Within Your Heart

1| allegro

a/n :

hello there and welcome to the first chapter of within your heart! i've been on and off here on wattpad and i think this'll be my comeback novel kind of. i feel discouraged to come near wattpad rather than for reading - maybe the lack of feedback or recognition is the reason. 

here i am, though, and i'm excited for writing this story nonetheless. enjoy :)!

1

A L L E G R O

[ a direction to play lively and fast ]

I have always thought that life is a piano with white keys and black keys, both of which produce music but cannot do without the other. My mother always told me to keep the black keys in mind, because even though they are black, they produce music too.

          It has always been like this when my mind wanders to faraway places when I'm alone at night sitting on my windowsill. Up there where I am close to the sky above, I think about how I never got to finish playing my musical piece back at the recital, and then I think about how if I did, I wouldn't hear my mom's last words to me.

          "Keep playing with your soul, Ember, until the end of time, even if I'm not there to witness," she said as I held her hand that night, her voice hoarse and heavy. I stared at her with tears glistening in my eyes. "Promise me," she pushed, coughing blood on her bloodstained hair. I nodded my head vigorously, holding her hand against my cheek.

          Then her fingers loosened around mine no matter how hard I grasped on them, and light slowly started to fade from her eyes. That day, she left and took a part of me with her.

          I wake from my sea of my memories when delicate snow falls on my hand. I blink a few times before looking up at the sky, seeing more snowflakes dancing their way to the ground. A smile stretches on my face involuntarily, and I tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear and tilt my head upward as I watch the scene before my eyes alone.

          From up here, I see no windows open or lights on. I stay for a while, one leg dangling off the windowsill and freezing in the December air. I stand when my leg can't take the coldness anymore and make my way to the kitchen, making myself a mug of hot chocolate. It's quite sad that I make one mug instead of four, but I push the thought aside and make my way back to the room, steaming smoke coming out of the chocolate waves in the mug I'm holding.

          When I enter, the moonlight is shining over the edges of the piano. I walk up to it and set my hot chocolate on it, flinching as Mom's voice rings through my brain: "Pianos are not tables, Ember, what a barbaric action you did there!"

          And even though it's bittersweet, I smile in spite of everything. I peek from the window and make sure the people in my field of vision are sound asleep; to make sure no lights are on. I make my way across the room and open the door of the balcony that overlooks the back of some dilapidated building that's meters away.

          I roll up the sleeves of my white hoodie and kneel in front of my violin case. I blow at the thin layer of dust covering the case, my eyes widening when the dust flies into my nose. I erupt in a fit of coughing then get the violin out carefully, blaming my stupid brain for the unpleasant sounds I just let out that disturbed the peace in the room.

          A cold breeze circles my bare feet when I stand on the balcony. I jump on the railing and accustom myself to the strong breeze. And, for a moment, I just stand still and breathe out deeply then –