A/N: So, hi! This is my first time publishing an original work (I usually publish on Did anyone realize that the writers guidelines are exactly the same on both sites?), so be fairly nice to me. I, of course, accept constructive criticism, welcome it in fact. Anyways, I wrote this story for english class. 98. XD It's sort of long. My teacher said she didn't want more than five pages, but would set the limit at eight pages. Yeah...I ended up with eleven. I had to go ask her to keep it that long because I couldn't cut anything out. ::sheepish:: XD. Anyways, thanks so much for clicking on the little blue letters that said 'The Cellist'. I really hope you enjoy it!

The Cellist

The heels of Arthenise’s boots clicked on the cold steel as she climbed the long flight of stairs to the top of her apartment. Her image was caught in the mirrors that adorned the doors as she passed; the landlord had a thing for mirrors. The silver glass showed a slim girl with dark burgundy hair and flashing green eyes. What the mirrors didn’t visibly catch as Arthenise flew past them was her soul. At seventeen years old, her eyes showed maturity far beyond her years. She was artistic, imaginative, with a fascination for the darker side of the world.

The steep stairs ended in a steel door that opened onto the shadowy roof. Arthenise stepped onto the hard black tar and walked briskly to the western edge. A chill passed down her spine and she whirled around, her dark green eyes darting for movement in the growing darkness. The dark gray equipment shed stood innocently to the left of the stairs. To the right the dirty thousand gallon gray water tank cast a dark shadow across the tar. Arthenise laughed at her own foolishness and turned westward, into the dying sun. She leaned against the four foot high chain link fence that prevented anyone from falling to the ground, so many yards below. There was a rumor that a young girl had jumped many years ago, prompting the managers to construct the eyesore of a perimeter. The sun had almost completely set, casting orange and red streaks across the sky; the streaks fading into blackness as they traveled eastward. Arthenise gazed out at the San Francisco bay, taking in the peace of the rippling waters. Behind her the rest of San Francisco bustled and would stay busy and active until the early hours of the morning. But as she watched the waves ripple the surface of the dark water Arthenise could believe she was in another world. A serene, quiescent world away from the problems of everyday life.

Arthenise came to this roof not only to watch the sun set over stunning views of San Francisco, but also to escape what problems lay behind her. She had all the problems of high school, four younger sisters, a father who had been dead less than a year, and a mother who had become oppressive in the wake of the mysterious tragedy that claimed the life of her husband. She insisted on keeping all of her girls in the city. She was especially hard on her oldest, Arthenise, and the youngest, Sophie. When Arthenise graduates in two months she will have to choose between following her dreams and finding a more exciting life or stay and help her mother raise her sisters, following desires not her own. Her heart wants to leave, to find adventure and love and a better life, but her mother will never let her go, because of an irrational fear of the outside world.

With a sigh Arthenise thought of the money stashed away in her bedroom. She had been hording paychecks since she got the job at an antique bookstore downtown. That flow of cash, combined with the scholarships she was being offered would be enough to support her if she decided to run away. She laughed grimly. What child has to run away to college? All of the inquiries, applications, and acceptation letters had to be kept secret from her mother, who if she knew, would do anything she could to stop Arthenise from going away. With the feeling of being caged Arthenise looked at the ground so far below and for one second wished she could step off the edge, and plunge out of the mundane world of humans. Sometimes she felt tired of the struggle it took to keep breathing and keep her mind awake. But that would be her last action; she would fly before she fell.

Lost in her thoughts, Arthenise was entirely absent from the corporeal world. A sound from behind startled Arthenise, making her jump from the memory of previous disembodied sounds. Again, nothing was there. Taking a deep breath Arthenise attempted to rid herself of the shadows of fear.

She walked briskly across the deserted roof, fighting the urge to run. At the door, Arthenise paused as if an unseen hand held her back. After inspecting the now enormous shadows one last time she turned her back on the night and entered the fluorescent light of the stairwell.

Hours later, night really had fallen. It was so dark, Arthenise couldn’t even see out of the window. She said in the apartment’s office, a crowded place, the desk stacked high with books and paper with Arthenise’s laptop buried somewhere under the amorphous pile. As she grew, Arthenise began wishing for her own bedroom. Every birthday, that was what she thought of as she snuffed out the tiny flames. Every time a star shot across the sky the thought of a space apart from her mother and her sisters occupied her every wish. Finally, as a freshman in high school, her ultimate wish came true. Her mother normally used the old office to work in, but agreed to let Arthenise use it as her bedroom as long as she promised to allow others the space if they needed it. Eagerly, Arthenise accepted the offer and moved into the small space the next day. Despite its size, the room opened to the fire escape, where Arthenise spent her idle time when she wasn’t on the roof.

