The Piano || 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬

|14| Why am I- Why am I crying?

Kris and Colby weren't too happy about being woken up less than an hour after going to sleep. Both needed to rest, but Sam convinced them to come downstairs. They groggily pulled on sweaters and followed him, still rubbing their eyes and yawning every few steps. As Sam told them that Ashley was alone in the ballroom, Colby frowned.

"We said we wouldn't leave her alone," he stated, his voice a little sour. Sam sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, it's not going to be for long. She'll be alright." Sam waved it off. Colby didn't seem reassured.

"Let's just hurry up," he said, quickly walking past Sam to reach the ballroom sooner.

Sam nodded and they rushed down the stairs. He had lost count of how often they had run these stairs up or down by now.

On the second floor, Sam abruptly stopped, grabbing Colby's wrist. The brunette opened his mouth as if to say something, but Sam quickly hushed him. Then he heard what had made Sam freeze.

The piano.

It was a sweet melody, none that Colby had heard ever before. The sound was delicate and hardly audible, drowned by their breaths and steps.

"Why is she playing it on her own?" Colby snapped, angrier than he intended.

"I don't know, I told her not to!" Sam replied, sounding defensive. "She said she wouldn't play it until we're all there. I think."

"You think?" Kris asked, picking up speed again.

"I did nothing wrong, Ashley's the one you should be shouting at," Sam muttered under his breath before he followed the others.

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Ashley's fingers knew the melody. She didn't know how or from where, but she did know exactly how to play the song from her dream. Maybe it wasn't even her playing, she wasn't sure anymore at this point. The only thing she saw was her fingers with her rings, dancing over the keys, pressing them delicately and conjuring a melody that was almost painfully familiar.

She didn't know what she was doing. She didn't know why she was doing it, but she did know how it felt. The melody. Deep inside her, it moved something.

A sound, behind her. She successfully ignored it. She didn't care. All that mattered was the melody. And the feeling that it shook up inside her, a feeling that bit deep into her heart, an emotion so strong it could...

Someone touched her shoulder. Ashley's head snapped up and collided with something. She yelped in pain, as did the person behind her, and jumped up from the stool, frantically looking around.

"Ashley?" someone's panicked voice asked. "Ashley, are you okay?"

Her vision was blurry. Why was her vision blurry?

"Ashley, are you crying?"

"What?" she choked out.

"You're crying, Ashley. What happened?" That was Sam's voice. Soothing. Calming. Reassuring. Ashley tried to steady her breath. She hadn't even realized that she had been out of breath again.

"I'm what?" she asked, raising her fingers to her cheeks. "Oh." Thick tears were flowing out of her eyes, down her cheeks and chin. "Why am I- Why am I crying?"

She blinked rapidly. Sam, Kris, and Colby were standing a few feet away from her, looking at her concerned. Colby was holding his chin, and she knew that had to be what she had hit when she had looked up so quickly.

"Ashley?" Kris cautiously asked. "What happened?"

She thought about it. Sam had left her alone, hadn't he? But no, she hadn't been alone. Ilse had been with her. And then? The sigh. And her feet, which automatically walked to the piano... She hardly remembered sitting down or starting to play, the next memory she had was the sharp pain in her chest.

Ashley felt another wave of tears dwell up in her eyes and started blinking again.

"Ashley." Colby laid his hands on her shoulders, and she almost flinched back. "You need to tell us what happened. Are you okay?"

"I think I am," she whispered, not strong enough to keep her voice steady. "I just... fuck, what is going on?" she asked as tears flowed down her face.

"I think we all would like to know that," Sam said, looking at her warily from behind Colby's back. "Do you want to come and sit down?"

Ashley nodded weakly and Colby got her to one of the chairs. She sat down on it with a relieved sigh, as she felt the feeling slowly fading away, still not exactly knowing what it had been. The tears finally stopped, and she was able to breathe steadily.

"Can we- Can we record this?" Colby asked with a slight frown, leaning down to look her in the eyes. "Is that okay for you?"

"Yeah, sure, go ahead." Her voice was still weak, but she was gaining back her composure.

So, Sam got up and got the camera. He let out a relieved sigh as he saw that it was still recording – meaning that it had hopefully captured the entire thing. He quickly brought it back and set it up on the table.

"I'm never going to touch that piano again," Ashley muttered, a poor attempt at a joke. Sam still chuckled.

"We're definitely not going to make you do it. Now, can you tell us what happened?" he asked.

Ashley took another deep breath. "Honestly? I don't know. You walked out, and left me alone, right? But I think I wasn't alone. No, I mean, I'm pretty sure I wasn't alone. She was with me. I'm like ninety-nine percent sure. She was with me, and she guided me to the piano..." She chuckled tiredly. "God, that sounds like I'm making something up to make you think I didn't play the piano alone purposely."

"Ashley, we believe you," Colby reassured her. She shot him a weak smile and rubbed a hand over her face.

"The melody from my dream," she said. "I played it. I don't know how or why – okay, I do know why, I came down here to play it. But I didn't, you know, expect it to go that well. You can't just play a melody after hearing it once. Okay, some people can. I can't. And that's beside the point, sorry.

"Okay. I played the melody. And, uh, I guess I started crying? While doing it?" Ashley stayed silent for a moment. "There was this feeling. I don't know how to explain it... It was sadness. Grief. I guess. I've never felt anything like it, but playing the song made me feel it. Like my chest was ripped open. But not in a physical way, you know? I don't think I've ever felt anything that strong before." She tried to suppress the feeling as it bubbled up in her again, a single tear trying to escape her eyes. She brushed it away quickly.

"Okay, what if..." Sam began before he trailed off. "What if that was Ilse's song? The one she used to play when she walked around at night?"

"Assuming that I didn't turn into a master composer overnight, I'm pretty sure it was," Ashley said, letting out a dry laugh.

"Yeah, but Ilse was no pianist, was she? But her lover was. Maybe that was the one song he had taught her before she left. Their song," Sam suggested. The other three stared at him.

"That makes a lot of sense," Kris finally said. "It would explain the grief Ashley felt. It was heartbreak. Ilse was reminded of her heartbreak and Ashley somehow felt the pain. That's so sad..."

"Jeez, if heartbreak feels like that, I don't think I ever want to fall in love," the redhead stated. "That was the worst thing ever, even though I didn't even realize it at first."

"I have a theory," Sam suddenly said, standing up from his chair. He looked around to make sure the others were listening to him. "Alright, so. Ilse has been targeting Ashley for the entire time we've been here, right? Because she played the piano. Well, what if that reminded Ilse of her lover, and that's the reason why? Because she misses him still?"

Ashley gasped.

"And what if the lover wasn't a he? What if Ilse was in love with a she?"