A Ranger's Lullaby

A drink

I wake up to a familiar sound in the kitchen. I sit up in my bed, expecting Jace' black and white photo's staring at me. Instead I see my own closet and my record player in the corner. I'm in my own room? I hear the familiar sound of voices again. My heart starts beating faster. My parents! It was all but a bad dream! I jump out of bed and rush to the kitchen. I was expecting to see my parents lively chatting with each other, but what I see freezes me on the spot. I do see my parents, but they are not chatting lively. On the ground, right in front of my feet, lay their bodies, slashed open. There's blood everywhere. I want to rush to their side, to scream, cry... But I can't seem to do anything. I just stand there, paralyzed. Then I notice a figure behind them. He's strongly build, but when I look at his face- He has none. Just a black void staring at me. He holds a bloodied knife in his right hand, with a tattooed his wrist. It looks like a dragon with an entangled tail. When I look back up, the void is covered by a wide grin, laughing at me. I find it hard to breathe, like it's not just my body that's paralyzed. I can only look at him. Then, in a split second, the figure charges at me with full speed. His grin widens even more and he is about to jab his knife in me-

My eyes shoot open. I sit up straight, breathing heavily. Fuck I need to calm down, I need to breathe! It takes me a while to control my breathing. The paralyzed feeling from what seems like a nightmare was still lingering through my body. I drop my head in my hands from exhaustion. I glance at the time, 4:32 am. 'Fucking hell...' I mutter to myself. After that I won't be able to sleep for a while. I sigh and get up. 'I need a drink.' I step into the hallway and look around me. Where is the kitchen...? I look at the seven doors in front of me. It could be behind any door and I don't want to risk waking anyone up... I look to my right and see the door leading to the living room. I guess I'll just go in there then. When I walk in, my eye immediately falls on the old piano, just like before. I slide my hand over the cover and sit down behind it. I lift the cover. I trace my fingers over the keys. I think back to when my dad taught me how to play. I would sit on his lap because I was too small to reach the keys otherwise. My eyes begin to well up. I will never hear him play again... I feel the urge to play, in his honor. I place my hands in starting position, but I hesitate for a moment. Then I start playing, getting lost in the moment. My fingers move on their own and I start singing. [For maximum reading experience listen to this song: ''Lost Without You'' by Freya Ridings] When I stop playing I feel the tears stream down my face. I hadn't realised I was crying this hard. I guess this was my first real chance to grief my parents' death. I close my eyes and quietly sob into my hands. After a few minutes I throw my head back, while taking in a deep breath. Enough with the crying and being vulnerable. I open my eyes and to my surprise stare right into an upside down pair of ice blue eyes. It startles me, making me lose my balance and falling off the chair. I quickly turn around to look at the white haired boy leaning against the window, looking down to me. 'The fuck man?! How long have you been watching me?!' I quickly scramble to my feet. Unfazed he raises his brow. 'I've actually been standing here since you walked in.' I freeze and he comes off the wall. 'Yeah. You just came in, sat behind the piano and started playing and crying and then you finally noticed me and fell on your ass. Which was quite amusing if I'm being honest.' He says smirking as he walks past me to a cabinet on the other side of the room. 'U-uhm. Okay, I'll give you that one. But why didn't you say anything instead of watching me like a creep?' I hear glass clinking and he turns around with a bottle of liquid. 'You seemed distraught and lost in thought, so I didn't wanna disturb you.' He holds out the bottle to me. 'You want some?' I'm still a bit shaken up from the whole situation, especially him being somewhat considerate and reasonable. I just nod and he hands me a glass with an ember gold liquid in it. 'It's scotch.' I look at him and I can see he underestimates me. I smirk as I down the drink in one go. His slightly shocked face is priceless. I hand over my empty glass for a refill. 'My dad taught me.' I say as he pours me another drink, nodding his head. 'Respect.' I chuckle as he pours his own drink. He walks over to the couch and I sit down opposite of him in a chair. 'So...' he starts, 'Rough night?' I look at the glass in my hands, making the golden liquid move around smoothly. 'You could say that.' I look up to him. 