The room’s only occupant now sat at the mahogany desk, a gift her grandparents gave to the family long ago, when Arthenise had been an only child and her father had yet to mysteriously vanish. The gift was given back when times had been easy. Arthenise pulled a dark wooden box out of a trap door in one of the drawers. She meticulously counted its contents for the hundredth time. $680. Not enough for tuition, but she was sure to get scholarships. The remaining space in the trap door of the desk was filled with college papers. They were actually acceptance letters. Many of them promised scholarships if she attended. Arthenise had yet to respond to any of them. Sighing out her troubles, Arthenise carefully replaced the letters and the money and returned the drawer to its original state. No one would ever suspect the treasures that lay buried beneath the junk that littered the desk.

Arthenise rose and entered the small kitchen directly connected to her office/bedroom. The main section of the apartment containing the living room and the kitchen was deserted. Arthenise’s socked feet padded across the tiles and to the refrigerator, their master seeking a glass of juice. Finding her quarry, Arthenise straightened up, jumping when she saw Sophie, the youngest of her sisters, standing silently. With a silent curse to small children and their quiet movements Arthenise took a steadying breath.

“Wow, Sophie. You sure are jumping out at people tonight.” Arthenise said with a light laugh. Sophie didn’t respond, barely even showing emotion on the eight year old’s face. The eight year old had hair a much lighter shade of red than Arthenise’s with green eyes that were watery in color, rather than texture. She was small for her age with a face that clung to an image of infancy. Her pale green eyes seemed to glow in the semidarkness of the dimly lit kitchen.

“There’s someone in the hallway.” The eight year old said in a monotone. Arthenise’s face fell.

“Of course someone’s in the hallway, Sophie. There are always tenants coming in and out.” But in her heart Arthenise knew that her reassurance was empty. Her mother had always told stories of Arthenise’s vivid imaginary friends, who she played with long after it was appropriate. Her teachers and parents had desperately tried to break her of this juvenile practice, but Arthenise refused to deny the existence of her playmates.

“Why don’t you believe me?” The five year old would cry. She also asked the big question. “How can’t you see them?” Finally, at age seven, Arthenise broke. She didn’t stop seeing ones who weren’t there, but she stopping talk about and to them, and soon they faded away. Never entirely, though. From the corners of her eyes, Arthenise would see people in the shadows, but when she looked directly at them, they were gone. She wrote off the incidences as oddly shaped shadows or tricks of her eyes. She even went to an optometrist once, convinced that her eyes were going bad. But nothing wrong was discovered by the optometrist and the visions continued. Even at home, sometimes she would think she heard a soft cello playing, and she would smell lavender but when she concentrated on the sounds or looked for the source of the smell they would both vanish into the shadows again.

“Can you go check?” Sophie’s whine brought Arthenise out of her musings, as only a child’s voice can do. Arthenise smiled.

“Sure. Just go back to bed, and I’ll take care of everything.” The two were still alone in the apartment, despite the late hour. The other sisters were gone for the weekend, leaving nothing but a note to indicate their location. Their mother would not be home from work until at least ten o’clock on a Friday, taking extra time to finish up. Sophie silently glided through the apartment, back into the bedroom she shared with their other sisters. Arthenise took a deep breath and unlocked the door to their apartment.

The first thing she noticed when she was outside the confines of her family’s space was the temperature. It was icy, despite spring bringing warm temperatures. The second thing she noticed was the silence. It was suffocating. The pure lack of noise made Arthenise’s ears ring. There wasn’t even a sound when the door shut behind her. From the silence, the soft sound of a cello built up until it sounded as if someone was playing in Arthenise’s ear. She sneezed on the strong smell of lavender. After sneezing a record four times in a row, Arthenise’s sharp eyes caught a shape in their corners. But this apparition didn’t disappear when she turned her green eyes directly at her. It was a girl. She was profiled, facing the door to the stairs. Her hair was jet black, her skin a deathly white. Her black locks fanned out behind her as if in a soft breeze. Icy blue eyes seemed to glow spectacularly. The girl was dressed neatly in a black, billowy skirt that fell just to her knees and a neat white blouse. In her pale right hand, she held a long, dark bow. It seemed to be the source of the music, despite no cello being in sight. The most remarkable aspect of this young girl, looking only to be about Arthenise’s age, was her position. Her high heeled black shoes floated four feet from the floor.

