Chapter 2 – They are listening
The tall brunette sat in the bus on her way home, because it was her first day she had gotten a shorter day than the others. And she was truly grateful for that, because she was exhausted. And it was not even noon yet. She stepped off the bus, but something wasn't quite right. The place looked different, she turned around in shock then she realized that she had taken a wrong stop. The bus was gone, and sh checked up on when then next bus would come. There were over two hours until then. She could even walk home on that much time, twice! So that was what she did, just not twice of course for that would just be stupid. She walked for what felt like hours, and the more she moved the more awake she got. She watched hoe human kids were playing on the road and other human adults were walking up and down the street.
This time she couldn't see any prawns. And she thought that was kinda strange for if she thinks back, she had seen a lot of them the other day, she had just kept her distance. Her mind was cleared and her question answered only moments later, by a big poster that said "for humans only, non-humans banned!" for a moment she felt pity for them, to be treated like animals and being banned from certain areas. But then the stories she heard came to mind and she felt more safe in this district. She went into a little shop and bought some new cloths, before coming here she had been cleaning her wardrobe. Almost all of her cloths had been thrown out, so she could have room for all of her other thing in her bags. She reached the hotel, and went in with a smile. Instead of going to her room as she used to she took a stool and sat in front of the desk. Johnson came out from the back a little while after. "Miss Sky, you sure seem happy" he said and sat down over for me. "Oh I am Mr. Johnson" he looked at me with that nice grandfather look "please call me John" he said sternly and looked around to see if there were any others in there. "Okay, but then you shall call me Delilah, is John your fist name?" she asked and he shook his head. "No, but everyone else is calling me John, so I don't see a reason for you to not" I sniggered, he made it clear that he didn't wanna say his first name to everyone.
John said that he had some business to attend to and that he had to leave. So soon after that Delilah was left alone in the lobby. She looked around, the staircase was placed just before the front door. To the left of the door, was the desk and some couches, a coffee table and a piano. To the right was a big fireplace and a lot of sitting places it looked odd but comfortable. Her mother had tried to teach her how to play the piano, but she just couldn't, well she could play, but it weren't good. So her father had saved her for her mothers piano obsession and taught her to play the violin instead. She suddenly felt a urge to play, and now she knew what she should use her time on. She ran up the stairs and went to her room. She searched her bags and found it in a little trunk, in the bottom of the last bag. She went to make sure it sounded right and then took a stance.
The tunes began playing, and filled the room with wonderful music. A slow smile crept onto her face as she remembered the fields and cities of her homeland, she played a mix of happy and sad tones, she played her heart out. She was so homesick, she missed her mother and father and friends, and it hurt her so much knowing she was thousands of miles away from them, but yet she was happy, she was on her own ready to show the world what she got. The sadness and joy was battling a brave fight to win, but in the end the happiness was victorious and the song ended. She slowly opened her eyes, tears were prickling down her cheeks and she found herself dancing to the tunes that now were gone.
The clapping of an audience ripped her out of her thoughts. She turned around and found her door open, there were people everywhere, some in the room and she could spot some out in the hall way too. They were all forming a circle around her. Most of them were sitting on the floor watching her intensely. She couldn't hold back the red flowers that seemed to spread on her cheeks. She had never performed for others before, and she felt very shy about this. Only humans were in the room, but she had attracted a few prawns as well. They were all in the hallway, peeping in nervously, but unable to stay away. She wiped away her tears, not wanting anybody to see them. Some figured that she weren't gonna play anymore and left, while some (inclusive the prawns) stayed and watched her. She looked around from person to person until her eyes landed on John. He was sitting on the couch almost lulled to sleep, but his friendly eyes met hers and he saw how uncomfortable she was in this situation and stood up "alright people that's it, no more to see here" he stated and slowly people left. She looked to the door and fright got to her, the prawns was staring at her, and she could see that they were hungry. "That goes for you guys too. Come on give her some space" he yelled from behind her and the prawns left as well. John lead her out of the door and down in the lobby "that was quite a performance" he said and she took a seat while he made some tea. "i-i don't perform, I only play.." she stated and he looked at her suspicious "you mean to tell me that was the first time you performed for others" she slowly nodded.
