Chapter 4:The Empty Portrait
956 Words
The silver tuning fork never left Kai’s mind.
That night, even the academy dormitory felt unfamiliar.
Outside his window, the campus glowed beneath rows of old lanterns, their warm light spilling across quiet pathways.
Somewhere in the distance, a piano was still being played.
Slow.
Lonely.
Beautiful.
Kai sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the ceiling.
Across the room, Noah spun lazily in his desk chair.
“You’ve been weird all day.”
Kai looked over.
“I’ve known you for one day,” Noah continued with a grin.
“…and somehow I already know you’re thinking too much.”
Kai chuckled faintly.
“Is it that obvious?”
“You’ve got the face of someone trying to solve a mystery nobody else noticed.”
Kai hesitated.
“That empty portrait…”
Noah’s smile faded.
“I knew you’d ask.”
“You said nobody talks about it.”
“They don’t.”
“Why?”
Noah leaned back, staring at the ceiling.
“My older sister graduated from St. Aurora six years ago.”
Kai waited.
“She once told me there used to be another portrait there.”
“What happened?”
“I asked.”
“And?”
“She told me…”
Noah swallowed.
“…never ask again.”
Silence settled over the room.
Noah wasn’t joking.
Kai could tell.
A knock interrupted them.
Three short taps.
Noah stood and opened the door.
A student council member waited outside.
“Twelve o’clock.”
He handed Noah a small black envelope.
“Don’t be late.”
Before Kai could ask anything, the student disappeared down the corridor.
Noah stared at the envelope.
Then sighed.
“I completely forgot.”
“What is it?”
“The Midnight Melody.”
“I thought that wasn’t until later this semester.”
Noah smiled.
“It isn’t.”
He turned the envelope over.
“This one isn’t official.”
Kai frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Noah looked at him.
“There are two Midnight Melodies.”
“The one teachers know about…”
“…and the one they pretend doesn’t exist.”
⸻
11:58 P.M.
The academy looked completely different after dark.
The cheerful campus had become strangely silent.
Moonlight stretched across empty courtyards.
Cherry blossom petals drifted lazily through the night air.
Kai followed Noah across the grounds without speaking.
They stopped outside the old Bell Tower.
No students.
No lights.
Nothing.
“You sure this is the place?”
Noah checked his watch.
“Wait.”
The clock struck midnight.
The final bell echoed across campus.
Then…
Click.
A hidden door beneath the Bell Tower slowly opened.
Kai stared.
“…You’ve got to be kidding.”
Students began appearing from every direction.
Some carried guitars.
Others violins.
A girl walked in with a cello almost as tall as she was.
Nobody spoke above a whisper.
They simply disappeared beneath the tower.
Kai followed.
A narrow staircase spiraled underground.
At the bottom waited a forgotten concert hall.
Dust covered the seats.
Old velvet curtains hung from the stage.
Yet dozens of candles illuminated the room with a soft golden glow.
“What is this place?” Kai whispered.
“The original concert hall.”
Noah smiled.
“It was abandoned decades ago.”
“But every generation of students brings it back to life.”
No judges.
No competitions.
No grades.
Only music.
Kai looked around.
For the first time since arriving…
He saw every rival laughing together.
Damien tuning another student’s violin.
Scarlett helping a first-year adjust a microphone.
Even Professor Hale’s strictest students smiled freely.
Music erased status.
For one night…
Everyone belonged.
Then the lights dimmed.
A hush fell over the hall.
Professor Adrian Hale stepped onto the stage.
Kai’s eyes widened.
“He knows?”
Noah nodded.
“He started this tradition years ago.”
Professor Hale looked older beneath the candlelight.
More tired.
He placed an aged leather notebook on the piano.
“I’ve been keeping this tradition alive…”
His voice echoed softly.
“…because music deserves one place where ambition cannot reach it.”
He looked around the room.
“Tonight, there are no winners.”
“No losers.”
“Only musicians.”
Warm applause followed.
Then his expression changed.
He slowly opened the notebook.
Inside…
Every page had been torn out.
The smile disappeared from his face.
The room fell silent.
Professor Hale flipped page after page.
Nothing.
Every composition.
Every memory.
Gone.
Someone had emptied the entire journal.
A cold breeze swept through the underground hall.
One candle flickered.
Then another.
Professor Hale whispered something so quietly that only Kai, standing near the stage, managed to hear it.
“…Not again.”
Again?
Before Kai could think further—
The old piano, untouched for years…
Played a single note.
By itself.
Everyone froze.
No one was sitting on the bench.
No hands touched the keys.
Just one haunting note…
Ringing through the abandoned hall.
Then another.
And another.
The melody was slow.
Broken.
Almost mournful.
Professor Hale’s face drained of color.
Several teachers rushed toward the piano.
The music stopped.
Silence returned.
One of the students pointed toward the stage curtain.
“There!”
A shadow slipped behind the fabric.
Kai ran.
He reached the curtain in seconds and pulled it aside.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
An old backstage corridor stretched into the distance.
Empty.
Except…
Resting on the dusty wooden floor…
Was a photograph.
Kai bent down and picked it up.
It showed five smiling teenagers standing on this very stage many years ago.
One face had been violently scratched away.
On the back, written in faded black ink, were six words.
“Some songs should stay buried forever.”
- Writer