Arthenise’s mind told her to move, but she was too enthralled to budge. She stood staring as the girl turned her head slowly to face Arthenise. The rest of her body followed her head until she was completely facing Arthenise. Her dark red lips softly formed a single word.

“Arthenise.” The name barely carried on the breeze to its recipient, who still stood paralyzed watching the apparition. “Arthenise.” The name grew louder; the voice speaking it was high and soft. “Arthenise.” This was the loudest name spoken, but it had changed its pitch. The voice had grown deeper, older.

“Arthenise.” This time it was her Mother that spoke. Arthenise whirled around to find her mother smiling at her, completely oblivious to what she just interrupted.

“Mother.” Arthenise said with a deep sigh. Her mother was in her early fifties, with short, puffy red hair that was streaked with gray and garish nearly orange lipstick.

“What on earth are you doing standing out here in the hall, dear?” Her mother asked with a foolish smile.

“I…” Arthenise trailed off. The smell and the music had faded. She sharply turned her gaze to the end of the hall. It was completely empty. The fluorescent lights that were closest to the stairwell flickered on and off, the bulbs oddly sparking. Arthenise couldn’t help but feel disappointed that she was interrupted. Something inside her soul told her that she would have liked to talk to this “imaginary” friend. “Never mind.” She said, turning back to her mother. “You’re home early.” It was a statement of factual information, rather than a delighted declaration.

“Yes, I was finished early tonight and thought I’d surprise you. I’m sure that it’s only you and Sophie, right?” Arthenise nodded in the affirmative. Then she noticed the stack of envelopes in her mother’s arms.

“And…you got the mail?” Arthenise said her mouth suddenly dry. Just relax, she thought to herself. Maybe nothing came today. Arthenise had taken to getting the mail, to ensure that all the college letters she received did not cross her mother’s sight. With a sickening drop in her stomach, she realized that today was the day the answer from Harvard, her top choice, was scheduled to arrive. She remembered how nervous she was as she carefully counted the number of days it took for a letter to be mailed in Boston and arrive in San Francisco. And now, her mother most likely held the most influential piece of mail Arthenise would ever receive.

“Why don’t we go inside?” Her mother said, completely oblivious. She pushed past her daughter and entered the apartment. Arthenise followed nervously. The two women sat down at the kitchen table. Arthenise took deep breaths as her mother flipped through the mail, dividing it into junk, bills, and other. The last letter in the pile was thick, the thickness of a college acceptance letter. Arthenise couldn’t see it closely before her mother sorted it, but she thought she might have seen the Harvard emblem on the front.

“Any interesting mail?” Arthenise forced herself to say as her mother looked at the letter which could only be Arthenise’s biggest hope and fear with confusion.

“Why would you get a letter from Harvard?” Came the almost whispered response. Silence almost smothered Arthenise as her mother tore open the letter, reading it with several emotions crossing her face. The first was a mild surprise, the second was a slight annoyance, and finally Arthenise thought she saw a flicker of pride on her mother’s face before it was completely wiped blank.

“I’m going.” Arthenise said in barely a whisper. She knew that she was accepted, just as she knew her imaginary friend from childhood were real. Her mother raised her eyebrows.

“I thought we agreed,” She said slowly. “A local college is the best option, giving our current situation. The real world can wait. Harvard can wait. This family needs a few more years…to recover.”

“But what if this is the way I recover?” Arthenise said, her voice rising. “I can’t just sit here and wait like he’s going to walk through the door again if I just stare at it long enough! That would drive me insane, just as much as leaving would drive you insane. You need to realize that you and I are completely different. We have barely anything in common, including the way we grieve. To get over this…to get on with my life…” Arthenise took a deep breath. “I have to leave. I’m sorry. But I’m leaving.” Her mother rose, acting like she didn’t hear a word Arthenise said.

“We’ll discuss this later.” She dumped the letter in the pile of junk mail and set it on the counter to be recycled. Arthenise went into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She collapsed on her twin bed, again feeling weary as if she had lived for a century.

The next morning Arthenise rose early, logging on to her computer. As the internet connected, she looked out the window. The sky was still dark, despite it being almost seven in May. Pouring rain obscured the glass and every few minutes a jet of lightening would flash across the sky accompanied by an explosive thunder clap. Arthenise turned her back to the window, and searched the archives of the local paper, looking for a particular story. A headline caught her attention. She scanned the article, finding what she had been looking for.

