Ebon & Ivory Keys

The moon spilled through the small window, washing over the slick surface of a glossy wooden floor. Cries broke the morbid silence of the tiny room. Each salty tear drop could be heard hitting a lonely floor. Just a silhouette, a mere figure of a crumpled woman lay in the glow of a lunar kiss. The clock suspended on the wall slowly ticked by, turning and counting; with every second she seemed to die a little more inside. A single candle burned, fighting the shadows that threatened to claim her broken frame. Shadows that twisted and turned with each flicker of warm hope gave life to once dead things. Soft groans came from every corner of the room, and the woman did nothing to run, she never tried to hide. She let herself be swallowed by the darkness she kept pent up inside all these years. No longer fighting back, the will to survive had been drained from her soul. All the heart ache and pain came crashing down on her with vengeance. Her mouth bent in a scream no one could hear when darkness took her voice from her. Eyes that couldn't see once the same force had clouded her mind. Limbs that wouldn't, couldn't function while she was dragged away, deep into a place inside she'd been once before. The only relief it offered was the numbing chill of sorrow that burned cold.

Sickeningly sweet, the scent of blood red rose petals covered the grounds as far as the eye could see. Far off into the distance there was a body, that of a young man, laying in the pillowy cushion of slowly dying memories. Bare feet treaded over the silk of each petal, making her way over to her lover, soul mate, enemy, worst night mare... Bending over him she didn't weep, but gingerly cradled his sleeping face in both hands, straddling his slumbering form. Hovering over him, tresses of dark hair falling to frame their faces, caressing his cheek... she smiled a sort of sad and longing smile. Then and only then did she feel the stab of guilt, regret... hatred towards herself. He never saw her... he still couldn't see her, trapped in an eternal sleep. Brushing soft thumb pads over his lips, she closed her eyes and kissed the silken flesh. Only then to watch him melt away, along with each dying rose petal. Slipping through her fingers until it was just herself, crumpled up and alone in the dark void she'd have to learn to call home...

She drifted in and out of consciousness, back and forth through memories of good times... and bad. The world was a blur to her, the ashes of her beloved memories were reduced to only a sweet scent of charred rose petals that coated her hands and feet, the remains of what most would call a life lay still in the darkness of her mind. Every broken dream mixed with her hair, choking her when she tried to breath. Soon her head was spinning again, and knew she was going to pass out once more, the last thing she heard before welcoming the wave of fatigue was her hammering heart.

Soft, and quiet as a winter chill the notes rang through her ears, opening her eyes, seeing again, color was just returning to her, everything was a blur of black and white. Was it all a dream...? Had she fallen into a trance while playing again...? Swaying with each key stroke of the piano, the notes grew louder though keeping the morbid-sickeningly sweet song deliberate and passionate. The keys felt warm, warmer then they should... Blinking, trying to find her sight, she looked down at the black keys; slowing down her tempo she watched each finger hit the notes. Before long black turned to grey...and grey to cold...cold to red... A tear falling down her cheek, she closed her eyes and kept playing, feeling her sorrow and dread drip from the keys and soak her legs, run down to the floor, coating the petals in her misery and heartache. From white to red.

Rolling over onto her stomach she coughed, reaching out for something to hold, somewhere to hide... Screaming her throat burned...her body ached, head throbbed and she couldn't shake this feeling there was someone else there.

It was unbelievable, this sensation inside, as if she were burning from the inside out. Clawing at her skin, raking long blood stained nails down her arms, screaming as she scrambled to her feet, standing, running, searching, over and over, this endless cycle of torture and emptiness. No one to console her, no one to stop her destructive behavior. Hitting something hard, she fell back; the loud smack of bone against harder things made her stomach churn, and the sour-stale taste in her mouth was the last thing she remembered before the memory claimed her, almost mockingly.

Today was the day, it was finally his birthday. Something she'd been planning for since the day after his last, it would be the first they would share together as officially a couple. Brightly smiling, she'd thought up an entire plan for this morning. She'd show up, gift in hand, and take him out to a romantic little picnic she had neatly folded in the back seat of her car. Knocking on the door, she waited patiently; trying not to loose her poker face she'd practiced the entire drive to his apartment. When there was no reply, she looked around and reached up to the top of the door frame once she was sure no one was looking. Retrieving the spare key he'd put there, she unlocked the door, quietly closing it, noticing the television was on, she shook her head, amusement in each soft gentile step. Avoiding parts of the floor scattered with books and papers, peaking into the kitchen, and moving on when she didn't see him. Eyes sparkling with excitement, he'd be so surprised, so happy when he'd find out what she'd gotten him. Covering her mouth with one hand to keep from giggling, she pressed on, passing the small bathroom, and on to the cracked door of his bedroom. Pushing it open slowly, she held her breath.

What she found broke her heart. The love of her life, the reason she woke in the morning. Every breath she took was for him, and he lay there, on top of another woman. Another warm body to fill his bed for one more night, until he found another, and another, and another. Tiring of every faceless body eventually and moving on to another. When he turned and met her eyes, all she saw was surprise... no regret, no sorrow, no remorse. Throwing his gift on the floor she stormed back through his apartment, knocking over everything and anything she could. Tearing apart his book shelf, kicking his stack of papers, grabbing his backpack and taking it back out with her, throwing it off the balcony and onto the busy road below. Slamming the front door closed, hard enough to shake the window next to it causing it to split. She charged down the stairs and climbed into her car, after emptying out her back seat on his scattered papers that lay cluttered all over the cement.

Sliding broken back into her car, she started the ignition, watching him scramble to the door in her rear view mirror, clothes a shamble and hair a mess. She sped off, watching him jump two at a time down the stairs, trying in vein to catch her. Pushing her car faster and faster, she didn't even hear the horns of the other cars around her. Vision blurred from her tears, she bit them back, shaking her head and gripping the wheel harder, knuckles white and fingers cramped. She was toying with death, taunting, daring it to conquer her.

How could she have been so foolish to trust someone like him...? She didn't scream this time, she didn't try to hide, she didn't move at all. Not bothering to wipe away the tears she could feel burning her cheeks as they mixed with the ashes surrounding her she closed her eyes and heard a familiar voice calling her name.

"Adriane... Adriane... Wake up sweetheart." She felt him shaking her gently, tenderly wiping away tears from her cheeks. "I think you were having a bad dream..." His voice was soothing, and sadly unfamiliar. "Are you going to be okay?"

With a weak smile and a nod she took his hand in hers, away from her face to kiss his fingers. "I'll be fine Josh." Wiping her cheeks dry she saw in his eyes he wasn't convinced.

"This is the second time this week, I'm worried about you." His concern broke her heart, and she lay down next to him, until the line of their bodies matched perfectly. He could feel how tense her muscles were, and her heart was hammering hard against his chest when he pulled her in even closer. She had to look away from his eyes before he saw it in hers; it had taken her until tonight to realize she was looking back at a stranger. Too blind to see past her dark veil of memories, too hurt to care, too scared to admit it.