Faceless Instincts

The Illusion

"Dorian!" My voice came out in a whisper, I was standing against the kitchen counter watching his face mildly lit by the candlelight. "You scared me."

He raised his eyebrow, gave a small smile and walked up to me, "I scared you?" He placed the candle on the counter and folded his arms in front of his chest, "then what do you call a man who while peacefully working in the attic hears a single piano key echoing in his empty home" He mocked a smile, "oh, wait I know, freaked out"

I pursued his eye contact for a while pursuing my lips but then we both sputtered a laugh, "stop laughing, it's not funny." He said as he tried to stop smiling, "Also, why were you playing the same key, it was more creepy."

I leaned back on the counter laughing, "I am sorry I don't know how to play."

He took the candle and started walking towards the piano, "that much I figured, you sounded horrible. I thought it was a ghost or something" he looked at me over his shoulder, "humans would play at least two different keys even if they don't know how to play"

I smiled and followed him, he placed the candle on the top and sat on the bench, I stood nearby and watched. Soon, a hauntingly beautiful tune filled the house, it was nothing light that reminds me of sunshine and open fields, what I felt while hearing it was something grey, something that I had felt before, but now it was buried deep within.

As the music filled my ears, my head felt dizzy, a flash of memory crossed my eyes, I saw myself sitting in the very same room, laughing and playing the piano. A figure rounded on me and placed a hand on my shoulder, I looked up and smiled but the memory was gone as soon as it has come.

"You play beautifully," I said.

"Thank you", he said as he looked up at me, "but unfortunately this is the only piece I can play, it's very popular and easy to learn so my brother chose to teach me this."

I stood there waiting for him to continue but he didn't, my thoughts were wandering back to the night, I debated asking him about it, "Dorian, does your brother visit here often?"

He looked up, "no, why?"

"I see that you talk about your brother quite often, are you still in touch with him?"

He stopped, "sadly I am not" He stood up and looked down at me, "you are being interrogative today."

I was caught off guard with his question, "I have to be, I am your psychiatrist."

"So is this an impromptu psychiatric session?" he asked and started walking towards the door, "where my psychiatrist breaks into my home and asks me questions?

I followed him, "I was just levelling the ground, Dorian." we appeared in the hall, "I just thought if you can break into my office to seek my help, maybe I should put in extra efforts and simply break into your home to provide you with that help."

He whirled around to look at me, a smirk on his face and fascination in his eyes. "touche"

As we walked back to the main hall, the power revived and the entire house gleamed with lights, and what I saw was something completely out of my understanding.

Dorian was standing near the table, picking up the book I had seen earlier. I looked around, and found every piece of furniture glistening like glass, woods polished to the point where they reflected and nothing seemed to have dust on it. Maybe it was just my imagination.

Dorian was looking straight at me, "are you okay?" he inquired.

I shook myself back and looked at him, "yeah, I am good I had some questions for you, Dorian"