Eighteen Year Old Girl Plunges to Her Death from Local Apartment Building

The article described the suicide of eighteen year old Carrie Black, a high school senior who jumped from Arthenise’s very roof, prompting maintenance to construct the fence that currently encircled the top of the building. Arthenise frowned. The description in the article matched the girl in the hallway exactly, down to the fact that Carrie was a wonderful cellist. A protégé, in fact. Arthenise leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and releasing all the air in her lungs with a deep sigh. She didn’t know what she expected to find in the article. She had no more answers now than she had when she fell asleep the night before. Despite the fact that the chair was the most uncomfortable chair available, Arthenise found herself falling asleep. The smell of lavender permeated the small room. Slow Vivaldi music started up, almost too quiet to be audible. In her dream, Arthenise saw the apparition that could only be Carrie sitting in a straight backed wooden chair. She was wearing the same white shirt and black skirt that she had appeared in last night. Carrie played a dark wooden cello slowly, precisely. The last note sounded through all space and time, stopping Arthenise’s heart for a moment. Carrie raised her stunning blue eyes, looking straight into Arthenise’s. Carrie somehow didn’t move her eyes as she stood up, laying her cello in its case and carrying the bow across the room with her. At the door Carrie tore her eyes off Arthenise and slammed the door.

The sound of the door slamming woke Arthenise from her dream. She opened her eyes, her heart jumping into her throat. Every item in the room that wasn’t bolted down was spinning in a vortex above Arthenise’s head. Papers, pens, books, even the laptop spun around with no trace of wind. Arthenise fought the urge to scream and stumbled blindly out of her bedroom, slamming the door. The main rooms of the apartment were deserted, her mother and younger sister still asleep, completely ignorant of what was happening. Panting, Arthenise pulled open the front door and stumbled down the hallway, barely coherent. She calmed herself down in the elevator, which was shooting to the top floor. Fear was replaced by determination as the door opened to an empty hallway. Arthenise walked straight to the stairs, climbing them to the roof. If she had paused to look in the mirrors, she would have seen Carrie’s reflection staring back out from the world of reflections.

Arthenise didn’t mind the rain as it instantly soaked through her clothes and flattened her hair to her head. She glided across the tar, peering through the chain link fence at the streets so many feet below. Her eyes traveled to the ledge. Black high heeled footprints were burned into the stone.

“This is where she jumped.” Arthenise said, stepping back from the fence until she was a few feet away. She remembered just last night when she stood in the same spot, sympathizing wholly with the girl who had chosen to flee from life and plunge from the world. Carrie suddenly appeared only an inch in front of her face. The phantom’s ice blue eyes stared straight into Arthenise’s forest green ones. The grays of the real world ran together, giving way to bright, pastel colors.

“See.” Carrie’s high voice said before the sounds of the storm faded to the quiet chirping of birds and the cello softly humming a final note. Arthenise blinked. She was in her bedroom, but the way it was when it was Carrie’s. Arthenise was living Carrie’s final moments. Echoes could be heard throughout the room. Arthenise inexplicably knew the harsh, feminine voice to be that of Carrie’s mother.

“Perfect…” The voice was saying. “You have to be perfect…”

She put the cello in its velvet lined case. A deep sadness echoed through every cell in her body. She felt tired and lethargic. Carrying her long bow, she crossed the apartment and climbed four flights of stairs. The sun shown bright that Sunday morning when she opened the door to the roof for the final time. Arthenise felt momentarily dizzy and overbalanced by the obvious lack of an eyesore fence. After but a moment of reflection, gazing up at the pale blue sky, Arthenise as Carrie ran. Her black hair and flowing skirt billowed behind her, fanning out as she took a final step onto the ledge and fell gracefully.

Arthenise felt air fly by her and she was suddenly back in her own soaking wet body, standing solidly on the roof. Carrie’s blue eyes looked sad. Arthenise’s green ones reflected the emotion. An understanding passed between the two girls. Carrie smiled, an odd expression on the normally austere girl’s face.

“Good luck.” Her high pitched voice echoed before Carrie turned and stepped through the fence and off the roof, plunging for the final time off the face of the real world and into eternity. Arthenise shivered, turning away from the place where Carrie vanished, a smile gracing her lips.

When she got back to her apartment she found her mother sitting at the kitchen table, looking worried.

“Arthenise, where the hell have you been?” Her mother only swore when she was really mad. Arthenise just smiled.

“I’m going to Harvard.” Arthenise said in a light voice. She went into her bedroom, leaving her mother speechless. The room was remarkably clean again, ever cleaner than before. Perhaps by magic, the letter which meant so much to Arthenise’s future had been rescued from the recycling bin and was sitting innocuously on the desk.

Dear Harvard Admissions Office, She wrote. I happily accept your invitation to join the class of 2012…