“I don’t know if you’ll like it or not. But I still have to give it to you. I wanted to wait a few more weeks until your birthday but I think you need it now more.” Bon-bon said as she came and sat down beside Lyra on the rectangular seat that may or may not have actually been a small coffee table at one point.
“Why?” she asked once more. All excitement and joy instantly stripped from her face. This started with the piano, what in the world would make Bon-bon think bringing her here would end well? Her question hadn’t been directed at Bon-bon. Not art herself or even the piano. It was just a question. Meaningless just like herself sitting here in front of it.
“Because I know how much this piano means to you.” Bon-bon answered back. While she’d meant pianos in general, she’d accidently said even more than she’d hoped. This piano in particular did mean a lot to Lyra. Three years ago at least. Maybe now too but… even if she’d gotten back into maintaining it and enjoying the time she spent doing so, she no longer had the true joy of it that it given her for her entire life before hand. Further back than she could even remember. “I want you to play it. That first song you taught me.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes you can. I know you can and so do you.”
“No… I mean I can’t because I don’t know what song that is.” Lyra corrected. Although she had a suspicion it was likely her default song of choice: Discord. “And even if I did… I can’t play it. Not like I used to.”
“But what if you could?”
“I ca-”
“But what if you could!?” Bon-bon interrupted. “Think about how many people you could entertain. How many you already have and how many more would get to listen to what you can do!”
“Not even a thousand.”
“Ten of thousands!” Bon-bon corrected her.
“Not even close… the biggest crowd I’ve ever performed for was like eight hundred and something-sort-of-nine-hundred. So yeah. Not even a thousand.”
“I know about twenty videos that beg to differ. Fifteen thousand views on Nightmare Night, five thousand views on Breaking Bonds, eleven thousand on 20% Cooler and eighty-nine thousand on Discord. And that’s the one I want you to play.”
“Viewtube? That doesn’t count… how many of those are just playlists that people have in the background? They don’t care about it. It’s like one song in tons of others. And where the hell did you get those numbers from. Discord has like 20k max.”
“Nope. Eighty-nine thousand. I might be a few hundred of those but I’ve been pushing so hard to get them viral. I post them everywhere. Tons of forums, all my tags and profile links.”
“What... why?” Lyra asked once more. How was any of this meant to be a good thing. If she’d gotten famous from it, even only interweb famous, how was people wanting her to do more of what she couldn’t any more a good thing? Didn’t matter though. 89k? That’s nothing ultimately. “I bet that stupid ‘man gets slapped with fish’ vid is still a related video.”
“I don’t think so. Why would it? And does it matter if it is? People love wha-”
“Yes it does and no they don’t! If they loved what I did then why would a dumb stupid video like that have half billion views when it was just some moron getting hit with a fish. I worked my heart out learning how to play like that and no one cares! Some idiot points a phone at someone and suddenly the internet explodes with loves. I actually tried to do something! I tried so hard and got so far! But In the end… it doesn’t even matter.”
“That’s no-”
“You know what the worst part is?” she paused but not long enough to get an actual answer from Bon-bon. “I didn’t even make that reference intentionally. Not that you got it anyway…”
“That’s not true. Eight-nine thousand on that song alone. Over your videos you have nearly half a million. And your smallest still has more than a thousand.”
Lyra groaned once more and let out a sigh. It was starting to get annoying at how much Bon-bon was completely ignoring her point. “Last time I checked, half a million was less than half a billion. About a thousand times less.”
“Maybe… but you said it yourself. One thousand people. You were so happy when you performed for that crowd. This… I don’t know how you can’t see it but so what if someone else made something people like. You did too. You may not have thousands times more views… but you’ve entertained a thousand times more people than you ever dreamed. One thousand people. I’ve never even seen that many people at once. Ten thousand? Not a chance and neither have you. One hundred thousand! That’s more people than you’ll ever see! Five hundred thousand! If you started now you couldn’t count to that number before that number doubled! That’s how many people you’ve touched… and even… even if just one of them you inspire the way you inspired me then that’s more important than a billion views of people laughing at some moron!”
