Author's note: After 10 years, just back to post chapters of a story that I wrote years ago but did not complete. Warning: filled with gaps that require your own imagination to fill in, not the most polished piece, things get dark, no proper ending. If you're still up for it, I hope you enjoy this story nonetheless.

Clare plugged in the white earpieces, feeling the familiar presence in her ears.

It had been awhile since she last used that worn out black MP3 player of hers. It was partly because the left earpiece was spoiled, with only the functioning right side emitting sound. When it came to music, she was very particular about how it was presented. To her, music should be appreciated fully and with great quality, and the incompleteness caused by that dysfunctional earpiece was a little too irksome for her.

The main reason though, was due to the fact that listening to music reminded her a lot of her grandparents. She could remember the day that they forked out money to buy this device for her birthday, despite the fact that it wasn't exactly cheap, taking into consideration their financial situation. Nevertheless, they had decided to do that for Clare's birthday, simply because of Clare's love for music - The way she would tune into the melodies broadcast at shops, and how she would sing along to some songs on the television. She couldn't have wished for a better birthday present. After all, she never expected something so extravagant in the first place. Because they didn't have a computer, the shop keeper even kindly transferred a good number of songs into the MP3 for her, with a good variety of Japanese and English songs, and even some instrumentals. Though the songs were not the latest mainstream kind of music, it was equally enjoyable for Clare to immerse herself in them. It was a very abstract way to put it but, whenever the music played, she felt like she could feel all the instruments in her veins, as if she was a little part of every one of them. It felt like she was flowing with the rhythm and feeling the notes entirely. The instrumentals felt like her soul, and the vocals felt like her heart.

That was why she liked singing too. It gave her the chance to be truly part of the music that she loved so much. She didn't think that she had a particularly good voice, but it didn't stop her from letting loose and singing her heart out when she was at home. Her grandparents didn't mind anyway. In fact, they had always been really encouraging whenever she sang. Above all, she felt really great when she was singing, as if she could bring herself to a world that was only her own. It allowed her to express and experience deep emotions that were otherwise somehow, lacking in her life.

Indeed, somehow, intense emotions felt like a distant past to her- something that she had been out of touch with for a very long time. She couldn't remember the last time she felt anything strong enough to fill the emptiness of the void inside. Everything had become so…diluted. Ever since… ever since when? She didn't even know.

She hadn't sang or listened to songs ever since her grandparent's death. It might seem counter-intuitive, seeing as she could perhaps escape reality through doing something that could take her to another dimension of her own. Just like how teenagers these days were always plugged into their music devices, blasting their music as if it were just a tool to block off the rest of the world. But music wasn't a tool. Music was something much more than that. And what inspired her to find that device kept safely in her drawer the previous night was…a spark? Something in her that stirred. Something in her that yearned to reach out to the music that she had honestly missed. To be in touch with something that could elicit those faraway feelings once more.

As she switched the player on with the tiny button, the dull screen brightened up and displayed the title of the song that started to play through the right earpiece, filling her ear with a familiar piano melody that sent a tingling feeling throughout her. Despite not being in touch with it for quite awhile, it felt so personal and close to the heart, like she was visiting an old friend. If only the other side was working, then it would really be close to perfection. That one side simply could not be complete without the other.

Leaning against the concrete wall, she basked in the music as she stared at nothing much in particular, focusing instead on the beautiful sound that filled her ear. Yet, because of the lack of sound from the left side, she was almost immediately aware of the presence of someone who just arrived and sat beside her. She turned to see her classmate lying back in the same fashion as her, gazing up at the sky.

She didn't particularly know what to say, so she just continued her own business. It did feel a tad bit, just a little bit, like her personal space was intruded, which may sound pretty ridiculous. Maybe it was just because she was trying to reconnect with something that missing from her life for awhile, and she just wanted to be alone while she did that.

The song stretched to its end, regrettably. While she could choose to just ignore her friend, she just didn't have it in her to do it, somehow. Reluctantly she switched the player off and plugged out the earpieces, stashing them away in her skirt pocket.

'You don't have to mind me you know, just continue with whatever you were doing.'

'It's alright.'

Miria swiped a stray strand of fringe that covered her eyes, giving Clare a half smile.

'No wonder you like to come here, it's really a nice and serene location. Guess we need to frequent this rooftop more often.'

Clare shifted her gaze towards the sky. 'Yeah, I guess.'

She didn't understand what kind of intentions her friend had for coming up here to accompany her. After all, it had almost been an act of avoidance on her part by coming to such a place on her own. She didn't think that anyone would bother to take the effort to search for her and well, be here with her.

'Miria… Why didn't you join Helen and Deneve?'

Why come here to look for me, of all people?

'Well… Just thought you might need some company. I mean, you always seem to go off by yourself. I suppose there isn't really a need for a reason to accompany you. We're friends, after all.'

Friends… A strange concept, somehow. It wasn't as if she was an anti-social person by nature. She just preferred deep and lasting relationships to those fleeting ones that seemed so meaningless. Even so, she probably mixed around with her other schoolmates quite a bit. Yet, when she tried to remember friends that she had from Elementary School, it was somehow nothing but a muffled memory. Which was quite puzzling, because even though she didn't remember having any particularly close friends, surely there should be some people she remembered, no?

'And besides, well this sounds pretty out of the world even to me but, somehow, I feel some sort of connection with you? It's the same feeling I get when I first met Helen and Deneve. It feels like I've known all of you before, in some alternate universe maybe… I trust my instincts.'

Alternate universe…

As much as Clare would like to dismiss Miria's seemingly delusional claim, she herself didn't really have the right to shoot down that idea. It was the same feeling she got from Teresa, after all…

'Well let's just change the topic. You like music?'

She fingered with the earpiece in her pocket. 'You could say so.'

'Mind if I listened to some of your music?'

Clare stared at Miria for a moment, considering the question really carefully. Her classmate looked like she was sincerely curious about it. But was she comfortable with sharing it? It felt akin to revealing a part of her inner world, and perhaps she just wasn't ready just as yet. However, she wasn't exactly good at rejecting people either. She couldn't really decide what to do.

Luckily for her, the bell that signaled the end of break time rang through the speakers on the roof. Miria smiled and got up, smoothing out her skirt.

'Some other time, maybe?'

Clare did the same, joining Miria as they made their way to the stairs.

'Yeah, next time.'

Maybe, just maybe, next time, she would have gotten much closer to these people to regard them as friends that she could hold close to her heart.