I couldn't take the craziness anymore for today. I had to find some way to lose myself. Thankful the piano offered me that sort of sanctum and I breathed in relief as I walked into the empty room. I was an hour early and I knew my professor wouldn't be back for a while, however even if he did, he wouldn't of minded me using his beautiful jet black baby grand.
I pulled out my sheet music for the piece I'd recently taken a particular interest in, "Ave Maria".
I set my music up on the stand and let the bad vibes and energy that I'd held pent up inside me for the last week flow out into my fingers and into my piece.
I'd fallen in love with the piano thanks to my father.
Being a music teacher and also coming from a very music oriented family like he did, he found a life-long companion in the guitar, preferably his acoustic. However he also dabbled in several other instruments including, drums, electric guitar, violin, trumpet, clarinet, and the Bass.
From an early age, my dad influenced music of all genres into my life. He used to stick giant bulky headphones over my mother's tummy just to see if I would kick to different influences from the music.
When I was about five he began introducing me, one by one, to all the wonderful instruments that existed in the world of music.
I tried each one carefully but found nothing I liked about them.
Then one day, I came home from school and heard my dad playing some song in his study. I quickly perked up at the sound because it was one I'd never before encountered. I quickly ran to his study and found him sitting in front of some long board like instrument with black and white keys. The sound it emitted was heavenly and I couldn't stop myself from staring at him in awe as he played a piece that he later informed me was entitled 'Serenity'.
I was mystified by his 'Keyboard' and begged him to teach me to play it. The only way dad could explain my unnatural taking to it was 'Like a duck taking to water'; I and the Piano were simply meant to be.
After that, my father bought me a beautiful piano and took it with him to his house when he moved out. I had missed it terribly when I lived with my mother. Even she could see it pained me to be without my prized possession and she too, eventually invested in a beat up old piano and stuck it in my father's old study. It wasn't my original but it was certainly better than nothing.
I played nearly every day, even when I got into high school. When I got into my senior year I began to draw away from playing it so often because I knew I would be terribly disappointed when I left to go to school and couldn't take it with me. Thankfully though, when I'd signed up for my course my teacher had insisted that our class was welcome to come and use the piano in his room whenever we wanted. For this small favor, I had been eternally grateful because it was times like this, where my life was falling apart, that I needed to find my long lost companion once more.
My fingers drifted over the keys with ease and I played with a skill that I knew could far surpass my fathers. I closed my eyes and released myself into the music.
The notes began to float around me. I remembered how things used to be simply; how I used to even consider the simplicity boring. How dumb was I? Didn't I know how upside down everything else would turn in my future?
Clearly, I hadn't.
The last few notes drifted out and I slowly pulled back, feeling elated yet drained.
"Bravo."
I turned and saw Levi standing in the doorway. He smiled and brushed his dirty blonde hair out of his face while giving me a breath-taking grin.
He came closer, shrugging off his leather football jacket. If there was one thing you could peg Levi for, it was being a jock.
I grinned at him as he took a seat beside me.
"You play beautifully." He muttered and I smiled.
"How'd you know I was here?"
"I saw you leaving the library; you looked stressed...like you could use a friend."
I grinned at Levi's thoughtfulness before murmuring.
"No, just have a lot on my plate right now."
"Wanna talk about it?" He asked softly and dropped his backpack on the floor, giving me his undivided attention.
I shook my head.
"No...I kind of just want to play." I murmured with a grin and thoughtfully stroked the baby grand before me.
Levi smiled and nodded.
"Mind if I watch?"
I chuckled.
"Trust me; it's honestly not that entertaining."
"I wouldn't say that. I watched you for a couple minutes before you saw me. You get very into your music; I like that." Levi beamed while I blushed.
"Uhm...thanks...okay, fine. Just for one more song though." I muttered afraid I'd get self-conscious with his presence so close and wouldn't have the heart to finish playing.
I moved onto a simple piece my teacher had given me music for a while back and was swept away once more into my music. I felt the shards of sunlight falling from the window over my arms and fingers. Regardless of the cold and brutal winters Penn state was known for, in here it was warm and sunny and felt like spring. My fingers jumped from key to key as the music flowed through the air and I fell further and further from reality for the moment.
