Amidst The Dissonance

Texting

"Kaede?"

The pianist lifted her head up from her pillow. Her eyes were brimmed with small tears, and her hands were clenched into fists on her grey blanket. She let out a shaky sigh and brushed the tears away with her sleeve.

"Kaede?" the voice again. A soft knock on the door. "Is everything alright? You haven't come out of your room for a few hours."

She sat up and scooted towards the edge of her bed, rubbing her eyes again. "Yeah, everything is okay."

"Are you sure? You were quiet during the car ride. You haven't even touched the piano today."

Kaede let out a shaky laugh, followed by a light hiccup. "You know me well."

There was silence on the other end for a second. "Can I come in?"

Kaede sighed. She wanted to either go back to sleep or at the very least text someone. "Mhm."

The door slowly opened. Her mother poked her head out into the doorway. She gazed around Kaede's room, analyzing the dark space and the light from outside peering through the blinds. "It's rather dark in here."

"Yeah, sorry." Kaede mumbled. She moved towards the back of the room and flipped a switch embedded into her grey walls. The dull light on the ceiling flashed on, illuminating the entire room and bringing Kaede's face into view.

Her mother stepped into the room and slowly shut the door behind her. "Bad day?"

Kaede sat on her bed again and nodded. Failed math test, overbearing Creative Writing Project, the Kokichi incident, the conversation she overheard about the Music Department. Not to mention she didn't get to talk to Shuichi at all that day. He had seemed less interactive than usual, up until that awkward encounter during the afternoon. She wondered if he was still embarrassed about that, upset even. She had left him behind with Miu, Himiko, and Kokichi after all. She had to make sure to apologize for it when she texted him; she didn't want to seem like a complete ass in his eyes.

"Kaede?" her mother's smooth, yet tired voice brought her back to Earth. It seemed like today was energy-draining for everyone. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Kaede shrugged. If she opened her mouth to say anything, she was certain she'd cry.

Her mother frowned and approached her gently. "I need a verbal response, Kaede."

Of course.

The pianist swallowed nervously. "I'm okay. I-it's just been an awful day, and all the stress of this week is finally catching up to me."

Her mother flashed a sympathetic smile. "I feel you. The hospital's been a bit more stressful for me lately. They've been wanting me on call for the past two days. Gotta learn how to start saying no, otherwise I'll fall ill from sleep deprivation at this rate."

Kaede laughed, only for a brief second. "I could never be a nurse. I'd get fired eventually for denying requests all the time."

Her mother chuckled and sat next to her on the bed. She extended her hand out slowly and cupped the pianist's cheek. Kaede stared into her eyes and leaned into her mother's hand, humming quietly as her thumb brushed up against her cheek. A few minutes of silence went by as they sat there, gently listening to the eerie sound of silence. Kaede's head swirled with a mixture of emotions. Comfort, sadness, anger, frustration, exhaustion...emotions were weird. Very weird.

Her mother was the first to break the silence. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Kaede lifted her head up, slowly peeling her mother's hand away from her cheek. "Hm?"