Strange Birds

•|• Lesson Three •|•

Nimble fingers danced across the keys, the smooth notes and her graceful performance captivated all who sat in the audience.

(H/c) strands shielded her face, but not the emotions flying hazardously through the music, slowly corrupting the original piece twisting it into a brand new version of her own, the sorrow, the anger, the bitterness, the hurt, the pain, all of it pouring from the depths of her soul into the fine art as she performed.

The softness from all the other performances before melted into a tense reminder to all who remember that she's not who they once knew minutes beforehand, the calmness typically bordering her pleasant smile slowly losing to her fears as it conveyed into her misery.

Nobody dared turn their gaze away from the stage, the urge to soak in all she had to offer clawing away at their very being leaving them on the edge of their seats. Chills rattled their spines as the song progressed, and perhaps it was the expression that flashed across her face as she reeled back, perhaps, it was the way her dulled (e/c) hues glistened beneath the stage lights, or maybe even the heart is hidden deep beneath the story she's woven within the notes filling the air.

No one quite knew which one it was but it was all captivating, the mere beauty of it all.

Glove clad hands clenched around the fragile paper scrunching it under the rough pressure applied, back hunched and nearly toppling out of the stiff chair that'd been assigned, pride swelled within him as he watched his student while she performed the very song they'd been working on the past couple months.

Time seemed to bend before her practice as the seconds melted into minutes, minutes into hours, hours to eternity. The very magic of it all spilling over the auditorium washing over the overseers each note hitting much differently than the one before. Before slowly, her trembling figures danced across the remaining keys, her friends, kissing them goodbye as her song came to a close.

Much sooner than one would have liked the wonderful melody came to a conclusion with the last few notes still hanging in the air, silence engulfed the room as the performer stood from her stool and greeted everyone with a meek smile and rosy cheeks, delicate fingers grasped the sides of her flowered dress as she crossed her legs into a curtsy sending the crowd into a frenzy as they all stood along with her and roared with claps and whistles, proudly he stood along with her and the rest of his peers and cheered along.

A light blush dusted her cheeks as she provided one last smile, this one far prettier than the last, as the long velvet curtains closed shielding the young lass from view.

Gathering the last of his wit, the graying male propped his glasses back up on his nose and snatched his coat from the arm of his chair. With special care as to not make any contact with the members of the audience as they impatiently awaited the next show, he paced down the aisle towards the exit.

Perhaps it was just him, but the halls of the school had never been more preferable than at that moment.

It was quiet, unlike the auditorium on the other side of the doubled doors; it was also a tremendous contrast to his usual routine of surviving the day and going to his boundary to relax, but it was of the most importance he had attended the show, if not for himself then for the dear child he had practically taken as his own.