There was nothing but darkness. My vision was gone: pitch black, all around me. I tried to call out, but there was no sound. No one would have heard my cries for help anyways. I was running with no direction: it was chasing me. The indescribable horror that I had tried to escape was getting closer, not falling too far behind from me. As I continued to run further, a familiar sight emerged in the darkness: my childhood home. I ran towards the small townhouse, and furiously knocked on the door, hoping that my mother would answer. But there was no answer- and the monster got closer.
Boom.
A pigeon woke me up. This happens often, because they can't see the glass of the windows at my high school. Needless to say, this wouldn't exactly be the first time a pigeon knocked itself unconscious unintentionally. I stared at the bluish gray bird, admiring its iridescent feathers, before it flew off once again. Being asleep in the piano room at 7:30 in the morning was usual for me. I'd always make the two mile walk to school early, for multiple reasons. First off, it's quieter with no one around so early in the day. Second, I walked because it was good for cardio.
And that leads me to the reason why I was in the piano room; Erik Satie's Gymnopedie. This was my piece for the school talent show, which I had been convinced to play for the entire school tomorrow by my three friends.
I can't perform this. There's emotion in this song that I can't convey. Erik Satie hated when people performed his music anyways- not that it's complicated by any means, I just can't do it. I've practiced for weeks, and nothing. As I was practicing, my phone rang. A text message, in the English class group chat.
Justin: "Did you guys do the English homework?"
Ava: "You're talking about the week seven portfolio? No, I haven't finished yet. Jesse probably did it. He always finishes a week in advance."
Justin: "Jesse pleeaaasseee send your portfolio. Ms. Smith said the drafts are due tomorrow."
Asking for my work was a usual occurrence of Justin. Since sixth grade, it had only been us three: my closest friends, who lived in the same neighborhood, and transferred to the same high school as me. My closest friends, besides one. I scrolled through the group chat of all of our memories, before typing.
"Give me like 30 minutes."
"Thank you bestie" was the reply from both of them.
I continue practicing, before I am once again interrupted by someone familiar; this time, no other than Kassia Adrian- my best friend. She bursts through the door with such vibrant energy, such poise and style, with a bright smile on her face. She knows I've missed her, since she's been away with her father for a week in New York City visiting Columbia University. Her long, black braids look as authentic as ever, her piercings stand out, and her make up causes the sun to beam on her dark face. Her smile is perfect.
"Why is your face so gloomy?" she asks.
"You ask this every time. I can't fix it. Anyways, why haven't you texted in a week?"
She begins pacing around the room, meticulously analyzing the quality of the string instruments on the shelf.
"I've been busy, of course. Columbia was beautiful, I might actually apply there. It'll be a change of scenery from these quaint California suburbs, don't you think?" Without going further into detail, she continues pacing around the room before changing the topic of discussion.
" Are you really going to wear those baggy clothes to the talent show?"
"Of course not, you idiot." I remark "I only wear sweatpants to school everyday because it's more comfortable. I wouldn't actually get on the stage like this."
I could tell she wasn't listening. Instead she was looking curiously at the necklace that resided on my neck: the diamond necklace that she had given me for my seventeenth birthday. Elegantly, she smiled.
"Have you heard the rumors about the hauntings that have been going on lately?"
"Ghosts aren't real, and even if they are we probably wouldn't be able to see them."
"Well duh, apparently they're invisible. People are just noticing strange things happening to them. Like a guy getting whisked away into air, taken off his bike in public like a spirit. No logical explanation. I thought you would believe it, considering you like all those horror movies. Nightmare on Elm Street is literally your favorite one." Kassia says. She sits next to me on the piano.
"It boils down to superstition. My mom told me these types of stories so I wouldn't stay up past my bedtime."
My alarm went off- 7:55. Classes should be starting soon; I get up, gather my belongings, and attempt to leave. Only one thing- the door won't open. It won't move a single inch.
"It must be glued shut or something," Kassia says. "I promise I didn't do anything by the way."
After several attempts of nothing but silence and me furiously shaking the knob of the door, Kassia speaks again.
"Hey, the clock stopped ticking. It's probably time for the first period right now." She suggests calling someone, which we both do. The internet is down, calls can't be retrieved, and my text messages to Ava and Justin don't send. That's logical, considering service is terrible in the basement, but there's one more thing- my phone clock has stopped. Time has seemingly come to a standstill.
