The Sound Of Your Heart Beating [[Open]]

[Joseph Danvers]

((Here's a picture of Joe so you don't have to go looking...))


Now, you may be just passing through the corridor minding your own business, waving and talking to your friends. Or you may be walking alone, thinking and enjoying the quiet. Or you may even be simply rushing to get somewhere. Whatever your story, you can bet that the sounds coming from the usually quiet Music room on a Friday night would make you stop and think. It was, indeed, the sound of music, from an instrument, and not a likely one. At the moment, it was from an old acoustic guitar, and the player was even less likely. Joseph Danvers sat on a stool in the middle of the room, lights low and eyes closed, his head bowed a little as he strummed the guitar lightly, softly. It was delicate, a motion so practiced it was like breathing...

The sounds coming from the instrument were beautiful and sweet, a slow melody that played a song all its own. It was telling a story with notes and dynamics, using expression and emotions alien and yet familiar at the same time to weave a tale so beautiful and so intricate that it could take your very breath away. This story was one of love and loss, life and death... It was a story as old as time, the sweet sorrow of loneliness and memories that plagued you day after day, and yet it was bittersweet. For those very memories that you hated, you loved with all your heart and soul, for they were the very breath you breathed, and they could keep you going even in the darkest hours of your life.

But this was also a story of youth, one of a young man who had lived but a short life, but it was already plagued with wistful regret and pained longing. It was a song about hope and dreams all wrapped up in a small package and laced with sorrow... Somehow, though, it fit together and created a beautiful melody that was matched by a hushed voice singing softly words to a song that came from his very heart and soul. It was not yet finished, not yet complete, but it was one of the reasons he was here. He wanted to work on it, and no matter what else he tried to do, he just couldn't stop thinking about it, and so now here he was. He wasn't thinking now, just feeling and writing down the lines as he sang them.

After a time, though, the melody stopped, though the singing had stopped before that. The guitar was propped on a stand, and the teenager slipped onto the seat of a piano. He may not be as good as Aerich (hey, the boy was a musical genius on any instrument), but he was pretty good himself. Years of practice and determination had proven that, and he was much better than he gave himself credit for... This time his fingers played a melody that he was familiar with, one that he had not created on his own. This time, he was going to sing, and truly sing... He was going to sing this song, one he did not write, and finally be able to relax. In a way, this was his song to wind down, and afterwards, he would just play a little before leaving. That was his routine. Worked every time.

Then his voice picked up, and the words carried him away. "Don't lie and say that it's okay. It's alright if there's nothing more to say. So I'm running away; I'm leaving this place. Yeah, I'm running away. I'm running away. Don't tell me I'm the one to blame. It's too late for you to make me stay. No, I won't stay. So I'm running away; I'm leaving this place. Yeah, I'm running away. I'm running away." There was no smile on his face this time, only pure emotion as he let the song carry him away, lost himself in the words and the music to such a degree that he wasn't sure where he ended and the music began. It was a sensational feeling, and it was one he had grown used to over the years. If you wished, you could say it was his 'high'...

"And faster than you can follow me from this lonely place. And farther than you can find me. I'm leaving. Yeah, I'm leaving today. I'll, I'll never let you find me. I'm leaving you behind with the past. No, I won't look back. And I, I want to hear your reasons. I want to hear you tell me why I should stay... Try, try to understand me. Try to understand what I say when I say I can't stay. I'm, I'm moving off of this place. I'm leaving and I won't quit. I'm running away. I'm running away. I'm leaving this place." By now, the song had wound down, but he was still drawn in and captured by everything. "Yeah, I'm running away. I'm running away..." Then, just like that, it was over. He took a shaky breath and just stared at the keys, his fingers gently running over them without making a sound.

This was his world, and he never wanted to leave it, but life loved to make him come out. Figures...

[Ashlei Soudai]

O.o.c// Listen to this while reading...its the song she is playing/singing and sorta the background music to my post. Its an awesome song.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa_FDNnIkxk

B.i.c//

She had heard the sound of a guitar when passing, her eyes red from another fit of hysterics. Ash wondered when those were going to stop; when she was going to be able to approach her friends again. When the nightmares and the ghost hands that seemed to touch her would dissapear. She stopped outside the music room, listening quietly as the song ended and then the person moved about. The next sound was piano keys being played, and a voice now joining that was ever so slightly different then before. Strawberry blonde hair fell over her shoulders in light waves,and she closed her brown eyes for a moment as she listened. Letting the music carry her away, it was a male singing, but she didn't feel as scared. She was scared...she had finally acknowledged that. She was scared of men and boys now, she couldn't even face Gaara who was more like a boy then man.