'How about you? Why are you up at 5 am?' He shrugs as he stares at me. 'Often can't sleep. I sometimes come down here for the same things.' Wait, things? 'Do you play as well?!' He looks over at the piano. 'Sometimes yeah, when I feel like it.' It's quiet for a while. I look at him. He looks more relaxed than before. Then again he also looks more tired than before. At least he's not glaring at me all the time. He clears his throat. 'So, uhm, are you alright?' He asks as he looks down. I didn't expect this question, at least not from him. He looks up to see my somewhat surprised face. 'I mean, the piece you played seemed rather personal and the moment after didn't look... fun.' I smile at his attempt to being socially polite. 'Yeah, I'm fine I guess. Just hadn't had the chance to cope with my parents' death, so the feelings kinda hit all at once there.' He slightly squeezes his eyes. 'I'm sorry if I disturbed your peace, I should've scanned the room when I got here. It probably sounded weird too, I kinda made it up as I was going. Heh, I was probably too caught up in the moment that I didn't even listen to my own song. Then again I didn't think anyone would be listening-' 'If playing made you help express your feelings, does it matter how it sounded?' I had startled rambling until he cut me off. I look at him, a bit dazzled. 'Not that it wasn't good. You have talent. But you shouldn't worry about that if it's not the purpose of your music. Moreover about other people's opinion on it.' He actually has a point. I narrow my eyes at him, making him frown in return. 'What?' I grin at him. 'Who would've thought you were actually a decent guy?' His expression changes from confusion to annoyance. 'It's a compliment I promise.' He downs his drink and sighs. 'I guess you're not too bad either.' My smile brightens when he said that. He noticed and rolls his eyes. 'Don't be too happy about it, I still don't trust you yet.' He gets up and walks over to the liquor cabinet. 'yet.' I smirk as I walk over to him, downing my drink as well. As I hand him my glass my eye falls on the piano and I remembered what he said before. I look hopeful at Jace. He wanted to give me back my drink, but his hand staggers as he sees my face. 'What...?' I smirk and look over to the piano. He follows my gaze. 'Oh no, not gonna happen.' He says as he turns back to the cabinet, pouring his own drink. 'Ah come on! You heard me play, even without my permission.' He glances at me and I grin back. 'It's only fair.' He sips his drink as he stands right in front of me, trying to intimidate me with his hight. Wrong move pretty boy. Now I can use my secret power. I look up with the biggest, most innocent puppy eyes I can. He looks up and sighs with a small smile. 'Fine...' He says as he turns away and takes another big sip. 'But only if you promise to never give me those puppy eyes, they're creeping me out.' I snicker as we make our way to the piano. He sits down on the piano bench and I lean against the wall opposite to him. He chugs his drink and looks at me. I give him an enthusiastic Thumbs-up and he shakes his head with a soft chuckle. He gets ready to play and I smile. This was the first time I had seen him somewhat smile, it looks good on him. I get the feeling he doesn't do it often, so I treasure the moment. Then he starts playing, filling the room yet again with music. [For maximum reading experience listen to this song: ''An Evening I Will Not Forget-Acoustic'' by Dermot Kennedy] I'm taken aback when I watch him play. The raw beauty of his work is breath-taking. I also hadn't expected he could sing. His voice is kinda raspy, it's beautiful. A moonbeam shines through the window right across his face. It lightens up his blue eyes even more. He really has the prettiest eyes I have ever seen. It's a mesmerizing sight. When he stops playing, I'm still caught up in the moment. 'You can just tell me if you didn't like it.' He says with a hint of annoyance. I snap out of it and quickly say, 'Oh, no, sorry. I was just lost in thought. I actually thought it was beautiful.' I smile softly. He looks a bit uneasy. 'I just played the first thing that popped up in my head.' He sighs slightly when he adds, 'but thanks. I guess.' We stare at each other for a moment, then he looks away. I look down at my glass, drink the last sip and place it back onto the cabinet. 'I think I'll try to get some more sleep. Emphasizing on the try.' He lets out a small puff of air as he smiles. 'Thanks for- tonight I guess.' I give him a warm smile. 'Goodnight Jace.' He nods and I walk back to my room. This time I slept more peacefully and manage to get a couple of hours of sleep, thankfully. My last thought was My time here will be interesting, that's for sure.