Alone Awaken

Chapter 2: Colton

I stare at her as she walks down the hall straight through the building doors. Remi? I've never met anyone with a name like that. Is it short for something? I wish I stopped her. I want to know more about her. What I heard was incredible. It made me feel.

Being a music major, I've heard plenty of music from all ages. But her music, her rhythm, tone and key was something I've never experienced. Even the countless hours I practice, I could never create what she did.

I shake my head out of this wonder trance she put me in. I turn and walk in to the small room she was just in. I start setting up my music for practice when I see something purple sticking out of the computer. I remove the USB drive and stare down at the writing. A white crest of the college was printed on it. The basic kind you find at the campus store. This must be hers? I take a second to turn on the computer. Why isn't it working?

I take a second and look around at the cords. Looks like some asshole disconnected the monitor. I plug it in and insert her USB drive. Files upon files open into the music app. They have no titles, just dates. It looks like there's a file every week. Hm, she must have been composing for years.

I open up a random file and the piano plays back to me. My mouth drops. The music that floods my ears... it's incredible. A melodic garden that touches my soul. I play the next one. Pain, it's a garden of pain but different every week. No file is the same. She wrote a different song every week. How? I barely compose a piece for my final projects every semester, let alone every week. I need to know this girl. I need to know where this comes from, where it stems from, what happens to her every week that creates such a work of art?

The door opens and my hopes rise thinking she's behind me. I turn and instantly feel hopeless. It's tori.

"Hey Colton sorry I'm late, some goth-chick blocked my way into the building." Tori says in a disgusted tone.

My hope rises again. "Remi?"

"I don't know, but she's crazy for wearing butch-boots on the hottest day of September." She spats.

It was her. She was wearing a black hoodie like a dress with biker boots. The way just her legs showed gave me a sensation of curiosity to know what the rest of her body looked like. It was nice, a freshness to the typical girls on this campus that leave little to the imagination.

I think back to her face. Her hair was dark but brown with a slight wave to it. It looked like she put no effort into it, besides putting half of it up in a bun. Her cheeks had a natural glow that needed no covering, I could tell she wasn't wearing any makeup. She didn't have that crumbly look on her face that a lot of girls get when they wear makeup. I'm always afraid to touch their faces without getting it on me. My nose crinkles at the thought.

But those eyes. She looked at me for a split second like she knew me. I would have remembered those eyes. They were brown but had a green ring around the center pupil. I've never noticed a girls eyes before looking into hers.

"Earth to Colton!" Tori yells.

"What?" I respond robotically.

"Can we start practicing? We need this to be perfect by finals week."

As if I didn't know. This was my final semester and my senior seminar was focused on composing and performing my own song. I decided on a piano duet. Something different and refreshing that I figured would give me creative points.

I asked Tori because she has been playing since she was 10 years old. You would never have guessed that from her appearance. Most would say she's a "dumb blonde" but she's technically sound. I met her freshman year during activities week trying to sign up for soccer inter-murals. I was asked by my coach to oversee it while he was out of town that day. Waste of time, but I think I'm slightly favored by him for doing it. Tori tried coming on hard that night after we exchanged numbers. But I had no need to take advantage of her after ten hours of knowing her. I'm not that shitty. She of course took it offensive and has had a grudge on me since. I've tried multiple times to apologize and go on an actual date but that ship has sailed. I do enjoy staring at her ass time-to-time through her tights, spanks, whatever the fuck they're called. Again, giving little to the imagination.

"Whoa, have you been writing all these?" Tori asks looking at the music files I was just playing.

I rip the USB drive out instantly. "Uh, no. These are just samples that my professor gave me to uh, inspire me." Does that make sense? I hope she believed that.

"Ok whatever." She says carelessly.

That was close, I don't want Tori hearing what I heard. The music felt so personal and heartfelt that I selfishly wanted to be the only one to hear it. I have got to find this Remi girl.

I slide the purple USB in my backpack and exchange it with my own to start practicing. I open it up and upload my latest file titled, Awaken.