The Music of Souls, page 9
When I walked in a very pale-looking Patty greeted me.
“Patty, you look pretty sick. Are you not feeling well?” I asked with concern. She smiled weakly.
“Oh, it’s alright. Don’t worry,” she said. I decided not to bother her any further and just nodded. The last time I tried to figure out her problem she’d locked me out as well, so I didn’t want to pry again.
I took the stairs and realised that I’d only picked up a few melodies here and there. Nothing compared to the load of melodies I usually heard during this time of day. When I reached my floor only a handful of people were sitting at the desk. They looked really stressed and bothered. The atmosphere was quite tense. I quickly walked past them and rushed into my office, only to realise that not even Rose was there.
What had happened here? What had I missed? I dropped my bag and sat down on one of the chairs. I felt somewhat relieved that she wasn’t there, but concern soon took over.
Had they found her? Maybe, but that wouldn’t explain everyone else’s absence. Was today a public holiday and I’d forgotten about it? No, also not possible. The streets were way too busy for that. I sighed and took out my phone. Rose hadn’t tried to contact me since yesterday. But why would she anyway, since I basically ignored her.
I sighed and tried to relax. If there had been an attack on the company by those crazy people, I am sure the news would have talked about it.
I got up and went to sit in the front of the piano. I slowly started to play a few melodies that went through my mind. I couldn’t remember to which person they belonged, but it felt nice to get them out of my head and it distracted me from upsetting thoughts.
It’s as if I had some kind of storage in my head just for melodies, which eventually would be full-up. I couldn’t really explain why, but when John spoke about having some kind of an outlet, I thought that maybe it really was like that, having a way of letting go of them.
Thinking about John made me switch to his melody. This light and steady sound, a bit like a walk in springtime. I enjoyed the melody, but I wasn’t sure if it was enough to satisfy the company. It might not be catchy enough. His melody was already quite old after all and changing it too much wouldn’t feel right.
I was still playing around with it when I heard a sneeze behind me. I shrieked and whipped around, terrified.
Rose was sitting at her desk. I sighed with relief. Did I get so deeply into my zone that I’d forgotten everything around me?
“I am sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt,” she said.
“It’s fine. I was just playing around a bit,” I replied. I fiddled with the hem of my shirt, unsure what to say next. Rose got up from her chair and walked around the desk. She leaned against it, facing me.
“I think the situation escalated somewhat,” she said. I looked up and nodded.
“I overreacted,” I admitted.
“I should have worded it differently too. I guess the pressure just got to me and I shouldn’t have acted all high and mighty towards you,” Rose said. “I need us to work together properly, Avalynn. We are a team and if there is something you are still trying to deal with, then you have to be open with me.”
“Your words just threw me off guard. I didn’t know about the increase in workload, I thought I could still use the time to relax a bit,” I said.
“It doesn’t happen so often, but the company sees big potential in you. They think you could make even more money if you would create more songs. But I should have told you about it properly,” she looked regretful. I tuned into her melody and was happy when I realised that she really hadn’t changed at all. She was still the old Rose; the Rose I knew.
“I am sorry,” I said.
“It’s okay, I probably would have reacted the same if I had been in your shoes,” she said.
“I don’t think so,” I said and grinned. She smiled wryly, which told me that she agreed with me. Of course she would never act like I did. Because in a professional working environment, she would act like an adult.
“I don’t want to push you into a corner, but I would like you to focus on a new song soon. I know that you are always trying your best, but with the increasing workload, the new target might not be about quality but quantity,” she said, looking worried now. She knew how much I would hate that, even though she still had no idea why I hated it so much to throw a half-arsed song out there.
“But you said the boss wasn’t that pleased with the last song,” I said, confused.
“He was pleased with it, he just wished it had been as popular as the one before. Don’t get me wrong. Your new song is still amazing, people love it. It’s just that the other one was a masterpiece. But you can’t always create masterpieces. He knows that and I know that too. That’s why we also know that your next songs might not be the absolutely greatest masterpieces ever created. But every song you write is still worth a lot of money.” What she had just said didn’t sit well with me.
“So you want me to create many good songs now, because many good ones can replace one amazing one but take less time?” I asked.
“That’s what we’re thinking, yes. I know you don’t like it, but Ava, please, try and run with it for a while. Joseph is a bit stressed because a new competitor has entered the market. They aren’t even close to being as popular as we are, but he just wants to stabilise our market position. And he doesn’t want to risk losing artists to them, either,” she said.
I just nodded. I didn’t want to say anything else on the subject. Nothing I could say would be of any use anyway. There was nothing I could do to change it, so I would just have to try to go with it and avoid the stress.
A knock on the door interrupted our talk anyway.
“Come in,” Rose said, and Patty opened the door.
“Rose, Edward is down as well. He was supposed to pick up the costumes from the tailor today,” Patty said. She looked even worse than before. Sweat was covering her forehead and her breathing was laboured.
