Knives Make Lives

3.1) Misses

Chapter Three (First Half)

Niaomi felt short of breath, her heart thundering in her chest as she and Nicholas locked eyes. It felt like the asthma attacks she’d had when she was little, like the panic attacks she’d had when she was older. She could not afford to have either. So, hardening her tone, she asked, “What are you doing here?” Another favorite ruined.

From her seat on the piano bench, she could see his body position, see the way it tightened into a more defensive stance as he opened his mouth to reply. However, Mrs. W came into the room at that moment, clapping. “Marvelous job, Niaomi! That was wonderful.”

“Thanks,” she murmured, turning back around to grab the notebook. Niaomi knew that Nicholas was still staring at her, and the discomfort was like an itch she couldn’t reach to scratch. It made her movements jerky and more uncoordinated than usual, causing her to swing her satchel into the stands and send most of them toppling to the ground.

Blushing furiously and furious for blushing, she quickly put her notebook into her bag and bent down to straighten the stands. Hearing footsteps, Niaomi looked up, expecting Mrs. W to be coming over to help her. Just as before, it turned out to be Nicholas instead, who simply started picking up stands with her without a word. The quietness both comforted and disturbed her. Luckily - or perhaps unfortunately - it did not last long, for the blond boy soon blurted out, “I’ve heard you play before.”

The music stand she had just picked up went clattering to the floor again as she swung around to face him, eyes wide. “What?”

Straightening the stand, Nicholas stood back to his full height, looking down on Niaomi. It made her feel smaller, sheltered, so she quickly rose as well. She immediately regretted that decision, for now they were almost chest to chest. He was still looking down at her, for he topped her by a good four inches. “I’ve heard you play before. At a competition - Los Angeles, 2004.”

“You must be - ” Niaomi paused, her nervousness abetting as she examined his face. It struck a familiar chord in her memory as she thought back to that competition nine years ago. “Wait...didn’t you play there, too?”

Nicholas stiffened, turning around and stepping off the platform. “No.”

She ignored the tone of his voice, now fixated on remembering this boy from her past. “Yes, you did. And we played together at other competitions, too. I remember because I congratulated you at the San Francisco Tournament, after you finished third with one of Brandenburg’s concertos - but your name wasn’t Nicholas...it was - ”

“William,” he finished. “His name was William.”

Niaomi frowned, finally noticed the tension in his shoulders, in his voice. “He looked exactly like you.”

“Well, that’s only to be expected, considering he was my twin brother.”

Noticing the use of the past tense, she finally realized why Nicholas sounded so defensive. Trying to make the atmosphere less awkward, she finally said, “He was a marvelous pianist.”

Turning to face her, Nicholas’s eyes were sad, their color like a cloudy sky. “Not as good as you.”

Niaomi didn’t know what to say, because it was true. William Evans had been great, a very talented young boy, but she - she was a prodigy. Learning to play when she was three; mastering Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and others by the time she’d turned five; composing her own pieces at the age of seven; winning competitions regionwide, statewide, nationwide up until her tenth birthday; and then...

Shaking off the memories, Niaomi turned back to the piano, gently closing the lid before stepping off the platform. “Well, I don’t play professionally anymore.”