The night was cool, the stars and the moon made her skin glow a faint silver as she trudged along the path to her house, her hell. She wishes that she could just stay in the music room forever.
A resonating thump was heard throughout the whole street, she turns on the heels of her blue high-tops; she faces the dumpsters and puts her right arm up defensively. A cat jumps out of the dumpster and meows. She puts her arm down and chuckles, she crouches down to rub the small grey kitten, who purrs.
She looks at her ipod, I suppose it's time to go back. She sighs, and gets up and continues on her way, her blue headset bouncing against her collar, glowing in the middle is a faint red symbol. Drowning out the sound of thumping sounds following her
She looks up at the little grey house and slumps, she hears a meow and looks to her side surprised to see the little grey kitten meowing while staying at her side. She smiles softly, "Hey pretty girl," she quickly looks through the window, "I suppose what they don't know can't hurt them." She gently picks up the tiny kitten and tucks it into the side pocket of her blue flannel shirt. She fixes the strap of her black book bag and hesitantly opens the brown door. She sneaks in and takes off her shoes before quietly walking to her room. She had just put her book bag down when she heard her mother.
"Tacet! Get your slutty ass down here!"
Shit. She quickly sets the kitten in her laundry basket and turns on a nightlight for a soft white glow. The one day she chooses to acknowledge my existence. She quickly closes the wooden slide and quickly treads to the upstairs. She sees her mother with her hands on her hips glaring at her.
"Yes Ma'am?" Tacet murmurs quietly.
"What is this!?" She looks to where her mother is pointing it's a dirty plate on the counter.
"I don't know, I just got home. It's not min-"a slap to her cheek interrupts her sentence.
"I don't care who's it is! Clean it up!" She slowly walks to the counter and grabs the plate, oh how she's tempted the break it and shove it down that god awful woman's throat. Tacet's eyes widen, what the hell? She never thinks like that, she doesn't want to be violent like her family. A hit to the head sends her to her knees.
"Don't just stand there you whore! This is all because of that damn music you listen to!" Her mother glares turn toward the headset around her neck. "Get up!"
Tacet does that she puts the dish in the washer and closes it she turns only to have something cutting of her breath. Her mother was choking her with the cord from the headphones, she falls on her knees while griping the cord on her throat. Her lungs were burning as her mouth moved with nothing coming out, or in. Suddenly the pressure was released and she gasped for air. "That should be enough punishment, now out of my sight." She all but sprints down to her room, she pass her older sister, Margaret, who is snickering at the angry red ring around her neck. She rushes to her room and puts her back against the edge of the door. Don't worry we'll get her back later. Again?! Why is she thinking like this, she starts shaking while silent tears go down her cheeks, why can't the world leave me be?
The closet door start to tremble as a shadow sneaks out, she watches calmly and gives a low chuckle as the small kitten worms its way onto her chest and licks her cheeks. She runs her fingers through its fur as it softly purrs. She holds it tightly as she stands up and makes her way to bed after locking her door. She glances at the words she painted onto the wall, Music isn't in the notes, but the silence between. Silent music, the words seemed to bounce around her head for a while as she held the little kitten.
She sets the tiny kitten down on the small pillow and lays down next to it after changing into a hoodie and shorts. The kitten yawns and curls up closer to Tacet's collar as they both listen to soft piano music that lulls them to sleep.
Tacet wakes up the early next day, and sits on her knees while staring at the kitten who mirrors her staring at her ice blues eyes with gold eyes. What do I call her? I want it to be different… She stares as the small furry creature lays down stalking her music sheets that had spilled from her bag, Notes, beats, lyrics. "Kylric." Tacet calls out softly. The kitten purrs and turns to her tilting its head. It jumps up putting a small dent in the bed as it worms and snuggles into the pocket of her discarded hoodie. The newly named Kylric mewls and uses her paw to bring her hand closer to it to lick it. She lets out another little chuckle, she gets up to put on her clothes and get ready for school. She finally pulls on a black tank top and a red flannel over it, she pulls on her black bleached jeans and her high-tops. She finally gently removes her book bag from under the tiny kitten.
