Duet: Death's Recital

by Lizzie Vega

  Brushing her hair out her face, he smiled, “It’s going to be different now isn’t it?”

  “A little, I guess. It may take a little bit for you to get used to all of me.”

  He nodded, “I can do that. Maybe we can talk about the things that made you so angry. I think it will help. Kelli is good at stuff like that. I think Edward is too.”

  She kissed him firmly on the lips, “Maybe not everything. Not about what we do…here. And you’ll still watch over me?”

  “I’ll still watch over you.”

  “I know you will.”

  Chapter 41

  Alvin met Ethan at the door. Ethan nodded to Edward as he walked out of the kitchen, “It’s just us, right?”

  “Yeah, the girls are still in class. We don’t have anything planned until later.”

  “Good,” Ethan said as he tossed himself onto the sofa. He smiled when he said it but then his tone changed. “There’s something I want to talk to you about. For now, I want it to be kept between the three of us.”

  “Is Sara okay?” Edward asked warily, “That was a hell of an experience the other night.”

  “She’s good,” he smiled, “If normal is a word that applies now? She’s different, of course, but not in a bad way. Just very much aware of her situation now and I may have made it a little worse.”

  “I don’t see how, “Alvin grinned, “You really put yourself out there at the Annex. I wouldn’t have had the nerve.”

  “Me neither,” Edward added, “Course you’re a little more invested than we are. That was the most selfless thing I have ever seen.”

  Ethan shrugged, “I try not to think too much about it. Something just came over me and I knew it was, well I thought it was the right thing to do for her.” He looked at Edward, “Now, I’m not too sure.”

  “How has she changed?” Alvin asked.

  “She’s asking questions,” he began, “I’ve let her use my phone and computer since the beginning and so she’s seen what the world has become.”

  “Doesn’t sound unusual if you ask me,” Alvin offered, “I can’t imagine what it would be like to show up in the middle of all this craziness…and what kind of questions?”

  “We talked about school and how demanding it is, that was early on and she was so incredibly supportive.” Ethan stopped to think, “She still is, of course, but she told me how much she was struggling to keep her head above water and her junior year, when it really starts to count…things sorta went sideways.”

  “Fall semester 2004?” Edward asked, “November-ish?”

  Ethan hesitated then nodded, “And the spring and summer before. She took classes during the summer session. She really regrets what happened.”

  “Uh-oh,” Edward said, shaking his head, “Weird, I can’t imagine her being anything but how I know her, all cheery and positive.”

  “She was just as anxiety ridden as I am,” Ethan said, looking down at the coffee table, “Different reasons for sure, but still caught up in the social scene and the competitiveness.”

  “Some things never change, it seems.”

  “Sara dances around the subject but I think she got close to someone and maybe crossed a big line with him. She wanted a distraction from all the pressure. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

  “An instructor,” Alvin guessed, “long hours of intense practice coupled with the pressure of competition, let alone actually performing.”

  Ethan hesitated, “I assumed so but she’s adamant about not telling me who it is.” Edward glanced at Alvin, mouthing “Is?”

  Alvin nodded and sat silently, then, “Without prying...exactly, it’s not rocket science to figure out who it might be.” Edward picked up where Alvin had left off, “It’s likely someone close to her in talent and temperament.”

  “Yep, Evenson was my first guess,” Ethan answered softly, “The biggest prima donna in the school. I happened to mention him to the head of security. Sounds like they have some bad history.”

  “Same age roughly,” Edward said under his breath, “same older cool dude vibe. Take them back fifteen years or so.”

  “On a campus full of vulnerable…” He stopped and shook his head.

  “Now I get why you don’t want Kelli and Mikayla to know,” Alvin slumped back into the club chair, “So, your theory?”

  “It’s…” Ethan shrugged and went silent for a moment. “When I first met her, I was so…dazzled that I just wanted her to be happy and I avoided the subject completely. It was about the music and just being with her.”

  “So, you’re normal,” Edward smiled softly, “Totally get that.”

