The Black Cat of Misfortune
Chapter 4

Elise's POV

Today was the day I was going to auditions to join an orchestra. To say that I was nervous was a MAJOR understatement. I sigh to myself, slightly plucking at the harps strings.

Would I make it? Would they like it at all? Would I even get through the doors just to audition…?

Sighing, I thump my head lightly against the wooden table that I was sitting at. I'm not quite sure…is will I be able to stand the eyes of other people watching me...will I even get to the stage without fainting from embarrassment…or will I be rejected again…

After a moment of silence, I stand up with a gentle sigh and go back inside the apartment to grab my harp. This harp meant everything to me after all…It was my only reminder left of my mother that I had.

My mother's name was Antoinette…

She gave birth to me when she was only sixteen with my father, but once she told him that…he left us whilst she was only three months along…It's kind of a rough subject to talk about whilst around mum…When I was younger I always asked her where "daddy" was and her smile…it would flatter but then she would smile back just telling me that he was away on a business trip…an awfully long business trip if you ask me.

Being a single mother wasn't easy from what I had seen.

There were bills to pay and because of that mum was always out working. She would often gain the money by playing at many different jazz clubs just to meet ends need. One day we got lucky, well I thought it was lucky…

When I was ten years old, mum got a lucky break from this fellow named Castello. Apparently he was a music director who was trying to find aspiring new talent new talent that he would be able to take with him back to Japan. When he saw my mother play in one of the jazz bars here in France, he offered her a musical career.

To say we were shocked was an understatement but mum was more than willing to agree with him and after a week, we were on a plan, overlooking the lands that seem to get further. We were saying goodbye to our home to find a new life in Japan. We were excited but honestly I didn't know why…

With mum now working at Ester Music Company, I thought that life would be easier after that…

But from there it just got worse…

Mum would always come home late…her eyes dull and her face had started to gain wrinkles and she had lost so much weight that she seemed like a stick…

She never ate, she never smiled again, her usually bright eyes were dull and the life that was once within it was gone, not existent anymore.

Whenever she played on her harp, she unlike usual would play sad…down beat, symphony filled pieces unlike her happy live upbeat music that she would always play to me when we didn't live within Japan.

But…

I was young back then and thought that maybe it was because she had a bad day at work or she was just in a plain bad mood. Though, as the months passed by within Japan, I had notice that she had started changing.

Every night she would come home late, near close to midnight, with these weird "X" marked eggs that kept trembling and moving within a cloth bag that she held. I had always asked her what they were but she would always dismiss me, saying that it was nothing but my imagination…

But truly…I knew it wasn't.

One night, she didn't come home at all…

No one had seen her…

No one believed me when I said that she was gone…

It was almost like she disappeared into thin air, her existence been swiped off the face of the earth…

Not even Castello knew where she went, but I know that he was lying, as if he was hiding the truth behind his eyes.

After that I was brought to an orphanage where I spent a good year within before I was adopted by a nice couple who were from France and that's how I ended up here. They noticed my love for the harp and help pay for lessons on how to play the harp to the extent that I even surpassed my own teacher.

Sighing as the memories take over my consciousness, I stalked out to the waiting room, where many eyes stare at my figure.

Some judging…

Some just stares…

Some almost looking at myself as if I was a piece of meat…

It was quite uncomfortable to say in the least, but as long as I get into this orchestra, then I don't mind at all.

I started to space out again as I walk towards an open sit but just as I was about two steps away from it; I hit a particularly hard wall…

The wall felt a bit too warm, and it had a hint of…of…softness?

Looking up, I find myself staring into another pair of hazel eyes.

Walls don't have eyes…

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry I didn't see you there! I'm sorry"

I started apologizing to the male musician in front of me, as he started to chuckle steading us up.

The male in front of my structure held onto what looked like a violin case, his blue eyes showing a familiar glint that I had once saw within my mother's eyes.

"It's okay; I should be the one apologizing for not noticing that I wasn't the only one who was eyeing of the seat. The name's Uchiwa. Uchiwa LeRoy."

He said as he held out his hand for a handshake.

"Well Mr Bond, my name's Elise. Elise Benoit"

I say with some humour, shaking his outstretched hand.

"Well Miss Benoit…"

Uchiwa was cut off by the announcer as he shouted out,

"Elise Benoit please proceeds up to the auditorium for your audition please!"

And with that, the small man stalked back into the judging room as I return a look to LeRoy.

"Well sir, if you don't mind, I have music to play, people to please. Maybe we can continue this conversation once I get back?"

"Sounds like a good idea rookie, I'll hold you to that."

And with a small wave, I stalk quietly to the room, taking big breaths with every step.

This was it…

I will make sure I will make you proud of me…mother.

Walking into the room, whispers started to start…

Some about my appearance…

Some about my height…

Some about the harp that I held within my arms…

But I paid them no attention at all as I set myself down onto a stool as the main manager asked questions before starting to play my melody.

Slowly I let myself slip into the music, ignoring everything that was around me and focusing on one thing, my music.

I plucked my fingers along the familiar strings of the harp in the same sequence as the ones that my mother use to play for me as a bedside lullaby that would usually help me sleep instead of reading me a night time story.

As my fingers slowed down till the end, I was finally drawn back to reality as I heard a round of applause given off by some of the other musicians.

Flushed I stood up as the orchestra manager dismissed me and walked back into the room to be once again, greeted by a hard chest.

"We really have to stop meeting up like this"

"Fair enough LeRoy~"