Sunteți pe pagina 1din 17

Clair de

Lune
By S. A. Shukor
A rianna Song scrutinized the lines of
music notes with interest. The lapis lazuli
eyes owned by the 12-year-old girl
sparkled in excitement as she put the
music sheets on the music stand of a
shiny, black piano. As she was done
stretching her fair fingers, she pressed
one keyboard and began another and
another, formed a beautiful song erupted
from the strings. In her mind, thousands
of music notes, time signatures, rhythms,
time rest and trebles were flying freely as
her fingers ran skillfully.
“Aria!” Abruptly, her fingers stopped
halfway through the song. “Aria, dear!
It’s time to go to school!” Arianna knew
immediately it was her mother who called
her and she cocked her head aside to see
a clock showed 7: 15 am. Arianna
immediately jumped from the piano stool
in shock snatched the music sheets and
hastily swung her backpack around her
shoulder as she trotted down the stairs.
She took toasted bread and a gulp of milo
before she met her mother outside,
waiting for her in a car.
“Sorry, Mother,” Arianna apologized
as she closed the passenger door. Her
mother, brunette-haired and a very
intelligent and beautiful woman stared at
her, the mother-look.
“Aria, how many times do I have to
tell you not to play your piano before
going to school?” Her mother repeated
again and it was the 10th time that she
reminded her daughter. Arianna fell silent
as she zipped open her bag and tugged
the music sheets inside effortlessly.
Along the way, the dead silence in the car
buzzed in until they finally reached
Arianna’s school. Arianna gave her
mother a peck before she opened the
door and stepped outside. She stood by
the pathway, waving to her mother until
the car disappeared in sight.
“Aria! Wait up,”
Arianna spun around, soon facing
her best friend, Jessica Marlin. The two
best friends walked together side by side
towards their school building which
loomed high above them.
“Heard any news lately?” Jessica
asked, her bright, red curls bounced as
she walked. Arianna admired her so
much, top in class, specializes in piano as
her own and a first friend since Arianna
stepped onto the school area.
“Nope. How about you?” Arianna
replied back, hoping there’s new
happenings in school.
“Well, good thing I’ve bumped on
you on time,” Jessica giggled before she
continued. “Anyway, this news will
interest you. Next month will be Music
Week which the whole school screamed
their heads off to join a performance.
Every student attends this celebration,
including the seniors of our school! Isn’t
that amazing?” Jessica sighed in joy and
happiness.
“OK, thanks for the info but back
to business. So, what’s the point of this
news by the way? You know the part
which interests me?” Arianna prompted
eager to hear more details.
“Well, Miss Jones announced that
she wants to pick three participants to be
in a performance called La De Classical
which in meaning is playing a classical
song with an instrument that you
specialize in!! Wouldn’t it be fun if we join
the performance together!?” Jessica kept
on screaming in excitement.
“Wait, wait, hold on,” Arianna
stopped her friend, picking thoughts to
form a logical explanation. “Did you say
‘she wants to pick’? I mean seriously, I
don’t even know Miss Jones, nor she also
doesn’t know me!! How should I get the
chance to be picked if she doesn’t even
know me?!” Arianna pressed in, sharing
her fears with her friend. Deep down in
her heart, she wants to participate that
interesting performance, to be shone by
the spotlight and played her own thing
but have to be picked by an unknown
teacher?! Why days getting worse in
every minute!!
“Relax, my friend,” Jessica
coaxed her, patting her back gently. “All
we gotta do is to practice hard to be
picked by Miss Jones and the source of it
is to have good ears and mind-thinking
decisions!” Arianna stared at her,
eyebrows raised in confusion. Jessica
sighed and continued.
“Well, what I mean is that Miss
Jones later will meet the ones who want
to participate the performance five days
later. Kind of like recruiting activity. And
each of us has to pick a song which is
suitable by the theme of the performance
to be played in front of her! That’s why I
want us together to have good ears to
pick a nice, fitting song and mind-
thinking decision if we face lots of songs
that we like but pick the best one yet. So,
are you with me, girlfriend?” Jessica
scrutinized her friend’s expression, her
eyes gleamed in satisfaction.
“I guess so,” Arianna muttered
and with a wan smile, she shrugged and
nodded in understanding. The two friends
discussed when they should start picking
songs and immediately agreed to meet
each other at Jessica’s house tomorrow
after school.