  “Thanks for that,” Ethan nodded. “Good Sara wouldn’t talk about it-”

  Alvin was quick to interrupt, “You said that she actively avoided the Annex, so it’s not like you’re the only one enjoying the bene…never mind. Sorry.”

  Edward rolled his eyes, “Smooth, Al.”

  “It’s okay,” Ethan offered quietly, “I know what you mean. New Sara is vague and, despite how open and direct she is…kind of embarrassed about it. You’ve seen how touchy-flirty she is, maybe someone got the wrong idea. She’s used the word confrontation and misunderstanding. Someone said or did the wrong thing at the wrong time.

  “She died a month later,” Alvin pointed to Edward, “On or around November 8th or 9th. Is this going to turn into a murder investigation?”

  “No. She’s very insistent on that and for whatever reason. The one thing she says consistently is the word accident.” He raised his eyebrows, “Got up in my face, she was angry about what she’d done, but…”

  “Oh shit, not Bad Sara angry, right? She said she was pushed at the Annex.”

  “No,” Ethan said with a sigh, “I’m completely convinced we’re past that.”

  He pulled out his cellphone, holding it up to them, “That said, I think I’ve inadvertently made it worse.”

  He punched up an app on his phone, “I showed her how to search the internet to find out stuff she was curious about. She’s spent a lot of time reading and looking at all sorts of stuff.”

  Edward leaned forward in his chair, “Like what?”

  “A lot of school stuff, including staff and some personnel searches. She doesn’t realize that I have this all synched to my phone. I saw all this search activity and went through some of it. Several names keep popping up, a couple in particular.”

  “Really,” Edward smiled for the first time since the beginning of the conversation, “Care to share? I could do some searching as well.”

  “Evenson is the most frequent search, or at least in the beginning, then there are two more.” Ethan paused as he typed in the history, “Two guys from campus security.” He held up the phone so they could see, “Funny thing is, I know both of them.”

  Edward began to type, “I’m just gonna enter them into this to get the names. I’ll do some digging.”

  “I wonder why she’s looking at them?” Alvin wondered.

  “There’s an article in here about a series of on campus assaults starting in 2002. There was another one about dated in 2004 then, one about five years ago.”

  Edward looked up from his screen, “She searched stuff after she was dead. Weird.” Then he winced, “Sorry, that’s redundant. Bad Sara said she was pushed…and Mikayla said she was pushed at the Union.” He paused, “The head of security was standing right in front of her.”

  “Interesting coincidence,” Alvin shrugged, “The school already has a rich history of known scandals and strange goings on, I still think we have far more than just Sara for ghostly happenings. I just never thought it would come down to something so…personal for all of us.”

  Edwards always furious typing came to a halt. “Ethan, what do you want to do? We know your plate is full and we keep piling on. Let’s wait until after your recital.”

  “After,” Alvin seconded, “if ever, really. It will be different after.”

  “Different, yeah.” Ethan said softly
, then shook his head. He was quiet for a minute, “I’m gonna head over to the music building...put in a couple of hours before dinner. Time’s growing short.”

  “Yeah, two weeks, right? We’ll be there. Say hi for us, okay?”

  Ethan stood in the doorway, “I will,” he chuckled, “She adores you both.”

  Watching Ethan walk down the sidewalk, Edward turned to Alvin, “We’re gonna let this go, aren’t we?”

  “Yep. No one benefits from us digging our noses into it and turning their world further upside down. We’ll let Ethan do his thing.”

  Chapter 42

  The soft rap on Mikayla’s door surprised her. It was late and she was just getting ready for bed. Cautiously opening the door to the dim hallway alcove, she stepped back startled. It was Sara. Mikayla felt her heart jump to her throat.

  “I know it’s late,” she whispered, “can we talk?”

  As she stepped into the light, Mikayla saw Sara’s eyes, red and swollen, blinking back tears, “It’s about Ethan. I’m gonna need your help.”

  Mikayla’s eyes began to pool, “What’s happened, oh God, where is he?”

