unbroken (unexpected series)

Chapter 20

A/N: Not Edited & It might be a few days until my next post.

Chapter 20 – Walter POV (Three Years ago)

Over time – three weeks, four days and 15 hours – I learned what I could about my mate from a distance, being friendly, when she entered the store across from her flat. Saw what chips she bought, the soaps she used even the way she combed her hair. Down, in luscious curls that I wanted desperately to run my fingers through, see for myself if they were as soft as they looked. Up in a messy ponytail, or bun, tendrils falling from the rest, framing her lovely face. Braided, so many different ways and I couldn’t pick just one. After getting off from a shift, it was right about the time that Nora went to class at the Royal Academy of Music. She always walked to classes, so today I followed, heading in that direction regardless, I kept my distance, watching as her guitar hitched on her back, and a cloth sack over her shoulders.

When she entered the hall, I went on my way back to my flat, sighing, frustrated, thinking over what I saw from afar. Nora was peculiar, or maybe it was me seeing what I wanted to see, which I was both happy and confused by. Nora didn’t speak to anyone, she never walked with a cellphone in her hand, she never spoke to any other students, she didn’t live with anyone, and she distinctively avoid eye contact with the male population, although to be fair, she didn’t make eye contact with many females as well.

Entering the flat, I dropped our groceries on the counter, rushing to take a shower to get to class, all the while planning the rest of my day. Knowing that I’d be going to the park after to get some shots for my photography class, I grabbed my camera bag, books and a snack leaving the apartment.

‘You never know when your life is going to change Walter,’ my father had said many times before, and he was right on many occasions, and this too. After class headed to the park, lowering to the ground, I sat resting against a large tree trunk, watching passerby’s go on their way, couples lounging, friends huddled together; it was then that I heard the most tinkering, playing, the music turning into vivid colors dancing around me. Collecting my things I followed it, until I saw my mate, playing with her eyes closed, fingers gracefully moving over the strings of her guitar.

Not aware of my actions, I unzipped my camera bag, taking it out and began shooting my mate as she played, getting lost in the rhythm that drew the attention of others, as well. The ambience around us helping only enhancing the soft, gentle sounds she was making, mate is sad, my wolf Zed commented, but I didn’t need him to tell me that, because each note she played, turned into colors for me, sad, melancholy. I didn’t put the camera down, but I wondered what she was saddened by? Had someone hurt her? I questioned, taking picture after picture of different things, the way the wind blew a piece of hair further away from her face, the way her thumb stroked the strings, the curl of her fingers playing on the neck of the guitar, her lips, eyes, face, so serene as she became lost in her craft.

She was magnificent, we aren’t the only ones who can see that, Zed added, and he was right, not a single person that strolled by, walked by without stopping for a short moment, looking at this girl creating heavenly music and so I took shoot of them as well. Noting that while some saw the piece as sad, their emotions playing on their face for all to see, others listened with smiles on their faces, just enjoying.

When she finished it was abrupt, her audience complemented, but her eyes snapped over to mine, and from behind the lens, I took a picture of my mate with pure terror in her eyes. Nodding to those cheering her, she packed up her guitar at inhuman speed, and while I thought she was ready to run away, Nora stalked over to me, “What are you doing?” she snapped angrily, the once serene expression she had was gone, in its place red hot fury.