ACATALEPSY || Queen

2

Freddie
15 September  YEAR 12

"Oh my god, hurry up with the keys Brian." Roger crossed his arms while Brian struggled trying to find the right key for the storage room.

"No, not this.." His tongue clicked everytime he picks a key attempting to unlock the old musty wooden storage door. John came beside Brian, taking the keys from him. "Let me just-" the brown haired male abruptly opened the door with one try.

The younger smiled at Brian and entered inside, heading to fetch the cleaning materials.

The blonde haired sighed,"Damn Bri, you can't unlock a simple door?" He says, patting Brian's shoulders.

I entered the room, a strong smell suddenly hitting me,"Shit, what's that smell?"

The mono-yellow colored wall paint had started to darken and pieces of an old cabinet filled with cleaning materials also chipped off due to the storage room being untouched for such a long time. Lockers were also filled with rust while the carpeted floor grew out of its old color.

"You're probably smelling rat piss." John replied.

"What the fuck?! Ew! How do you even know what that smells like?" Roger sneered in disgust. "I used to live in an old truck container before. It's the exact smell but more stank." The younger says without even taking his eyes off of the old cabinet. I walked towards John, standing beside him, "It's heavily locked, what do you think is inside that cabinet?"

"Stuff we probably shouldn't be swooning about." I grabbed the broom in front of the large storage cabinet, while the brown haired male stood there, curious of what's inside.

The tall black haired male opened each of the lockers filled with rust and dust from ages ago. I heard a chuckle from him.

"Well, well, well...jackpot."  Brian's eyes lit up, blowing the dust off of a book from one of the lower lockers. "What's that?" I asked.

He turns to me, showing the book with a large smiled carved on his face, "Cosmos is a 1980 popular science book by astronomer and author Carl Sagan. Its 13 illustrated chapters, corresponding to the 13 episodes of the Cosmos TV series, which the book was co-developed with and intended to complement, explore the mutual development of science and civilization. It's a rare book."

Roger slowly walked behind me nudging my back, softly whispering to my ear, "He's a science nerd, don't mind him."

I cleared my throat, giving Brian an awkward grin, "You must like science....a lot."

"It's just...everything about space is beautiful yet mysterious and horrifying at the same time. One of the reason why I always wanted to be an Astrophysicist, I wanna know more about the universe." He smiled, looking down at the crumpled pages of the book.

...

"Hey guys, come look at this." John shouted.

An unused piano was at the very corner of the storage room, the sun's light illuminating the large instrument. The clear maroon marble body of the piano mirrored the room, as if it was newly cleaned. A gray-ish cloth covered the top section of the piano, John slid the covers off revealing the whole thing.

"Damn, who hid this here? It doesn't even look old?" Roger assumed, pressing random keys.

"This uni has its own treasure." Brian added, placing the astronomy book on top of the piano. The blonde haired laugh, sliding his hand on Brian's shoulder, "Your dad for sure hid stuff here."

I tapped John's back, "Hey John, can you step aside for me?"

"Sure?"

"Oh my god, are you gonna play it?" Roger giggled in excitement. "Shut up, he's gonna play it." Brian hushed him.

I started biting my bottom lip, hesitating whether I should even play the piano again. I've written a song, but never played it for anybody because of my stage fright. I noticed that my hands also started to tremble as I could feel my cold sweat start to drop from my face. I stared at nothingness contemplating if I had the courage to play it again after what happened 8 years ago.

I don't want it to happen again.

"Hey Freddie, you good?" Roger shook my shoulders, snapping me to reality.

I looked at him, a soft smiled curling in my face, "I'm fine.." I turned over to look at the piano once again, it felt like as if traumatic memories flickered through my head. I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

Finally, I played the first note with the second one following. Silence took over the boys with only the piano's melodic tone filling the entire room. I played the same song from 8 years ago and it still has the same deep scar buried in my chest. The feeling felt nostalgic yet painful to me, the song's melody entering my head; I felt light-headed.

8 Years Ago...

Freddie
[Redacted] YEAR 4

"You'll be playing the piano for the party later, Farrokh. I could finally show my colleagues that I do have a son I can be proud of."

"But Father, I'm still-" he cuts me off, his hand waving no as he walks away from me. "I don't want to hear it, you're doing it whether you like it or not. Do not disappoint me." He glared at me before completely closing the large door behind him, leaving me alone in my room.

My Father always had high expectancies from me, as the eldest child of the family I had to sacrifice basically half of my childhood just to make my parents proud. I did everything my parents told me to do, join forensic science examinations, math competitions, english majors, etc. I don't want to be a disappointment in their eyes. But I had a passion for art, it's the only thing I actually loved to do but my parents despised it, throwing most of my art materials away. I've always been anxious on performing in front of people, and now that I am performing in front of intimidating rich people; The anxiety level I was having went up to the roof.

Never in my life have I experienced what it's like to have real friends, and it's honestly very depressing to the point that I began talking to myself in front of a mirror. Technically, my younger sister was an exception, she's everything I could ask for; God knows what would happen to me if she disappears.

[End of Flashback]

"You wrote that?! That's amazing!" The tall black haired male exclaimed, I chuckled in amusement from the sight of their jaws dropping. "Don't flatter me too much, please. I haven't thought of a title yet."

Brian suddenly had an idea, a smile forming in his face, "How about Bohemian Rhapsody? It depicts the life of a 'bohemian', whose original meaning is 'artist' while 'Rhapsody' is a fantasy or a vision."

I looked at him, mesmerized by his ideas, "That's actually a great idea."

"Dude, where'd you learn playing the piano?" Roger questioned, disturbing my conversation with Brian while his eyes glistened.

"Self taught."

Roger hummed while thinking, slithering his hand on my shoulder, "Damn, life must be easier when you're rich."

"Roger."

"What? I'm telling the truth!" Roger objected, trying to prove a point to the older male.

I stood up, as cleared my throat getting all their attention, "Boys?" They looked at me, waiting for sentences to come out of my mouth.

"Let's start cleaning before we get our asses whooped by Mr. Reiz."