Music Sound Screaming Silence

Assembling the Symphony

    Every mind I've encountered has been very unique. Some are bright and constantly moving, akin to a hectic beauty of an aviary full of exotic birds. Meanwhile, others are dark and very focused like the study of a washed up writer, the room filled with the scent of whiskey and petrichor from the late night shower.

    I've met a lot of people in my time, encountered many minds, and had many relationships; but, I've never heard someone's mind emit such a hauntingly beautiful sound as the one I heard coming from Erik Lehnsherr's.

    The day I first met Erik was a dismal, overcast morning. My own mind was racing with midterms around the corner and my first evaluation as an adjunct professor looming overhead. With my focus amidst these thoughts, I had crashed into him on my way to class. I was running across the campus green, coffee in hand, hair a windswept mess, and tie loosely strewn about my neck. I had been up the night before well into the wee hours of the morning grading essays, and I overslept. My thoughts were a scrambled mess as I cut across the grass and headed toward the Biology department building and barreling right into the tall dark haired man whom I would come to know so well.

    Somehow in my hurry I had managed to knock him down with the force of my impact. As soon as we hit the ground I attempted to remove myself from his body with whatever remaining shreds of grace and dignity I still had, apologies flying from my mouth in an endless cascade. He grinned in amusement and nonchalantly brushed aside my awkward platitudes. Turning my attention to the scene around us, I noticed, in accordance with Murphy's Law, all the books and papers from my shoulder bag went flying, scattering the ground in our vicinity. As I was trying to collect them, I had managed to scoop most of my belongings back into my bag before the man had even fully righted himself. However, when I grabbed for one more essay that had fallen just out of my reach, before my fingertips could find graze the text, it suddenly flew up and over my head into the man's hand.

    My mind was so jumbled I barely had time to react and the next thing I knew the man I had just run over was handing me the paper.

"Erik Lehnsherr," he said, "and I believe this is yours."

    He finished with a quick smile as the paper landed in my possession. I was still a bit awestruck. After a moment of silence I managed to compose myself and respond.

"Wow! Thank you so much! Again, I'm so terribly sorry I ran into you. You see, I'm late for work and--" I stopped mid-sentence as my words finally registered in my head, "oh my! I'm late for class! Umm, it was nice to meet you Erik, was it? I'm Charles Xavier. Again, I'm extremely sorry for ramming into you. I do hope you won't hold it against me. Perhaps I'll see you around and maybe I can repay you with coffee?"

    I waited only long enough to see Erik smile again and nod in response before I jetted off towards my classroom. It would only be three days before my path collided with Erik's once again.

    I saw him on the bottom of the stairs just outside my building looking down at his phone. As I hopped down the stone steps pulling my bag onto my shoulder I called his name.

"Erik! Hello again." I chirped in my English accent.

    He stood up putting his phone in his back pocket and turned to greet me.

"Good afternoon, Charles. I was just in the area about to grab some coffee when I remembered that you owed me a cup. I figured you'd be out soon since I saw a swarm of student leave the building about 15 minutes ago." He finished off his sentence with a smile that made him look very shark-like. It was strange yet endearing.