Your Song Saved my Life - Staig (one shot)

Single Chapter

Stan's fingers danced over the piano keys like dancers on an ice rink. The soft melody he played echoed off the walls of the stadium, reaching the ears of all the people present, including Canadians, French, Americans... all kinds of people who made the effort to leave their homes to attend an ice-skating performance in downtown Montreal in the freezing cold of November.

Stan was used to playing to a large audience, but never alone. He didn't play in a large orchestra, in fact, he played in a small group with six other people. They performed in theaters and square bandstands, and even played at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010.

But Stan, alone with his piano, didn't just play in squares, he also played at skating performances, university graduations and even in the food court at the mall. At home, he liked to play for hours on end for himself and whoever else was listening outside. Wherever he was, if there was a piano, he wouldn't miss the chance to dance his fingers across the black and white keys.

It was half past ten in the evening when the performance ended, making it three hours since Stan had started playing the first notes. Applause rang out from all directions. Whistles and shouts were also heard, expressing the audience's joy.

In the morning of the next day, he picked up his things and got in the car for a trip back to Toronto, after almost a whole month away. To play this gig, all expenses were covered by the event organizers, he was guaranteed all the basics and the right to come and go to the stadium whenever he wanted to practice with the piano - it was more interesting when the dancers were present. Stan loved being recognized outside his social circle, but he loved it even more when he got home and could have a hot bath and get into his own bed.

It was Tuesday morning when Stan met up with his small orchestra group. Conductor Victoria had warned them at the previous meeting, two weeks earlier, that on that particular day they should be dressed formally, preferably in basic colors like black and white. She didn't say why, which made everyone curious - December was approaching, which probably meant a Christmas orchestra in a bandstand or theater. Whatever it was, Stan was looking forward to playing for the public again.

He was wearing black jeans and a white shirt, along with his most comfortable shoes. He had made sure that every detail of his outfit was correct, afraid of what might go wrong.

He found his friends sitting in the first row of seats in the theater where they usually perform. There was no one else there and Stan wondered what could be so special about that day. Bebé and Wendy were wearing chic, comfortable black dresses, while the other guys wore clothes almost identical to Stan's, only differing in the color of their shirts - Tolkien and Kyle wore white like him, Clyde and Jimmy wore black.

He sat at the end of his line of friends and stared at the empty stage for a few seconds, which seemed like years. The curtains were closed, which piqued the musicians' curiosity even more.

- I hope it's worth all the suspense - Bebé said, bored.

The lights went out in the audience and the sound of a violin began to resonate from behind the red velvet curtains. It started low, then grew louder. It was slow and even sad. It echoed throughout the four walls of the theater, entering Stan's ears like the whisper of an angel.

It took five seconds of the song for Stan's neurons to start working before he pulled from the back of his mind a memory of his early life as a pianist. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words stuck in his throat. Stan kept his eyes fixed on the stage, but gripped the arms of the chair as if he was going to combust or the chair was going to take off like a rocket at any moment.

Stan felt like a little girl at her favorite boy band's concert or something. His anxiety increased and Stan felt that at any moment he was going to start crying like a child. He returned to his serious posture when the curtains opened, revealing what he already knew.