Mariel is no math prodigy, no musical genius, no singing star, and certaintly not a word wizard. However, she does know one thing: music is infinetly beautiful. It was a complex relationship between patterns of harmony and melodies, the compliation of words, dynamics, and notes. This melding of elements was everywhere; swirling around in the air; music was Mariel's breath, it was her essence. Music played and lived inside of her, and she heard and felt it in everything she did, and that was beauty personified.
One day, the music died, not just in her; she couldn't hear it anymore anywhere, outside of her or breathing inside of her. That night haunts her still, that party, that room, and the stupid poster of Bon Jovi on the wall and how the walls clashed with the linen bedspread. Mariel had told him no, she didn't want him that way, but he mercilessly scavenged, ignoring her words. Couldn't he see the fear in her eyes? Couldn't he taste her salty tears as she tried to push him away? He tore her body and soul in half that night, ripped them violently to pieces, and she would never be the same because the music was gone. Her very life, her very heartbeat, no loger pulsed. She was dead just like the music.
Mariel's friends tried to cheer her up, in fact, they tried just about everything, however, it was all to no avail. She didn't let anyone reach her, and so she finished high school with a gaping hole inside of her where the music should have been. It was the hardest year of her life, having to see him in the halls, in the classes they shared, places where memories that she wished she could erase from her mind lingered. Every night, the harsh sounds of her sobs were what fell on her ears as she cried herself to sleep, wondering if life could ever have meaning again. Mariel used to be teased about being Eutrepe, the greek muse of music and joy, but now she was no one's muse. This was anything but beautiful; this was torn and hideous. She used to dance and sing, not caring that people looked at her as if she was a strange alien from a far off planet in another galaxy, she was just being herself. Mariel didn't know who she was anymore.
Then, one day that can only be looked back upon and considered glorious and the beginning of a Golden Age as if we lived in the Elizabethian time period, but didn't seem very out of the ordinary at the time, someone came into her life who would change it for the better. His name was Gideon, and at first, he wasn't anyone special. He was just like everyone else, except...he didn't give up on her. Mariel marveled at how he was so persistent in always trying to crack jokes, or doing anything to make her smile. They got in fights a lot, because by then, she didn't want to be saved.
"Why won't you just let me be?" Mariel screamed at him, her brown eyes burning, the same question she asked every time they did this.
"I don't give up, especially on people who need this the most!" he shouted back, equally as passionate. "I used to see you in the hallways and thought you were something else, and now you're just this shriveld version of her!"
"Just let me go Gideon, that girl is never coming back!"
She didn't know how to be that girl anymore, and in all honesty, she didn't know if she could. He had destroyed her and buried her soul away in the desert somewhere, leaving this stupid, cold, melancholy body behind the deal with what was left. Mariel just wanted to be left alone to wallow in this misery, because there was no hope that the music would ever play again. Her life had become something that was mechanical and boring, and college was her chance to accept what misfortune fate had thrown at her, but Gideon just followed. She couldn't understand him, didn't he get it? Why couldn't he understand? What that boy had done to her...Gideon was lucky she even looked at him, or anything else that had a Y chromosome.
"Look at you Mari," he said softly, using that god-awful nickname. "You are crying out for attention, you need my help."
"All I want is for you to leave me alone," she said, crying, and embarassed that he was witnessing it.
"That's just what you want me to think," Gideon persisted, stroking her hair. She didn't protest.
"I don't understand," Mariel whispered. "Why do you care so much?"
"I--" Gideon paused for a moment, contemplating his words. "I care because I love you, Mariel. You've got to me in a way words can't express."
She looked up at him in surprise, about to protest, but he closed the gap between them quickly and claimed her lips with his own. It wasn't hard or demanding like the kisses she rememered. Instead, it was soft, and well, soothing. At that moment, with him kissing her, something inside of her body clicked and she began to cry even harder...she could hear the music again.
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