Lyra refrained from speaking. Bon-bon’s words were drenched in both love and pain for her friend. There just wasn’t really anything Lyra could say to it. At least at first. While most of it was right, there was one part that Lyra had to disagree with Bon-bon over. “That’s different. You know me. If I ‘inspired’ you to… I don’t know, be a better person or something about your physical stuff, that’s not going to happen to some random watching me play a piano.”
“You’re wrong. Maybe knowing you helped push me to it but… please. Play the song.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes. You can.”
“I Can’t!”
“You ca-”
“You say ‘you can’ one more ti-”
“If you say ‘I can’t’ one more time!..." she mocked. But even mockingly, Lyra could feel the meaning behind it. Hell... she knew it wa the kidna thing she'd say. "Lyra… I know you can. Please. Trust me.”
“I… ca….” Lyra began but didn’t even finished as Bon-bon’s hand came over her own. She gently picked it up, which from Bon-bon was a feat in itself, before placing it on the keyboard almost exactly where the first notes of the song lay. “...n try. I guess.” she said reluctantly. She’d regretted touching the piano last time when she had been completely happy and positive about it. Now… who knows…
Lyra began. She pressed the first key but held it for far longer than needed, no wanting to move onto the next. She didn’t move on though. Instead she removed her finger and started over but repeated the same process, only to start over once more. “Close your eyes Lyra. Picture yourself back on that stage… five hundred thousand people all watching. It’s what you live for. Show them what you know… what you love. Show me…”
Lyra turned to Bon-bon not liking the idea and wondering how picturing herself in front of half a million people was meant to be calming. But as she said that simple last two words it all made sense. It wasn’t five hundred thousand people. It was five hundred thousand and one. She turned back to the piano and closed her eyes. Her hand hadn’t moved. Nor had it forgotten. Her index finger pressed gently on the first key. Then her middle on the second and pinky and index on the thirds.
She played… though only for a few seconds before she stopped. It was there that her second hand would’ve come into play for the song. So as much as she wanted to go on, this was as far as she could get now. “Go on.” Bon-bon said.
“I can’t…” she said one last time, eyes still closed but now only to hold in her tears.
“You can. The only thing holding you back is you. Nothing else...” it was all she encouragement she needed. She believed in Bon-bon. She trusted Bon-bon. She pressed the first key with her index finger. Then the second with her middle finger. Then the thirds with her pinky and index… for just a few seconds she played until she reached that point once more and in a fraction of a second everything repeated itself in her head.
The fear, the doubt, the hope, the trust, the pain, the love, the passion, the boredom, the belief and the friend she had made because of all of them. She pressed the first key of the second verse and on instinct went to press the first key of her left hand knowing full well nothing would happen. Her fingers fell and the key was hit with her phantom digit… and the music played. She didn't stop but she opened her eyes.
She continued to play her half of the song as Bon-bon beside her, using two hands to play what Lyra used to do with just one. It was what Lyra had taught her. But… not this part. She’d only taught Bon-bon the opening to the song and yet they’d gotten past that and were well into the chorus of the song.
if just one of them you inspired the way you inspired me
“You… learnt to play piano?”
“I learnt it from watching you.” she answered as they two made eye contact yet neither missed the slightest second of their song. They played perfectly. Not missing a single note. All her practice. All her hours spent watching Lyra’s videos, watching the symph videos Lyra had shown her while she played the the keyboard she had ‘borrowed’ from Lyra a few months ago all culminated in this moment for her. And for Lyra.
Bon-bon had never played the song through perfectly before. Always making one or more small mistakes due to her clumsy fingers. Even if using two hands to play one hand’s worth of notes compared to what Lyra could do. She had wanted a few more weeks, hoping that by Lyra’s birthday she would have had it down pat. But there simply wasn’t any more time now. It had to be now. And it had to be perfect if she was to show Lyra that she could still play the piano like she had before she’d lost her arm.
As the song came to a close, not a single note missed or mistimed, Lyra closed her eyes and let her tears run freely.
She couldn’t play the piano anymore… but together they could.
The End.