*~*Kaitlin*~*
Edwin Mellophone Hands
Chapter 5:When all the tears have fallen
Mr. Spills awoke three days later. He and Rudy had been found on the floor of the instrument storage room; Mr. Spills had been lucky he had only suffered a concussion. Rudy on the other hand had been found dead. His neck had been snapped. No one had told Mr. Spills, none of the students wanted to. They hadn't told him that all the mellophones had been destroyed, or that a message had been written with Rudy's blood.
Death will come to all who dare touch my mellophones*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*
Mr. Spills was back at school, teaching once again. Only the band noticed but something was gone from the man, his excitement about the music, his entire love of music had been sucked out of him. The band wasn't even really a band anymore, the people who loved music tried to play, and the people who were in band for the easy "A" could get away with anything short of murder. Mr. Spills never even came out of his office any more, he sat in there, all his tears gone, he was past tears, there was no way to express his grief: no way short of death.
Rachel the drum major knew someone needed to take control of the band and that certainly wouldn't be Mr. Spills, "Listen up! Its time we stopped acting stupid and started acting like the band we used to be!" all this was yelled out in the most commanding drum major voice she could muster.
The band had fallen silent, Rachel continued to speak, "You will all shape up or ship out now get your instruments, music and be in the practice area in 5 minutes." The band was silent for a few moments, followed by a mad scramble for the instrument storage room. Rachel may not be the director but she wasn't the drum major for nothing.
For the next few weeks the band went back to its regular practice schedule, it did not improve much though Rachel was an expert conductor and critic, it was always in the back of the students minds that Rachel was not the conductor. Rachel hoped that going back to the normal schedule would wake Mr. Spills but nothing worked, all he did was sit at his desk staring at the wall, reliving the attack on himself and Rudy.
Over the next few weeks Mr. Spills seemed to get worse, sinking more into himself, not even going home, getting little or no sleep, hardly eating. By this time the entire band had grown concerned.
Rachel thought maybe if she got a new mellophone for the band and played the part Mr. Spills would come out of his depression.
Rachel drove to ABI, Anaheim Band Instruments, to get the new mellophone. When she got in she immediately headed to the trumpet section out of habit before remembering the reason she had come to the store. She found a store clerk and asked them about the mellophones for sale. She bought it for around $1,000. A beautiful silver marching mellophone.
When she brought it back to the school Mr. Spills completely ignored her when she tried to tell him what she had done. It wasn't too hard to switch from trumpet to mellophone, other than the smaller mouthpiece and a few new fingerings. When the band had sufficiently improved Rachel managed to get Mr. Spills to come listen to the band.
When Rachel came in with the mellophone solo Mr. Spills' face lit up like a child at Christmas. He came back to himself.
For the next few weeks Mr. Spills went back to normal, he was vibrant, happy, but he had his dark moments. Rachel played the mellophone beautifully, the band continued to rehearse "The Missing Mellophone" That day Rachel played the entire solo.
At 5:00 the after school practice was finally over. The band was hot and tired, ever since his "recovery" Mr. Spills worked the band twice as hard, as if making the band good would make up for the deaths of 2 of his best students. Rachel went up to the band room to put away her mellophone, she treated it better than her trumpet, making sure all the slides and valves were in perfect condition, never a scratch or fingerprint on the bell. She put her case in the storage room and walked out to her car, softly humming her solo in the missing mellophone.
As she drove home she was a bit preoccupied, thinking about school, band, her boyfriend, and her job. She did not notice the man with strange looking hands step in front of her car until it was too late. She swerved sharply, slamming into the car on her left. The last thing she heard was the sound of her voice screaming mixed with maniac laughter.
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The next morning Mr. Spills was found dead in his office of an apparent suicide.
