Mistakes

Twenty Two

Dale

Beethoven always sounded different on the keyboard than the piano to me, no matter what key it was in. Tommy always said it was because the keyboard was electronic and the piano was authentic, which was true.

But really, every piano- every instrument- had its own sound, it's own perspective on how the notes should sound. Even if it's the tiniest difference, no instrument is the same. Just like humans, they had their own identity, their own way of life. In the factories they're supposed to be identical, but by now all of the world should know no one is the same. No thing is the same, no matter how hard you wish.

And no one, no other life should tell another to be someone they don't want to be. If the keyboard wants to be modern and have more of an electronic sound, it can. If the grand piano wants to be bold and strong, the keys stiff but gentle, it can. Nothing could change how the piano felt towards anything.

Not even the stars in the sky could tell the moon to be dim one night, just so they could have their chance at being seen by the city folk who's bright headlights distract them.

And that's how it should be kept.

As the music flooded the room, filling my body with serenity, the keyboard sang in the softest I've ever heard. The keys plastic and cold contrasted against the warmth and happiness of Beethoven's music. The corners of my mouth stretched for my ears, the hostility of the world fading within a second.

The white and blacks keys of the keyboard dissolved into beauty beneath my tapping fingertips, the sound it created a masterpiece. The sun that bled into the room through the blinds hungered for more as it dipped into the earth, slumbering until the morning.

And as the darkness of the night came closer to me, the faster I played. The stronger the notes sounded, the light spilling from the keyboard as I belted out another chorus of love.

Ashton

Faint music echoed through the house, the tense silence vanishing. I sat and listened in peace as night neared. The music got louder as the earth spun deeper into the darkness of the night, it seemed to spill down the stairs and hall, seeping through the ceiling and walls. It went on for a solid ten minutes and I wished it never stopped.

But once it did the house fell back into silence, the dark of the night casting a shadow as the words that left my mouth earlier today came back to me. Every sentence, every sound, every syllable echoed in my head like a song on repeat.

Did I really say that to Dale?

How could I say such things? I was so disappointed in myself for being so rude to Dale. For saying what I said and letting it linger through the day.

I had to apologize.