He sat a cup before her and she found herself still holding the violin, she laid it on the desk and took a sip of the tea. It actually helped her relax. Her heart was beating in her chest, her pulse was throbbing and her hands hurt. "I fought you said you had some business to attend to" Delilah asked suddenly remembering his hasty leave earlier. He began laughing but she surely couldn't find anything funny in it "you have no idea of how long you've played have you?" he asked then he was done laughing at me, "a couple of minutes?" she asked and he shook his head "well you can call it that but I wanna say over two hours at least". She was shocked at his statement, she had never played for so long without a break. Now she understood why her hands hurt.
Stranger POV.
The yellowish prawn cursed as he walked down the street, he had just got of work. And yet again his boss had refused to give him his full amount of pay. He had been working all night and was absolutely exhausted. Those blasted humans, they thought they were so much better that him, he just wished he could destroy them all. But if he got arrested by the MNU then who would look after his brother. He made an annoyed sessions of clicking noises. Suddenly he began remembering his home planet, the beauty and the quiet. He ripped his way out of thoughts not understanding why he was thinking about this now. Light tunes filled the street, he looked around and saw how many had taken a seat, at a bench and now sat still for better could hear the beautiful music. Even prawns had stopped and stood with closed eyes and enjoyed the tunes. It was magical, enchanting. Like everything had come to an complete standstill. The tunes were light but sad as well, like they were fighting for control of the song, but the song wouldn't let them destroy each other. It was these tones that had made him remember his home. Somehow it lightened his view, and the next moment he found himself running towards the source. He couldn't stop himself, every fiber in his body told him to find the one playing.
He ran for minutes, clearly stunned of how far away the player could be. Everywhere he went was people listening to the tunes. Of course not everybody was as caught up in the moment. He saw one of those disgusting humans, forcing his workers to keep doing their job or they would lose it. And since most of them were prawns they couldn't afford to lose it. He ran through the street like a yellow lightning, and stopped first then he was outside a hotel. He didn't wanna go in there for most humans were hostile against his kind, and he didn't wanna get in trouble. Some other prawns gathered by the entrance, not daring to take another step. An older, human man, came out of the crowd of people and prawns and opened the doors, "come on in, I own the place" he assured us and we all began moving slowly. They all went two the second floor and here the music had reached it's highest. The door to the player were wide open and people had already taken seats on the floor and whatever there were sit-able. The humans went inside while the prawns sat in the hallway. The yellowish prawn peeped in and saw a young woman dancing, while playing a strange kind of instrument. Never in his life had he seen a human like that. It was like she was in a trance and everybody who heard her fell into it as well. He was suddenly seeing a cornfield, blazing in the evening sun. the girl was before him playing and the sun rails in her hair. The scenery changed and she showed him a river, as blue as the sky. She showed him the mountains and every sunset, she had ever witness. And the beauty of a starlit night. She showed him, her city, where she came from, and he found himself almost crying, for this humans understanding.
He missed his home so much, but knew like every other prawn that he had to be strong. He felt like he could let his guard down for once. Here, in the company of that human, he didn't feel any need to fear or worry. The instrument and her were like one, and she cried. He had never seen a human in this stat. He had always thought that humans were unable to feel anything like sadness, he had never seen a human really smile at him, he had never experienced anything good from a human and this situation confused him. A flood of memories flushed over him and he hugged his knees while thinking, dreaming.
He wasn't sure for how long he sat like this, hugging his knees like a youngling. But he seemed to wake from the peaceful slumber then the song stopped, the joy had won over the sadness and now the fight was over. He peeped in and saw the girl looking around herself all flustered. The man that had lead us in stood up and spoke "alright people that's it, no more to see here" he stated and slowly the humans left. The girl looked at the yellow prawn and her eyes widened with fear, it was clearly that she was scared and it hurt him to see. The other prawns peeped in as well and she girl trembled a little almost unnoticeable. "That goes for you guys too. Come on give her some space" the man yelled at them. And they all got out of there before he decided to call the MNU. Then he left the building everything was back to normal,people was rushing and running around. The sun was standing high in the sky, and told that it was way over noon. The prawn looked back once more to see the man leading the girl down the stairs. He smiled at her, but she didn't know. And she would never know for she refused to look. The prawn began to run back to his home, but the one in district 9.