  Sara took Mikayla’s hands, “No, he’s fine,” she sniffled, “But I need to talk to you about something.” Sara glanced down at Mikayla’s violin, “I know it’s late, but will you go to the concert hall with me.”

  “Sara, what is it? He’s been so quiet lately, it’s only eight days until his recital.” Mikayla could feel the pressure beginning to build in her chest. She reached for her violin case.

  “No, leave it, I have mine.” Sara said, her smile returning, “I just want you to hear something. I think it will help.”

  Minutes later, at the side door of the concert hall, Sara quietly opened the door, holding a finger to her lips, “We need to be super quiet. Ethan is here and I don’t want him to know we are listening, okay? Tonight, we’re partners in crime.”

  “What is going on?” Mikayla whispered, now confused as to why Sara had seemed so upset.

  “We’ve been talking about a lot of things in the last couple of weeks, Mik. He’s told me about his mom and,” she sighed, “It’s easy to see why he has struggled so much.”

  “He’s talked about it, a little anyway,” Mikayla said softly as they made their way down the dark hallway. Through another door, they were in the vestibule on the side of the main lobby. Mikayla could hear Ethan’s piano and recognized the first selection in the recital.

  Sara put a finger to her lips, “You can’t make a sound, just listen very carefully to the third piece. I want you to hear this.”

  Soundlessly propping the main door open with her foot, they sat down in the dark to listen just as Ethan completed the rousing finish to the first selection. As the final notes came to an end, Ethan’s fingers rose off the keyboard in a slow dramatic finish. Both Sara and Mikayla were beaming as she let the door close.

  “That’s the performer, the Ethan that we know.” She lightly squeezed Mikayla’s hand, “I’m so proud of him, it’s perfect.”

  Mikayla smiled, “But not too perfect. He’s learning how to reach deep inside isn’t he?”

  Sara nodded, “I’m positive it’s always been there but…but there’s a lot of baggage. The next one is the same beautiful song you’ve heard.” She reached up for the door pull, “Don’t ever tell him we did this, okay?”

  “It’ll bug him,” Mikayla grinned, “it’s our secret.”

  Out on the stage, Ethan raised his hands to begin the second selection. Having heard the song dozens of times, Mikayla instantly connected it to the Union lounge and, in her head, almost demanded that the colors spring forth from his music. She wasn’t disappointed.

  Within the first measure, a curtain of shimmering green light flew off the keyboard. As he added his left hand for the bass section, a series of blue streaks flew from the keys to arc up over the piano, pinwheeling into the lights above.

  Mikayla gasped but quickly stifled any sound. From the look on her face, Sara knew what was happening, then grasped both Mikayla’s hands with a shrug, then looked toward the stage, “Maybe?”

  Unaccustomed to hearing the composition without Sara’s violin, Mikayla leaned toward Sara, her soft voice in her ear, “Sing it in your head.”

  In seconds, the colored wisps of light split and twirled above Ethan, then turned to flow up the aisle of the dark and vacant auditorium. As his playing intensified, the colors grew strong and bold as they sailed along the rows of seats headed swiftly for the main doors.

  Soon Sara was enveloped in the colored lights, but the soft tendrils curled around her and wrapped equally around Mikayla. They sat in the doorway as Ethan played flawlessly through the second piece. Enjoying the performance from their hiding place, Mikayla found herself relaxing and closed her eyes. Sara tugged on her hands and Mikayla looked at her.

  “I can see them,” she whispered excitedly, “when you watch him, the greens and the blues, I can see them reflected in your eyes. It’s beautiful.”

  Mikayla looked away, suddenly embarrassed, then corrected herself, forcing her eyes wide towards Ethan. She caught Sara trying hard not to laugh.

  Oblivious to the commotion in the lobby, Ethan continued to play until he finished the second piece. Sara let the door close silently on its padded jam.

  “That was so amazing, so pretty,” she squeezed firmly on Mikayla’s hand, “That is such a gift. Thank you.”

  Before Mikayla could respond, Sara leaned in close, “Now, the last one,” she said quietly, “the one we played for everyone in the practice room the first time, remember?”

