Double Masks of Despair and Madness
His fingers danced across the keys, the minor mode with diminished accents he was playing in betraying his mood. With hands whiter even than the bone ivory of the keys he expressed himself as not many can, endlessly and hopelessly composing, waiting for the one voice worthy of himself and his music.
Slowly he stopped, even his mania exhausted in the face of the terrible depression settling over his body. The only sound present in the subterranean cavern he called home was his heart-rending, loss-filled sighs. Even more slowly, he got up and removed himself from the organ that until lately had been the sole comfort in his despair. Until the girl. That girl, with the voice of an angel and the body of a goddess. She had plagued his thoughts, both waking and dreaming.
She was naught but a chorus girl but had the potential for so much more. If only he could… but no. She would not allow tutelage by some man from the depths who could not show his face. It was hopeless; in his wildest dreams she could never love him, never trust him. A tear trickled down his cheek, irritating his scarred flesh.
Then he grew angry, in an extreme turnaround characteristic of his personality. He screamed soundlessly, slamming a strong arm into the damp brick wall. He must find a way to get to her! To touch her but once, her perfect skin and porcelain features would assuage his madness, as mere glances could not. He rushed to the passage that led to the beauty's dressing room. He trembled however, in his madness, that he could not triggered the switch to reveal the opening.
He collapsed, sobbing, slamming his head back onto the wall. The impact relieved him of his consciousness momentarily. Awakening to a pounding head and still aching heart, he stayed motionless in the position he had fallen, the only sign of life his shuddering chest.