The alphabet, A to L

What Will Become of Someone Lost, Who was Once a Finder?

"Woooooooooo there goes our lovely leader lady, Guang!" Jiang cheered, prompting whooping and hollering from their classmates.
"Thank you everyone, but you know that I'd do anything for you, so let's just get down to business and start studying okay?" Guang eased her classmates to sit down with idle chatter.
"Ooooh if only all the guys in our class were like you Guang, then we'd be able to find boyfriends," Shien whined, hugging Guang,s arm. Her friend hugged Guang's other arm.
"Yeah, they'd be so good too,"
Guang only laughed and patted them on the heads. "Don't worry about finding a boyfriend, like Lee for example, he's a good guy, just that you have to....." Guang trailed off laughing as the girls complained again. Lee turned his head to the group and motioned for Guang to sit next to him.
"I'll see you guys later okay? Study hard!" Guang cheered them on and took her spot next to Lee. As the class split into groups for different subjects Lee leaned close to Guang.
"Why are you so late? Nothing happened right?" Lee's eyes were creased with worry. Guang rubbed Lee's arm to calm him down.
"It's nothing to worry about. I just told Hei An to leave our friends alone." Guang smiled reassuringly. Lee nodded and they continued their lesson.
The class was split into groups on the different subjects like math and science. In the center of each group were papers and phones that synced up for a video lesson that went with the paper. Once each lesson was over, the groups would move onto the next subject.
Everyone was about to start their next subject when a phone began ringing.
"Guang! Phone!" Jiang tossed the device to Guang and she picked it up. As soon as she did, a voice cut through the waiting silence.
"Guang, your mother is in critical condition at the hospital! You need to arrive here now!" A woman's voice exclaimed and hung up. Lee immediately stood up and gave Guang her things, they met each other's eyes and nodded. Guang then turned to the waiting eyes of her friends.
"My Ma is in the hospital and she's not doing too good. I'm going to her soon, and I probably won't be at school for a few days, while that happens I don't want you guys to worry. Lee will take good care of you all while I'm gone, and he's in charge until I come back. Don't do much concerning me okay? We've been together for a long time, and this is our last year. Study hard for us to stay together for this year too. I love you all like my family, so take care of yourselves before me." Guang watched her family nod somberly in understanding and smiled in approval, turning towards the door she started her run to her mother.
Out of breath from the two mile run in twenty minutes, Guang stumbled and fell down next to her mother.
"Ma! I'm here ma. You're fine now, we can get through this, you've done it before. You look amazing and healthy and you're going to be okay." Guang's voice was soft and cracked, out of fear that any louder would result in her tears to fall. This wasn't the first time her mother had been in the hospital, but it was the first that was a critical condition. Her mother battled with her weak immune system, and caught colds and disease easily.
"Oh my lovely Guang. My light. This cold isn't one we've seen before love. They don't even know what it is. Your father is calling for me on the other side." Guang's mother smiled tiredly and held her daughter's face in her hands. "Study hard. And find a good job. My beautiful strong girl. I loved watching you grow up, and I loved seeing you be a strong leader for everyone who needed someone. You're strong, and you'll still be when I'm gone. You are an adult." Guang buried her face into her mother's side. Sobs trying to cut through the dreary silence of the room with the morbid beep of the machine. Guang's mother stroked her daughter's hair as she sobbed quietly into her side.
"Guang, play me the piano. Open the curtains and there'll be a grand piano for you. It's magical. Passed down from every generation. It always ends up where it's needed most." Guang's mother's voice soothed Guang and she nodded softly. Her feet dragged towards the piano and she sat down.
Guang's tears fell to a beat and the morbid monitor became a metronome for Fur Elise. Her mother smiled softly and closed her eyes peacefully. She rested on the pillows as the song began.

Guang's hands pressed on the keys heavily and picked up as her tears fell faster. Memories mixed with emotion and combined. As the soft sounds of the piano swayed in the air, Guang's body moved along, repeating the same sound. As the notes changed to get softer and smoother, the soothing memory of beginning school for the first day came into mind.
The trees swayed with the wind and a young Guang giggled while walking with her mother.
"Guang, when you get back from school, we can get your favorite fish cakes! Be careful and ill see you when you get home. Ma loves you! Bye bye!" Guang's mother was smiling as she watched her daughter go. The notes slowed and Guang was aware of more tears falling down her from her closed eyes and her mouth twisted into a tormented frown. Repeating notes from before gave her a moment, and when the tempo picked up again to a cheery tone, Guang smiled sadly as the image of her and Ma played together the first few years of high school. Overcome with emotion Guang slowed the pace down and her fingers lingered on the keys as if to keep the memory alive. The beginning began again.
A river of sadness flowed through the halls of the hospital and kept those who heard it in a constant state of nostalgia. Guang was conducting their thoughts and feeling with her music. Sadness and loss were gone from her own mind, and was replaced by angst, and rage. The sounds became erratic and burst with highs and lows of emotion. Many of patients eyes filled with sad tired hate at their state and the music became slower and gave a lingering sense of something broken and shattered.
The end of the song began and a loud sound filled the silence left by the cracked ending. The loud sound didn't prompt anymore tears, and only cause Guang to grit her teeth in grim acceptance. The flatlining sound was the only true reminder that Guang's mother was truly gone.
  "Ma," Guang gritted her teeth and let out a shaking breath, "Take care of Ba, and watch over me."
  As doctors filled the room to tend to Guang's late mother, the lonely leader stood up and left the room. Swiftly, and quiet. Calling attention when she needed to, and that wasn't then. She slipped out of the hospital and made her way to her home in the twilight of the day. Purples and oranges mixed to form reds and colors that caressed Guang with their fake warmth, one that would leave as time went on. Guang was met with people standing around her small hut of a house where her memories were still held, and she ran towards the area. Fortunately one of the workers was prepared for her and began to inform her about what was going on.
  "Miss Chang. Your mother was in debt, and this house is the way she payed it all off. Your belongings have been put into two of your old backpacks, and your mothers has been put into a large wheel suitcase for you. Anything else is something I can't give to you. I'm not eligible to do anything else as well. So get on your way." The man informed and gruffly shoved her the said items.
    Guang's face was tired, and there was a gloomy downcast look to it as she began to carry everything away. As the day darkened to midnight, Guang sighed and pulled her blanket closer to her neck. Her eyes travelled to the sky and she watched as stars made themselves known to her eyes. Each constellation seemed to be just a mess like her life. Guang smiled to herself. The quiet night was something she wanted to run away from, but the words from her mother sounded in her mind.
  "Guang, play me the piano." A stray tear left Guang's eye and she let it trail down to her ear. She shifted so her arms stretched towards the sky and her fingers played a song she never believed she'd hear again. The song she played was the one she hadn't heard since that one day of rejection.

It was meant for rainy days, at first, but what is a rainy day really? When someone feels sad, or alone and distant like when they admire the heavy rain to its fullest, is it not raining? On a sunny day, when no clouds can be seen, rain can pour in a clear sky. A rainy day is only mentally one when it's been admired to its fullest. In the silence with rain, anyone can hear this song, playing softly and gently. Something soothing. Rainy days wash away pain and heal the soul, and a piano playing can make a rainy day soothe away pain. As the song ended and Guang's hands slowed down, she fell into a calm sleep.