A melody that has to keep playing…

Synopsis: A woman tries to remember and play the tune that earth herself whispered to her when she was young. Theme: music, fantasy, hopeful

Click- Click- Click- Click- Click- Pause.

Elise let a sigh as she moved onto the next sheet of data that had to be inputted. Her long slender fingers tediously started on the chore again; like the fingers of the multitude of her coworkers. It was not a nice job she thought, neither it was a bad one, if one word could described it, it would have been boring…

But one has to do what he can to survive she thought, it paid well, it required little to no knowledge, and let her evenings free to…

Her train of thought was cut in the middle as she saw him approaching. He was the talk of the office, or at least of the feminine population of the office. Tall, thin and well spoken, Lukas was the, new and rising, star of the desks. Elise didn’t mind that others had their sight on him too; neither was she focusing on his figure. What made him exceptional for her wasn’t his clear eyes and shinning smile. What had attracted her from the first time was his voice, a hushed calm voice, nearly melodic, that sung to her ears every time she heard him talking.

Like an answer to a prayer, he slowly moved towards her desk. Like a statue he stood still and started speaking to her. No, speaking would do a great injustice to his voice; singing would be the right word.

Elise could hear her heartbeat rising. From the almost inaudible thumbing noise that was a minute ago, it had reached a thundering peak. It resounded in her mind almost like the climatic ending of a grand opera where the drummers race to reach the fervent end of the song. It was like the office itself has lent its voice to her now. The, previously mundane, clicking sounds were harmonizing with her thoughts, the tempo given by the unstoppable beat.

Click- Click- Thud- Click- Pause- Thud- Click- Pause- Thud- Click- Click- Thud- Click- Pause- Thud- Click- Pause- Thud- Click…

Every keystroke was dedicated to this music. Every slight sound added to the symphony. Chairs replaced violins, desks replaced guitars, and even the slight chatting sounds on the background helped as a companion to the melodic voice of the tenor.

The way the sounds blended with each other reminded her of something, an emotion that hadn’t steered in her for ages… The music that filled her ears Then. As her reminiscence took over the scenery slowly changed.

She was a small girl now, still in her old house in the country. She lay on the slightly damp ground in the surrounding fields. Her mouth was slightly ajar; a trickle of blood was steadily flowing out of it. But she wasn’t shocked by that, her mouth hadn’t been frozen to place by fear or pain, her eyes weren’t glued to the reeds in front of her out of a trauma shock.

The wind was blowing calmly, causing the reeds themselves to sing. It was a magical tune, like angels had descended from the heavens to sing to her, and her only. As she stood still, she caught on the sound of the leaves as they were rustling in the currents up above her. A single bird was chirping in happiness and somewhere, far beyond, the sudden movement of an animal caused the dead woods to crack under its feet.

Ages flew by, as she lay there frozen, fearful to not disturb the concert that nature has set up for her. And little by little, smaller sounds started to be heard. Like they were afraid to be noticed before, timidly in the beginning, then more boldly, they came up to the surface, they came to her ears. From the sound of the wind itself, to the sound of a million ants as they marched to their chores, from the almost invisible sound of the flower’s nectar that was rushing in the thin veins of the plants, to the gigantic rumbling noise of the earth as she moved its plates, all were audible to her for an instant, all synchronized with her beating heart.

They had told her that she fainted when she tripped on a rock, that she had a slight concussion and that she was hallucinating, but for Elise it didn’t matter. That day she had heard music, she was certain of it, and thus she had dedicated her life on that music. An adult now, she realized how childish that sounded; but regardless that the tune pulsated in her veins. It was so long ago; so much time had passed since she had heard it again. And one man was responsible for that, someone that had reminded her of such a powerful emotion, someone that…

A sudden feeling on her shoulder woke her up from her trance.

“Ehh… You’re ok Elise?” Lukas asked her concerned as he was slightly shaking her back to earth.

She felt the heat rise to her cheeks, shame overcoming her. ‘How long was I daydreaming’ she anxiously wondered.

“Sure, sure… I’m fine, just a little tired that’s all” She answered him, careful not to look at his eyes. ‘Oh god please let earth open up and swallow me’ she pleaded in her mind.

“So… about those reports that I was asking you? Are they ready?” He continued, oblivious to the state that she was in.

“Eh? Reports…? Yes, I’ve done them an hour ago.” She said rummaging through the drawers of her desk. ‘At least that’s a good excuse to not look at him’ she mumbled inside her breath. “Here they are.”

An audible sigh escaped her lips as she saw him leaving…

When the hours passed, when work ended, Elise almost ran to her apartment. She had to get there fast. She had to immortalize her little incident in the office.

As she slammed her door behind her, she noticed that some of the city’s noise followed her through.

