In Another Life: Book Two - Taming the Beast

Chapter One: My God, The Shadows Are Screaming

"I wake up to the sounds of the silence that allows my mind to run around with my ear up to the ground. I'm searching to behold the stories that are told, when my back is to the world that was smiling when I turned. Tell you, you're the greatest. But once you turn, they hate us... Oh, the misery, everybody wants to be my enemy.Spare the sympathy. Everybody wants to be...My Enemy." - "Enemy" - Imagine Dragons

Port Angeles, February 3rd - 72 Hours earlier, before the Explosion

The lonely storage facility was surrounded by a thick mist that mostly obscured Edward from the road as he punched in the code that lifted the antiquated entry gate. Row upon row of identical structures marked only by a number, most would get lost in the sameness, especially because he hadn't been back in well over a decade. The keycode unlocked the space, the biggest and best of its kind. The dull hum of the environment conditioner irritated him a little as he made his way past a maze of canvas covered shapes. Abandoned furniture projects of Esme's, old sets of Rosalie's tools, and entire closets worth of clothes forgotten by Alice; none of it real or important in his eyes. At the back was his baby. The enamel was still intact and the black shiny surface still made his heart sing a little. The piano was in perfect condition, but a single keystroke told him it was woefully out of tune.

He spent hours correcting matching harmonics, tightening where needed, loosening where necessary. Finally... Middle C. He attempted to dance his long fingers across the keys, but with a missing finger he couldn't quite make the instrument sing like he used to. Although after a few hours practicing the timing needed to compensate for his missing appendage he was able to get the right sequence to produce a sound that could make hearts weep. E-Sharp. The first keystroke in his tribute to her.

The melody perfectly described her, the shape of her hip into her bust, the line of her neck up to her jaw. The slope of her nose, the tilt of her lips and chin. He'd crafted the sounds around her, about her. His masterpiece. He created just the right hint of beauty in a discordant cascade of notes. His last tribute to her humanity, not their love song... no the tale of their last moment together, his requiem. His pain in having to lie, her pain... no, his sacrifice. He kept that beautiful memory of her in his heart all these decades. He knew it was the right thing, to stay human, to keep her soul.

He stewed on what to do for several more hours, as he slowly went a bit crazy due the muted silence, his gift quieted for the first time in his long life. Middle C again, and again, and again. The cord started to lose tone as he struck the key until the ivory began to crack. The two hundred year old Packard baby grand had been played on four continents, seventeen countries, and hundreds of cities. He had played countless hours of music on it. It was his most cherished possession.

The cord snapped. Just like his last nerve, because the silence had been deafening since the voices went away. His power, just like his Bella was gone. His other great possession was stolen away by his own sister. In every way that mattered Bella died in that forest all those years ago. Now all that mattered was the music, but even his piano failed him, just like she had.

He closed his left fist, the keys shattering under his strength, just like the first blackened eye he should've given her. He stood knocking the stool down and back across the concrete floor. He slammed his right first into the lower keys, cracking the wood below it, imagining the impact as if it was her skin and bone. Picturing her flesh reddening and then turning purple from the slaps and hits he should have given her to learn her place. Again and again he hit his favorite thing in the world, since his other favorite thing was beyond his reach. Splintering the wood, stretching the strings, pulverizing the ivory, bending her body to his will.