Tinkling The Ivories

What a spot to be in.

My past has caught up with me and I don't know what to do. If only I had just kept my mouth shut before! But I couldn't. She was my most favorite person in the world. I, however, am not. Terrified of rejection, I poisoned what we had, forever fouling her on me. And now here I am the only one who can help her. Un-fucking-believable.

From far above a piano is falling directly where she stands. No one else is near enough to help. I already know she won't listen to a thing I say. I've fallen on hard times without her, I look and feel like shit to boot. Like I said, my past has caught with me.

"Amelie, you need to move from where you are!"

Silence, eyes straight ahead as if I'm not even here.

"I know I was manipulative in the past but this is different. A piano is falling directly where you stand. You have to move!"

She looks down at her phone, checking her email.

"This has nothing to do with you or me. It's just about saving your future. I'd be saying same thing to anyone who's standing where you are."

She scrolls through recent photos.

"Just do me this one thing, please. Just look up. What harm can there be in that? Just look up and see for yourself."

In a flash of hope, she puts her phone in her purse - but only to resume looking defiantly straight ahead, like a Marine during inspection.

"I don't have the words. I don't have the capacity to undo what I've done. I'm terrified even talking to you after what I did. If someone else were here they could save you but I have to stand here and fail knowing it's all my fault. This is beyond unbearable."

So I jumped beside her. "Sorry, God, I can't watch someone else die because of my failings."

I only have time to

In the afterlife I was able hear her thoughts from before.

"Amelie, you need to move from where you are!" I can't believe he has the nerve to think I'd listen to anything he has to say. He's a nonentity.

"I know I was manipulative in the past but this is different. A piano is falling directly where you stand. You have to move!" Don't come whining to me about what you did. Live with it!

"This has nothing to do with you or me. It's just about saving your future. I'd be saying same thing to anyone who's standing where you are." What sounds good for lunch?

"Just do me this one thing, please. Just look up. What harm can there be in that? Just look up and see for yourself." Damn him! Make him go away! I don't want to see anything anymore. That's how I got hurt last time. Never again.

"I don't have the words. I don't have the capacity to undo what I've done. I'm terrified even talking to you after what I did. If someone else were here they could save you but I have to stand here and fail knowing it's all my fault. This is beyond unbearable." I can't move. I've got nowhere else to go. Not letting that idiot know that. Going to close my mind and hope I don't die. I want to be right about something for once.