I peek through the window, and to my surprise, I see nothing. It's just like the dream, I think to myself. Outside it's pitch black darkness. This doesn't make sense, it was just bright and sunny a few minutes ago. While Kassia stands in a corner, I conjure up an idea. What would happen if I ran into the door with a chair?
"Don't hurt yourself."
I got into position, the chair in front of me. Building up all of my strength and speed, I charged towards the door like a linebacker. It finally opened, but the force sent me to the floor. My head hurts, so I stay there for a while. When I open my eyes, there is nothing. Pitch black darkness. I call out to Kassia, but she doesn't respond. There's silence- wait, I hear something. Is that a frog? The croaking gets louder. All of a sudden, a light bulb emerges from the darkness. Not one, but two. Not two, but three. Not three, but four. They reveal an indescribable horror to my eyes. An apparition, no, a monster. A figure made of pure horror- I was paralyzed. I couldn't run. It silently creeps towards me, and as it got closer to my face, I could do nothing but let out a scream.
I wake up in a sweat, to Kassia curiously peering over me. I'm grasping my necklace.
"Remain calm, soldier. I have a theory. We might be trapped in an alternate dimension."
I don't know how she could say that so seriously. It wasn't true, as far as I could tell. I'm still dreaming- I haven't woken up yet. Yes, that's what's going on. It's all a bad dream. Kassia is probably making stuff up, or basing it off of the mythology and horror stories that she was obsessed with a sophomore. "Maybe, the school is cursed. And there's something specifically targeting us. That's probably why time won't pass."
"So how do we fix it?" I ask with slight frustration.
I describe what I saw within the darkness to her. I ask if she felt the same thing, to which she doesn't respond. She notes that it's a type of apparition, and it must be defeated for everything to return to normal.
I turn towards the window for a split second, and she's gone. I'm back in the darkness, and the indescribable horror appears to me once again. This time, however, I'm not paralyzed. So, I ran- as fast and as far as I could. To my own horror, I wasn't being pursued by only one thing. There were all kinds of creatures after me- the slithering of pythons, the furious beatings of the wings of moths, the scurrying of scorpions. I felt them all beneath my feet. And then, the fall- I tripped, only my scream echoing throughout the darkness.
I'm back in the piano room with Kassia.
"It's a loop, Jesse. I read in one of my grandmother's old books, that these types of curses exist when spirits can't pass on through regret. They put you in a loop until you acknowledge something that happened in their previous life and fix it. Someone cursed you."
This is the most frantic I've gotten in the while. I stand up, and exclaim, "Why hasn't anything happened to you, though?"
"I don't know buddy."
All of this was too much for me to handle. It's too early for this. School hasn't even started yet, and I'm being haunted by a ghost. I return back to my seat on the piano stool, and attempt to practice Gymnopedie. The keys aren't working- I smash them in frustration.
Spiders crawl out- my biggest fear. Not just one, but hundreds of the tiny arachnids at once. I fall back, stumbling off of the stool, and let out a scream. Instantaneously, there is a rumbling beneath my feet before I am blinded by a shining light. This time, it's not pure darkness. It's a white room, but I still can't see because the light is hurting my eyes. My vision readjusts- and then I see it again. Imagine the most horrific thing you can- with its bones protruding out of it, its elongated nails, devilish horns on its head. Its eyes stared blankly into my soul. And for the first time- it touched me.
I wake up again- this time it's broad daylight. I am back in the piano room, with the sheet music for Gymnopedie in front of me. The song still plays through my singular headphone. After calming myself, I assume the dream is over. I look at my phone: 7:55. Classes should be starting soon.
Just as I collect my things, however, Kassia bursts through the door.
"This isn't reality, Jesse."
At this point, I was completely done with everything. Slamming the piano and throwing my sheet music to the floor, I let out a continuous sputter of every curse word that came to my mind. Pacing back and forth around the room, my face became noticeably red.
Kassia took further steps into the room, and reorganized the sheet music. She sat at the piano, and began playing. Etude Op.10, No. 3- Tristesse by Chopin. Her playing is so expressive, so serene.
"Sit, Jesse."
