Silence

By: Silent Lullaby

I hold no claim to Gundam wing. However the story is mine.

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I'm going to attempt to complete this story by the end of February. While I do so, I'll be planning out/writing my next story. At the moment updates depend on my homework load.

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Lifting my hand upwards into the air I idly brushed my fingertips against my stereo. A moment later the sweet straining chords of music filled the air. Its soft melody ensnared my senses as its harmony floated in the air like cherry blossoms on the spring breeze.

Stepping away from the stereo I lifted my arms over my head and brought them slowly downward to brush against my feet. To the music I lifted again and swung back to the ground in a smooth fluid motion. I felt my eyes close and my lashes brushed against my cheek. With my eyes closed and the sound of music filling my head and heart I could imagine that the past few years were nothing more than a nightmare. I could pretend that I would open my eyes and see the rose garden and that mother would be sitting on the emerald green bench watching me dance.

I could almost hear her voice at times, calling for me from the hazy realms of my subconscious. The sweet comforting tones that had always made me feel safe and loved. They were gone forever and it was all my fault.

My arms curved around me and my feet moved quickly, sending my body into a fluid spin. The air swirled around me and caressed my skin like the hands of so many fairies from my mother's stories.

I would never again hear those tales by lantern light in the garden. I would never see her smiling face lit by the candle's light, stained with the color the paper. It was all just a memory to slowly be creased by the passage of time until a faded image that floated in the mist was all that remained. Like a photograph it would merely waste away into nothing no matter how hard you tried to hold on to it.

Tears had begun to stream down my face, leaving warm trails of salt upon my cheeks. I didn't move to wipe them away but instead continued to dance.

Mother had been a great fan of ballet. I could remember the first time she had taken me to a show. It had been a magical experience and from that moment on I had wanted to dance, and perhaps one day I would be good enough to perform in front of the crowds, and mother would be in her private box watching me. But that was never to be and it was all my fault.

By now my sobs were shaking my frame. I lifted my fingers to my face and felt the hot tears pool on upon them and slide down my palm and wrist. The hot liquid felt the same as the blood that had stained them.

The memory was still fresh even though years separated me from the day. We had left in mid-afternoon to see one of her favorite shows for her birthday.

After the last dancer leapt off stage and the curtain fell for intermission I had decided to go to a store nearby to buy her a present with my pocket money. I had run from her side across the scarlet carpet to the front entrance.

I stopped dancing and fell to the floor, my arms wrapping around my legs as I wept. I choked on my tears and continued to cry as the sweet sounds of voices blended into the violin's soft sound and the cello's deeper tones.

I had run out the door and made it to the corner. I couldn't reach the button to change the sign to walk so I stood and watched the busy streets. Cars and vans blurred into a stream of color before my eyes. Just across the street were the store and the present I wanted for my mother stood in the window.

It was a music box with two dancers in it. One was a girl in all white with feathers on her tutu and in her honey hair. The other was a long haired man in black. His cloak and crow like mask were covered in feathers of black. His arms were outstretched like wings protecting the girl as she stood in the center of the box. Her weight placed on one foot as she stood half turned at the waist. Her arms close to her body in a shy gesture.

The box was the perfect gift for mother and I had saved up for weeks to buy it for her. I now had enough pocket money to get it and just enough left over to buy a spray or lilies form the florist next to the shop.

The light over head turned and I ran across the street. When I entered the shop I was greeted by the cheerful chiming of bells attached to the door.

I moved straight to the window display and carefully lifted the box in my small childish hands. The figures looked even more lovely up close and the rose colored wood felt smooth and cool to the touch. I walked to the counter placed the music box down. Carefully I counted out the money and placed onto on the counter.

The woman at the register smiled kindly at me and offered to wrap it for free. I couldn't help but smile back as I she placed the beautiful box into a pretty paper of golden roses on scarlet. The blossoms shone brightly in the sunlight from the window.

She gently placed the package into my hands and I left the shop calling out a happy thank you and farewell. With quick but careful steps I moved down the gray sidewalk and into the flower shop. There I picked out a spray of lily of the valley. I smiled at the woman at the counter, she looked just like the woman from the shop only her hair was not down but her hair was not down my in two odd buns and she wore glasses. She did not smile back, but instead scowled and let the adults in the line move in front of me even though I was there first. Finally I made it to the counter and paid for my purchase. I asked her kindly if she was related to the woman from the shop and she replied sharply the she was her inferior twin sister. Handing me the flowers so roughly that one of the blooms was bruised and fell she turned and yelled to the man at the back of the store that she was leaving and that she couldn't help out with the store anymore, that she needed to be at her job at an orphanage. The man looked sad and nodded before asking her if she would come over later that week for someone's anniversary.

The stern looking woman said no, that she couldn't take more time off to be with the family when she had her own life now and to ask her sister to go instead. As I left I saw the man lower his head and water the plant in front of him. The door had no bells to lighten the heart.

I walked down the sidewalk with the box and flowers in my hands and my eyes to the ground. As I stared at the cracks where grass grew and small periwinkle blooms strained to grow I didn't her my name being called.

I was busy thinking of how different the two women were and that I felt badly for the old man.

I looked up to see the walk sign before stepping off the corner and onto the street. Finally the voice hit my ears and I lifted my head to see my mother standing on the other side of the street calling to me. She looked beautiful in her silvery blue gown with long matching gloves. The setting sun's rays made her golden hair shimmer and her gown glow.

It was then that she screamed and ran towards me. One of her shoes flew off into the air as she wrapped her arms around me and then pushed me backward. I felt my feet leave the ground and my gifts soar into the twilight sky. The screech of tires filled my ears and my mother's image vanished. My head turned and I saw her crumpled form on the ground, her gown stained scarlet and the ground became red. Laying about her fallen form were crushed petals and leaves. Her blue eyes looked at me with tears shimmering in them. As a single tear fell from her cheek and they closed just as I felt myself hit the ground. Everything went black.

An eternity passed before I came back into the world of the living. Sounds filled my head and seemed to echo on into forever. People were talking, their voices mingling together. I could here the stern woman and the kind sister talking to someone, they were describing me. Sirens screamed in the air, and a little girl cried nearby. A woman hushed her and spoke soothing words like only a mother can. All of this was in the background for just at my outstretched hand was a firm object that felt smooth except for a crack that ran through it and shredded paper that lay around it. From it came a soft song that filled my head.

I opened my eyes to see blurry images that began to fade. They turned into black that mirrored that dark ness of the void I had just emerged from. I felt hot sticky liquid cover my cheek and run down to my hands before the sounds of the people faded into nothing. Just as I succumbed to the void the last chiming notes played and all vanished.