Hot tears race down my chilled cheeks leaving tracks through the makeup I applied only moments ago. I let them fall. I just couldn't suppress it this time. I descended the stairs as fast as my feet could take me and fumbled into my backpack straps. Snatching the keys from their hook by the door I used my other wrist to wipe away the wet lines on my face. I wrenched open the door and stumbled into the fresh morning air with a stifled cry that emanated from deep within my chest hiding behind my lips as I clenched them together. I jammed my thumb into the button on my remote to unlock the doors and threw my backpack into the back seat. I then slid into the front seat and after shoving the key into the ignition clamped my hands on the steering wheel. I couldn't do this anymore. My heart could barely beat as it was and this was just making it worse. I pictured his face, smiling, and my gut twisted as if there were a beast inside attempting to escape. It felt like someone had forced a knife into me and left it in to rot. I swiftly brought my left hand to my stomach and choked back a sob. The tears were fading and now my eyes just clung to the moisture that threatened to fall but wouldn't. After twenty minutes of attempting not to let the gas pedal hit the floor I was at school. I pulled in and took a few deep breaths as I tried, with all the strength I could muster, to compose myself. I retrieved my backpack from the back seat and with every step pretended I couldn't see his face or feel the searing pain that attacked my heart with every mental image. I reached the chorus room and wrapped my fingers around the large metal handle before I could collapse.
I suddenly felt as if I were moving through a substance so tangible that it caused each step to become more and more difficult to take. As I moved across the room the stagnant air around me made breathing almost impossible. I slumped into my seat and sagged forward, my forehead resting on my knees. I didn't have to pretend I was okay in here, my safe haven. I was so absorbed in my personal he** that I didn't notice him playing the piano until the sweet melody drifted in and out of the semi conscious state I was trapped in. slender and graceful his fingers graced the keys ever so slightly as they whispered a tune into the lifeless air making it breathe again. The tears streamed down my cheeks again fresh and obvious but I didn't care. His fingers gently fluttered over a run that made my heart tighten. I watched his fingers skip from note to note stumbling into each other in a dance that I would never fully understand. They skated on the white keys and jumped onto the black like they knew me. I realized that my cheeks were dry by the time he finished. "Everything happens for a reason" he sighed as his pale hands slipped the wooden cover down over the keys. And even though I didn't know him, I didn't care because he was right. He was right.