Hammers and Strings

Raindrop Prelude by Chopin.

Normally, I only play the happy portion of this prelude. I skip over the sad and angry portion. But today, I was playing the sad and angry part, over and over again.

I banged on the keys with my left hand down in the bass clef, while my right hand pounded the upper keys in the treble clef. I'd been doing this for hours now, since about ten this morning. It's about one now, but I did take a break to make a wish at eleven eleven. I wished that everything would go back to normal, and that William would leave me alone again.

"Oh my God, stop playing that God-awful piece of shit!" Sisky shouted, his ears covered with his hands. "I can't stand listening to this for another hour! Just stop!"

"Chopin is not a piece of shit."

"No, but the girl who keeps playing the same fucking phrase is kinda getting on my nerves at the moment," he grumbled, his hands slowly uncovering his ears. I turned back around to play again, but Sisky started to shriek bloody murder. I rolled my eyes and turned back around.

"Look, if you can't stand this, then go hang out with Bobby, or with whomever your buddy is down the hallway," I replied. Oh, and I never told you the reason why Butch and Kate have a piano. You see, Kate's still in college for something (she told me, but it went way over my head), and she's a piano instructor for little kids. I really admire her patience and love for children. She's practically a saint.

"I'm not leaving. You leave!"

I crossed my arms. "Sisky, don't make me hurt you."

"Hey, no need to get into a fight here," William interjected, sitting on the piano bench. "Hey, Sisky, can you look for something that could be used as a signal flare?"

Sisky glared at William, then me, and then back to William. He sighed and stomped off.

William spun to face me. "Lex, are you upset right now?"

Why would I be upset?

"I'm fine," I replied, going back to playing the piano. I heard a loud groan from Sisky from somewhere in the condominium. "I just like this part of the song."

"You hate this part of the song."

I stopped.

"Au contraire, Beckett. I love this part of the song. I started to embrace it once I dumped you." I twitched. Why did I twitch? What's wrong with me!?

"Did you start to embrace it, because you missed him?" Sisky was back over here, suddenly interested in the conversation.

"Shut the fuck up, Siska. There's a list to whom's invited to this conversation, and you're not on it," I snapped, standing up. "This is bullshit. I'm outta here."

William grabbed my arm. "You can't leave."

"Why the hell not!?" I screeched, shaking his hand off my arm. "I can do whatever I please. If I want to get eaten by zombies, I can go get eaten by zombies!"

"That's not happening under my watch." He turned to Sisky. "Did you find anything useful?"

"I found some fireworks from a couple of months ago. It's the illegal stuff," Sisky pointed out, motioning to the cardboard box on the floor. "Butcher was planning on having some fun without us, I think."

Mike was flipping through the channels, but everything was just static. Nothing was on. White noise on every channel. No more reports on how Larry was eaten alive by his own camera crew, or how Misty was devoured by her husband and children. We were one of the few groups of people alive in this vast city. But who would save us? What if no one comes? What if our stupid government doesn't give a shit?

Butcher frowned as he cracked open one of the large windows in the living room area. "I was going to blow stuff up with those," he muttered, allowing Sisky to handle the lighter. He stuck the firework out the window and lit it. It lit quickly, making high pitched noises as the sparks went everywhere. He let go with his eyes closed, and...

KABOOM.

"Sisky, you hit the mailbox!" I shouted, almost shoving him out the window. "That's government property!"

"Do you see any mail men around?" I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, Butcher, show him how it's done!" Kate said, handing Butcher something from the box. I had no idea what the hell any of these were. I was afraid we'd be setting Butcher's expensive new condo on fire. Sisky handed the zippo lighter to Butcher, who lit the end and pointed it at an angle. The sparks flew, and he let go, sending it soaring into the cloudy skies. It burst, making screaming noises as we saw blues and yellows.

"Guys, where's Chiz?" Kate made a face. "I can't seem to find him anywhere."

Sisky shrugged. "Last time I saw him was last night, when we were all playing Go Fish." He turned to Butcher. "Weren't you two doing stuff this morning?"

"Yeah. We were talking about some things." I liked how he didn't mention what those things were. Very sneaky, Butch.

"He went out for some reason," Mike replied from his seat on the suede couch. He was still flipping through channels. He found something to watch, but it was hazy and looked like the outskirts of town.

I looked at William, and he had the same panic-stricken look I had. "I'm going out to look for him." I grabbed Butcher's shotgun and headed towards the door. William grabbed my hand.

"I'm going with you."

"Why?"

"Because you can't shoot a shotgun." He winked at me, and I followed him out the door in a huff.