I do as she says, and my nerves are calmed. "Remember what I always say, all's well that ends well. We're going to get out of here."
I don't say anything. I just listen to her playing. She speaks again.
"Do you remember how we first met? It was during Mr. Amelie's government class on the first day of school, in freshman year. I couldn’t stand the fact that you had such a gloomy face. That year, we had English and Orchestra together too, and we were both pianists. You helped me write my final paper for English because Mr. Genevieve wasn't helping. Then I read The Myth of Sisyphus, Things Fall Apart, and The Bell Jar because you told me to. I even watched The Sound of Music, your comfort movie. Why don't you talk about your life?"
I went into long tangents about stuff that she had already known- about how it had been my mother and I for as long as I could remember, about how Ava and Justin were my only friends in middle school, about how I was a writer before a Pianist.
"Why did you quit poetry?"
"You already know this. Nobody would have read it. Ava wanted me to submit it to a contest in eighth grade, but it was so bad that I canceled my entry."
" Oh, I see. Well, I have another question. What did you think of me?"
"What do you mean? I always thought you were cool. If anything, you made me come out of my shell." The next few minutes were spent with her continuing to play the piano, while I recounted all of our adventures: texting and calling until 4 AM, the constant museum trips, the crazy piano duets, the baking contests during holidays. Kassia doesn't know this, but I had written more poetry because she told me to, although nobody would ever read it. She'd never know that most of it is about her.
"Besides Ava, Justin, and my mom, I didn't really have anyone. My dad died, and my peers only tolerated me, they never said anything or invited me places. I had bigger things to focus on- college and my life. That's why junior year was so bad. All this stuff happened and I was feeling so overwhelmed and then-"
I realized something. Kassia? She's not supposed to be here.
That's right. My best friend of three years, Kassia Adrian, was gone. The ambidextrous girl who hated math classes wasn't there. In fact, she had been dead for four months. She had an incurable illness, but no one knew except for close relatives and her three friends. For years, her nervous system was constantly deteriorating. Towards the last few months of her life, she couldn't play piano.
"So you realized? You were trying to forget so you wouldn't go through pain anymore."
At that moment, I broke into tears. Kassia placed a hand on my shoulder, and took off the necklace that she had given me. In an instant, she disappeared. I placed it back around me, and there she was again.
"The necklace gives you cool powers or something. It's a tool that allows you to see and exorcise ghosts. Pretty cool if you ask me. My grandma got it from a merchant in Africa, apparently. I found out about its power accidentally, I just forgot to tell you." She stopped talking, taking notice of my gloomy face. "Basically, my soul is trapped in there. You should be ready now. Go."
I open the door once again, tears in my eyes. This time it isn't black or white. It's a room of reflection, glass all around me, and in the center of it all, the amalgamation of my fears. All the monsters rush towards me, but I remain calm; with a single wave of my mind, they are all gone. Except for the main one, which I now realize is the physical representation of Kassia’s fear, her spiritual body that had been left behind. Her regret in life: not telling me how much she loved me. I place my hand on the monstrosity, and it disappears. All that is left is my friend and I. Kassia and I in the piano room. She shed a tear.
"Thank you."
And then, she was gone.
A pigeon hit the window. I wake up from my slumber, and my necklace is in my hand, instead of on my neck. It serves as a reminder that she'll always be with me. I check my phone- it's 7:55 AM.
Boom. The door opens, and Ava and Justin stand before me.
"Have you been here the whole time? THE ENGLISH PORTFOLIO IS DUE NEXT PERIOD. HELP ME." Justin exclaims.
Ava giggles and walks into the room before saying, "Hey guys, don't forget that Kassia’s birthday is in a week. What should we do?" She looks at the window. "The sun is shining today."
I don't know if any of that was real or not. It may have been a dream, it may have been reality. As I walk to first period biology with Ava and Justin, I tell Ava about my change of plans.
"What do you mean you aren't playing the piano during the talent show? You've been practicing for weeks."
"I want to do a poem instead. I'll write a new one."
As we continued walking, I saw a spider climbing up the wall. A large one, everyone should have noticed it. I calmly walk past it, and extend my hand over it. In a moment, it fades out of existence. I guess the power to see ghosts and curses is real after all.
"What was that?" Ava questions.
"Nothing, just admiring the walls, you know?"
