Love Like Oxygen

A Hope to Be Forgotten or Remembered?

Lea's POV

I was always a coward.

I severed the ties to my past and ran away. Far enough so not one single person from my history could find me. Escaping wasn’t my best choice, but it was the only decision when my own family was tearing apart and there was no one who would nurture me. Not even a single pair of eyes would be kept to look after me and just for once, I wanted to feel like a child again.

I wanted to know how it felt like to have a mother tuck you in at night and plant a kiss on your head before saying goodnight. To have a father who would keep an eye on you to make sure you weren’t interacting with boys. Or a sibling who you’d always argue with in the most foolish times. And especially, I wanted to feel loved.

But when I turned my cheek to the other direction, I thought, that I didn’t need love. When the entire world turns their back on you, you’d always have yourself. Too bad, my internal grief had caused me to think other things as well. I was afraid that I too, was turning my own back on myself.

♠

The enchanting sound of music flooded the empty theatre. The song was slow, with every noise of the piano keys making my heart beat in an intense pace. I felt the sorrow of the melody slowly seep into me, surging through my blood and veins.

“There’s a song that inside of my soul,” I sang in a light voice. With every touch of each and every single piano key, I felt a sudden spark of emotion stirring in me. It was like the resonance of a song spoke to my soul in an uninvited way. “It’s the one that I’ve tried to write over and over again.”

“So I lay my head back down, and I lift my hands and pray to be only yours.” The song somehow connected with me, perfectly but unsteadily. It reminded me of my family, and how I wanted them to care for me. My fingers swiftly danced over the keyboard, my movements tentative. “I pray to be only yours, I know now. You’re my only hope.”

That last line caught me off guard, causing the palms of my hand to collapse onto a cluster of keys. The sound of loud piano noises drowned me inside the theatre and I couldn’t help but cover my ears at the crashing noise.

I screwed up because I was being incredibly sentimental. My only hope, I thought. I shook my head, thinking there’s no possible way such a song can keep my hopes up. After all, there was no one I had. No one.

I frowned.

I hated that feeling of loneliness. It was something I had to endure as my daily life, but that feeling continued to grow inside my heart, daring to escape me. I didn’t have a lot of friends, not even fake friends. I didn’t even have a family to begin with.

It was disappointing, to have to deal with everything by yourself and bear it all.

“It seems your skills are improving, Lea.” The sound of my piano instructor’s voice rang out from below the stage, slicing clean my thoughts. The entire ballroom was empty, but she made her way up to the stage anyways, ignoring the echoing footsteps she made with her heels against the hardwood floor.

I straightened my sitting posture and forced a content mood. “Thanks, Miss Charlice. But I don’t think I am at all,” I muttered, keeping a straight face.

Her rich blonde hair was held up in an elegant bun, leaving not even an inch of hair hanging out. It revealed her perfect face—clear cerulean eyes, flawless white skin like porcelain, along with a bridged nose. When it came to appearance, Miss Charlice was the expert. She was one to dress fashionably and do her hair the most stylishly. She was in her mid-thirties, but it looked as if she were in her late-twenties.