A Paw Behind You

Next Day...

"A-are you okay, Sky?"

My head felt like slumping and smashing onto the glass table from my raised arm when Zain beside me questioned my wellbeing. And I didn't felt the enough energy to even respond to him anymore... 

Remember when I said I couldn't sleep before? Yeah, seems like I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night until four hours after midnight (Goodness, brain...). The disbelief when I saw the sun shining onto my face... my blackened-ringed, bloodshot eyes are evident of what has became of me now.

And as if my lack of sleep wasn't as clear as day, how was I supposed to survive the rest of the school day? This place should seriously get some coffee for people like me in the mornings.

Speaking of the morning, while I was attempting to save myself from collapsing, Zain got some refrigerated apples from the tall rectangular fridge near the countertops to munch on. Incredibly loudly, to add that fact. And honestly, it oddly triggered my brain into hating every single fibre of him. 

"I... need... sleep..." I mumbled.

And before long, my everything caved, and I ended up sliding onto the table. From the nice, cold table, my eyes felt droopy and...

Zzz...Zzz...

~~~~~~~~~~

C... D... E... F... G... A... B...

The resonance of a note... The thumping sound of a pressed piano key...

*DING*

"You hear this, dear? It's a C!"

I sat, mesmerized from the mysterious instrument in front, producing a soft sound my mum called the C note. Her white paw finger pressed at the middle white key...

"And when you go higher, it becomes a D." She spoke, a note of a different pitch resounding from the box-like mechanism. And little pup me, was just...

"Wow, mum, how do you do it!?" 

"Well, a Pawtalian musician invented this thing you call the piano," she had gotten up while sweeping the imaginary dust off the dark-wood surface above.

"So... he made this?" I asked sillily.

"Haha, no, of course not! If it was, we would be living in the biggest house of the land here by now!" She laughed.

Now that I noticed, it felt like forever since I could remember her face clearly again. Her silvery-white fur, her soft empathetic voice, her signature flowery-green blouse... 

How long was it since I heard her speak... one year? two years? Has it been that long since the burial?

Suddenly, my shorter hind legs started motioning, contracting and pushing me up from the seat, and I scooted to the side, while my late mother sat back down and at the middle of the jet-black cushioned bench. 

"Let's try a piece... maybe... this one!" Instantly, her paws went digging into a worn-down discolored file that magically appeared in her grasp somehow, someway. And after a while, out appeared was a few sheets of yellowed paper she placed on the sheet shelf board, prepping her fingers and taking a big breath...

And one pressed finger became two... three... a melody, a harmony... a stream of played musical notes sounded the empty, bright-lit surroundings of endless grounds. And since who-knows-how-long, I felt at peace when 'The Nutcracker Suite' was played. Slowly into it, major keys became minor, and later, major again...

But suddenly, the once bright, serene background darkened to a vignette-like darkness. The sounds of a joyful pianist drowning out to leave me alone without a sound, and my once cheerful mother disappeared into a wisp of nothing. The lid had already shut itself down, closing off the once glossy keys within.