The Pianist: A Tale Of Horror

Chapter 1

In 2022, in a small town in Eastern France, twenty-five-year-old Émilie works as an elementary school teacher in a kindergarten. She is a pretty blonde with blue eyes. Her golden curls brush her shoulders with every movement of her head. Émilie loves children and her new career as a teacher.

This morning, Émilie is in her classroom, where the children are building shapes with colored cubes. Little Gabriel calls her with great enthusiasm to show her his very tall tower of cubes. Émilie congratulates him. But at that moment, little Jade knocks over the tower of cubes, causing it to collapse immediately. Gabriel bursts into tears, and Émilie asks Jade why she did that. Jade doesn't respond, but she clings to the hand of Jules, a little boy who never leaves her side. Jules gives Émilie a defiant look, but before she can react, her phone vibrates on the desk, and Nicolas's photo appears. Émilie doesn't answer. She looks at Nicolas's face with a lot of bitterness.

Five years ago, Émilie was studying law in Paris and living with her parents, but when she met Nicolas, love changed the course of her life. Émilie was a shy young girl, paradoxically fascinated by daring people, especially boys. When she met Nicolas, he was a mechanic. She admired his profound freedom, especially when he shared it with her. At night, he would take her on long motorcycle rides through the city. He ran red lights and rode at dizzying speeds. He almost always had trouble with the police. With him, she did things she had never dared to think of: smoking joints, drinking beers in the street, making love in nightclub restrooms... Life with Nicolas was a constant risk-taking; he was the embodiment of danger, and perhaps that's why she fell madly in love with him.

In a short time, she left everything to follow him to a small town in the Loire Valley. She became a teacher and spent months renovating an old house with him, where they planned to live. Émilie dreamed of marriage, children, and happiness with her prince charming.

One day, she comes home and discovers that Nicolas has brought an eighteen-year-old girl. He introduces her to Émilie and announces that she will live with them in a sort of threesome. Émilie is stunned. She collapses. But far from apologizing, Nicolas is arrogant and aggressive. He proudly claims his infidelity and silences Émilie's cries with a slap that knocks her to the ground.

Following her abrupt breakup with Nicolas, Émilie moves in with Lisa, her best friend, a feisty brunette. She spends sleepless nights sinking into depression. She can't understand how he can send her messages of love while living with another woman. Every time she remembers leaving Paris, leaving her studies behind despite her parents' objections, she feels humiliated.

Émilie spends days on Lisa's couch watching TV and ruminating on what happened to her. She can't work or go out anymore. She feels consumed by shame. She loses her appetite and spends sleepless nights crying in silence. She considers returning to Paris, but she doesn't even dare to contact her mother to talk about her breakup with Nicolas.

One evening, Lisa has a surprise for Émilie: an invitation for two people to the garden party that will take place in the garden of Mr. Théodore Costine's castle, a billionaire from the region. Émilie agrees to go to please her friend, who insists.