Clarity (Sokeefe Human AU)

Chapter 14

This is a flashback to the early morning from before Sophie's party. I needed to develop these characters a bit.

Nov 19, 2022 1:02 A.M.

Linh stuffed her face in a pillow to block out her parents yelling downstairs.

"Your first commitments should be to you family not to work!" her mother, Mai screamed at her father.

"If I don't commit to work, I can't support our lives!" Quan, her father yelled angrily and stomped out the door slamming it behind him.

Linh winced at the jarring noise and could hear her mother softly crying. Linh got up to go see what Tam was doing. She looked in his room to find it empty, but she heard the faint melody of a violin somewhere in the silent house. Linh followed the music through the house, until she heard a soft voice cut through the air start to sing.

- Counting Stars by OneRepublic -

The voice: Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep. Dreaming about the things that we could be.

The voice sang slowly with the tune of the violin, Linh traced the source to near the roof as she climbed the stairs.

The voice: But baby, I've been, I've been praying hard, said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars. Yeah, we'll be counting stars...

Linh stopped at the third floor and walked down the hallway, glancing into the rooms until she saw Tam standing on a balcony, playing a violin. Tam's singing started to pick up a little, with a little more violence in his instrument.

Tam: I see this life, like a swinging vine. Swing my heart across the line, in my face is flashing signs, seek it out and ye shall find. Old but I'm not that old. Young, but I'm not that bold, and I don't think the world is sold, on just doing what we're told.

Tam started singing higher notes, letting some sadness into his singing.

Tam: I feel something so right, doing the wrong thing! I feel something so wrong, doing the right thing! I couldn't lie, couldn't lie, couldn't lie, everything that kills me, makes me feel alive.

Tam quickened his violin as he sang through the chorus, and Linh drew closer, stopping at the curtains next to the balcony.

Tam: I feel your love and I feel it burn, down this river, every turn. Hope is our four-letter word. Make that money, watch it burn. Old, but I'm not that old. Young, but I'm not that bold, and I don't think the world is sold, on doing just doing what we're told.

Tam's voice started peaking, when he turned around his eyes were closed and small tears were running down his cheeks.

Tam: And I feel something so wrong, doing the right thing. I couldn't lie, couldn't lie, couldn't lie. Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly.

He coursed through the chorus with violence as sorrow and anger escaped him. Tam

Tam: Oh, take that money, watch it burn. Sink in the river the lessons I've learned. Take that money, watch it burn. Sink in the river the lessons I've learned.

Linh felt a hand on her shoulder to see her mom standing next to her. Her mom watched Tam in awe. His signing voice got noticeably more angry.