The following night was the talent show. I put on my best sweater, brushed my hair, and went on the stage to hundreds of eyes watching me. This was the first time I had presented a poem in public. I had composed a requiem: "The Poet and the Pianist."
Boom.
A pigeon woke me up. This happens often, because they can't see the glass of the windows at my high school. Needless to say, this wouldn't exactly be the first time a pigeon knocked itself unconscious unintentionally. I stared at the bluish gray bird, admiring its iridescent feathers, before it flew off once again. Being asleep in the piano room at 7:30 in the morning was usual for me. I'd always make the two mile walk to school early, for multiple reasons. First off, it's quieter with no one around so early in the day. Second, I walked because it was good for cardio.
And that leads me to the reason why I was in the piano room; Erik Satie's Gymnopedie. This was my piece for the school talent show, which I had been convinced to play for the entire school tomorrow by my three friends.
I can't perform this. There's emotion in this song that I can't convey. Erik Satie hated when people performed his music anyways- not that it's complicated by any means, I just can't do it. I've practiced for weeks, and nothing. As I was practicing, my phone rang. A text message, in the English class group chat.
Justin: "Did you guys do the English homework?"
Ava: "You're talking about the week seven portfolio? No, I haven't finished yet. Jesse probably did it. He always finishes a week in advance."
Justin: "Jesse pleeaaasseee send your portfolio. Ms. Smith said the drafts are due tomorrow."
Asking for my work was a usual occurrence of Justin. Since sixth grade, it had only been us three: my closest friends, who lived in the same neighborhood, and transferred to the same high school as me. My closest friends, besides one. I scrolled through the group chat of all of our memories, before typing.
"Give me like 30 minutes."
"Thank you bestie" was the reply from both of them.
I continue practicing, before I am once again interrupted by someone familiar; this time, no other than Kassia Adrian- my best friend. She bursts through the door with such vibrant energy, such poise and style, with a bright smile on her face. She knows I've missed her, since she's been away with her father for a week in New York City visiting Columbia University. Her long, black braids look as authentic as ever, her piercings stand out, and her make up causes the sun to beam on her dark face. Her smile is perfect.
"Why is your face so gloomy?" she asks.
"You ask this every time. I can't fix it. Anyways, why haven't you texted in a week?"
She begins pacing around the room, meticulously analyzing the quality of the string instruments on the shelf.
"I've been busy, of course. Columbia was beautiful, I might actually apply there. It'll be a change of scenery from these quaint California suburbs, don't you think?" Without going further into detail, she continues pacing around the room before changing the topic of discussion.
" Are you really going to wear those baggy clothes to the talent show?"
"Of course not, you idiot." I remark "I only wear sweatpants to school everyday because it's more comfortable. I wouldn't actually get on the stage like this."
I could tell she wasn't listening. Instead she was looking curiously at the necklace that resided on my neck: the diamond necklace that she had given me for my seventeenth birthday. Elegantly, she smiled.
"Have you heard the rumors about the hauntings that have been going on lately?"
"Ghosts aren't real, and even if they are we probably wouldn't be able to see them."
"Well duh, apparently they're invisible. People are just noticing strange things happening to them. Like a guy getting whisked away into air, taken off his bike in public like a spirit. No logical explanation. I thought you would believe it, considering you like all those horror movies. Nightmare on Elm Street is literally your favorite one." Kassia says. She sits next to me on the piano.
"It boils down to superstition. My mom told me these types of stories so I wouldn't stay up past my bedtime."
My alarm went off- 7:55. Classes should be starting soon; I get up, gather my belongings, and attempt to leave. Only one thing- the door won't open. It won't move a single inch.
"It must be glued shut or something," Kassia says. "I promise I didn't do anything by the way."
After several attempts of nothing but silence and me furiously shaking the knob of the door, Kassia speaks again.
"Hey, the clock stopped ticking. It's probably time for the first period right now." She suggests calling someone, which we both do. The internet is down, calls can't be retrieved, and my text messages to Ava and Justin don't send. That's logical, considering service is terrible in the basement, but there's one more thing- my phone clock has stopped. Time has seemingly come to a standstill.
