move, to feel, to express. Something that her ballet taught her to hide, her piano let loose. The songs allowed her to move freely through her thoughts, though still hidden behind the constrictions of the music notes as they were written.

She continued the song on the piano, never noticing the older guy as he walked in. Instead she was immersed in the song she was playing. This time, instead of faulting at the note, she continued. She knew what she was doing and she didn’t miss a note. The melody played, bringing up memories of when she was little playing the songs she knew by memory by now for her dad. In her and her mom’s apartment in the upper east side of manhattan, she had two pianos, a grand piano and a baby grand.

At her father’s house she had a keyboard, which wasn’t the same thing, but close enough.

Now she didn’t have any, and instead was forced to use the one here at Hammel.

She could only hope that she would have enough to get one of her own someday. Maybe she would be able to help other kids with their own music. Finally finishing the song Rachel sighed and wiped the sweat off of her face. She hadn’t even realized she had been sweating. “Oh Well, that is what indicates a good song. The emotion after all.”

Yes, Rachel was talking to herself.

[Lucas Blacke]

Those moments of him entering the room, seeing the man, the only man he ever held dearly play the ivory keys of the grand piano, those moments of him taking in how that guy reacted to him for the first time, how he reacted to him when he took an interest in playing the piano, the days spent in front of the thing playing together and trying to memorize just one song only to move on to the next as soon as he got it right once, those memories of him and his uncle all crawled back. They had never left him, but never had they been so prevalent.

He missed those times.. part of him wished he could forget playing the piano, just so he could be taught again, but another part of him clung to the only real memory of a father figure in his life.

But that wasn't the only thing he remembered of his uncle, he remembered seeing the inside of the house for the first time and wondering how much cash the dude had, and if he could get any. Obviously the answer was no, but he did get plenty of things, whether to buy his affection or not Luke failed to care, still did, he got things he wanted and was glad for those times where he didn't feel like a total reject. Of course his parents dropping him there with his uncle was a big jab, so that could have been a reason for all the bribes.

But back to the current moment. It had been weird, seeing someone else play the piano aside from him or his uncle, and Anthy that one time, and he could clearly note the difference in how they all played, and even moreso now with his fingers moving like hers did. He knew which notes she missed, and funnily enough she was just like him in starting all over again with every missed note.

But then she didn't, played the song perfectly in one go and Luke began smiling. ''A good song is indicated by emotion. Th' best song is th' one ya like.'' He said suddenly as he got up the stage and looked at the girl who seemed no older than fifteen.

''So what is yer best song, if I may ask?'' He asked, lightly grazing the piano as he looked at the keys, they basically beckoned him at this point.

[Rachel Kells]

Yes Rachel had played the song perfectly. She had known what she was doing and her music was the result. She smiled before looking up surprised as she noticed the older boy standing near the stage edge. "I disagree. A song that can bring emotion out is the song that is more tecnically amazing." Rachel knew her values, and was going to stick to them.

"May favorite song?" Rachel tilted her head before she contemplated it. "Well probably it would be Moonlight Sonata." She really did love that song. It was one of her favorites and she knew it was her father's favorite as well. Maybe that was why she loved it so much.