Under the scorching sun of the


beautiful afternoon, Arianna and Jessica
jumped in the next stop from the bus and
headed towards Jessica’s residence. The
mansion-like house loomed high above
them and for the first time, Arianna felt
envious to her friend’s amount of fortune
she had had than herself but quickly, she
reminded herself that Jess was her best
friend and not a nemesis.
“So, why not we search songs
through the internet?” advised Jessica as
they were together inside her room. Her
bedroom was painted red in color and a
favorite one too for her with posters
pasted onto the wall and drawings that
she often painted.
“Sounds useful to me,” Arianna
agreed as they turn on a DELL laptop
which was Jessica’s mother’s.
“Remember, the theme is “the revealing
fact”. I don’t know about you but my
mind is completely blank on what kind of
song that is appropriate with the
confusing theme!” She ended up with a
groan. Meanwhile, Jessica had already put
her fingers to her chin and thought hard.
“Well, let’s just search for
some songs that have the link to the
theme,” she finally prompted, typing a
website swiftly onto the keyboard. The
girls had millions of websites of music
sheets and songs and they memorized
them by heart. Whenever there’s some
search for some music sheets, the girls
will open up the cupboards of the
websites they stored-in their mind. They
searched together, discussion broke the
utter silence in the mansion which was
quite of eerie for Arianna but relieved to
have Jessica by her side.
After an hour search,
Arianna’s cellphone vibrated and a
ringtone burst from the little speakers.
Arianna sighed and quickly grabbed it
from her bag, swiftly press a button and
shoved it at her ear.
“Aria, better come home
quickly. Your cousin, Erik, is here right
now, along with your Uncle Ben and Aunt
Lucy. Where are you now, exactly?” her
mother’s voice rang from the speakers.
“I’m in Jess’s house, searching
for some music sheets for the
performance later,” Arianna informed her
mother, her eyes glued to the screen of
the laptop, narrowing and searching.
“Mom, you mean I have to go back now?”
Jessica’s eyes snapped from the screen to
her best friend’s face, her expression
obviously showed dejection by her
friend’s remark. Arianna shrugged to her
and told her mom that she will be home in
a jiffy. She pressed the ‘end’ button and
groaned, before facing her friend.
“I have to go,” she notified to
Jessica even though her best friend had
already knew the fact. The two girls went
downstairs and they hugged before they
separated.
“Just go on searching without
me,” Arianna encouraged her friend,
trying hard to shot a smile at her but her
lips were strangely numbed. “I’ll take
care of this situation by myself.”
Jessica took her hands and
squeezed it comfortably. “I’ll let you
know if I found anything. Don’t worry.”
She smiled and Arianna’s lips seemed to
mirror Jessica’s.
Soon, Arianna departed, took
a bus straight towards her own home,
waving to her best friend until there’s
only a speck to her sight and disappeared
slowly.
“Mom, I’m home!”
Arianna’s voice seemed to
bounce the hallway in her house. Several
footsteps followed and her mom
appeared from the kitchen, accompanied
by her sister, Aunt Lucy. They were
smiling and greeting her with open arms.
Arianna immediately asked her aunt of
her son’s whereabouts.
Erik is her close, best friend
aside from Jessica and he’s always around
everyday. They were close since
childhood and Arianna didn’t even
remember if they even have a single
fight. He is two years older than her and
very loving and kind-hearted boy that she
had ever met.
“Erik’s in the piano room, I
guess,” her aunt told her, giving her a
warm smile. “Go on, check him out.”
Arianna thanked her and swiftly went
upstairs towards her piano room. Before
she opened the door, she could hear a
song burst from the other side of the
door. Arianna stopped abruptly, her fist
was inches from the door to knock. Her
eyes widened and her whole surrounding
seemed to vaporize, leaving cottons of
floating clouds and a warmth feeling
swarming her slowly. The undulated
melody of the song entered to her ears,
piercing her heart and warming the
cockles and the core. What song is that?
Her mind thought absent-mindedly and
when the song ended and her whole
surroundings were back to normal, she
burst inside the room and found her
cousin, Erik, sitting cozily onto the piano
bench, his fingers on his lap and his eyes
closed. When he heard a heavy breathing
from behind him, he turned and faced
Arianna with a smile pasted onto his
handsome face.
“Oh, hello Aria,” he greeted
her cheerfully, raising from the seat and
swiftly hugged her tightly. He broke the
contact when he found out that Arianna
didn’t hug him back. His green opaque
eyes focused on the shock lapis lazuli and
he laughed-breaking the utter silence
that buzzed in minutes ago.
“I see you’re posturing
yourself as a Muggle petrified in Harry
Potter’s series,” he pursed his lips to
avoid laughing out loud. “Why not I take
your picture?” The joke seemed to have
effect Arianna for she immediately
punched him by the shoulders, her anger
welled up.
“You-thick-head-moron!”
she formed the words one by one as she
beat him furiously. Erik put his hands up
as a shield to avoid the sudden attack.
“Wait-Aria-stop-punching-
ow!” he yowled in pain and immediately
clasped his hand around her wrists,
preventing her from punching him again.
He was stronger than she was and
Arianna immediately gave up after
struggling breaking free from his grasp.
She fell silent.
“What the bloody hell is
that for?” he yelled at her, wincing as he
twisted his arms to exercise his muscles.