She puts it on her shoulder, before she leaves the room she fixes her headphones on her neck, oh, that's right. She quickly grabs a white scarf with music notes and fixes it beneath her headset. That should cover it. She turns to Kylric, and quickly shuffled through her bag and took out some chicken in a bag, "I found this in the fridge." She crouched down and fed the kitten "Be good and stay out of sight, okay?" Kylric look at her with her gold eyes and padded over to the closet settling in the laundry basket as if understanding what Tacet said. "I'll be back around at six-thirtyish." The small cat blinked and cuddled deeper going into the same pocket of the blue and grey hoodie it seemed to have claimed.
Tacet gently closed and locked her door with the key and put it back into the front zipper of her bag, she padded up the back stairs to the back door and was out by the time her family woke up at seven.
Tacet treaded down the street to her school, she put on her headset and plug them in, immediately they lit up in a soft red as they played music. She kept walking and made it to the school, she slipped through the office and made her way to the music room, she got to the door and took off her headphones and unlocked the door and walked to her practice room, as soon as she was in she smiled, her shoulders straightened as she set bag down and sat at the keyboard, she plugged in her headset and put them on, she set the alarm for nine-twenty, her first class, and began to play. She worked on her music box melody, she thought and decided she like it and recorded it for Kylric and her to enjoy later that night.
The alarm sounded all too soon, the smile faded and she packed her things, she got the recording done at least, she left the room and gave a small wave to the choir teacher and made her way to her math class.
Finally school ended, she had used her midday study hall to sneak in her house and feed Kylric. Who still was in her hoodie, she was grateful that her sister had a college class that day. Now she went back to her keyboard to play for a bit, she would cut it a little early to go to see how Kylric was settling in and to make sure she wasn't hungry or thirsty. Since no one else was here she could work on lyrics and harmonies out loud and not worry about disturbing anyone else's studies.
"Mm, hmm, mm." she hummed as she wrote down the melodies for her next music box, it was going to be fun to listen to them with Kylric. She grinned as she imagined a future she dreamed of writing songs with little Kylric in her own apartment while going to college far away. It was so strange how in one night and a day Kylric suddenly became her world and wormed its way into her future. However Tacet couldn't imangine life without the tiny kitten. She quietly giggled as she thought of giving Kylric a small scarf as a collar. She was interrupted from her thoughts by the soft click of the door opening.
"Tacet?" It was her music teacher, Miss Brookes, her mentor
"Yes Miss Brookes?" She looks at the older female.
"I know it's only five-thirty but, I need you to leave." What? Tacet looks at her with sad and confused eyes. "It's not like that dear," She sits on the other side of Tacet. "There's a confidential staff meeting of music teachers and I'm afraid that instead of work they'll listen to you instead of getting work done." Miss Brookes blushes and laughs. "I'm guilty of bragging about you a little too often!" Tacet smiles and nods. She hugs her mentor and grabs her bag waving as she walks out the side door.
She puts on her recording as she walks to make sure their perfect for Kylric. She reaches home way to fast. She goes around and opens the door and enters only to have her pulled in by her scarf and a tight grip on her dark brown ponytail.
"Hello, friend." Tacet flinches and shuts her eyes at her older sister's dark tone. "How's my favorite fifteen year old sister?" Margaret tightens her grip on Tacet's hair.
She stays silent, she knows her sister doesn't want an answer. It's a rhetorical answer. "Really? That bad, aww. Well, since you asked so kindly, I'll tell how my day went. Horrible, do you know how many people asked how you were after their younger siblings at the high school kept talking about your disgusting music?" Tacet shook her head as best as she could. She was thrown to the floor and her hand was crushed. She cried out as she heard cracks from her palm.