I peek through the window, and to my surprise, I see nothing. It's just like the dream, I think to myself. Outside it's pitch black darkness. This doesn't make sense, it was just bright and sunny a few minutes ago. While Kassia stands in a corner, I conjure up an idea. What would happen if I ran into the door with a chair?
"Don't hurt yourself."
I got into position, the chair in front of me. Building up all of my strength and speed, I charged towards the door like a linebacker. It finally opened, but the force sent me to the floor. My head hurts, so I stay there for a while. When I open my eyes, there is nothing. Pitch black darkness. I call out to Kassia, but she doesn't respond. There's silence- wait, I hear something. Is that a frog? The croaking gets louder. All of a sudden, a light bulb emerges from the darkness. Not one, but two. Not two, but three. Not three, but four. They reveal an indescribable horror to my eyes. An apparition, no, a monster. A figure made of pure horror- I was paralyzed. I couldn't run. It silently creeps towards me, and as it got closer to my face, I could do nothing but let out a scream.
I wake up in a sweat, to Kassia curiously peering over me. I'm grasping my necklace.
"Remain calm, soldier. I have a theory. We might be trapped in an alternate dimension."
I don't know how she could say that so seriously. It wasn't true, as far as I could tell. I'm still dreaming- I haven't woken up yet. Yes, that's what's going on. It's all a bad dream. Kassia is probably making stuff up, or basing it off of the mythology and horror stories that she was obsessed with a sophomore. "Maybe, the school is cursed. And there's something specifically targeting us. That's probably why time won't pass."
"So how do we fix it?" I ask with slight frustration.
I describe what I saw within the darkness to her. I ask if she felt the same thing, to which she doesn't respond. She notes that it's a type of apparition, and it must be defeated for everything to return to normal.
I turn towards the window for a split second, and she's gone. I'm back in the darkness, and the indescribable horror appears to me once again. This time, however, I'm not paralyzed. So, I ran- as fast and as far as I could. To my own horror, I wasn't being pursued by only one thing. There were all kinds of creatures after me- the slithering of pythons, the furious beatings of the wings of moths, the scurrying of scorpions. I felt them all beneath my feet. And then, the fall- I tripped, only my scream echoing throughout the darkness.
I'm back in the piano room with Kassia.
"It's a loop, Jesse. I read in one of my grandmother's old books, that these types of curses exist when spirits can't pass on through regret. They put you in a loop until you acknowledge something that happened in their previous life and fix it. Someone cursed you."
This is the most frantic I've gotten in the while. I stand up, and exclaim, "Why hasn't anything happened to you, though?"
"I don't know buddy."
All of this was too much for me to handle. It's too early for this. School hasn't even started yet, and I'm being haunted by a ghost. I return back to my seat on the piano stool, and attempt to practice Gymnopedie. The keys aren't working- I smash them in frustration.
Spiders crawl out- my biggest fear. Not just one, but hundreds of the tiny arachnids at once. I fall back, stumbling off of the stool, and let out a scream. Instantaneously, there is a rumbling beneath my feet before I am blinded by a shining light. This time, it's not pure darkness. It's a white room, but I still can't see because the light is hurting my eyes. My vision readjusts- and then I see it again. Imagine the most horrific thing you can- with its bones protruding out of it, its elongated nails, devilish horns on its head. Its eyes stared blankly into my soul. And for the first time- it touched me.
I wake up again- this time it's broad daylight. I am back in the piano room, with the sheet music for Gymnopedie in front of me. The song still plays through my singular headphone. After calming myself, I assume the dream is over. I look at my phone: 7:55. Classes should be starting soon.
Just as I collect my things, however, Kassia bursts through the door.
"This isn't reality, Jesse."
At this point, I was completely done with everything. Slamming the piano and throwing my sheet music to the floor, I let out a continuous sputter of every curse word that came to my mind. Pacing back and forth around the room, my face became noticeably red.
Kassia took further steps into the room, and reorganized the sheet music. She sat at the piano, and began playing. Etude Op.10, No. 3- Tristesse by Chopin. Her playing is so expressive, so serene.
"Sit, Jesse."
I do as she says, and my nerves are calmed. "Remember what I always say, all's well that ends well. We're going to get out of here."
I don't say anything. I just listen to her playing. She speaks again.
