Adagio

Chapter 12

The next few days were torture. Coda didn’t eat or go to school, but the worst part he doesn’t look at the piano anymore. He simply writes on a piece of paper, only two options, Yes or No. He was like a living zombie and my heart kept crashing every time I wake up and see him look outside the windows of our living room. Almost as if he is waiting, waiting for something knowing well enough that is futile to wait, but still does so.

“Coda, come and eat your fruit,” I said.

He was reading a book on the sofa near the windows but his eyes kept glued on the outside.

He turned to me and shook his head.

“ You have to eat something,” I said kneeling on the floor next to him.

He ignored me.

I sighed and placed the bowl of fruit on the small coffee table next to him.

My cell phone rang.

Coda shifted looking at it with wide eyes.

I went to check the number.

“ It’s Lana.”

He looked down and shifted back into his seat.

“ Hey, Lana?” I said.

“ Hey darling, how is everything?” She said sounding worried.

“ Nothing has changed.”

“What? It’s been two weeks already!”

I sighed.

“ Two weeks huh?”

“ I’m sorry Iris.”

“ There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. It’s my fault.”

“ It is not!” She yelled.

I moved the earpiece away from my ear.

“ I have to go, I need to try and feed him something.”

“ Yeah sure, have you eaten at all?”

“ I can’t in a situation like this Lana.”

She sighed. “It's no use if you crumble too. You need to be strong.”

“ Yeah. Thanks for the call.”

“ Sure thing, love you!”

“ Love you too.”

I hung up.

When I went back to the living room, Coda was in the same position. He didn’t touch the fruit at all.

“ Coda, what did I say?” I sighed.

He looked up at me for a second, then focused on the book again.

I took a deep breath. “ Coda Blythe, what did I say?” I yelled.

His eyes went wide open and looked at me.

“ I’m your mother, if I say you need to eat, then you need to eat. Understood?”

He glared at me.

What’s this? It never happened before.

“ What’s with the attitude?” I said.

He stuck his tongue out to me.

I gasped. “ Coda! GO TO YOUr ROOM NOW!” I yelled.

He stared at me with eyes wide open.

I sucked in a breath, this was the first time I ever yelled to him like this.

He got up and ran to his room, slamming the door behind him.

I covered my face with my hands and slammed on the sofa.

“ What did I do?” I cried softly.

Without noticing, my eyes started to close and I was soon out cold.

I woke up startled. It was already late.

When I went to check on Coda, I stopped in my track.

His door was swung open. I ran to the kitchen, the front door was open as well.

“ CODA!!!!” I screamed.

The room twirled and I gasped for air.

I slammed on the floor, the last thing I remember is hitting my head and red spots blurred my vision.

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I could feel a soft hand on my cheeks and a voice calling me.

“ Ir-”

“ Iris.”

“ Iris.” My eyes jolted open, finding Jace’s concerned face in front of me.

What is he doing here?”

“ What-” My voice cracked. My throat was on fire.

He got up and went to the fridge.

“ Here.”

I drank some water and he helped me up.

Surging pain hit my head.

“ Ouch.”

He touched my head and I winced.

“ Nothing serious.” He sighed.

“ What happened?” I asked rubbing my head.

“ I should be the one asking you that.” He said concerned.

Suddenly, I remembered everything.

I screamed.

Jace’s eyes went wide and he held me in place.

“ What’s going on Iris?” He said squirming, trying to hold me still.

“ Coda-”

He pulled my shoulders and made my face him.

“ What happened to him?”

“ He ran away!” I said my eyes filling with tears.

“ What?” He gasped.

I got out of his grip and ran outside.

“ Coda! Coda!” I yelled.

Jace’s arms wrapped around me.

“ Calm down, we will find him.” He whispered in my ear.

“ It’s my fault, it’s my fault, I yelled at him.”

Jace squeezed me to him.

“ Calm down.” He kept whispering in my ear.

After I got tired of fighting him, he let me go and turned me to face him.

“ Tell me everything that happened.” He said looking straight into my eyes.

I couldn’t breathe, I kept gasping for air.

Suddenly he pulled me to him and kissed me.

He kept kissing me until my breath evened out.

“Iris, we will find your son. He couldn’t have gone far.”

I nodded, still somehow mesmerized at how he can calm me down with a simple kiss

“ I yelled at him. He wasn’t acting like himself and I yelled at him for not eating…. What did I do?” I slammed on the floor.

Jace caught me before I broke anything.

“ It’s a normal mother behaviour, Iris.”

“ No!”

I looked at him. “ Not for me.”

He sighed and nodded. “ Where do you think he would go?”

I shook my head violently.

Suddenly he grabbed my phone and dialled a number.

The other land picked up “ Ace get the hell out and find your son. He ran away from home.”

I couldn’t hear the other end.

“ She is with me….. No, she is broken…… Got it.” He hung up.

“ Ace will search the playground and the area. Where do you think he would go?”

I composed myself and closed my eyes.

Think Iris, think. You know your son.

My eyes jolted open.

“ The school.”

Jace nodded, grabbed my hand and ran to his car.

He sprinted to the school.

I wasn’t sure he was there, but this is the last place he felt like he meant something.

