THE REED PT 2
One day years after the reed incident, an oboist visited the spare reeds box to get a new one, his previous having been broken after being left behind the band room door. Lifting up The Reed, which amazingly was still in perfect condition, he fitted it into his instrument and went to rejoin the rest of the band. Unlike another certain oboist, he had not requested to be allowed to march along with everyone else, but that did not change anything.
As he was sitting on the floor of the band room one day playing some piece of music on his oboe, he was suddenly hit on the head. This time the culprit was a bunch of percussionists innocently moving their instruments into the band room from where they had been practicing. And The Reed went up to where no reed had ever been before for the second time.
The boy died too. And again, The Reed was pulled out of his mouth for keeps, for no matter what happened, and oboe reed was still VERY expensive. This time however, noting that it had already taken the lives of two oboists, they hid it in the middle joint of an ancient, useless flute which was shoved somewhere under the band cupboard.
They should have known, though, that that would not be enough to stop The Reed. The next year, there was a new flautist recruit and as happens to all new recruits, she was given one of the ancient flutes under the band cupboard. It so happened to be the one that concealed The Reed.
Still looking as new as ever, The Reed was noticed by the new flute player. Taking it out, she asked to know why there was an oboe reed in her instrument. They told her to put it back and ignore it. So she did. And then one day, while practicing at home, her sister came by and spotted The Reed.
Her sister had once been an oboist in her own school band, and she decided to use the opportunity to teach her sibling how to play a new instrument, i.e. the oboe. ("Hey Jeslyn, want to learn the oboe?") So she took out The Reed to test it first. After soaking it, she planted it in her mouth and suddenly had an urge to sneeze. She did... and this time The Reed went right through her tongue, causing blood to spurt out everywhere.
There shall now be another one-minute break for the author to throw up. Thank you. Ahem. Anyway, this time the victim did not die. Her tongue healed, but she never went near another reed, whether clarinet, oboe, bassoon or saxophone, in her life.
Meanwhile, Jeslyn, horrified at what The Reed had done to her sister both physically and emotionally, decided that something had to be done about it. Taking a huge hammer, she started bashing The Reed repeatedly but to no avail. The floorboards shattered under impact, but The Reed remained unharmed. After all, it was most probably haunted and therefore invincible, what with the two lives it had taken.
Frantic, the flautist chucked it out of her bedroom window where it landed in a pond and instantly killed all the ducks in it, i.e. it fell on a duck which died and fell on another duck which died which... you get the point. Jeslyn rushed down to retrieve The Reed, just in time to prevent it being snatched away by a curious oboist wondering what a new reed was doing at the bottom of a pond of dead ducks. Hoping that no one would hold her responsible for the loss of animal life, Jeslyn kept The Reed safely in a box and placed it among the things she was going to bring for band camp the next day.
One day years after the reed incident, an oboist visited the spare reeds box to get a new one, his previous having been broken after being left behind the band room door. Lifting up The Reed, which amazingly was still in perfect condition, he fitted it into his instrument and went to rejoin the rest of the band. Unlike another certain oboist, he had not requested to be allowed to march along with everyone else, but that did not change anything.
As he was sitting on the floor of the band room one day playing some piece of music on his oboe, he was suddenly hit on the head. This time the culprit was a bunch of percussionists innocently moving their instruments into the band room from where they had been practicing. And The Reed went up to where no reed had ever been before for the second time.
The boy died too. And again, The Reed was pulled out of his mouth for keeps, for no matter what happened, and oboe reed was still VERY expensive. This time however, noting that it had already taken the lives of two oboists, they hid it in the middle joint of an ancient, useless flute which was shoved somewhere under the band cupboard.
They should have known, though, that that would not be enough to stop The Reed. The next year, there was a new flautist recruit and as happens to all new recruits, she was given one of the ancient flutes under the band cupboard. It so happened to be the one that concealed The Reed.
Still looking as new as ever, The Reed was noticed by the new flute player. Taking it out, she asked to know why there was an oboe reed in her instrument. They told her to put it back and ignore it. So she did. And then one day, while practicing at home, her sister came by and spotted The Reed.
Her sister had once been an oboist in her own school band, and she decided to use the opportunity to teach her sibling how to play a new instrument, i.e. the oboe. ("Hey Jeslyn, want to learn the oboe?") So she took out The Reed to test it first. After soaking it, she planted it in her mouth and suddenly had an urge to sneeze. She did... and this time The Reed went right through her tongue, causing blood to spurt out everywhere.
There shall now be another one-minute break for the author to throw up. Thank you. Ahem. Anyway, this time the victim did not die. Her tongue healed, but she never went near another reed, whether clarinet, oboe, bassoon or saxophone, in her life.
Meanwhile, Jeslyn, horrified at what The Reed had done to her sister both physically and emotionally, decided that something had to be done about it. Taking a huge hammer, she started bashing The Reed repeatedly but to no avail. The floorboards shattered under impact, but The Reed remained unharmed. After all, it was most probably haunted and therefore invincible, what with the two lives it had taken.
Frantic, the flautist chucked it out of her bedroom window where it landed in a pond and instantly killed all the ducks in it, i.e. it fell on a duck which died and fell on another duck which died which... you get the point. Jeslyn rushed down to retrieve The Reed, just in time to prevent it being snatched away by a curious oboist wondering what a new reed was doing at the bottom of a pond of dead ducks. Hoping that no one would hold her responsible for the loss of animal life, Jeslyn kept The Reed safely in a box and placed it among the things she was going to bring for band camp the next day.