“Great,” Rose said, sounding annoyed. “Thanks for the information, Patty.”
“No problem,” Patty answered and smiled weakly.
“Maybe you should go home for the day as well. If you collapse you might be out for a longer time than if you just get some rest,” Rose said sternly. Patty nodded.
“You are probably right. I’ll try to be back tomorrow,” she said, without even having to think about it. It seemed as if she had just wanted someone to send her home in the first place.
“See you, Patty,” Rose said, already on her phone.
“Get well soon,” I said, and Patty smiled once again before closing the door behind her.
“Did something happen around here? It seems like many people are missing,” I said.
“I guess you forgot about it. Yesterday was the company’s anniversary celebration. Apparently, the shrimp was bad. And it seems that most people in this company love to eat shrimp. They are all home with food poisoning now. Thank God I am allergic to seafood or I might be one of them.” Rose was furiously tapping on her phone now.
That explained everything. I honestly had forgot about the anniversary, but I probably would have given it a miss even if I hadn’t forgotten about it.
Rose groaned and almost smashed her phone on the table. I shrieked with surprise.
“I am extremely busy now because of all that. Edward was supposed to pick up those costumes and they are important. We have a video shooting later today and we need them by then,” Rose said and ran her hand through her short hair. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen her this desperate.
“It can’t be helped. Avalynn, please do me a favour and pick up the costumes from the tailor,” she said.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“I can’t leave here. And I also can’t send anybody else because I can’t trust them, or I don’t know them enough. I need those costumes and I am sure that you can get them here without fail,” she said, seeking out my eyes. I met her gaze and didn't dare to say no.
“Alright, but I don’t have a car,” I said.
“No problem. Just take a company car,” she said, walking around the desk again and opening one of the drawers.
“I also haven’t driven in a long time,” I said, hoping that might change her mind.
“Don’t worry, it’s an automatic. You basically just have to sit there and steer towards your destination,” she said without concern. Well, she felt much more comfortable with the situation than me.
“Ah, there it is,” she took a key from the drawer and placed it on the desk.
She typed something into her computer and wrote on a piece of paper, hurried towards me and handed it to me.
“Here’s the key to the car, and this is the address.” I took both and stared at it.
“Use the car’s satnav. You won’t have a problem finding the place, I promise.”
“Okay,” I replied, still unsure. I might crash a car today.
“You can do it. And take your phone with you,” she said, patting my shoulder before rushing back to her desk again.
“See you then,” I said and took my things.
“Take care,” Rose said, without looking up from her screen. I left the office and walked to the garage in the basement. This didn’t really sit well with me. I wasn’t fond of driving. I rather avoided it and I hadn’t been behind the wheel for two years now. But I didn’t want to let Rose down, especially not after the past few days.
It took me a while to find the car, but I found it eventually. I sat inside and made myself comfortable. At least it was a pretty new car and probably had all kinds of safety features. I might not die in an accident after all.
I got the navigation ready and started the car. I felt nervous, as if I was about to take my driving test. But the car moved smoothly, and I left the garage with ease. After a while I actually felt comfortable driving and I could relax a bit.
Barely 15 minutes later I had reached my destination. I parked and got out of the car. Looking around I realised that I had been here a short while ago. It was one of the areas I had marked in red on the map. This made me extremely anxious, but the tailor shop looked quite nice and neat. I quickly entered the shop and looked around.
The tailor shop also sold fabrics. There were many different kinds on display around the store and tables for self-service. I walked through the store and looked around. I could hear a friendly melody in the background that was slowly approaching me. Just a little later, a short woman came walking into the store. She was even shorter than me, and I was quite a short person.
Curls were framing her face, bouncing slightly with every step she took. She looked really bubbly, which was mirrored in her melody.
“Hello there hun,” she greeted me, smiling brightly, so bright it was almost blinding me. “How can I help you today?”
“I am supposed to pick up costumes for the PAG Company,” I said, and she nodded.
“Yes, yes of course. I’ll go fetch them,” she said and walked back. She was almost lifting off with every step. She really was a fascinating person and didn’t fit in this kind of area at all or maybe she used to fit in, but then the area just changed a lot.
I continued to look at the different fabrics when I heard the door open again. I couldn’t see the door from where I was standing, but I could hear the melody of the person entering and I recognised it. It was one of the melodies from that night. In reflex I dropped to the floor and hid behind one of the tables. I could hear the man walking through the store.
“Here are your – oh,” I could hear the woman say. She gasped when she saw the man.
“Hello there, sunshine, it’s me again,” the man said. His voice sent shivers down my spine. Fear almost paralysed me, but this time I decided to call the police immediately. I wanted to reach for my phone but realised that I didn’t have it with me. I had left it in the car. Just how stupid can you get?
“Hello sir. How can I help you?” I heard the woman say with a forcedly friendly voice. The man chuckled.