“Soundproof, calm apartment… yeah right…” She whined, remembering the ad that had led her to this place. But in all reality, it was much nicer and a ton more quiet here than her old one in the center of this chaos they called city. She didn’t think that she could have survived there. The drastic change from the quiet country to the entropic city when she was thirteen was difficult to forget…

She didn’t lose much more time. As she affectionately picked up her violin, she let her mind and memories free. How many hours had she spent with this little wooden miracle; how many years it had keep her company…

She still treasured her first moments with it; when she had mastered it for the first time, when she had tamed it by her hand, or at least that’s how she felt when she managed to play her first song. When as a teenager, the last day in her first house, she had stood before the reeds again, to try to imitate the song that never left her mind, only to have the cords break up from the intensity. It was then that she realized that such a tune could not be played by a man-made organ or by her inexperienced hands, but she didn’t mind; it kept playing inside her everyday she woke up…

Elise closed her eyes and let today’s incident fill her senses, fuel her hand. A calm sound emerged from the depths of the violin; the monotonous clicking sounds of the keyboards transformed themselves to melodic tunes, her beating heart a steady thrumming, his voice the spurring notes…

And as the time progressed, as the melodies flew by, the tune constantly changed. Like life, like a sudden crush, like the hasten beatings of one’s heart when the thrill of the moment takes control, as the first steps towards all unknown things, the tune changed; for nothing is static in life and in music, everything evolves, everything matures. And like that, the music changed, from calm to jarring, from passionate notes to depressing pauses, till it reached its crescendo, and as all things, it ended…

Elise was covered in sweat. She didn’t know for how many hours straight she was playing, but she felt spent. She smiled though, for above her tiredness, above her fatigue, the crowning feeling was completion. Another memory was being engraved in her heart through the miracle of music.

It is the little pleasures that give meaning to our lives. Pleasures like waking up through sunlight and not alarm clocks, Elise contemplated as she lazily stretched on her bed. “It will be a fine Saturday” she told to herself.

Her mood quickly changed when she walked out of her house. Even though it was still sunny and a nice breeze blew, heavy, dark, clouds were steadily marching in the horizon. Maybe her Saturday walk would have to end quickly today.

The nice thing about the place she lived was the tiny forest that was nearby. Well, not near enough for her taste, and certainly not something that she would call a forest in the countryside she grew up, but nevertheless, a small haven from the engulfing city.

People had already gathered in the outskirts of it. Some were picnicking, some others were jogging, but most of them just strolled in the trees. Elise walked till she couldn’t hear other human voices, till she lost sight with everything that she could call ‘civilization’, and then she stopped. As she carefully unpacked her trusty companion, she let his melodies fill the scenery around her.

It was something magical to play in the woods, a fascination that held her tight since she first played music, a tradition that she kept even in this time and place. It had a healing quality, like the drifting notes picked up her anxiety and burdens as they flew out of the cords, taking them high onto the sky to be annihilated by nature. Today she was playing a calming tune that she had written herself. She needed something to calm her down after yesterday’s frantic performance, but yet again, she failed her goal.

Music changes and notes follow suit, and as the wind slightly picked up, so did her tempo too. And as he blew through the rustling leaves, so did it became bolder and full of mischief; until it suddenly stopped, interrupted by the loud sirens.

Elise opened her eyes, and froze. She could she the thick smoke that rose from somewhere beyond, she could hear the desperate cries of the firefighter trucks as they were approaching. But above all, she could hear the maddening scream of the forest as it was burning.

She started to run, blindly, towards the forest’s end, towards salvation. The wind that blew merrily before now seemed like a raging demon that wanted to further the destruction. She didn’t know how long she was running, maybe she was tired from her playing or maybe she got lost due to her panic. But what she certainly knew was that she had no more stamina to support her, and she fell…

Her face dropped like a stone to the dirt below, her rugged breath forcing her mouth to stay half opened as it struggle to find as much air as it could. And as she lay there, cascading memories filled her senses, only to become overwritten with fresh ones.

The wind was blowing calmly, causing the reeds themselves to sing.

The savage wings were blowing in her ears, screaming of death, reeking of destruction.

It was a magical tune, like angels had descended from the heavens to sing to her, and her only.

A demon that had haunted her for years was chasing her down, bringing all this death just to amuse himself.

As she stood still, she caught on the sound of the leaves as they were rustling in the currents up above her.

The searing of the dried leaves, as they screamed, as they were forced to become the messengers of the flames in their ruthless devouring.

A single bird was chirping in happiness and somewhere, far beyond, the sudden movement of an animal caused the dead woods to crack under its feet.

No animals crooned now, they just shriek in horror, as they were clumsily running away to escape from their inevitable doom.

Ages flew by, as she lay there frozen, fearful to not disturb the concert that nature has set up for her.

