Agape

Vinyl

The fire is crackling. I grab my glass filled with twelve year old Glendronach whiskey and walk over to the vinyl cabinet. I dip into Bach's h-minor mass and into "Blue Train" by John Coltrane. Satisfied with what I'm seeing I take Mozart's "magic flute" and begin my way in direction of the record player. I take the record out, set down the needle and soon after I begin to hear music. While walking over to my arm chair I sing along in my broken German:

"Würd' ich mein Herz der Liebe weih'n, so müßt' es dieser Jüngling sein. Laßt uns zu uns'rer Fürstin eilen, ihr diese Nachricht zu erteilen. Vielleicht daß dieser schöne Mann, die vor'ge Ruh' ihr geben kann."

As soon as I sit down in my arm chair Ivy enters the room. "The magic flute? Really? I can see it really is your favourite!" I tilt my head. "It always was and always will be my favourite."
She takes the chair opposite if mine. I see the fire reflecting in the corner of her beautiful evergreen eyes. "Nathanael?" "Yes?" I answer. "You know it as well as I do, you hate the magic flute but it has always been my favourite." I avoid eye contact with her. "What are you even on about?"
"It's okay, Nathanael. Eventually you're gonna have to let me go." I clinch my fist and harden the grip around my whiskey glass as tears begin rushing into my eyes. "No" Is the only word that can escape my lips. "You have to move on. The accident was not your fault!"
As I begin to bawl my eyes out the record continues to play.

"Mensch! Du hättest verdient, auf immer in finstern Klüften der Erde zu wandern; - die gütigen Götter aber entlassen der Strafe dich. - Dafür aber wirst du das himmlische Vergnügen der Eingeweihten nie fühlen"