Am I Blue?
The wheels on the mop bucket took a note from the commonly sung childhood song lyric and went round and round as if they were on a bus. Annie's hands grasped onto the bucket handles as she maneuvered the object through out of the hallway and towards the closet. The sun had long set hours ago, signalling to the students of the St. Sina Music Conservatory to go the fuck home.
Annie herself was not a student, but her all-star position as the janitor allowed the signal to speak to her as well. Her current plans for the moment included putting the mop bucket back in the janitor's closet, changing out of her baggy uniform that was far too big for her, and possibly grab a pint from the pub a few blocks down before heading back to her apartment to sleep.
Looking forward to her plans, Annie was in the middle of hustling her bucket into the closet when she heard a few students speak up to her. Turning around, she was greeted to the face of a catty girl with a rather large grin.
"I'm so sorry, but me and my friends were practicing in room 4 and I might have spilled some orange juice in there so… y'know…" Her smile was nauseatingly sheepish.
Annie caught her drift and nodded stoically.
The girl then smiled at her even wider and waved her goodbye, "Thank you, bye-bye!" She then danced off to catch up to her group of friends, one tall with a terrible bowl cut and the other rather short with grey hair.
Fighting back the urge to flip this girl off for prolonging her afterwork plans, Annie got her bucket out once again to drag the confounded object all the way to room 4.
Luckily, it was a short walk in the empty hallway.
But unluckily, upon opening the door and walking into the small rehearsal room, Annie realized that the orange juice spill on the floor was bigger than a fucking tuba.
Promising to curse out that bitch girl who made this mess, Annie grabbed her mop and got to work.
"Grandfather, I'm sorry, but I am going to be late coming home," Armin Arlert sighed into the phone as he stepped over the street curb. "I was studying for my theory exam and I just lost track of the time and-"
The older Arlert interrupted his grandchild's words, "Don't worry, Armin, everyone needs to study. I'm going to sleep right now, so please be quiet when you get back to the apartment."
"Of course, of course," Armin agreed, feet approaching the campus of the conservatory as if it were his usual weekly routine, as the correct bus stop that would commute him home was placed on the corner. "Thank you for understanding."
Grandfather Arlert made his voice as assuring as possible, "It's fine, Armin, you just get home safely and ace your theory exam next week. And hey, how's the Arlert Rhapsody coming along?"
Armin smiled bashfully, even though the few bars of music he managed to compose were nothing even close to a rhapsody. However, he had to let his grandfather down slowly with the truth, "It's coming along… all right. I can't exactly think of anything else I could incorporate in. Maybe some vocalizations?"
"Perhaps, if you can get a few singers to help you out," Grandfather Arlert agreed. "Do you happen to know any?"
"A few, but most of them are pretty damn snobby and hard to talk to," Armin admitted, finally making it to the bus stop and standing by the sign post. "Maybe I could find one, maybe I can't. We'll have to see. Anyway, I have to go, Grandfather. Good night."
With all that said, Armin hung up his cell phone.
Annie shoved the mop back into the bucket as if it were a disgusting infernal advice. Once the cleaning beast was dealt with, she sucked in a tired breath. Even at age 21, she found herself mumbling that she was getting way too old for this shit. Though, after finally accepting once more that this was going to be her life for the next few years, she trudged over towards the epiano in the corner and plopped her tired form right on the bench.
She rested her back and elbows on the tough plastic keys, stretching her tired neck as she reminded herself that 13.32 an hour was better than nothing.
However, as she painfully reminded herself of her tiny paycheck, Annie turned herself around and remembered what she was leaning on. Conservatory equipment was expensive, and though the simple epiano was nothing compared to the grand in the performance hall, or even the uprights in the classrooms, Annie would no doubt get fired if this thing got damaged in any way.
Hoping that her uniform didn't get any smudges on the keys, for good measure, she wiped them all down with a container of disinfecting wipes conveniently placed beside the instrument. She could only hope that the students using this room regularly used the wipes as well.
Her finger tips rubbed gently against the sanitized keys, checking for any signs of dirt and grime. But as her appendages moved across the controls, Annie stopped right as she hovered above the 'on' button.
