Keep Your Demons Closer

one

A M E L I A

The girl sat with her back to the world.

Dark, exhausted notes dragged out from the grand piano and bounced off the high oak walls.

Dainty fingers danced across the keys with the strength and surety of a professional.

At only eighteen, Amelia was a prodigy.

Her father's guest sat at an oval table behind her, slanted eyes focused on the petite girl sat at the piano in the corner of the office.

Like most who watched her play, he was mesmerised.

Ammi's thick brown hair swayed behind her back as she leaned her head back to the music. Her eyes stayed shut, long lashes dancing over rosy cheeks. She had the smallest smile on her face, and while she seemed completely focused, her mind was elsewhere.

Her daydreams were filled with blanket forts in candle lit rooms and her mother's arms around her. Her father's deep laughter rumbling through the warm room as he softly spoke to her grandmother on the phone.

The notes grew lighter as her heart did, twirling higher and higher as images of shared hot drinks and late nights filled her mind. Her joy stuttered through the music and with every thought, the nostalgia grew louder.

She let herself exhale all her sorrow into the last couple notes. Quick, light notes transforming into a lower melody filled with longing and grief.

Then it ended, the last note hanging thickly in the air with a final flourish of emotion.

Amelia opened her eyes and smiled. A weight seemed to seep out of her body every time she played.

Swiftly, she turned to face the men behind her.

Her father's face was how it always was after she performed; eyes bright with pride and arms extended for a congratulating hug.

She skipped forward, the warm smile she kept only for him brightening up her features.

"Flawless," he exclaimed, his dimple prominent even behind his heavy brown beard. "You get better every day."

"Amelia, you- that... it was absolutely beautiful."

Ammi glanced at the dark skin man with a bashful smile. "Thank you, sir."

"No, thank you. Your skill in unlike anything I have ever seen."

The man smiled down at her with kind eyes and she beamed back at him.

"Okay, run along now," it was her father who spoke, he playfully pushed her in the direction of the door. "I'll be with you in a half hour."

"Alright," she replied. "It was nice meeting you, Mr..."

"Angelus."

"Right, Mr Angelus."

Then she left.

***

Half an hour later, her father was knocking on the door of the library she had claimed as her own.

"Come in," came her soft reply.

"There you are, sunshine. Thank you for agreeing to play for my company."

"I always do," she teased, glancing up at his shadowy form from behind her book. The room was beginning to darken, early evening settling in outside the stained glass windows.

"I wanted to speak to you." His tone dropped, indicating that this was a serious topic.

Ammi closed her book and leaned toward him in interest. "Yes?"

"Remember a month ago when your Uncle Abram called?" She nodded for him to continue. "Well, he had offered to enroll you in a school near him so you could start again, in a sense."

Ammi remained quiet for a moment, mind racing to catch up with the new information being thrown at her.

"He called again today. You got accepted."

Silence dragged through the library for a minute.

"And if I don't want to go?" she asked, though she knew what the answer would be.

"Then you don't go."

"And if I wish for you to come with me?"

"Then I come with you."

"But it's expected of me to go alone."

"It is."

She took a moment to collect her thoughts again.

"Okay."

"Okay." her father replied, nodding his head as if to convince himself that it'll be alright.

"Okay."

He removed his suit jacket and slid down on the floor next to her. "We'll be fine."

"We will."