Ages flew by as she lay there frozen, chained to her duty, her duty to solemnly watch the forest’s perish, the only observer of this macabre funeral.

From the sound of the wind itself, to the sound of a million ants as they marched to their chores, from the almost invisible sound of the flower’s nectar that was rushing in the thin veins of the plants, to the gigantic rumbling noise of the earth as she moved its plates, all were audible to her for an instant, all synchronized with her beating heart.

And in the end she heard her too, the bloodthirsty savage fire, as she was laughing manically as she was advancing, they cries of all, even the tiniest, creatures that were perishing, the disgusting flowing of the plant’s juices as they spew out of their burning homes, the tears of the flowers as they were losing their colors, and above else, earth’s own silence. All were audible to her again; all were causing her heart to sob…

Little by little, the magnificent tune of her childhood was being crushed under the weight of the fiery tongues. Like a grand concert, that someone had tossed a bouncing ball to its center, as piece by piece it kept falling apart. And as the seconds were passing by, a perfect melody was being transformed to a malicious discord.

Thin smokes were already enveloping her, maybe that was why she couldn’t run, or maybe it was that she was feeling her own heart tearing apart. Her eyes drifted to her hand, where she was subconsciously clutching her violin as if her life depended on it. She realized that she would die, and struggling, she stood up once again.

Her feet were beaten, her lungs were bursting, but she felt her soul still strong. “If I am to die, I’ll die in melody” she whispered to the wind. She closed her eyes; images of death would only deceive her. She blocked her smell; smoke’s only reason was to make her choke. Now she would only listen. Listen to the dying melody of the forest; listen to the living melody in her heart. And slowly, the fiddlestick started moving.

The notes started flowing timidly in the beginning, as she was afraid that she didn’t fully remembered the tune, but as time progressed, the vigor of the song picked up. Melodies started to fly around her. Like madden bees that danced wildly in the air, they started to form the tune that was engraved in the deepest part of her heart; the sole reason that she had began to study music in the first place. And like a whip, it came back to her, hurting her, swinging at her exposed mind, stabs of pain and agony, things she had forgotten, things that she had only moderately kept alive since she was cut off from her beloved countryside. Guilt filled her senses. Guilt of not pursuing her dreams more, of believing what others have told her.

She had reached the wildest tempo that she had ever mastered, and for a second, she had thought that she could match the dying song that always kept softening in the background, being squashed under the parody of fire, under the ruthless cacophony of death. Tunes for the trees. Melodies for the animals. Songs for the elements. One after another they kept dashing forth from her violin, but they were all missing, all incomplete, all futile against the massive noise that kept blowing around her. She needed the forest’s voice, but that voice kept dying, kept running away in vain hopes of survival, if only she could…

A voice was added to her music, a clean, pure, chirping voice. She didn’t need to open her eyes, she knew that there was a small bird clutching on her shoulder. Regardless of the fire, regardless of the massacre, regardless of the fear of death, it kept still, latching on her, singing with its last remaining strength. Singing for its life, for the forest, for earth, for her…

‘So similar’ she thought, ‘it and I, two lives doomed to burn, and yet, sacrificing all that is left of us just so that we could sing Her tune, earth’s tune.’

It wasn’t only that the bird now sung by her side, it was also the lack of the noise that the rest of the animals produced, one less organ to destruction’s orchestra, one more on her side. She felt the tune change on again, rhythmical footsteps rejuvenating it as the animals started dancing to the tune again; one by one, lending its voice to her.

She was lost now in her trance, she didn’t just play her music, she orchestrated the entities besides her, guiding them to remember how they were singing before, leading them like a maestro. Her hand was burning, the speed of the fiddlestick had reached levels that she was certain shouldn’t be able to be reproduced by a normal human body, tempos that were out of reach for a man-made instrument. A suspicion overtook her; as she looked to her violin, she saw that there were no cords left, all had broken, probably long ago, and all that remained was a bundled mass of wood. Yet, the notes kept pouring out; maybe even brighter than before, reaching higher and higher pitch, more than what simple wood could produce. And she realized then, that the sounds were coming out of her throat, out of her singing.

‘No man-made organ… just a human body; the best instrument ever created’ she realized…

She was clearly hearing now, a contest of music, her orchestra against the fiery hell, the animals against the flaming tongues, her voice against death. There was a time that she could probably win, but she knew that, now, she needed something more. The flames have claimed so large an area that she couldn’t compete against. It would probably require a huge band just to bend this huge advantage that death had. Something like the climatic entry of a dozen of…

One by one she heard them. Slow and calm at the beginning, but rising up in intensity fast. They joined in her music; they bolstered the courage of the trees around her. Drummers that matched the beat of her heart. One, ten, thousand of drummers started to add their tunes to the song that echoed around her. And she felt them from above, as the rain started to fall; raindrops that desperately tried to overcome their enemy’s voice. And thunder to keep everything in order, intimidating nature to keep on trying. Rain. Blessed rain. Cursed rain…

She had no option now, she had to continue, she had to match it, she had to reach the crescendo of this melody. She felt her strained voice, her muscles that were being ripped to pieces, and around her, the wind flayed with all his rage, adding to the maddening tune. How did she thought that she could match nature’s music, how did she hoped to sing it, did she really stood even a slight chance to survive?

