More London Streets
5 flats in the key signature. It was never a problem for Hershel Layton. He played it slowly, haltingly, always keeping his eyes on the notes ahead. Every so often, he would slip up, but he would continue repeating at the repeat sign, endlessly, like a melodic mantra.
His head would nod as he concentrated, but soon, the piece was but an endless motion to him. A small Flora tapped her tiny fingers on the high notes, wondering how the man could play with such beauty. She grew weary of tapping on the notes, however, and then was perfectly content with keeping one small finger on the highest note of the piano, closing her eyes, and, rather loudly, humming along. Luke, being younger by about a year, and, regrettably, a bit more mischevious, slammed his hands down on the lowest notes of the piano, making the three-year-old girl jump out of her skin and start crying.
The professor-to-be shushed her gently, continuing the melody. The little girl wiped her eyes fiercely and smiled up at him, determined to show that she wasn't being affected by a boy.
Clark Triton, a man most noted for his bushy beard, poked his head into the music room, bursting something out about taking Brenda, his wife, to the hospital. Brenda, at that moment, was nine months pregnant with a baby girl, Luke's little sister. Claire Folly, a beautiful red-haired lady with clear brown eyes, strode in, smiling, and announcing something about obtaining a job at the Polydimensional Lab as assistant to Dr. Dimitri Allen.
Professor Layton still did not respond. Lando Ascad, a teenager with reddish-brown hair that stuck up in the front that sported thick, black glasses, pushed Claire out of the way, slapping Layton across the face. Sharon Leidle, a married millionaire with light blonde hair that was curled at the tips, soon caught up to the enraged Lando.
The music slowed, and the university professor stopped repeating. Clark and Brenda soon came back, reporting gloomily that their little baby girl, whom they wanted to call Isobel, had been born dead. A stillbirth. They buried her in the gentleman's backyard. Layton's father died from a heart attack, upon learning that his son's girlfriend was pregnant. Flora cried about the death of her mother, and then her father, in turn. Luke left for America; his father transferred to another job. The teacher wrote every day, but there was never any response, until about two months later, when Brenda had written back, deeming him dead from a car collision. Flora died during surgery from untreated brain cancer. Claire left him in a fatal experiment, then again, ten years later.
In the final, swirling notes, he heard screams, then nothing.
He was utterly alone.