"Does that hurt? No? Well at least you can't make peoples ears bleed with that dumb music but then there is your voice… I'll save that. My day is already looking up!" Margaret giggled and clapped her hands. She sneered at Tacet. "Now leave."
Tacet didn't need another word. She crawled to her feet and sprinted down the stairs while cradling her broken hand.
She ran into her room and locked the door she dropped her bag and tried to sing while silently sobbing.
Silence is the best music, it's loud yet not enough to hurt
It can take so much away, yet leave everything behind
It speaks volumes without a single word said
It speaks everything you need to hear
"Just listen to me dear,
And everything will be just fine"
Kylric pops her head out of the laundry basket and looks at her distressed mistress before quietly skipping to her human and licking the salt of her chin and purring loudly at the eerily beautiful song. Tacet looks down and smiles at her grey fur ball of happiness. She repeats last night and picks her up and looks at the words on the wall.
They have supper in her room after she snuck out and bought some cat food for little Kylric. The duo sat and listened to the music box Tacet had recorded that morning and her older ones while the kitten stayed cuddled against her neck on her shoulder while Tacet sat against the wall of her room. Finally it hit midnight and the two fell asleep with the headset on and playing soft music through the dimly lit room that shone silver with the stars and red with pretty music.
It was almost one in the morning the stars blinked as if to warn the two as the harsh click of a lock bounced across the now silent room. Kylric shot up and quickly pawed her mistress as a shadowy figure emerged from the white doorway. Kylric remembered her human's warning and continued to try to wake her mistress from under the bed. It was too late though, Tacet was awake but the figure had covered her eyes and was working a knife through both Tacet's wrists, she cried out and got her right eye free for it to be covered again with red as her stomach was slit. She screamed and tried to wipe her eye and fight her attacker. It didn't seem to faze them as they wrapped the headset cord around her neck over the scarf and tightened it drastically. The attacked flailed as Kylric launched at them with her claws. The figure swatted her away as Kylric cried on the floor her paws flailing on the ground. Her back leg was bleeding from a cut on her thigh. The grip tightened as the attacker spoke.
"What's the damn cat?" Tacet froze and her eyes shut as she realized who came to kill her.
But then there is your voice… I'll save that. My day is already looking up!
Oh, god she hurt Kylric and she's gonna kill me. It's time for that payback. What? Tacet blacked out suddenly.
She came back to realize she was alive and standing covered in crimson liquid, but she was watching her body as she sat on the floor with Kylric. She felt as she rejoined her body and sank to her knees. She automatically crawled to her sister after looking at the wall. Her warm breath on the dying girl's ear. Kylric settled on her shoulder glaring at the culprit as Tacet whispered they last words everyone in her family would hear her say.
"Ah, I can hear your heartbeat. The beautiful music of silence." Tacet's right eye started turning red as the symbol on her headset glowed red and changed a circle with a x going through the middle. She swiftly carved an eight music note into her sister's wrist and craved the symbol on her headset into her wrist following the slits lead. She grinned to Kylric. She tied a blue scarf to her kitten's neck and tied to black scarfs across her wrists. She burst out laughing and started singing her song from before, loudly and eerily as she worked her way upstairs into her parents' bedroom.
Tacet means silent, now I'm Tacet Mysikati, silent music box.
Don't you wish you would of listened to this piano's breaking strings sooner?
(The Damn News Report)
Earlier this morning the Sanderson family was found murdered in their home their hearts stabbed with a knife through the back and their stomachs slit. Three victims are shown in the brutal attack, Mary and Thomas, husband and wife, and Margaret, their twenty-two year old daughter. New evidence shows that a music note was craved into the wrist of each of the victims right wrists, it is also said there was no blood at any of the scenes except a message on the wall of the room the youngest female was found. I can hear you heartbeat, the beautiful music of silence. There is no evidence of any other member living in the home except a sheet of music with nothing written but a name at the top, Tacet Mysikati.