The Lyre: Harry Styles Fanfiction

Hell And Back

(Kalila)

The last thing I remembered were the black edges of Harry's swallow tattoos before I blacked out.

A lyre

The words echoed in my head. Then somewhere, far away, I heard a man's voice. It was muffled at first, but then became very clear.

I found myself sitting in a chair and looked down at my tiny feet.

"When I was your age, I loved to find constellations, the shapes that the stars make in the sky", Dr. Salem said to me, cheerfully.

I looked at him, comfortable with this man that I had seen many times. The man who helped me pick out my name.

"My favorite one is called Lyra, named after a musical instrument called the lyre", he stretched back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.

When he shared things about himself with me, it always made me calm. The focus was off of me.

"Orpheus was this guy who could play the lyre so beautifully, that anyone and anything that heard his music fell in love with him", he said.

He could tell that I was interested, the way I tilted my head to the side a little.

"Even rocks and trees fell in love with him", he grinned and I smiled, amused by the thought.

"That's silly", I smirked.

"No! That's how beautiful his music was! Really!", he said, chuckling.

"He fell deeply in love with a woman named Eurydice. But one day, she got bit by a snake, died and went to the underworld", he said, then quickly added, "This is just a story"

"Where's the underworld?", I asked.

"It's a place....underneath earth where some people go after they die"

I could tell he was questioning telling me this story now, but I wanted to hear the rest.

"Then what happened?", I asked so he'd go on.

Dr. Salem looked relieved when I asked this, seeing that I wasn't scared. He leaned back in his chair. He folded his hands over his big belly.

"Well, Orpheus was so sad, he went to get her. He played his lyre and the rulers of the underworld said he could take her back....but, as long as he obeyed their rules. Eurydice would walk behind him and he couldn't look back at her until he reached the surface of the earth"

"Why?", I asked and he shrugged.
"That was just the rule they gave him", he answered with his eyebrows raised.

"Then Orpheus reached earth and turned to look at Eurydice, forgetting she had not reached the surface yet, since she was behind him. Instantly, she was taken back into the underworld"

"Did he go back again? To get her?", I asked as I bit on my finger. Dr. Salem looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. He looked...proud.

"There are quite a few different variations of the story from many different people", he explained.

"I'm sure one of them says that he did go back. I think he loved her so much that even though he probably knew he wasn't going to get her back, he never stopped trying", Dr. Salem looked at me with a pleasant smile.