Carmine Jewels ║ Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 13 - Peace At Last

Guitar was what she was best at, and she could basically play the instrument in her sleep which was why she chose to play it when writing her own songs. It was just easier that way.

However, if she had a choice, she'd always go for the piano. She couldn't really put her finger on it, but a piano felt more intimate. To just let her fingers dance over the piano keys was a totally different feeling altogether compared with plinking the guitar.

But she couldn't fit a piano in her apartment, so a guitar would have to suffice. Leaning one of her forearms on the curve of the guitar, she shuffled through the papers with the other. A few sheets fell over the edge of the mahogany table and Keira groaned inwardly. She was just hoping that one of those papers didn't contain the song she was looking for.

But her scowl vanished when she found the paper she was looking for, and she scribbled down a few notes on the lined paper. She then placed the pen behind her ear and tried out the chords on the guitar to see if her imagination lined up with reality.

To her delight, it did.

"Welcome to the masquerade, hide behind the mask. Face your fears without your little heart..." Keira sang softly, restarting at the top of the page. The soft sound of the guitar melted together with her song, and she closed her eyes, relishing in the peace. "We're all stuck in this game, so keep your soul afloat. Life will take it from you, so keep it close at hand..." She trailed off, opening her eyes and a ghost of a smile flashed across her face as she leaned forwards to scribble down the continuation to the song as it popped up in her head.

Stretching her arms over her head, she groaned slightly as her muscles protested and her shoulder gave an unpleasant crack. Her body was not acting her age at all. "Well, that went surprisingly well. So, what's next? I'm gonna fall over and pop my knee?" She said to no one in particular, seeing as she was alone in the apartment.

Some would say it was odd, to talk to yourself like she did. But in Keira's opinion, it was good to ventilate your own thoughts. And it's not like it hurt anybody. It would only earn her some weird looks in case she did it while grocery shopping, or when she was around people in general. But her friends were used to her constant muttering, and Natasha would often ask her what was running through her mind.

She suddenly stood up from the couch, stricken by a sudden idea. But in doing so, her guitar hit the table rather roughly, and the Coca-Cola can fell over, drenching the papers in the brown liquid.

"Блядь!" (Fuck!) A whole string of profanities left her lips as she dived for the table to try and rescue the remainder of the sheets that hadn't been drenched.

"Bloody fantastic. Freaking amazing. I just had to jinx myself, didn't I?" Keira hit herself over the forehead, her other hand clutching the few sheets she had managed to save.

But the majority of the papers were beyond saving, so that was multiple songs down the drain. Because there was no way that she'd be able to distinguish her smudged handwriting on the soaking pieces of paper.

Keira backed away until she hit the kitchen counter, and she pulled out her phone from her back pocket with one hand while putting down the papers with the other. Without a second thought, she pressed the contact she wished to call, and nudged the phone between her ear and shoulder.

She needed both hands free to clean up the mess, even if she didn't feel like doing so. And to her luck, she didn't have to listen to the signals for long, because after just one, the person on the other side of the line picked up.

"That was quicker than expected."

Keira had to refrain from rolling her eyes while she grabbed the dishcloth from the sink, soaking it before squeezing almost all the water out. "Ha ha ha. Glad to hear you miss me that much." She said humorlessly as she began mopping up the cola from the floor, making several routes over to the sink to squeeze and rinse the cloth.