Gold

Yang’s hand trembled as it neared the knob but she let out a breath and opened the door. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked at the bed, expecting to see her mother there, but it sat empty. They slid down her cheeks but she ignored them as she grabbed a chair, dragging it over to the bookcase. Her hand skimmed the composition notebooks until she found the battered blue one and pulled it out. Summer hadn’t allowed her to touch it while she’d been alive for some reason, but now that she was gone, she couldn’t kill her curiosity. Plus, she had to find something that would get Ruby to sleep. In the four days since the funeral, she hadn’t managed to get her little sister to even nap. They were too used to being held in their mother’s arms, wrapped in one of her cloaks. She plopped down on the chair and started flipping through the notebook. 5/6, 3/9, 4/10… Sorrow, Despair, Deceit, Fury… The usual eclectic time signatures flew by along with the strange titles. She couldn’t quite get the hang of them yet, and when combined with the fast BPM, they were well out of her skill range even though they were all short. Her eyebrows raised as she reached the last few pages and her vision misted over as she looked at the lyrics. The soft melodies flowed in her head, fingers unconsciously plucking at the psaltery strings. This…This might be just what she needed to get Ruby to sleep… But… She glanced at the closet and pulled the chair over, tucking the music book under her arm. She yanked one of the cloaks off the hanger, gasping as the chair tumbled over. She hit the ground, heart beating as she failed to take in air for several seconds. She coughed and sputtered as it returned, but forced herself to her shaking legs. She couldn’t worry about herself right now; her little sister was hurting. She returned to their room and smiled at Ruby as swiped her psaltery off the dresser. She nestled the cloak around the two of them, starting to play and sing the first song slowly. The tear stains on the lyrics made some places hard to read, though. “Hush your cries, close your eyes; stay with me…” The slow, gentle melody permeated the room and Yang focused entirely. Reading anything was still hard, but she was was quickly getting better. Rifling through Summer’s songbooks and trying different melodies to get Ruby to sleep was hard, but she had to try. She felt Ruby’s head start to loll as she finished the song and continued onto the next one. Her vision blurred as she read the lyrics, but she ignored it. “Long ago, before we met; I dreamed about you…” She could feel the love Summer poured into the melody and lyrics. The tears rolled down her cheeks, but she refused to stop until the last note hung in the air. The sound of Ruby’s soft breaths broke the silence and she managed a small smile. Her sister’s tiny hand clung to her shirt and she placed a gentle kiss on her head. She couldn’t help but glance at the song dedications, though. Raven, you’ll never be alone. Don’t forget you have a team to support you. Salem won’t win as long as we stand together. My sweet, sweet daughters. I’ll never leave you no matter what. She wanted to dwell on them more, but she yawned as a wave of exhaustion finally hit her. Staying up for four days was hard. She sat the composition book and psaltery to the side, burying herself in Summer’s cloak and closing her eyes. She could almost smell the painfully familiar scent of the rose perfume as darkness washed over her.