"Do you remember how we first met? It was during Mr. Amelie's government class on the first day of school, in freshman year. I couldn’t stand the fact that you had such a gloomy face. That year, we had English and Orchestra together too, and we were both pianists. You helped me write my final paper for English because Mr. Genevieve wasn't helping. Then I read The Myth of Sisyphus, Things Fall Apart, and The Bell Jar because you told me to. I even watched The Sound of Music, your comfort movie. Why don't you talk about your life?"
I went into long tangents about stuff that she had already known- about how it had been my mother and I for as long as I could remember, about how Ava and Justin were my only friends in middle school, about how I was a writer before a Pianist.
"Why did you quit poetry?"
"You already know this. Nobody would have read it. Ava wanted me to submit it to a contest in eighth grade, but it was so bad that I canceled my entry."
" Oh, I see. Well, I have another question. What did you think of me?"
"What do you mean? I always thought you were cool. If anything, you made me come out of my shell." The next few minutes were spent with her continuing to play the piano, while I recounted all of our adventures: texting and calling until 4 AM, the constant museum trips, the crazy piano duets, the baking contests during holidays. Kassia doesn't know this, but I had written more poetry because she told me to, although nobody would ever read it. She'd never know that most of it is about her.
"Besides Ava, Justin, and my mom, I didn't really have anyone. My dad died, and my peers only tolerated me, they never said anything or invited me places. I had bigger things to focus on- college and my life. That's why junior year was so bad. All this stuff happened and I was feeling so overwhelmed and then-"
I realized something. Kassia? She's not supposed to be here.
That's right. My best friend of three years, Kassia Adrian, was gone. The ambidextrous girl who hated math classes wasn't there. In fact, she had been dead for four months. She had an incurable illness, but no one knew except for close relatives and her three friends. For years, her nervous system was constantly deteriorating. Towards the last few months of her life, she couldn't play piano.
"So you realized? You were trying to forget so you wouldn't go through pain anymore."
At that moment, I broke into tears. Kassia placed a hand on my shoulder, and took off the necklace that she had given me. In an instant, she disappeared. I placed it back around me, and there she was again.
"The necklace gives you cool powers or something. It's a tool that allows you to see and exorcise ghosts. Pretty cool if you ask me. My grandma got it from a merchant in Africa, apparently. I found out about its power accidentally, I just forgot to tell you." She stopped talking, taking notice of my gloomy face. "Basically, my soul is trapped in there. You should be ready now. Go."
I open the door once again, tears in my eyes. This time it isn't black or white. It's a room of reflection, glass all around me, and in the center of it all, the amalgamation of my fears. All the monsters rush towards me, but I remain calm; with a single wave of my mind, they are all gone. Except for the main one, which I now realize is the physical representation of Kassia’s fear, her spiritual body that had been left behind. Her regret in life: not telling me how much she loved me. I place my hand on the monstrosity, and it disappears. All that is left is my friend and I. Kassia and I in the piano room. She shed a tear.
"Thank you."
And then, she was gone.
A pigeon hit the window. I wake up from my slumber, and my necklace is in my hand, instead of on my neck. It serves as a reminder that she'll always be with me. I check my phone- it's 7:55 AM.
Boom. The door opens, and Ava and Justin stand before me.
"Have you been here the whole time? THE ENGLISH PORTFOLIO IS DUE NEXT PERIOD. HELP ME." Justin exclaims.
Ava giggles and walks into the room before saying, "Hey guys, don't forget that Kassia’s birthday is in a week. What should we do?" She looks at the window. "The sun is shining today."
I don't know if any of that was real or not. It may have been a dream, it may have been reality. As I walk to first period biology with Ava and Justin, I tell Ava about my change of plans.
"What do you mean you aren't playing the piano during the talent show? You've been practicing for weeks."
"I want to do a poem instead. I'll write a new one."
As we continued walking, I saw a spider climbing up the wall. A large one, everyone should have noticed it. I calmly walk past it, and extend my hand over it. In a moment, it fades out of existence. I guess the power to see ghosts and curses is real after all.
"What was that?" Ava questions.
"Nothing, just admiring the walls, you know?"
The following night was the talent show. I put on my best sweater, brushed my hair, and went on the stage to hundreds of eyes watching me. This was the first time I had presented a poem in public. I had composed a requiem: "The Poet and the Pianist."
CHASE JONES