She was drenched, in rain, sweat and blood. Yet she kept on trying to orchestrate the fanfare around her. She had a feeling that if she stopped now, everything would be undone; that all her efforts would be in vain. Like she was the glue that kept the order in this chaos, the maestro that kept each of the organs in line.

The drummers finally beat their last tune. The singers stopped. The bass slowly faded. And she, the last of all, lowered her hands, letting her voice die away.

The rain had stopped, sirens echoed somewhere in the distance, white smoke rose from somewhere above, a dying fog, the end of a fire. Around her the scarred land was dotted with animals, from baby rabbits and colorful birds, to slithering snakes and tired ants, wherever she turned her head, she saw them, appearing to her, one by one. But their eyes were weird, like they didn’t come to her to offer her help or to thank her for her vain attempt. They looked more like they were pleading her for something, like an anxious crowd that looks the singer at the eye, eagerly awaiting something more of him. As she left her eyes wander the half-burned forest, as she smelled the foul charred stink that was around her, she knew.

Encore.

There was no way that she could pull this through, there was no way she wouldn’t try it. The earth itself stayed silent around her, awaiting her decision. And once again, Elise started to sing.

This song was different from the one she was singing moments ago. When the previous one was a violent counter-tune, this one was a calm undertone. When the main theme of the last song was a desperate war chant, this one was hope. When the last one was new to her, this one was what she has heard so many years before. Loyal to her, the animals around her started to lend her their voices, even the mighty wind bowed to her attempt to imitate the majestic sound, even earth itself leaned in to hear her. And slowly she saw around her, death leaving, fearful of what might happen to him if he stayed. And one by one, the flowers around her were starting to bloom, and the charred bark of trees giving way to fresh wood. As the clouds broke apart, the last rays of the sun brilliantly started to illuminate the regenerating forest, where gray and black started to give way to green and color…

She could speak no more. Even breathing was painful to her; her last stamina fading, her eyelids closing from the tiredness. But she was happy. For the first time of her life, she felt totally complete. She didn’t care if this was just a dream, if that was just a hallucination after she fainted from the smoke. Doctors have said those words again in the past, but as then, so now too, she was certain that she had heard earth’s song. That was all she could wish for.

“You sing beautifully” Whispered the most magnificent voice she had heard before behind her.

As she turned her head she saw a tall man. His blond curling hair shinned like a golden tiara; his clear blue eyes reflected his pure heart.

“I want you to have this.” He said, extending his hand. He was holding a weird looking lyre on his hand. It was made from antlers and a turtle shell, like the ancient instruments that were deemed outdone and outshined those days, yet it seemed… somehow royal, majestic, perfect.

Instinctually she grabbed the lyre. She wanted to ask him so many questions… but her voice seemed broken from the strain, and her mind felt clouded by his mesmerizing voice.

“There is no need for you to talk my lady” He whispered. “Your eyes can tell me your questions, your smile your feelings. I was known as Orpheus in the past, but it has been a long time since I used that name. You take my lute now, it is of no worth to me where I am going, but it is a great instrument, it will keep you good company, as your violin, but unlike it, it shall not break regardless of what you play with it. It shall accompany both in your singing and in your journeys, and I feel, that you will need it where you’ll go.”

She felt her mind exploding; she didn’t know if it was from the meaning of his words or from the melody of his voice.

“Aww… don’t look me like that.” He teased her. “You know it, you have to embrace it. The song must continue. Your song. The melody of life. For if earth forgets her own tune, if she ever stumbles in her notes, she would need your guidance to find it again. And sadly, this age confuses me; so many people try to rob Her of her voice, so many try to gag her. And yes, I said journeys. To where? How should I know… I’m not an oracle, I never was. But I have been to the depths of Hades and back, I’m guessing you might have some perilous and fantastic journeys yourself… This is your calling, it was always your calling… take care… remember the emotions of the songs, not the notes… ” His last words were so faint that she almost didn’t hear them as his image was fading into nothingness.

Elise looked at her hand. Sure enough, an odd lyre was there, and now she knew that she wasn’t dreaming. Before she closed her eyes to sleep, she smiled at the sky. It has been so long since she slept on the open…