Italisized passages are taken, without permission, from "Teardrop" by Massive Attack.
"You handle, Elli, and then you get on with it! For once, love, this isn't about you," Bam Hansen hissed, throwing his baton down on the ground and storming into the office. A million pairs of eyes burned into Eloisa Reynolds' back as she fought tears of humiliation.
"Come on, Ell. Let's go," a sympathetic voice pleaded, hands on her shoulders, pulling her away from the podium where, scattered on the floor, Hansen's scores lay, torn and defeated. "Come on."
Love, love is a verb.
Unsure of how she got there, Elli soon found herself sitting on her own bed, shoes off, and head throbbing. Looking around, the bright yellow walls screaming back at her, the young misanthrope lay back against her black polka dotted bed spread and began to weep. She wept for the loss of her sister, the loss of her best friend. But most of all, she wept for the loss of the music that had guided her through secondary school and, subsequently, university. Through tear drenched lashes, Elli's gaze floated over the numerous accolades and plaques gracing her shelves and walls, denoting excellence in music only dreamed of by most.
Black and white pictures of her friends and family smiled down from their odd home on the ceiling, a hot pink border painted around the clusters, accenting the happiness and lively nature of their subjects. Raising a hand, Elli traced an imaginary X through the largest picture, a portrait of her sister, Madeline, and Elli, accompanied by Elli's best friend, Rich. Choking back another sob, Elli buried her face in her pillow, uncaring that her running mascara was staining the brilliant white linen. Somewhere between agony and resolution, she fell asleep.
Love is a doing word.
Standing in the doorway of her big sisters bedroom, Leonora Reynolds wiped away a single, anguished tear: another spirit extinguished by grief.
Feathers on my breath.
The last few months had been hell, no doubt, for the Reynolds family. Marie Reynolds, matriarch and fabulously so, died of cancer on January 5th. Three weeks, the middle Reynolds child, Madeline, had died in an automobile crash.
At twenty years of age, this had left Eloisa the legal guardian of seventeen year old Leonora and fifteen year old Elliot. Unwillingly thrust into a mother position of two very busy children, Elli was breaking down.
The day of July 7th had been the blackest day ever.
After dropping Elliot and Leonora off at school, Elli had been on her way to university when it happened: a series of coordinated bombings on the transport system that crippled the town of London and killed dozens.
One of the people killed was Elli's then boyfriend, Rich Hélène.
In a state of catatonia, Elli had stumbled into the office of her old band director, Bam Hansen and erupted into a tirade, accusing him of being a murderer, the true reason that Rich had died. Bam had allowed this to go on for a full hour, before the fight spilled into the band room, full of grieving students and parents. Losing his temper, Bam had smited Elli across the cheek after decimating his scores in an attempt to control his anger.
The seemingly melodramatic overtones of the last few months had not escaped the Reynolds children, often leading them to bemoan "why them?"
The answer was simple: they were cursed.