  Mikayla nodded, not likely to ever forget the experience.

  “We had, sort of an argument about it and now Ethan has changed parts of it. Try to imagine the violin over the top of what he’s changed. I’m sure you’ll pick up on it.”

  As the first few chords played, Mikayla steeled herself to listen to every nuance he played. The first two sections were as she’d remembered, then at the bridge, Sara nudged her. Instead of the full and bright notes they’d heard in the cramped little practice room, Ethan shifted both the tempo and dropped in a minor note just as the next passage began. It was subtle, but Mikayla’s trained ears easily caught the emotional shift in the song.

  “Uh-oh,” she said softly. Sara nodded, tears in her eyes, “He struggles from here. You were right about him reaching deep.”

  Mikayla saw the look on her face, “Now, you’re worried about him.”

  The corner of Sara’s mouth turned up as she looked at Mikayla, “he’s struggling, yes.” She turned back to look at him, alone on the stage, “Listen carefully.”

  Mikayla heard two more shifts both in tempo then a dramatic, almost somber passage that repeated once just before a more uplifting ending. Mikayla had to bury her face in the sleeve of her sweatshirt to keep from sobbing. As he finished, he sat at the piano for a moment then turned off the light over the music stand. His late-night practice was finished. Picking up his music, he began to walk off stage, then stopped for a moment to look out into the dark auditorium. He sighed once, then made his way out to the side door exit.

  “So?” Sara asked as she left the door close and they sat there, together in the dark, “what did you hear?”

  It took a moment for Mikayla to answer. “It’s…it’s so sad,” she gulped, tears streaming down her face, “He went minor with the chord structure, but…it’s-”

  Mikayla watched as a gentle knowing smile crossed Sara’s face then she nodded, “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard him play.”

  ‘I think so too,” Sara said as she began to stand, “Let’s go, my turn. I want to run this by you to see if it fits.” As the entered the auditorium, Sara chuckled, “You wait here, I’ll do my thing.” She vanished in front of Mikayla and seconds later the stage lights came up. Walking out from behind the curtain with her violin, she called to Mikayla, “C’mon up,” she pointed to the stage, “just you and me.”

  As Mikay
la made her way up the side steps to the stage, she was watching Sara strut around, sweatshirt sleeves pushed up, her signature ponytail bouncing back and forth as she walked, then skipped a couple of times to Mikayla’s side.

  “I could never do that,” Mikayla said as she hit the top step, her foot creaking on the old floorboards.”

  “Do what?” Sara asked, then she grinned, “Oh yeah, my stalking the stage thing. That’s what Chris called it too” She started to laugh, “My big bold attitude used to make him crazy.” She lowered her voice, “To be honest, I was kind of a bitch…to maybe…everybody.”

  Mikayla mouth dropped open, “As in Dr. Chris Evenson? You made him crazy? Sara, that’s…that’s not a good thing.”

  Sara started to laugh, “Oh my God no. I had a bit of a reputation, but not…like that. I think I can honestly say we were friends but, oh boy, nothing more than that.”

  “Oh good,” Mikayla sighed, “he said something a few weeks ago and… I guess I jumped to conclusions.”

  “He’s still a big flirt, isn’t he?” Sara said, “that’s gonna get him in trouble someday, but I get it. He’s a hugely talented man, just never got the right breaks.”

  “He wants me to perform with him, as part of his band, I mean.” Mikayla said quietly, “Makes me beyond nervous.”

  Sara took the violin out her case and inspected the bow, “Do it, Mik. Don’t hesitate. He might make you hate him sometimes, but he’ll get you to make incredible music.”

  Raising her bow to the strings, Sara played a short series of warm up runs. She turned to Mikayla with a grin only to see her staring back with an awed look on her face.

  “I’m getting scared, Sara. He said you were headed to Carnegie Hall.”

  She shrugged, “Well that didn’t work out too well, did it?” Pointing at Mikayla with her bow, she smiled, “Looks like you’ll have to be the one who goes instead.”