Arianna hrumphed and trotted swiftly,
nose up, towards the piano. She turned
towards him.
“That’s how you get your
punishment for using those silly jokes on
me,” she grinned mischievously. “I’m
quite of a good puncher.”
Her cousin smirked at her;
his pain had long faded away. “C’yeah
right! As if a good puncher gets from a
good petrify-er,” He chuckled heartedly
and when Arianna showed him her fist on
air, he ducked to cover himself. “Ok, ok!
I’ll stop! Anyway, couz, why didya come
back late from school? Usually, you’re
always early to arrive.” He trotted
towards the cupboard filled with music
sheets and began to rummage. Arianna
didn’t bother him and didn’t answer at
first. She sat down on the piano stool and
pressed a middle C key. The strings from
within burst a soft sound and it made
Arianna smiled automatically.
“Hey, Erik, what kind of
song did you play just now?” asked
Arianna, turning her whole uniform to
face him. Erik stopped rummaging and
seemed to be petrified himself. Arianna
waited until he recovered and he too
faced her with an unreadable expression.
He sighed.
“Oh, that,” he began but
when he stopped speaking, Arianna
groaned impatiently.
“’That’ what?” she
demanded with a tone of impatience. Erik
smirked at her and that made her even
more angry and impatient than ever. But
her cousin seemed not to notice her
anger welling up like a thermometer rise
at a 100 degree Celsius. He slid the glass
of the cupboard shut and walked towards
his cousin, bringing a chair along with
him. He positioned the chair in front of
her and sat down, his eyes glued to his
cousin’s. Arianna felt a pang of
admiration to his beautiful features which
she didn’t notice when facing near him
but his eyes were the ones that attracted
her the most. She held her breath and her
heart seemed to beat louder, anxious to
get free from its cage.
“That, my beloved cousin
is Clair de Lune by Debussy,” he
whispered at her, his lips slowly stretched
into a wan smile. “I think you never heard
that before, am I correct?” He waited
patiently, his green intent eyes gazed at
hers. Arianna frowned and shook her
head.
“Of course not. Why
should I ask you if I already know? How
thick could you get?” She laughed hard
but her cousin remained silent. She
stopped and stared at him ludicrously.
“Oh, c’mon, Erik. Why you’re being so
serious on this matter? It’s just a song.”
That caught Erik off
guard and his expression obviously
showed shock and surprise by his
cousin’s remark. Arianna, who’s confused
by his actions, winced uncomfortably and
wondered if she just said something
awful.
“Erik, I’m sorry,” she
muttered, her mind completely blank to
form words of apology. “Well, I didn’t
mean to say that if the song is special to
you. Err…was it?” She scrutinized her
cousin’s face and was frustrated to see
another unreadable expression. Erik, who
looked down, stood up from the chair and
walked towards a window beside the
cupboard, opening it to let in fresh air. He
sighed again before beginning his
explanation.
“I accept your apology,
Aria so no need to worry,” he stopped for
a moment before adding. “Yes, the song
is indeed very special to me and I couldn’t
stop playing it back at my home.” He
turned to face his cousin, his liquid eyes
turned to solid. “Don’t you know, Arianna
Song, that I have a little sister?”
Arianna stared at him to
see if there’s a hint of a joke in his eyes.
When she realized they were serious,
solid, she caught back into reality and
thought hard. “Erm…no. Of course I don’t
know, Erik. I mean, if you do have, she’ll
be here playing with us already from the
start. Or…” Her eyes widened, her
confusion changed abruptly to surprise
and contentment. “You have an unborn
sister! Isn’t it true, Erik?”
Erik remained silent for a
moment and Arianna thought he will
never answer her. When she was about to
open her mouth to speak, Erik interrupted
her.
“My dear Aria,” he
murmured, sighing but shooting her his
crooked smile that Arianna adored. “You
are a very clever young lady. Your answer
was direct, unthinkable but…” His smile
widened. “…true.” His smile immediately
topped upside down by the word and
turned his face away from his cousin’s.
Arianna was deeply confused and anxious
to get to know this matter.
“I have a little sister when I
was very young,” he began, stopping
often to form appropriate words. “She
was my best friend back then, always
took care of me when I’m injured or hurt.
When you met her, Aria, I think you will
adore her for she’s the most beautiful
angel I’ve ever seen. She always listens
to my piano playing every time after
school, before bedtime and so on,” He
sighed before adding. “And she have a
heart on some song that I’ve played for
her that time. “He turned to face Arianna
who’s deep in his story. “Can you guess
what song is that, Aria?”
“Clair de Lune,” Arianna
answered without a minute hesitation and
when she looked up to see her cousin’s
expression, she’s not surprised to see a
smile tinted onto his face. She mirrored
his smile without effort.
“Yes,” he mumbled, almost
speaking more to himself than to his
cousin. Minutes ticked by as the silence
began to buzz in. Arianna leant forward
and reached for his hand. Erik looked to
see the touch but he didn’t say anything.
Arianna stared and try to read his
expression but she failed to do so for it
was-as usual-illegible. Erik is a very good
expression hider.
“Where’s your sister, Erik?”
Arianna managed to ask and remain her
face expressionless as Erik turned to
stare at her. He looked away from his
cousin’s lapis lazuli eyes and said in a low
voice, almost whispering.
“She’s…gone.”
To
be continued…

S-ar putea să vă placă și