The Sound of Music on Labyrinth Gardens

Dulce Garcia

April 06, 2010 9:58 PM

The Sound of Music by Dulce Garcia

School had started and everything was back as it was again. Dull and boring. Summers and holidays were always so busy and full of people and warmth. Even though Dulce didn’t speak up much or go out of her way while at Sonora, her life at home was vastly different. Family coming and going, lessons for her piano, violin, and drums, Lita’s recitals, playing with Jorge, traveling from country to country… there was so much to do and so many people around who actually gave two cents about her that it was fun.

Here at Sonora, Dulce was invisible. That wasn’t to say she minded. She actually didn’t care that she didn’t have friends or that Professors expected the world from her, etc. She liked being able to fade into the background. At home, despite how much she loved it, her family expected things from her. She liked being able to watch people without them even picking up on the vague notion that they were being watched. Because, she did not matter. She did not matter in the sense of how her sister mattered. Her sister, who could smile and instantly be friends with the person she was smiling at. Her sister who merely turned heads just by being graceful on her toes. She was the type of girl who had presence about her.

Dulce did not.

But she wasn’t depressed about it or sad. She wasn’t bitter or upset. She wasn’t brooding. She had accepted a long time ago that Dulce would never be that type of girl. She just didn’t have the energy for it. Getting to know people. Getting to care about them. Getting to understand them. Dulce didn’t have the time for trivial things. When she wasn’t in class, she was playing her instruments. Her mother had taught her how to shrink and enlarge her piano so that she could play it, so Dulce would sneak into empty classrooms and play (she liked the echo the rooms created).

Today though, she was playing her violin. It was still nice and summery out, so she decided to let the wind take the notes away while she played. The violin wasn’t her favorite, but that didn’t mean she didn’t take great care in learning everything she could about the instrument or love the string beneath her fingers as she played.

Closing her eyes, Dulce played the violin by heart. Every note, every string an extension of herself.

6 Dulce Garcia The Sound of Music 153 Dulce Garcia 1 5

Cooper Abramson

April 11, 2010 9:10 AM

Living hills have always sounded like a horror movie to me by Cooper Abramson

If Cooper had to deal with people for one more second he was going to scream. He was feeling tired and achy, and almost full-moon-esque except he didn’t think the moon was due for awhile yet. He hoped not, anyway. He’d have to check when he was willing to brave his roommates once more, to look at the lunar calendar he kept hidden in his trunk. It was only a matter of time. Cooper knew that. Only a matter of time before Brad and Caleb figured out what was going on. And he didn’t want to spend five days alone in some stupid passage, with nothing to do. He’d never actually transformed all...alone before.

That was why the first year Aladren was outside, exploring the Labyrinth Gardens instead of inside, trying to duck away from people. Instead of wearing the stupid school robes, Cooper had elected to wear a Muggle t-shirt with a sort of faded grey-green colour, and equally faded blue jeans with holes in the knees. It was sunny out, but Cooper didn’t mind. His skin was darker—a sort of olive tint—and he almost never burned.

An hour since Cooper had set foot in the Gardens, and he had finally stopped running about furiously in an attempt to burn off energy. Instead, he was meandering from place to place, not thinking about too much. Quidditch was the obvious solution to his excess-energy problem. Everybody who lived in his current foster-home played, except maybe (maybe) Garen. Jessie had taught Cooper to fly, sort of. But he couldn’t be on a team like that. They’d probably play their stupid games during the full moon, and then all hell would break loose. Again.

Noise appeared on the wind as Cooper turned a corner. The Aladren paused. He thought he’d heard something before, but it had been faint and he had been distracted. This time, the brown-haired boy followed the sound. Yeah, it was coming from a person but he figured they couldn’t be too bad if they were eschewing other human people to stand outside and play music. It sounded really nice too.

Cooper peeked around a bush. There was a girl there, with her eyes closed, playing a violin. He couldn’t play any instruments, and he wasn’t sure he even wanted to bother. It was one of those things that seemed kind of superfluous around the time you started growing ears once a month and you didn’t stay in one place for more than a year at a given time. But the music was pretty, so he stayed and watched the girl play.

0 Cooper Abramson Living hills have always sounded like a horror movie to me 0 Cooper Abramson 0 5

Dulce

April 12, 2010 8:40 PM

It was a horror movies, I'm sure. by Dulce

The music that Dulce was playing probably wasn’t one that many would consider ‘pretty’. It was dark, full of low tones and long drawn out flat notes. The pace of the music required a lot of energy and a lot of concentration. This was the sort of music that Dulce played when she was bored and needed something to do. She had learned it a couple of years ago and had picked it up with ease. Although her lessons teacher knew that instruments were something that Dulce just knew how to do, she had been surprised by how easy it had been for Dulce to succeed in playing this music.

Dulce had a memory that stored away music, keys, notes, etc. If she heard it once, she could repeat it back. But this was only present with music. That was slightly disappointing to Dulce. She would have loved to go through life only having to see something once and remember it always. But then, life would get boring after awhile, wouldn’t it? If she never had a challenge.

Music was different. Although she could hear something once, it still challenged her because she didn’t always play it correctly after hearing it. And, beyond having the ability to play just about anything, Dulce loved the feeling that music gave to her. She loved the adrenaline rush that the music gave to her. She loved the emotions that music created as well as told. Music was the only way for Dulce to explain herself and explore the emotions of the world.

The flow of the music had Dulce moving her body to it. Her old fashioned dress allowed her movements to come with ease while her low top black converse covered shoes tapped out the beats. Her long dark waves reacted like ripples around her body. Her brow creased in concentration as the climax of the music came to an end. The end held a flat note that sounded rather chilly in a rather ‘horror’ movie way. Oh how she loved it.

Slowly her eyes flickered open. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up and she had goose bumps. Her eyes surveyed the area around her for a moment, but she didn’t immediately see anyone. She didn’t care if someone was watching her play, she’s been in recitals before, but it bothered her that she couldn’t see them. “Hello?” She called out, her voice as dull and bored as ever. “It’s not fair that you’re hiding.”

0 Dulce It was a horror movies, I'm sure. 0 Dulce 0 5