"A Silent Symphony" by Marissa C

 

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White noise. A hum. Mmm mm mm. A continuous melody humming in the listener's ear in bliss. That’s the first thing Elora’s senses make out. The only movement being her own two feet pattering on the solid ground. When it hits her… an overwhelming sense of fatigue. Elora’s own breath goes quiet, only a voice in her head screaming. All around her the black fog seems to suffocate her. Before long she was falling down an endless pit, swallowing her up into its nothingness. Then a voice speaks as if covered by a cloth.

A deep voice vibrates, “Welcome, we’ve been expecting you,” Elora swallows her throat dry as she moves her lips to speak, her voice gone. Realizing this she panics, heart thumping to an indistinguishable sound. A warning. The voice speaks up again, “You may be wondering where it is you are at. And that answer will come soon. Only when you are ready will your mind be open to what it is we must reveal to you. Till then all there is to do is wait.” Wait, she does. It feels as if several minutes have passed before a light blinks awake and reveals a floating wisp of fog that slowly starts to expand towards Elora and her surroundings. Before Elora knows it, she is transported to an empty coffee shop. The cafe being unrecognizable to her she begins to panic; a suffocation of all the overwhelming guilt she feels with no understanding of where this deep emotion was coming from.

Then the voice echoes, “Does any of this seem familiar to you? Ah, yes almost forgot.”

A deep rumbling laugh is all that is heard before she is able to speak what has been bouncing around in her mind and trying to form through her lips.

 “What is this?” Elora yells.

“Now then, there is no reason for this unnecessary noise. If you have a question, speak it uprightly.”

“ What. Am. I. Doing. Here?” She speaks with an edge.

“Hmm, never quite lose the fight in you, do you? That was always something we have admired about you from the beginning.”

“Who’s this ‘we’?

“Well, that’s just something you need to figure out on your own, isn’t it?” Elora sneered at that with a spark of fight lighting up in her eyes. “Now then no more worrying your pretty little head. We have this all under control.” the voice said over Elora’s huff as if about to retort.

A familiar feeling of having once been treated like glass by...by her family? Yes…she had a family! She knew how to handle herself only years of self doubt having hindered that confidence. Doubt resulting from her time growing up with her parents and older brother, who, more than anyone treated her as if she was a frail little bird he decided to care for after their parents died. Don’t get her wrong she’s beyond grateful and loves him dearly; he’s the only family who cares to sacrifice his life. But, the only way to drown out her frustrations about living in the shadow’s of her brother’s protectiveness relied heavily on her training. Elora knew as soon as she picked up her outworn dancing shoes and glided across the stage this is what she wants to be doing for the rest of her life.

So why then does she now doubt herself on this? The one thing she knew she could do. A reason lingered in her head. One Elora tried so hard to hide in order to keep doing what she knew she could. So why was she here when she should be heading back to the academy? ‘This isn’t real’ echoed in her head. Was something… or someone keeping her from that?

“ You’ve figured it out. You are right, this isn’t the reality you know. This is a space manifested by your conscience and our collective. You have been brought here because your mind can’t grasp whatever is ailing you and has brought you here to resolve it. The question you should be asking yourself now is the million dollar question. What will you do when you get out? If you are here that must mean a conflict is tethering you.”

“A conflict?”

“ Yes, we can only be accessed when the body cannot support the mind or better yet emotions on its own. It just so happens you are in that predicament as we speak. So it seems you have a reason for being here, something that is troubling you so much that you have been directed to us.”

“What do you mean?” Elora said, looking perplexed.

“You are neither here nor there,” the voice spoke as fog surrounded the empty coffee shop and when it receded revealed a hospital room with a body on the bed that resembled Elora’s own. On a chair sat her brother, Theo, who was anxiously staring at her silent, unmoving body as if he could persuade it to move with sheer intensity.

“Why are you showing me this?”

“This is what it comes down to. A choice, to completely abandon your last tie to your family or to allow yourself a chance at rekindling what you’ve lost. An opportunity so few come across is approaching you now. No further can we guide you, the choice must be up to you, however, if you decide to make amends these new revelations will all be remembered as hallucinations. We see that he cares for you,” the voice says with a soft tone. “ But the choice is yours. You decide your course.”

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It hurt him to see her motionless form. He could just stare at her for ages with only his eyes and agitation to compel some sort of response from the immobile body. So small and frail hooked up to the only things keeping her alive. Is she dreaming right now? The loud beeps similar to a hum echo in the small room. White noise he hears as he sleeps restlessly on the couch next to the bed that holds up his sister. It haunted him every time he closed his eyes the youthful face of his little sister, a title she despised and felt she outgrew, in distress as the car flipped. When he woke up after the accident, he wasn’t spared the horrifying image of his sister lying next to him. Arm stretched out in her last moments awake, reaching for him tears falling from her eyes and falling down. Those same eyes closed as if asleep, only the small motion of her chest slowly rising up and down indicating she was alive. He knew Elora was the only tie to his family he had now and knew that the last minutes he had with her were words of hurt spewing from his mouth. He shivered as the realization dawned on him that if his little sister didn’t pull through he’d be on his own. He wouldn’t get to see her in a cap and gown as she walked to the center and grabbed the art degree Elora had worked so hard to earn. A dance academy Elora was willing to sacrifice anything to go to even her last connection to her family, her brother. Seeing her so willing, so prepared to move away from him was a stab to his heart. He knew she was only pursuing what she loved and he could smile knowing she was doing just that. That’s why on her last week of finals he was so enthusiastic to accept her offer for coffee, despite the long flight he would have to endure. It all seemed worth it though, to see her smile and eyes twinkle as she raved about the ever nearing graduation and the question that loomed over them both. What would she do after? Return home with her brother… or continue the next steps of her career. It was never his choice to make, so he had decided he would support her in any way he could even if that meant letting her stay for her dreams. He only hoped Elora would know that.

“Little sister, whatever you choose to do with your life, with or without me, I will be someone you can depend on without a doubt. When you do wake up Elora, know your big brother loves you no matter what you choose.”

As he clasped her small hand he laid his head on his forearms. Closing his eyes he saw images of a woman dancing gracefully along the stage. Poised and elegant with a smile upon her face and a twinkle in her eyes. A small hum that moved her dance along slowly turned to one of an urgent symphony of beeps. Head shooting up he felt a twitch on his clasped hands that were joined together with Elora’s and then another. With no time to spare he called for the doctors, tears pooling at his eyes as his sister’s body responded miraculously for the first time.