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513 Words
"Lyra, Lyra, wait! Hold on! What's the rush?" Regulus's laugh flittered across the wall, grating at my ears and caressing everyone else's.
Away—I need to get away now—
His Hands were gentle but firm beneath my arms as he steered me leftward, followed by a curt "Keep an eye on your charge, i***t"
"He's right about the i***t part."
Regulus chucked, and I felt like punching him. "Where are you going that's so important you can't wait for me?"
I was tempted to say it was none of his business, except it was. As my handler, he had an obligation to know what I do, when I do it, and how irresponsibly I do it.
So I settled for a crueler bow. "Somewhere you won't be coddled and doted on, so you could be as you were."
The second we left the Astronomy classroom, girls hounded Regulus, asking every sort of question from 'how was class?' to 'Are you going straight home after dismissal?' I was insignificant enough to escape that horde quickly, but he has this frightening tendency to latch onto me when I particularly want him gone.
He made a sound of incredulity and eased his grip on my arms. The bustling noises of our surroundings faded into a welcoming quiet, but it wasn't until my felt crossed the wood, not tiles, that I allowed my shoulder to deflate.
"I'll be outside," he released me in the center in the music room and strode off. I grunted in response.
There was no point lashing out at him for that; Regulus was the only one in the entire academy who bothered to think what I could do, what places I could navigate nearly precisely without help. I had stubbed my toes on so many of this instrument I was told I'd dented some, but I knew how to move here.
I inched onto the smooth bench before the pianoforte and folded back lid, placing my other hand on the keys beneath. My feet found the pedals almost out of reflex and straightened my back, the familiar two-three-two pattern of the black keys summoning the notes out of me.
As I dove into the piece, a cool breeze kissed my neck, I was floating at the surface of the water, far away as waves carried me to and fro, lower and higher. Here, I was alone; happy; safe.
My chest unfurled with each crescendo the ball of yarn inside my mind spreading out and becoming a neat line of sound and harmony by the time it reached my fingertips. Very few would care about something like this—it made things easier.
I brought the piece to its final abrupt melancholy chord.
When my fingers stilled, I heard a Heavy, labored breath beside the instrument, and knew Regulus had snuck in without my noticing. The Thought didn't sit well, but all discomfort I must have felt disappeared when he spoke in a hoarse voice,
"I'll find a way to heal your eyes and once you can see, try loving the stars"
- Writer
