Chapter 7

Joyful Noise

"She has seen beauty ever since."

Melissa sat back gazing at her sheet music, huffing up her blonde bangs with a sigh. Its half-finished state glared mockingly back at her. It was supposed to be her final for her composition course at Julliard! She promised an original work, something to blow her professors right out of the water. The only problem was that writer's block was rearing its ugly head and nothing was getting her unstuck. She's gone out for a long run, drank buckets of coffee, she even stood on her head!

She groaned by the piano in the undergraduate practice room. There were plenty of unoccupied rooms to spare in the elite conservatory for the performing arts. Her mother had been especially proud that she had gotten in.

The slight blonde couldn't imagine a day without music.

She had been in the choir since elementary school and had been one of the better voices amongst the grade-schoolers, but that may have been due to their inept teacher. Soon after, Melissa graduated to piano and even dabbled in the flute for a year. Miss Cassie had been a good teacher, but the flute didn't call to her like it did to the motherly brunette. The woman often mentioned the exploits of her daughter, growing up beautifully with her adoptive parents.

Melissa had learned many things from Miss Cassie, much more about life than music. The flautist leaned close to give the girl an affectionate hug after her final lesson. "Don't ever lose your music."

The young girl had nearly lost her gift during the worst period of her life. Dr. Adam and her mother had been convinced she had been hearing voices and of course that meant she was certifiable. They wouldn't even let her speak alone with her baby brother for fear of harming him.

That was dumb. She loved her little brother, though he could sometimes be annoying. She roughly ran a hand through her long locks of hair. It was partly in dedication to him that she wanted to write this piece. He had long stopped hearing the angels. She had too, but on some quiet nights when the earth was still, Melissa could sometimes hear a whisper of their song.

She wanted to write something that sounded like the heavenly tune. Sure it would only be a shadow of the true melody, but at least it would be a glimpse of truth and brightness.

Unfortunately her muse wasn't cooperating with her.

She paced back and forth idly plinking out the tune to Beethoven's Fur Elise. She could almost hear the angels clearly right now. The choral voices, the ethereal tune, the chiming of the clock tower…

Wait a second. That really was the clock tower. Was that the time?!

Realizing the hour, Melissa groaned. She was going to be late to her next class! She grabbed the folder haphazardly never noticing as her precious composition paper fluttered to the ground like a white dove's feather.

It had been a stressful day, but her professors understood how dedicated she was to her work. Hours later after a mind numbing theory class, she started wandering back to her original practice room in a daze. Her mind buzzed with conflicting thoughts. The other rooms were occupied. Just outside the door, through the cacophony of musical rhythms and loud percussion, she heard a familiar flourish of notes.

"No way," she breathed.

Someone was playing her composition. She stood transfixed in place as a piece of her soul was examined by a complete stranger. All composers placed a little piece of themselves into their work. Any criticism was almost like a personal insult, but the person was slowly making their way through her piece reaching where she stopped writing… and continuing!

She burst into the room, her heart beating a mile a minute. A girl with dark hair and eyes glanced up startled at the sudden entrance.

"That's mine," Melissa blurted out.

The stranger flinched. Taking another student's composition was a high crime. Plagiarism was the lowest of the low to be accused of.

"I'm sorry! I found it on the floor. I didn't know whose it was!" The brunette reached up to vacate the piano bench, but Melissa stopped her.

"How did you know how the rest of it went?"

The girl scrunched up her face in concentration, but managed to answer. "It's something I've heard before."

"When you were young?"

The girl nodded speechlessly.

"Don't be afraid. I've heard it too."

The blonde squared her shoulder in determination. She shouldn't be jealous that someone else knew the tune. Music was a gift to be shared, not covered like a light under a bushel.

"My name is Melissa."

"Anne." The two girls shook hands with a carefree smile.

"Hello. It's nice to meet you. Please," Melissa entreated. "Show me what you did."

The two girls bent their heads as Anne played and Melissa transcribed.

Sometimes you really do hear an angel in the sound of 'hello.'

Cassie the flute teacher is from Cassie's Choice in Season 1. I originally was going to make the person who found Melissa's music a guy and have it as a romance, but another girl seemed to fit better. This episode was chilling especially with the daughter's death. I'll always think of Dr. Adam as Barclay from Star Trek so it was nice seeing him in a different role. Melissa so lethargic after the medicine was terrifying and Olympia Dukakis as Clara was fantastic. You really could believe that she was an archangel.

Still working my way through the episodes,
Grignard