TWO OF US
How about a G minor?
No, no, it'll destroy the tone...
Why not? It sounds perfectly fine to me on the guitar. Besides, most piano and guitar sounds function almost the same way.
That's the keyword, dear- almost.
Oh, be quiet, Broccoli.
He was a friend- a good friend. But their friendship had been short, brief-just as his life was. Like a fading wisteria vine. It must've been painful, pitiful… pathetic? Maybe…
What's wrong? Spit it out. Now.
Nothing… I'm fine, really. It's just… Mother… she's worried and all because she had a bad dream-the real kind-like a premonition of sorts… those things always come true…
Come on, Nichol, calm down.
I'm scared… am I… am I going to die?
You'll be fine. Calm down. You're- you're not going to die. Not now. You can't. Not yet.
He didn't fall then. He fell later. Sadly…
I'm prepared now. Really.
Don't you get yourself killed on purpose in that case...
I won't. I promise. And… thanks… for giving me that strength… I'm going to need it later on…
You have a mission?
Yeah, it's become pretty old, actually. We're still chasing the same old people.
But don't lose yourself like that. Say you won't.
I won't.
Resilience is futile- or is it resistance, or both? In the face of death, at the prospect of it, isn't everything futile? Especially when it's so instantaneous… it didn't really matter in the end, did it? There was no point in accepting it when it came ever so uninvited.
She still wondered why she had said that. Was she so desperate to avoid loss? Because she considered herself weak, too weak, to go through it all over again?
All flesh is grass- and irrelevant line.
No parents, no friends, no love- not even a shoulder to lean on when she felt sleepy- did she feat going on like this?
I'm so lonely, baby… I'm so lonely...
A hunger: oh, oh, the craving… to be held close once again, touched, cherished- it was not lust, nor was it an infatuation. It was love- a lack of love.
Regret washes now, over those who stand and waite- for their turn to be called up.
Shiho, I'm scared.
And I'm not? Be resilient. You will survive. Don't think about it, shut it all out.
It's easy for you to say.
Well, why not. It has to be. You've got somebody to look out for, I haven't. I'm a lost soul more or less- that's what you'll become in the worst case scenario, so take it easy. You've got good people with you. They'll protect you. Trust me.
Really?
Really. Damn it all, you need a hug.
He was scared, so scared. A child, crying out, begging to be let back into the womb-safety, security was what he craved. Reduced: he was reduced.
They protected him all right. He died for him, without knowing the connection between them. So selfless of him... so cruel of him...
Nobody ever addressed her by her name for some reason-unless they were like him.
Fearful, teary-eyed, pathetic. She hated him sometimes. She despised them all, those broken weaklings…
Vindication was wrong. Respect the departed- wasn't that the rule?
Then again, rules… were meant to be broken…
Lieutenant, sit down, please.
Is anything the matter, Sir?
Well... look, sit down first, would you?
Yes, Sir.
Lieutenant, you knew... you knew Nichol? Nichol Amalfi?
Knew, Sir?
Lieutenant, last week... While attempting to take down the enemy-
Is he gone, Sir?
What?
Nichol, Sir. He's gone, isn't he? I- no, he- he thought so… that it's the end for him… I knew it, even if he didn't tell me. He was a dear friend, Sir. Very close.
I see… well, that's all in that case. And… he wanted you to have this.
What is it?
It's his last piece. It was… addressed to you.
Nameless. Incomplete. Like the bandages she had to look at.
She fingered the pages, turned into thin sheets of onion. But it was sharp.
Colour appeared on the edge: bright, salty, pungent.
The last chord remained a blank-almost. For in a corner of the page, written in pencil and hastily erased subsequently- a G minor.
Shattered. The fluidity was gone. And yet, it seemed to carry forth, by itself, like the imagination coming to life. A Solitaire Mystery.
Lieutenant!
Sir...
You're doing well?
Yes, Sir, I-I was just fixing the… wiring...
Oh... I'm going down for a while, would you…
What? No. No, really, that's alright. I'm-I'm good…
The face of a saviour.
It glowed with such intensity and yet-
It was just both of them, the two of them in that body. They had manifested themselves as parts of this loudmouthed brat gone soft, become mature. The pain seemed lesser now. Losing a friend.. losing a love.. well, life had to go on anyway, didn't it?
-FreedomValentine-
Yippee! Another story over! I didn't want to write this actually… I was going to do a decent, long chapter for The Hay-Haired One, but my hands decided this would be better and they conspired with my pretty pen to conjure this. One shall have to therefore waite for a few more days. I'll put it up before Hari Raya. Or at least try to.. yupp. But my exams are finally over (now for Mother Tongue and PW..) and I can finally write! Well, not exactly with that much freedom.. but… yeah…
No songs were used as inspiration- which might explain the occasional blandness of the invisible imagery- but I did put in for the fun of it and also because I liked the sound of them, a phrase from one of John Milton's sonnets, and a modified version of the title of some Gaardner person's book I read. Well, just an extract, but yeah…