“Oh please, don’t act as though you don’t know what I am here for,” he said.
“But I really don’t know what you mean. I already paid for this month,” the woman said quietly, her voice trembling.
“Oh, no one told you? We decided on two payments for this month. So I am here to collect the second one.” The man sounded happy. The sick bastard. Did he really enjoy torturing innocent people like this?
“But I don’t have that much money,” the woman said, and I could hear her sobbing now. I tried to move around the table as quietly as possible to see her, but if I moved any closer, he might see me. The man sighed loudly.
“I will give you a few seconds to reconsider, sunshine,” he said. The woman’s sobbing was turning into full-scale crying now, basically bawling her eyes out. She must be scared beyond belief. And so was I. I felt helpless too. What was I supposed to do to help her?
A few moments went by, only her crying filling the room.
“Okay, enough time to reconsider. I haven’t got all day,” the man said and then I heard a strangled sound. The woman was gasping for air and I shot up from my hiding place. He was choking her, lifting her small body up in the air. Her feet were dangling helplessly, and she tried to remove his fingers from around her throat. Tears were running down her face and I could see him grinning. I looked around in panic, wondering what I could do. Should I push him away? Could I even do that? The woman was making awful sounds and then my brain just stopped working, my body went on autopilot. I looked around frantically for a moment, spotted the dressmaker’s scissors on one of the tables in front of me, ran towards it, grabbed the scissors and rammed them into the man’s back. The man screamed and dropped the woman in surprise. She crawled away from him, coughing and trying to catch her breath. My ears were ringing, and warm blood was streaming down my fingers. He stumbled backwards and I moved away. He turned around and stared at me furiously.
“You bitch. It’s you again, isn’t it?” he hissed through gritted teeth. He tried to reach behind him, trying to reach the scissors but he wasn’t able to get at them, so he growled and charged at me. I shrieked and jumped away, running behind one of the tables again. I looked back to the woman, she had managed to get herself under control and I saw her holding a phone. Thank God! I hoped she was calling the emergency services.
“Why are you in our way again?” he said to me and my attention went back to him. He was breathing heavily, and his face was red like a tomato from rage. A small puddle of blood started to form by his feet. I didn’t know what I’d hit, but he was bleeding quite a bit. I didn’t have time to think about it any longer, because he was coming at me again. He had a small knife in his hand this time and I screamed in shock. He was still really fast for someone who had freaking scissors stuck in his back. He glared at me and if stares could kill, I would be dead by now. Very dead.
He looked over to the woman who was still on the phone and pulled a grimace. In that moment he probably decided that it was easier to get rid of her instead of me. But I realised his plan faster than he probably thought I would. I grabbed another pair of scissors and hurried in front of the woman. I held them in my trembling hands and tried to look as scary as possible. The man laughed.
“Oh dear, please. Don’t make a scene, you know you wouldn’t be able to kill me anyway. You are way too much of a good girl,” he said.
“And you say that to the girl who rammed a pair of scissors in your back,” I said. My voice sounded a lot more stable than I felt. In fact, I felt like collapsing. I am not a brave person. I am also not a strong person. So what the heck was I doing shielding an unknown woman? I should just leave and mind my own business. But no, instead I was threatening a tall-ass man with a pair of scissors. And his knife really looked a lot more threatening than what I had to threatened him with.
He slowly approached us with a confidence I wouldn’t have thought possible in someone already losing a lot of blood. He was sure to get out of here alive and he was sure that we wouldn’t.
He was only a few feet away from us now, holding his knife loosely by his side.
“You won’t do anything more to me than you already did. Look at you, you can barely hold those in your hand without dropping them. That’s how scared you are.” He smiled. It was a disgusting smile. I looked down at my hands for a moment, realising he was right. I just looked like a pathetic little girl.
“So, let’s end this quickly before the police arrive,” he said, and my heart started to beat even faster. I’d have thought that wasn’t even possible. The woman beside me started to sob again, which really didn’t help me to stay calm. I wanted to be the one hiding in a corner, crying.
He took another step forward and his hand was twitching around his knife. It was him or us. And for a moment it felt as if time had started to slow down, and I took a step forward myself and pushed the scissors into his stomach with all the strength I could muster.
The man’s eyes widened in surprise; he really hadn’t thought I would do it. He had really expected me to do nothing. He stumbled backwards and I fell with him. He lost the grip on his knife and it was sliding across the floor. He landed on his back and I almost ended up face first on the floor. Landing on his back pushed the other scissors right through him and he was screaming in agony. I felt like my heart was being ripped in two.
I had no idea how I managed to soften my own fall. I sat up and saw the man fiddling with the pair of scissors that was sticking in his stomach, but he didn’t seem to have enough strength to pull it out. The amount of blood he lost was shocking to me, and I was sitting right in the middle of it. My hands were covered in blood and so was my shirt and jeans. I stared at my hands. Unsure if I really just had stabbed someone. Twice.