Finally as the song ended I looked back up at Levi to see him grinning from ear to ear at me in some strange sort of way.
"Wow." He breathed and I smiled.
"You liked it?"
"Love it...play more." Levi asked softly but it sounded almost like a command.
"She would, if it weren't time for class to start."
We both turned to find my professor standing in the doorway. He grinned, humored by our interaction but there were also a few students standing behind him, waiting to get into the room and get to work on their pieces.
I grinned at Levi.
"I'll talk to you later." I vowed as he got up and left in a blushing hurry.
That night I paced around my room, debating on how tonight would go. I had no inkling as to what was in store except it had to do with bible mythology and myself.
I cleaned my room, brushed my teeth three times (Out of nervous habit), cleaned my bathroom and the kitchen, debated about leaving my window open or letting Duncan let himself in, and finally picked out something to wear. Even though Duncan was sure to get under my skin, he was still hot. I also couldn't deny that I wanted him to notice me. When he was around my heart would thump so wildly out of control that I was sure he could hear it.
As seven rolled around, I watched TV in the living room as London passed by in silence, leaving without saying a word.
I forced my eyes not to look at the clock; I tried to shove my excitement/fear down to the bottom most pit of my stomach to keep it out of sight. Finally I got up and made coffee. After swallowing down a cup, I heard a swishing sound and the apartment suddenly got cold.
I poured myself another cup and went towards my room. I wasn't sure what I'd expected him to be doing when I got there but going through my baby albums sure wasn't it.
He grinned, reminiscing, at one of me when I was seven. I had on my favorite yellow dress and was grinning ear to ear.
"I remember this. You were ecstatic because you'd just gotten you're first keyboard for your private piano lessons. Little did you know you're baby grand was going to be there in just a few more weeks." Duncan grinned and I blinked, taken aback.
"Duncan...How do you know all this stuff? And what's really going on here?" I questioned softly, sitting down beside him.
He flipped the page of the album and scanned through the pictures thoughtfully; he was looking for one in particular. He finally grinned softly and pointed at a picture of me and my mother from when I was about four. It had been one of our yearly family vacations we would take in the summer when my family had been a whole unit. I donned a pair of Mickey Mouse ears and a Popsicle grin. My memory was wavering back then but I remembered that day well.
"That was when I was in Disneyworld for the first time with mom and dad. I went on the magic carpet ride, just after we took that picture...I got off and I couldn't find mom and dad anywhere-"
"So you went up to a tall security guard...you thought he seemed nice though by the way he looked. You told him you couldn't find your parents and he immediately led you over to the teacups. After that, he left you there....not even a millisecond later, your mom and dad found you; you're mother hysterical because she'd been so worried and you tried to find the security guard to give him credit but you never saw him again."
I nodded, swallowing hard. This was only getting weirder and harder to process as time went on.
He flipped a few more pages in and opened to a photograph from when I'd turned fifteen and sitting on the porch of dad and Janine's house, reading a book and looking pretty mellowed out, obvious by my easy expression in the picture.
"This was from when you were fifteen...it was about a year and a half after your parents' divorce. Before that picture, you saw an older boy walking down the street, walking some dogs. You came over as soon as you saw the beagle because that's your favorite kind of dog. The boy told you he was a dog walker for the weekend but wouldn't be staying in the area for very long. You exchanged a few nice words then walked away."
Duncan closed the album carefully and pierced me with his night-sky eyes. The flecks of light in them burned brighter than any stars I ever saw.
"The security guard at Disney, the Boy who walked the dogs...it was me...it's always been me Naomi." He explained softly and I blinked.
I didn't understand properly, clearly.
There was no way he could've been those people. They looked so different from how he looked now. However the sincerity in his eyes was making me think twice.
"But...How...Why?" I murmured, still trying to hold my grasp on reality while understanding his words.
He grinned and leaned back.
"Well...now you're asking the right questions, kid."
He stood and took my hands in his. I felt a discharge surge through our linked palms but I wasn't about to break my gaze from his. It was boring into me like I'd never felt before. He wasn't just looking at me, or into my eyes, but he was looking into my soul. I could sense it deep within my chest and my diaphragm.
"Naomi...I'm you're Guardian Angel."