pass out. He had to get help, but his body only wanted to get home.
Bersti made it home, but not a step passed the front door of the building. He collapsed and sat against the glass door. Where were all the people… he’d even take one of those bastard guards right now. His mind flashed back to a film he had scene; horses were all lined up on a track. A thousand people sat cheering from stands, all dressed in generations old clothing. A race track for horses, how absurd he though.
And as the race was about to begin, the small men all readying their positions on their individual steeds, Bersti’s mind went blank and the memory faded.
Kal
There she stood on the corner of a street in sector two. She was late to her violin lesson but she didn’t feel she needed to rush. She just stood there and starred upwards with her eyes shut as a cool breeze swept through the city. Today was a nice day and she simply wanted to enjoy being outside.
Kal was 16 years old, fresh out of school but her parents weren’t willing to let her leave home for a few more years. She decided she’d be on her way when she noticed a guard looking her way, best not draw too much attention. As she made her way the two blocks to her instructor she felt the wind swirl through an intersection.
It lifted her hair from her face and she felt calm drift through her and finally she’d arrived. She took twenty-four steps from the front door to the room where her instructor was waiting. She did that to help her memorize each of the twenty-four individual notes on her violin.
Her instructor sat there, an impatient look on his face. The room was lined wall to wall with musical literature. Whether it is compositions by Bach, or simple starter melodies, he had it all. All kinds of string instruments hung from hooks and sat in stands throughout the room; guitars and violins and basses all kept in mint condition.
“What kept you Kal?” Her instructor asked and waited patiently for her response. He looked slightly concerned, but he knew the answer she was about to give him wouldn’t be the truth.
“One of the city guards stopped me on my way here to search my violin case.” She lifted it from her hip, gesturing the case towards the question. The instructor gently nodded the question away and tossed her a knowing glance.
`“Today is Chaconne Kal.” He pushed himself from behind his desk. The man sat in a wheel chair and sat sheet music on a stand a few feet from his desk. Kal sat her case on a table unlatching it and pulling out her beautifully crafted violin. Made from black stained mahogany with ivory inlay designed to look as ivy were making its way up the neck.
She shouldered the instrument and glanced down at the sheet music and in a moment closed her eyes and began to play. The violin sang its emotional tones throughout the high ceilinged room, echoing back towards the girl who remained all but still as she made those strings sing such a wonderfully iced tone.
As she played Chaconne, her instructor sat with his eyes trained on the girl’s hands as they easily ran across the neck playing, a song he knew she had played for him over and over. She’d perfected it and she never knew the only reason he asked her to play this every once in a while was so that he could hear it in all its perfection, played by this girl a quarter of his age.
Each note had sounded just as he heard it for the first time, and as she reached the end of the fourteen minute masterpiece he closed his eyes and savored the last few notes.
“Perfect as always Kal…” He said softly as she laid her bow against the sheet music.
“Then why do you insist me playing this song if I’ve perfected it?” She questioned his motives. Again the simple answer to him was that he enjoyed listening, but he wasn’t about to admit the weakness he had for this girls playing.
“Warm ups, dear girl!” He smirked and wheeled himself over to a bookshelf pulling out a book. “I want you to have this, Kal.” He passed the book to Kal and turned himself away.
“What is this?” She asked and her instructor looked back at her and smiled.
“That’s a piece I wrote a few years ago, but I never got to enjoy it being played.” He looked up at the ceiling. “I want you to play it for me in three weeks.” He looked back down at his chair.
“That Kal, is your last lesson…” His voice teetered off a bit and his expression went somber and repeated his statement, “Your last lesson…” He rolled his way back to his desk. “Now, let’s start practice!’ He forced a smile up at her.
Kal stood at the music stand and placed the small book, opened to the first page, and began reading the first few bars to herself and started practicing the fingering of the notes slowly pressing her bow. She repeated the first dozen or so bars in this fashion for a few moments.
Then she pressed her bow firmly against the strings and began to play.
I had never heard something quite so… thought out, it was almost mathematically composed. It was soulless and dull. A terribly perfect composition, it was all so droll I could hear where each bar ended and the next began. This man may have been an excellent instructor, but he was a pitiful composer.
Never the less her instructor had a soft smile on his face, it was indeed as he wanted it to be and he sat their enjoying his overly thought out composition his mind seemed to drift into the music. At least that crippled old man was enjoying himself.
Kal continued playing, stopping only to read the next part of the composition and then continued the piece. Whenever she’d mess up a part she’d stop and repeat the last few lines of music to regain her pace. She repeated this process until the fifteenth sheet of music and then stopped and looked up at her instructor. He was still smiling, he finally got to hear his music played by someone with such talent and it made him happier than he’d been in a long while.
“Okay Kal, thank you and you’re dismissed for today.” He spoke softly and waved her towards the door.
“How did it sound?” She asked as she started packing her violin in its case.
“Perfect Kal, It’s exactly as I heard it when I was writing it.” He smirked softly with his statement.
“Good, I wouldn’t want to disappoint my mentor.” She spoke with a slight tone of sarcasm; I quite enjoyed that tone in her voice. She waved her teacher good bye and turned to leave for home. As she made her way out the building she counted the steps again in her head, but backwards this time. She clutched the music book against her side and made her way down the side walk, grey cars rolled by her but she hardly took notice.
As she walked she passed a pair of guards standing watch in front of the only bank in sector two and one of the men took notice of the young girl.
“Hey, Miss!” The man shouted after Kal but she simply kept her head straight and made her way around a corner. The man made his way to follow the young woman.
“Stop!” He shouted after her but the girl wouldn’t, she simply ignored his orders and continued on his way.
Kal repeated the notes to her teacher’s composition over and over in her head, softly moving her fingers against the cover of the book to mimic the note progression on the neck of the violin. Raised her eyes a moment and saw something strange, a cat sitting on the sidewalk staring across the street.
She stopped and looked at the cat for a moment, and then the cat turned and looked at her. Strange how that feline looked at her, its eyes were blank, No color and no whites and a sharp pain rang through the back of her head. She blinked and the pain dulled but she felt herself falling, what had hit her? Her body reacted on its own, gripping tight to her violin case as the music book slipped from her fingers and as she crumpled to the floor the world went dark and she lost consciousness.
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