At first, she just buried her head deeper into the pillow and burrowed into the soft mattress, but the strains of Schumann floating in from the piano in the living room were enough to lure her out of bed. Partly because she loved to listen to classical music in the mornings as she drank her coffee, and partially because she knew that he went straight from bed to the piano in the mornings, and would still be shirtless and unkempt after his night's sleep. Ever since she and Lucifer started living together, waking up each morning was one of the great joys of her life. Sometimes she would wake up first, and would spend the early morning nestled against him, running her fingers up and down his arms as he snored lightly. But more often, she would wake to the smell of coffee and the delicate notes of Brahms or Liszt or Faure. She heaved a sigh and opened her eyes. She slid her feet into her slippers and threw on a robe and made her way out into the living room.
Like usual, he sat at the piano, no shirt, messy hair, and scruffy face. He had a glass of whisky on the piano in front of him, but there was a carafe of coffee waiting for Chloe on the bar. Lucifer smiled a good morning to her without stopping his song. She walked up behind him and kissed him on the back, rubbed his back and shoulders affectionately, then made her way to the bar to pour herself a cup of coffee. She returned with it and sat next to him on the piano bench, and he carried on playing as he kissed her neck. She was as happy as she had ever been in her life.
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"Mmmm," she hummed, and took a sip of / /Bang! Bang-bang! Bang!/ / coffee.
She laid on the couch scrolling through her phone for a few minutes, then picked up her book from the coffee table and started reading.
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"Everything okay?" he asked, to her confusion.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I must have… fallen asleep for a second or something."
"Mmm," he replied, continuing to stroke her hair, her head in his lap.
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"Wait," she said, sitting up. She was as happy as she had ever been in her life.
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"Darling?"
She was as happy as she had ever been in her life.
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"I'm just—hang on, what is this?"
"Chloe, what's wrong?" asked a visibly concerned Lucifer.
"Wait, this isn't / /Bang! Bang-bang! Bang!/ / right." She was as happy as she had ever been in her life.
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Chloe stood up, agitated, and started pacing.
"Chloe, you're making me nervous," Lucifer said, walking over to her and stilling her by placing his hands on either side of her shoulders. "Now, just calm down. What is it? Tell me."
"I…" she had no idea what was wrong. It was as though she'd had an out of body experience. "Nothing is wrong, I have no idea what that was." She shrugged it off with a laugh and Lucifer wrapped her in his arms. She was as happy as she had ever been in her / /Bang! Bang-bang! Bang!/ / life.
"Wait, no! No no no no!" The world before her ripped apart like paper, revealing a very different scene. She was looking through her own eyes, but it wasn't her. A man, trembling, pointing a gun at her. She heard herself say, in a steady and careful voice, "It's not worth throwing your own life away. Now put the gun down."
He had just started to lower his arms when a look of clarity overtook his features. His head snapped up, he squared himself, held up the gun, and Bang! Bang-bang! Bang!
Blood filled her mouth. She tried to speak, but it was just a gurgle. She couldn't breathe. And then there was darkness.~~~~~
Once more, she found herself in Lucifer's penthouse, in his arms, as happy as she had ever been. But now the feeling of absolute bliss was heavy, oppressive, thick as the blood that had drowned her. She stood frozen to the spot, her eyes wide, her entire body shaking. "It's not real. It's not real."
Lucifer laughed an easy laugh and stroked her hair. "Darling, of course this is real. What are you saying?"
"No, no, no," she insisted, her anxiety growing with each word. "It's not real!" she screamed. "Let me out of here! I need to get out of here!" She pulled away from Lucifer and looked frantically around the penthouse, searching for an escape.
She screamed. While cheery sunlight still streamed into the apartment through the large windows of the balcony, the sky, which had been clear and blue moments ago, was a roiling grey void. She started running toward it.
"Chloe, NO!" screamed Lucifer as he tried to stop her.
But he was too late. She had thrown herself off of the balcony.