A little longer than usual here's Chapter 2. My advice to you when you read this chapter would be PLAY THE SONG,when she sings it!!! The video is at the bottom. :D
Hope I haven't rambled and the next chapter should be up this weekend.
Vote, Comment, Fan... Enjoy ♥ :)
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Chapter 2 - Hidden Treasures
I climbed up the steps at the side of the stage, my heartbeat in sync with every step. Nickelback still blared from the speakers above, conversations still continued on. People were laughing, talking and the atmosphere was so surprisingly bubbly that I didn't want to ruin it.
I started to walk towards the baby grand piano that was placed centre stage. I took off my apron and hung it on the side of the stage. I also took the black hair band that held my bun in place out and put it on the top of the piano whilst shaking out my ebony locks.
The glossy, black, expensive piano clashed with the inside of the bar but anybody could appreciate music. I ran my hand across the clean well cared for keys and pulled out the leather stool from beneath the piano.
Playing a Bflat I marvelled as the sound resonated throughout the room. A couple of people turned to look at me and I blushed sitting down quickly.
I knew for a fact that none of the keys would be stiff, I played them regularly enough. Even though the piano belonged to Phil and Marie I was the one who took care of it and played it. In fact it was more mine than theirs and they didn't mind.
Hearing someone climb onto the stage I stopped staring at the piano in fascination. Phil walked to the mike that was right at the front of the stage and made a sign. Nickelback were cut off abruptly mid verse.
"Aislinn here will be entertaining you tonight, and remind me to never hire another Canadian band as long as I live," he said grinning mischievously. This earned him a couple of playful boos and cheers. About to walk away he darted back and said: "She'll take requests at the end."
Winking at me he jumped off the front of the stage and disappeared into the crowd, no doubt keeping an eye on me somewhere from the back
I turned back to the piano and stared at it trying to make it tell me what to play. Classical? Indie? Country? Heavy Metal? I'd probably strain my voice if I tried the latter. I glanced at my audience and blanched as soon as I saw that every sing pair of eyes were looking at me.
A spotlight whirled around the bar and settled on me. All the better to see me with.
I took a deep breath and started to play the opening bars to one of my Mom's favourite songs. Taking another deep breath I opened my mouth and let the lyrics that accompanied the music pour out.
There's a harvest each Saturday night
At the bars filled with perfume and hitching a ride
A place you could stand for one night and get gone
And it's clear, this conversation 'aint doing a thing
'Cause these boys only listen to me when I sing
And I don't feel like singing tonight all the same songs
Here in these deep city lights
Girl could get lost tonight
I'm finding every reason to be gone
There's nothing here to hold on to
Could I hold you?
Someone was playing the drum kit. Old and beat up as it was it still made beautiful music. Humming, I glanced at my audience. Some of them were sat with their eyes closed, some were slow dancing on the floor in front of the stage whilst others just swayed.
Nobody seemed to protest against my song choice. I didn't need to use the microphone to be heard. The acoustics in the room were fantastic due the high ceiling. I closed my eyes and carried on singing, swaying lost in my own thoughts.
I sang the bridge a little louder as it perfectly described perfectly how I felt lately.
Calling out, somebody save me
I feel like I'm fading away, am I gone?
Calling out, somebody save me
I feel like I'm fading
I finished off the last couple of repeats and played the last couple of bars as the beat of the drum began to fade away. I let my fingers slide away from the black and white soldiers, thanking them for following my every order as soon as the tips of my fingers had relayed them.
A moment of silence followed as everyone just recollected their thought and a slow steady round of applause echoed around the room. There were some whistles and some stomping.
I wanted to share my joy with the mystery drummer and turned around to see Marie on the drums.
"You can play the drums?" I questioned Marie, my expression tinged with surprise. She shrugged at me as if to say: "I'm a mystery."
The spotlight brightened and I stood up and walked over to the microphone, tiptoeing to speak into it. "We'll be taking request now," I said smiling shyly.
There was a long pause
"I need a hero," shouted a male voice from the back that distinctively sounded like Phil. I laughed along with the crowd and glanced at Marie and she nodded her head in a silent agreement.
I took my seat once more that night and started playing, this time more light heartedly. We took request well past closing time and the last customers left at 2 with smiles on their faces.
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I thanked Phil for the ride and shut his car door. He waited until I had walked up the steps and into my apartment block. I slammed the heavy wooden door behind me, locking out the mournful wail of the wind. It was the end of summer but it was as cold as Winter.
I could still feel the invasive cold creeping up my arms leaving goosebumps in its wake. A tremor went up my spine and I shivered, I didn't want to be out here past 2 o'clock in the dead of night.
Choosing the stairs instead of the lift I took them two at a time as fast and quietly as I could up to the third floor.
I riffled through my pockets for my keys and shoved one of them into the hole efficiently and turned it. I fell into the open doorway and scrambled up shutting the door with a soft thud. I slid the deadbolt in and locked the door from the inside before I allowed myself to relax. Paranoid? Who, me?
The lights were off and it was colder than I would've liked. Heating was a luxury I couldn't afford right indulge in at the moment. Sleep suddenly descended on me but I couldn't allow myself to climb into bed before I did one last thing.
I crawled through the hallway to the store room next to the bathroom. The cold wood sent shocks up my body waking up my brain. Pushing open the door I headed towards the corner pushing away several boxes before finally dragging my fingernails across the floorboards where the boxes had been.
I searched for an opening and tugged out the board that I found it in. Sliding my arm into the space I took out a box. I unlocked it with one of the many keys that hung on the keyring that I still held. I removed the money I'd made that day from inside my bra where I'd shoved it and placed it into the box carefully, like new born baby.
The wad was thick as it included my normal pay, the extra I'd made and the humongous amount of tips that people had slipped into the front of my apron that I'd hung on the stage. I shut the box, locked it and replaced everything as it had been before.
I crawled out of the store room and into my bedroom. I eased myself beneath the bed covers and toed off my boots leaving on the thick woolly jumper Marie had lent me. The feeling I got every night settled in and I sighed what must've been the hundredth time that hour alone.
I closed my eyes and opened the little black box at the back of my mind. It contained every single cherished memory and every single bad feeling aimed at my parents for leaving me alone in the big bad world.
It was a Pandora's box filled with doubt. Would I ever lead a normal life, free of all the burden that I shouldered? I cried myself into another one of my dreams.
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I dream like a blind person. Never seeing, just hearing and feeling. This time it was just voices. "Where is she?" This line was repeated endlessly until I woke myself up sick of it.
The luminous numbers by my head told me it was 06:05am. I had three hours left till work. My eyelids slid shut and this time I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.