Calum stayed silent for a while. "I'm in a band, but we don't have problems like that." He says. I crack my knuckles and get up.
"We actually aren't still together. We split up almost immediately after Marina died..." I say as I walk over the the far right side of the room. There was a jet black grand piano with dusty keys. I blow a layer of dust of the keys and the bench seat. Once I sat I felt a sense of home. I closed my eyes slowly and laid my fingers atop the keys. Before my brain could even process it all the way though, my fingers began moving. I hadn't realized until half of way through the song that this was House of the Rising Sun. This was the last song Crystalline had played together before our tragic end. I felt like an ice cube had dropped into the pit of my stomach. Harsh memories were thrown through my mind. The bullet hole in Marinas forehead. Marinas last words. Positive he followed me. The ringing in my ears from that shot. Valerie and Klara's violent sobs over Marinas body. All these terrible things hit me at once. I pull my hands back from the piano immediately and push off from the bench. I run as fast as I can out the doors of the music room and up the stairs. At the end of the hallway I look up and pull down the ladder to the attic. Quickly, I climb them. The attic smells of old books and pine cones. I duck so that I don't hit my head on the low ceiling as I walk toward the window on the far wall. I sit down and think. It was here, this very spot where all our troubles began...
* * FLASHBACK * *
The four of us sat in the old attic of my new house, looking out the window. Klara was tapping her feet and Marina was humming along to a song stuck her in head. Everything had an awkward feeling to it. Suddenly, Valerie's head shot up. "You know what we should do guys?" She says eagerly, "We should start a band." Valerie nods to herself slowly. Marina and Klara sigh simultaneously.
"We can't do that Val," Marina begins to explain. "We haven't the time to do anything. And plus, none of us can do anything instrumentally involved." Klara and I shoot her dangerous glares.
"Hey, speak for yourself." I mutter. "Oh c'mon Mar, you a pretty good singer. Val could probably be the drummer. And Klara and I can play guitar. The switch to bass wouldn't be too hard." Valerie, Klara, and I stare at Marina with pleading eyes.
"Ugh." Marina expresses. "Fine. But if it all goes down in flames I'm blaming you guys..."
There were footsteps sounding through the house. I cowered back into the tight corner of the attic once more. My head rested in between my knees as the nausea swept over me. The ladder creaked and so did the floorboards when whoever was there reached the top. After hitting their head on the low ceiling, they came and sat across from me. "Are you okay?" This voice belonged to my mother who had apparently just got home. I shake my head so many times I become dizzy. Of course I'm not okay. I try to stand but end up having to lean against the dust covered wall. I trudge over to the ladder and climb down, falling off the last two steps of it and landing on my back. I don't get back up. I just curl up into a tight ball and try to sleep. My mother is shaking me and trying to get me up. But I don't move an inch. I lay there. And the world around me darkens...
.
.
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The picture above is a picture of Crystalline. From the left, Valerie, Klara, Marina, and then Wednesday. This is all coming along very slowly I know but it will pick up. I promise.
-liv
