Three Hearts, One Soul

Music Makes the World Go Round

The sounds of her playlist blare out of the headphones she wears, piano and trumpets mixed with some sassy drums and an electric guitar riff that calmed the mind and soul, drowned out the world around her.

"It's me, the M the A-C the K
Stunting like a French pimp from back in the day
I take her to Pend Oreille and I watch her skate
I mean, water ski, ollie ollie oxen free
I'm perusing down fourth and they watching me
I do a handstand, an eagle lands on my seat
Well hello, but baby, the kickstand ain't free
Now do you or do you not wanna ride with me
I got one girl, I got two wheels
She a big girl but ain't a big deal
I like a big girl, I like 'em sassy
Going down the backstreet listening to Blackstreet
Running around the whole town
Neighbors yelling at me like, "You need to slow down."
Going thirty-eight, Dan, chill the fuck out
Mow your damn lawn and sit the hell down
If I only had one helmet I would give it to you, give it to you
Cruising down Broadway, girl, what a wonderful view, wonderful view
There's layers to this shit player, Tiramisu, Tiramisu
Let my coat-tail drag but I ain't tearing my suit, tearing my suit"

Frankly, Winter was jamming out, completely oblivious to everything but the music pounding out a rythym quite like her feet along the pavement. Walking home from work with her jams at the end of a great day was her favorite thing. Living so close to the gas station she works at is a plus because of this fifteen minute rock out session. Beyond making sure some crazy teenager didn't run her ass over along the way, all Winter had to do was put one foot in front of the other and focus on the beats and flowing notes that caressed her soul while providing a theme song to this moment in life. Well, according to her favorite playlist...362 theme songs, but you get the picture.

Coming up to the turn into the apartments she had delightfully stumbled across, Winter takes the alley behind an old dentists office, skipping the walk that led all the way around the apartment block and instead coming out a couple of steps from her apartment. Pretty damn convenient, but creepy if she had to come outside at night. Needless to say, that didn't happen often, only when Left Eye had to go, and then she stood watch over her pup with a baseball bat and the blazing porch light. The two story structures had been built in the seventies and the architect had obviously wanted to stay away from any sort of cookie cutter designs because every apartment had a different floor plan, Winter's living room had three white walls and one that was brick and extended into a cozy dining room, a built-in bookshelf reaching the ceiling separating the two.

Still rocking out, Winter unlocked the door, stepping inside and immediately locking it again by reflex. There are reasons for this paranoia but part of her love of music was that it helped her not focus on the negative things she'd seen and experienced in the past. The house was dark, not one light, so she flicked switches and turned a lamp or two on along the way to the bedroom, still not removing her headphones for the song currently playing hadn't finished and that wasn't something Winter was prepared to leave incomplete. You don't cut off Journey in the middle of Who's Crying Now. It's just not done. She walked past the bathroom and closet, dropping her bulky bag on the Grey blanket covering the bed. Unhooking the earbuds from her ears and phone, she set it on the nightstand with music still softly filling the room.

Life had been simple the last year, as simple as it could be when you'd run from everything and everyone you'd known. Your family and friends, the place you grew up, all gone, if not forgotten. She'd left in the dead of night with nothing but some savings and an overnight bag, catching a prearranged cab at an address down the street to a used car dealership where she picked up the car she'd bought a week before, which had been paid for in cash. Hell, she even paid extra for them to fill it with gas and let her leave it parked in their employee lot for a short time. She had planned every detail over the last month, using money saved from an inheritance, though her grandmother would've been pissed to know the money was used to run from a psycho instead of her educational betterment. It was supposed to be a college fund, but Mr. Lewis Crasdel hadn't given Winter much of a choice.
You see, dear demented Lewis had been stalking her for the last five years. They'd met when she was fifteen, he'd been her ninth grade math substitute. Young Winter had never been a normal teenager, you see, she grew up with money, a lot of it. Her father liked to call them Old Money, like that meant they were more important than people with money earned through hard work. She'd never understood how her great, great grandfather being rich made her father somehow more important than their neighbor who made his money flipping houses for exorbitant amounts of cash, but to each their own.
Let's just make it clear, Winter wasn't the confident, poised debutant type,.. more like a shaking hands, anxiety ridden, nose in a book, nerd girl in the back secretly listening to bone thugs type. She was shy and quiet, but had loved school, where learning new things everyday was a fun challenge. Mr. Crasdel had been the math sub for a month when the actual teacher had gone on her maternity leave, and, little did Winter know, that was the beginning of her hell. Apparently Lewis took an intense liking to her, although during that month he had done nothing to show this. Indeed he had been a wonderful teacher, never paying undue attention or showing any sort of favoritism towards the younger Winter. Hopefully you have realised her name is Winter, although if you haven't by now,...Hi! Hey, hellurrrrrrr there.