She found herself suddenly walking into the room, her footsteps quiet under the piano keys and the others voice. She stood slightly behind him, and watched his fingers dance across the keys. Ash was observing, and listening. When he finished she sat quietly on the bench beside him and started playing herself. A song she had made, and wrote. A little melody she had been working on since she had been released from the hospital wing. Ash had picked the tune clear out of her head one day, and slowly the words had come. Now she wasn't even paying attention to the boy beside her, even if she had frightened him by suddenly appearing. "Shadows all around you as you surface from the dark
Emerging from the gentle grip of night's unfolding arms"
Her voice began to sing, it was soft and almost haunting against the melody. However it was strikingly beautiful at the same time, almost as if she was singing to herself but also to something much greater. " Darkness, darkness everywhere, do you feel all alone? The subtle grace of gravity, the heavy weight of stone
You don't see what you possess, a beauty calm and clear
It floods the sky and blurs the darkness like a chandelier
All the light that you possess is skewed by lakes and seas
The shattered surface, so imperfect, is all that you believe"

Now came the interlude, where it was just her fingers dancing across the piano. The tips of them touching the ivory keys ever so slightly, almost as if stroking them with great love and affection. Her brown eyes were closed as she sang, and as she began the last verse she looked over at the boy beside her, "I will bring a mirror, so silver, so exact
So precise and so pristine, a perfect pane of glass
I will set the mirror up to face the blackened sky
You will see your beauty every moment that you rise" Her eyes closed halfway again, just peering down at her fingertips as she trilled out the melody on the piano. The sound filling the music room, as it got lower and softer before she finally ended it.

It was as if she had been in a trance and she finally broke it, her brown eyes widening as she realized just how close she was sitting to him. She was off the bench in a heartbeat, her face blanched and nearly white. Ash backed up against the wall, eyeing the exit near by but knowing that she shouldn't just run out. Mentally she smacked herself for being so scared, and her face finally broke color as she realized that she had just showed him her song. It was, her song. Almost to herself, but also she was singing to the moon. About the moon, and about herself at the same time. As if they were one. And she had shown him that song, the song that was sacred to her heart. Ash's cheeks bloomed with rouge as she blushed, the color rising up her neck and into her high cheekbones.
[/color]

[Joseph Danvers]

Suddenly, he was aware of a girl sitting beside him at the piano, and once he finished, she began to play, singing a beautiful melody that had his eyes closed and the smallest hints of a smile on his lips. However, it didn't last long, for she was soon launched across the room, pale and shaking. He was silent, looking at her curiously, worried that there was something wrong with her. But then the color returned, turning into a blush, and he realized that it must have been a personal song, one that she never meant to sing in front of anyone. A light blush crept into his cheeks, but he didn't know what to say. So instead, he decided to sing. Picking up the guitar again, his head dropped as his finger strummed, the words coming in a tumble of mixed emotions. With this song, his very heart and soul was stripped bare and put on display.

"Well, let's just stop, drop everything, forget each other's names, and just walk away. Turn around and head in different directions, like we never, it's like we never knew each other at all. We said what we feel, then we stop ourselves, and just walk away. Never looking back, loving every second of it, we just walk away." His voice was powerful at times, and soft and vulnerable at others, always at the perfect moment to add that effect to it that was needed, to show the emotions he was feeling. "This is probably the best, not to mention the worst idea, that I have ever had. Ignoring what we've loved, overlooking what we've done, no awkward silences, no hiding any truths. What do you say? We say what we feel, then we stop ourselves, and just walk away. Never looking back, loving every second of it, we just walk away."

By now, he had forgotten she was here. He stopped thinking about everything and let go, focusing solely on singing this song, knowing his life depended on it. His very sanity depended on this music, his very survival. "Let's just stop, drop everything, forget each other's names. Can we please just walk away? It could be... could be... Like we never knew each other at all. Answer me! All egos aside, what do you say? All egos aside, what do you say?" It was almost over now, but it was by no means slacking off. All the emotion, all the power, was still there, still able to hold an audience's attention. "Ignoring what we've felt, overlooking what we've done, no awkward silences, no hiding any truths. Ignoring what we've felt, overlooking what we've done... What do you say? We say what we feel, then we stop ourselves, and just walk away. Never looking back, loving every second of it, we just walk away."

And suddenly, it was over, and he took a few deep, shaky breaths before looking up at her, no words being spoken yet. He wasn't sure what to say, but he wanted her to feel comfortable. Ever shy around new people, Joe was at a complete blank as to what to do to make her feel comfortable, to make her feel safe. So, biting his lip, eyes looking at the floor, his hand messed with his hair in the back before he shyly met her eyes, blushing a bit. "Um... H-Hello... I-I'm, uh... I'm Joe... Uh..." Oh, man, he was so out of his league here. He had no idea how to talk to people he didn't know, much less girls, especially girls who seemed to be scared of him. Was he really that scary? A little confused and disoriented, he looked back up at her and asked hesitantly, his voice soft and barely audible. It was obvious he was shy. "What's... What's your n-name?" Those innocent eyes looked at her, the blush on his cheeks becoming a little more evident as time passed by.


((I didn't see your post, Lei dearest! <3))