The Disaster at Hexside

Chapter 6 - Harmony

The next day, Avery packed up her stuff (both of us stayed at Lili's overnight) and we all flew to school together. Our first class of the day was Memory Class, which is one of the only shared classes at Hexside. We sat down at our table and once everyone had filed in, the teacher started talking. The teacher explained that you gently reach into the ear, and once you feel something, you pinch it with the clampers and pull it out. She handed out a pair of clampers to each table group, and then everyone started pulling out memories. 'Who do we start with?' I ask
'Not me' Avery says quickly
'I'll go.' Lili says
I put the clamper up to her ear and pull out two memories. I stick them on the wire. Then I pull out two from Avery's ear while we wait for Lili's to develop. Lili then takes two from mine. We stick them all on the wire and wait for them to show. After a few moments, Lili's pictures start to show. The first one is of her standing with her head down in front of two graves, there are two shadowy figures behind her. The second one is of her in a library surrounded by books and stuffed animals with a whiteboard behind her that's covered in illegible handwriting. I recognise it as hers. Avery and I look at Lili. She sighs.
'In the first picture, I'm at my parents' funeral and standing at their graves, the people behind me are my brothers' She takes a deep breath.
'They died from an incurable sickness. I was seven, and I couldn't help them, and I feel so bad. The second one is me in the library looking at a bunch of healing books to try and find the cure. I've devoted my life to healing since they passed and yet I still haven't found something that can help.' She says quickly. Avery puts her hand on Lili's shoulder and gives her a soft smile. Then Avery's memories start clearing. The first is of her sitting on her bed with an Illusion of a middle-aged man, and she seems to be crying. The second one is of her talking to what looks like an illusion of herself, and she seems to be arguing with it. Now we look at Avery for an explanation.
'The first one is of me talking with an Illusion of my Dad. He died when I was really young, and I don't remember him that well, but I can still kind of remember what he looks like. He was the only one who knew I was gay because he was the only one I really trusted.' She was talking quite fast.
'And the second one is of me arguing with an Illusion of myself about a couple of things that I would rather not elaborate on.' She smiles awkwardly and looks at her shoes. I don't actually know much about Avery's past, and neither does Lili. She doesn't tend to talk about her Dad, and we haven't asked since we know it's a sensitive subject. Lili gives Avery a comforting smile and we realise that my memories have appeared. The first one is of me playing my violin, and the second is of me crying in my room with the same violin, crying over its broken shape. I remember this all too well, but I wish I didn't. As I remember that day, tears well up in my eyes, and I try to hold them back. Once again, the others look at me for an explanation, and I wait a few seconds before I start.
'When I was seven, I found a violin and taught myself how to play it. One day when I was eight, I performed for my parents. I thought they would like it, but Mum ended up-' I take a deep, shaking breath.
'She ended up smashing it beyond repair. That's when I knew I needed to do it in secret. So I bought a new violin, and practised.' I was so close to bursting out into tears. Avery and Lili looked at each other, and then at me, rushed me into a hug.