Temptation to do the obvious suddenly became Annie's worse enemy. A push was a small bit of strength away, she was very aware of this, but again, she was also very aware on how costly the equipment was.
The room was not 100 percent soundproof, Annie having known this from hearing the students before practice their songs a little too loudly mere hours before. So if she did anything, she would be heard.
But then again, considering the time of night, would anyone really be left in the conservatory to hear her? She was in charge of locking up, after all.
It couldn't be too bad, would it? The chance to play one song, a harmless song. Nothing loud, nothing long, just simple song to see if Annie's voice and piano skills got along as well as Mina told her. She didn't know too much, but her roommate was an excellent teacher, having been the one to educate Annie on the basics of piano playing herself.
"Fuck it," Annie finally mumbled to herself as she pressed the epiano's button and adjusted the settings to the 'Grand Piano' setting.
The question in Armin's mind was simple, 'do I have enough change for a ticket?'
To answer the question, the Arlert reached into his pocket and pulled out his handful of coins. As he did, he could tell by all the quarters he had that it was most likely enough. However, as he dragged the coins out of the confines of his khakis, about 75 cents in quarters slipped out of his grasp and onto the sidewalk.
Muttering curses as the coins rolled, Armin knelt down and managed to pick up 50 cents, with one quarter rolling towards the conservatory building to hide in a small pile of dirt and grime.
In his financial state, Armin could not afford to lose that quarter, so of course, he pulled himself back onto his feet and prodded over towards the building.
As Armin knelt down to retrieve the coin, he expected to simply hear the sounds of the city as usual, like cars and pedestrians in their ordinary routines. But instead, what he heard was 10 times better.
Am I blue? Am I blue? Ain't these tears in my eye telling you…
Am I blue? You'd be too. If each plan with your man done fell through…
An alto that sounded smoother than the finest silks around graced his sensitive ears like the hand of god. The soft piano notes accompanying each breath fit perfectly, and though the score was not as complex as the average sonata Armin heard in his classes, simplicity was never truly something to shy away from anywhere. Armin perked up almost instantly upon the first few seconds of the sweet jazz-like vocals, eyes widened as if he had been hit with the most amazing epiphany.
"Who is this…?" Armin managed to muster through his flusters. He stood up straight completely and quickly deduced that the sound was coming from inside the conservatory, which in all honesty, was no surprise considering what was taught inside those walls.
There was a time, I was your only one. But now I, am the sad and lonely one.
Armin's sense of hearing managed to pinpoint which conservatory window the soulful jazz was coming from. Unfortunately, the window was blocked by the closed blinds, and even with Armin's failed attempts of jumping up and down to look inside, there was no way he could ever see who on earth was creating such a soothing sound.
Was I gay? 'Till today?
Now he's gone and we're through. Am I blue?
"Hello?" Armin called up, hoping that his voice could be heard above the city sounds. "Hello!?" A small pang of desperation plagued his voice, as a part of him hoped that this mystery singer would at least show her face so he could know who she was.
But among Armin's somewhat desperate pleas, another sound that could be heard was the hissing roar of a bus's engine. He grumbled as he stopped hopping up and down like an deranged kangaroo and shrugged his shoulders, accepting defeat as there was no way he would be able to see this person in time.
Thrusting his hands into his jacket pockets, Armin sucked in a sad breath and turned around, breaking into a small jog to catch his bus as it pulled up towards the curb.
Would he ever find out who this mystery singer was? Perhaps. If she was a student, Armin was sure that he could deduce her out of one of the choir members if given the chance.
But for now, as Armin paid for his bus fare and moved through the vehicle to find a seat, he accepted two sad things. The defeat of not knowing who this person was, and the fact that he two, just like her, was blue.
Posted this on tumblr, and even though it only got one note, a kind anon wanted a sequel. Therefore, I'll post it on here to see if I can get around to that any time soon.
Disclaimer: I do not own SnK or the song Am I Blue? at all. Shingeki No Kyojin belongs to Hajime Isayama and Am I Blue? was originally sung by Ethel Waters for the film On With The Show.
Though, when writing this, the song version I had in mind was sung by Billie Holiday.
Anyway, enjoy and review if you'd like!