Chapter 1

I felt vigorous. I felt alive.

I was no longer myself. I was the melody.

I was each tune that was every strum my fingers made. Twisting hand over hand, fingers dancing over the others;             the sound of the lapping keys slipped into music.

 I became conscious that my eyes had fell shut again. I knew this composition so well that I had lost the necessity in seeing the piano with my eyes. I let my ears and hands take over. This was a ‘bad’ habit according to my instructor, but seeing as she wasn’t here interrogating my passion, I decided to be free.

The chorus was approaching. It was my favorite part. My heart thumped with anticipation for when I could get to that moment. It is like the climax of a movie. It is the spectacular moment when everything came together and nearly told the story of the song.

I loved it.

I loved every lingering second of it. If I were not such a perfectionist, I would just replay the refrain over and over, but like any worthy tale- the peak is not the entirety of it. The beauty was in the sum of all of the melodies parts.

Strumming the final keys, I held them for a moment before opening my eyes. I beamed with contentment.

“You’re getting better and better every day Bonnie! How about taking a break though and watching a movie with me and Brice? I rented something for both of you.” My mother’s velvet voice peered in through the crack of the door. The sound of it unfazed me. 

Mom loves our movie nights and made sure there was one at least once a week. Her name is Sarah Marsh. My last name is Bertrum.

Bertrum was my mom's maiden name but after she married Brice's father, Weston Marsh, seven years ago, she changed it. Sara looks little like me, but I am sure she is my mother. This is because of countless pregnancy photos. That and the fact that she adored exhausting the ‘I carried you for nine months and went through hell to have you is why’ card when she was ever asked the dangerously audacious question of ‘Why’.

My mom loved the ‘Because I said so’ excuse as well.

“I’m finished practicing anyway,” I answered her with a faraway tenor. “I’ll be in there in a minute.”

Mom gave me a sugar-coated smile that lit her eyes before exiting and leaving me to my previous ailments of the song. Coming out of my daze, I started leafing through the paper in front of me and pursed my lips debating on whether I had enough time to practice one more verse.

I popped my knuckles and they hurt once I did. Locking up on me again. Admitting defeat to the keyboard, I picked up my music sheets and hid them in the secret compartment underneath the piano chair. Waltzing out of my bedroom, an enthusiastic shriek greeted me.

“Bon! Guess what mom got me?” The child leaped in excitement. The same shade of ashy blonde bounced off his head that did my mothers. I knelt down to meet him at his eye-level.

“What is it, Brice?” I asked. He almost knocked me out with his enthusiastic shove of the movie. Prepared for this, I fall back a little bit giving enough room for my eyes to catch the title. “Wow! She rented Cars…again.”

Looking away from Brice and towards my mother she shrugged innocently and mentally told me, ‘you know he loves it.' The film is pushed back into my vision again.

“No!” Brice explained, “Her BOUGHT it! Can you believe it? My own Cars!”

Slitting my eyes at her now, I teased with fabricated zeal, “Yay, we get to watch Cars over and over and over…”

My mom sniggered. “It’s his favorite movie! Come on you had one when you were little. Remember Peter Pan? Besides I was shopping online and figured it would be a good early birthday present.” I mentally calculated the number of months we were from Brice’s birthday and discovered we were closer to his last than his ‘upcoming’ one.

“Just like the dinosaur tent is his early birthday present?” I quizzed smartly glancing at the small camp in the center of the living room, inhabited by fire trucks and stuffed animals. 

She pointed before wagging her forefinger at me and did her best attempt at a serious expression. “Hey now, I’ve bought you things too that wasn’t just for special occasions. Don’t you like your straightener?” Reminded of my dark unruly curls, I put my hands up with fast defeat.

“I take it back!” I enthused, “Happy early birthday Brice.” He grinned at me through a gap-toothed mouth.

My half-brother is quite a bit younger than me. There have been incidents where people mistook me to be a young mother to him. There is a fourteen-year difference between us, so it wasn’t as offensive as it could have been.

Mom was a teen mother, having me at 16. I was a b*****d child, my birth ‘father’ was a deadbeat and left before I was born. My step dad was nice enough but I was near 12 when he entered our lives and too old to be lingering for that type of bond. Being a lawyer and financing my mother’s artistic dream lead him to working many hours trying to support her. I almost felt bad for him, but he didn’t act like he minded and seemed to truly love her paintings, seeing as they were hung up on nearly every wall.

My mother’s absent voice announced, “Bon, you got a letter today.”

I jumped out of my skin and fled to her. “What, where? Where is it?” I quickly scoured my surroundings anticipating the negative blow I may get once reading it. Or the amazing one.

Her eyes amplified at my fervor and she shook her head. “You just had the audition a week ago. Give them time! They’ll get to you but, hey, you did get this.” She handed the white paper to me.

Disappointed, I scanned the envelope. I almost immediately knew it was junk mail and tossed it. I sighed, wishing I could speed up time.

Just a few more weeks, I thought. And the letter will come.

Author's Note

Tell me what you think!

Reviews

[Shawn]

It's a cool story so far (at least I think so, but it's hard to judge as this is only the prologue). I don't yet see how this story falls under the fantasy category, but maybe that's something you'll get to later? Nothing really popped out at me in the form of a fantasy world, fantasy characters, etc.. If these are details you'll cover later, great! you've got a good story. If not, I recommend changing the theme of the book or the category. Looking forward to reading the rest!

[Tiffany Thomas]

First off, I want to thoroughly thank you for posting a review! I really appreciate how much thought you put into it! :) I agree completely, the first two chapters don't really exclaim "fantasy " but I promise it picks up in the third chapter. The first two are more so setting the scene ans introducing the characters. I joined this website yesterday so I haven't had enough time to put up any more chapters. I'm actually almost finished writing the first draft (my self-set deadline is the fourth of July) Thank you again so much for reading it and posting a review!

[Shawn]

I totally understand! The prologue is just to set the scene, and I'm glad to hear that the 'fantasy' part of it is included. Other than that, I love this story. Welcome to WritersCafe!

[GeekyGamer128]

The beginning was descriptive and I felt like I was there. It's a great story so far. I definitely want to read more chapters. :)

[Tiffany Thomas]

Thank you! :)