Like he wasn’t a mistake.

I had to bite my lips not to cry. If only I told him more times that he wasn’t a mistake.

Tears started to flow from my eyes. Jace grabbed my hand in his and squeezed.

“ We will find him, I promise.”

I shook my head. “ I wasn’t a good mother to him.”

Suddenly Jace stepped on the break, making the car squeal in response.

He put his hand on my cheeks and turned my face to him.

“ Iris. You are the most amazing person I have ever met. You are an amazing mother and your son knows it. You always showed him love, love like no other and kept him in this bubble of love and when he heard those words coming out of his long-awaited father, his bubble popped.”

I kept staring at him, my eyes wide.

“ What-”

He put his fingers on my mouth.

“ Let Ace mend his broken heart. You have done more than enough.”

I shook my head and moved his hand away.

“ A mother’s role is never enough,” I said determinedly.

Jace smiled. “ Show that determination and your son will understand.”

“ Are you sure about that?”

He smiled softly. “ I don’t know but I really think you should let Ace talk to him. He has been a wreck these past few weeks…. And so have I.”

His eyes fell down.

I sighed.

“ Let’s find him first.”

Jace nodded and grabbed the steering wheel again.

When we arrived, I didn’t even give him time to park, I sprinted outside the car.

Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks.

Jace soon came near me. “ What?”

I shushed him. I can hear it.

“ Listen.”

Soft piano notes moved with the wind.

“ This is Marcha funebre.”

“ What?”

I didn’t have time to explain, for him to play this song he is really, really heart broken. Running to the main hall, I saw Ace running my way.

“ Did you find him?” He yelled.

He stopped in front of me.

“ He’s in there.”

Ace looked at me, he was panting and sweating. His beard has grown out, making him look more mature than he is.

“ How do you know?”

“ He’s the one playing.”

Ace’s eyes went wide.

“ Let me go in first. Then if you are really ready, you can meet your son.”

Ace’s lips made a firm line and he nodded.

“ Ms Blythe?”

I turned to find the headmaster, blinking at our presence at this hour.

“ I’m so sorry Mr Rogers. I’ll explain later, but first, do you have a violin?”

He kept quiet for a moment then nodded. “ I’ll go fetch it.”

“ A violin?” Ace asked.

“ My son, can’t speak. The only way to make him talk is by music. And by music, I will talk to him.”

Ace kept staring at me.

The headmaster came running our way with a violin case in hand.

I thanked him and went into the hall, with all of them following my trail.

Coda stopped playing , but he didn’t notice us.

He was simply staring at the piano.

I took a deep breath and positioned the violin. I know a perfect song.

Sliding the bow, I started my sonata, my apology.

The first song we played together. I hope he can follow.

His eyes went wide and looked at me.

I played with all my anger and emotion, my anger at leaving my son in the dark but also for him leaving at such an hour.

He looked at me and sat on the stool. His hands slammed on the piano and began to respond.

I could feel his emotions. The pain and sorrow he is feeling but also the pity , pity for me.

He pitied me, for all that I been through to raise him. I responded with my feeling.

The feelings of happiness, when he first opened his eyes and when they put him in my arms the first time.

He wasn’t a mistake. He was what I needed.

Coda’s eyes started to water and he began to cry, but he never left the piano.

He kept responding to my emotions, with everything he has.

When we were arriving at the end, he began playing fast and almost clumsily.

As if he was scared, scared of everything ending. He wanted to know but at the same time, he was afraid.

He hit his last notes, with high notes, to show me his screams. I played my last phew notes softly and slowly, so he could hear them.

The most important notes, the notes which I say that I love him and I will always love him.

When I moved the bow away from the strings and let the violin rest at my side, I saw Coda running to me.

He had his hands in front of him, he was crying so hard that he had to keep his eyes closed and he was bawling like an infant.

I sighed and knelt down with my hands opened waiting for him.

He jumped on me, crying and screaming. I squeezed him to me and kissed his head.

“ Don’t ever do that to me again.”

Coda was screaming but he nodded.

I sighed and hugged him closer.

“ Sweetheart, you aren’t a mistake. You are the most amazing and wonderful thing that I have in my life, in fact, you are my life.”

He hugged me so tight, that I could choke.

When he was calm enough, I grabbed a tissue and wiped his sloppy face.

“ I’m sorry I yelled at you, but you have to eat.”

He shook his head and nodded.

“ Good boy.”

He grinned.

I turned and Ace was looking at me, he nodded.

He was finally ready. I pulled Coda up and moved closer to them.

Ace came forward. “Coda, this is your father.”

Coda looked at Ace, then he leaned forward and put his hands on Ace’s cheek.

“ I’m sorry for calling you a mistake.” Ace said looking down at his feet.

Coda’s small hands went under Ace’s chin and pulled his face upward.

Then Coda smiled softly. He looked like an angel.

I squeezed him to me.

Ace smiled and tears started to form in his eyes.

I put Coda into Ace’s arms.

Something in my squeezed. He wasn’t my little boy anymore. He can finally grow to be an amazing person.

Jace came closer and put his arms around me.

“ That was amazing.” He said kissing my forehead.