Chapter IV
1075 Words
Rosette crawled under the table and listened attentively to the sound of footsteps that wandered around the room. It had made easier for her to guess his current place.
Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the darkness.
She covered her mouth when Anthony's white pajama appeared in front of her and moved to face her direction. Her heart ran wild, fastly thumping inside her chest. Sweats came out from her pores when he sniffed soundly.
"Did I wear my perfume?" she thought as she smelled herself.
She couldn't think of an answer. All she had in mind was how to get out from the situation she was in.
The sound of a lighter almost made her flinched. Sooner, she inhaled the scent of a candle. And the yellow light flickered in all the spaces that were exposed.
Rosette heaved a sigh of relief when Anthony walked away from her spot. She peeped a little to see where did Anthony go.
She saw saw him two meters away, humming on a rocking chair, eyes closed. He was facing the door of his room. She doubt if he would hear her move if he continues to hum.
Rosette slowly moved out. She was careful not to create any sound. She had made her way to the bookshelf and successfully opened it without creating a noise. Her head turned to the left to see if Anthony noticed her movement inside his room.
Her excitement overflowed when she got a hold of the folder, that her hand closed the glass door with force. A loud thud echoed in the room.
"Is anyone inside?" Anthony asked, slightly lifted his head up. His face darted on her direction but his eyes were still.
Rosette did not answer nor did she hide. She just stood there unmoving. The folder was tightly wrapped in her embrace.
After a minute, he leaned the back of his head to the chair again. And closed his eyes. The rocking chair moved back and forth.
"Leave this place and take anything except what is forbidden. Dare to ignore my warning, and it will wreak havoc every evening."
Her body hair rose from its place as he remembered what Mang Rolly said to her on the very first day... that he is a death teller! Is it possible that he had predicted that someone was really inside his room?
Her eyes shifted to the folder and then to Anthony again. Her desire was way heavier than her fear of Anthony's words. She did not hesitate in the end.
Without any doubt, she silently move her feet and walked towards the door. As Rosette reached for the door knob, he stopped rocking his chair. With her heart thumping heavily, her quivering hand continued and slowly turned the knob, as slowly as
"When Melody starts to cry, give her a bottle of red wine."
She heard Anthony murmured another line as she successfully opened the door. She stared at him for the last time before walking again into the darkness of the hallway. Her mind went back to the time when she felt a hand.
She felt cold as her palm touched the wall. She blindly took a few steps until her eyes adjusted again to the darkness. When she turned to the main hallway, she took out her phone and used its flashlight to light her way.
She turned her head and darted the light to her back to see if someone was there. But, there was none. She continued walking and turning back her head until she made it to her room.
She lighted a candle and climbed up to her bed. She flipped the cover of the folder and saw the composition with a handwritten title—Forbidden Melody.
Anthony's warn echoed in her mind again.
"Leave this place and take anything except what is forbidden. Dare to ignore my warning, and it will wreak havoc every evening."
"What could it mean?" she asked herself. She ran her fingers on the embossed dots, especially on the lyrics of the song. She did not understand a bit of it.
She closed the folder, hid it in her luggage and decided to sleep for now. She would go back to the beach tomorrow with her laptop to seach for the Braille Alphabet.
The sun went up so fast. Her heavy eyes still needed some sleep but she had an important thing to do. She got up and went in the dining for her breakfast. She asked Sally if she could pack it for her as she planned on eating it at the beach.
She climbed up the stairs again to take her laptop and the composition. On her way, she encountered the couple again at the hallway. They looked unhappy.
She greeted both of them and Clarisse greeted back with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She wondered what could be their problem.
Half an hour later, she was sitting again on her favorite spot on the beach. Her hands were busy typing. She sent an email first to Collin and then she seached for the Braille Alphabeth. Luckily, she had brought with her her notebook and pen.
She copied the raised dots from Anthony's composition on her notebook and begun to write down below the exact letters of each set of dots. Soon enough, she uncovered the first four lines of the song...
She thought she had found her nest
And fitted in with all the rest
But storms are quite destructive
They wrecked the place she used to live
She continued what she was doing until she slowly put up the letters of the chorus. Her hand started to sweat as she completed the first sentence...
When Melody starts to cry, give her a bottle of red wine.
She thought she heard Anthony's voice murmuring it as she read the line.
Rosette had finished deciphering all the lyrics of his composition and started reading all of it. A story was slowly unfold.
The untold story of Forbidden Melody.
It was about a girl who suffered depression after her adoptive parents born a child years after. The love that was unintentionally stolen from her made her lost her mind. She was suicidal and her adoptive parents always forbid her not to come near their biological child. The story has no end and it left her wondering.
A sad smile was drawn on Rosette's lips when she finished it.
- Writer
