A/N: Hello to all of you. It has been a while since I've visited the site, but in the light of recent events and with nothing to do, I turned back to my wonderful world of revising. This is only the first draft of the rewritten first-copy... So make sure you have fun with it. Thanks a lot to anyone who reads it and a double thanks if you review. *winks*

Sunset. The one time of day that the room truly came alive. Everyday since I found this room, I went there at sunset. There is no reasoning behind it, but I just felt that… need then. Sunset is the one time of day that seems to be between everything, right between the beauty of a day and the mystery of the night. I walked into the room and breathed in the musky scent of a well-used dance room. The tangy sweet smell of lemon Pine-Sol and sweat and feet mixed in with a hint of fresh air made my soul soar. It definitely was an odd smell, but it smelled like home. It smelled like freedom.

I knew some things about dance, but nothing really extensive. My knowledge ended at walking and some hip-hop moves. And even then, I just fluked the few steps I did know. I really didn't know enough to call myself a dancer, but I knew enough to tell when something was good and when something wasn't.

Walking in, I shut the door and blocked the outside world with the simple shutting of an opening. Looking at my reflection, I noticed that my appearance didn't exactly scream "dancer". Dressed in my favorite khaki cargo pants, fitting black t-shirt, and worn black converse with signatures and quotes scribbled all over, I smiled. I looked like a nobody. But in this room I was a somebody, I was me. And that was good enough.

But today was a different day. I didn't feel like fluking my moves; I just wanted to actually look at my makeshift sanctuary. One wall was completely covered with mirrors and the opposite was half wall and half window. The room seemed to stretch on forever with its unstained wooden floor. My eyes fluttered shut as I inhaled that scent again. Spinning around in a circle, I stopped and opened my eyes and faced the wall that had the blackboard. I walked over to it and chuckled as I read the many names and inside jokes that were written in chalk or with fingers. I lightly touched one that proved that one girl had actually lived and thrived at this point in her life as a dancer. A smile slowly spread on my face and just as I was about to add my own name, I stopped. These people were beautiful artists, using their bodies as paintbrushes or piano keys. My name had no right to join theirs.

My feet took me to another door in the room. By the blackboard was a closet, filled with the props of the many past productions that were preformed over the years. Trash cans, chairs, wheelbarrows, and cardboard fiddles littered the small room's floor. I picked up one of the bent pieces of cardboard and a "bow" to match. Slowly nestling my instrument under my chin, I brought up my bow and drew out a long note on the painted strings. The sound erupted in my mind and the music in my soul seemed to come alive, so I continued to play. The lighthearted tune that I was playing seemed to command my feet to move. I enticed the imaginary dancers to follow me as I played, my feet skipping and almost never touching the ground. I felt like the pied piper and the tiny dancers were the mice enchanted by my music.

Now, I may not have been the best dancer in the world, but I did know a few things about music. I could play just about anything that was put in my hands, but my specialties were drums, piano, guitar, and violin. My parents were very strict about my musicality when I was growing up. They thought that music opened a whole new world for people if they knew how to listen. That simple theory was the reasoning behind the many hours of lessons of things that I didn't much care for at the time, but did indefinitely open many doors for me. While other kids my age were riding their bikes and playing with their friends, I practiced my chords and became friends with the hidden music inside of me.

Unfortunately, music had also landed me here, in the Academy of the Arts. Ode to flipping joy. I had never really fit in anywhere since I never really had any sort of social life, so I thought that with a bunch of other music and art kids I would be able to finally fit in. However, I learned that no matter what kind of school you go to, it's still a school. So that obviously means that I never really fit in, unless I was willing to change myself. And that really wasn't what I wanted to do. I was happy being the freak. The oddity. The outcast. Hated.

At that thought, I woke from my trance mid-skip. My heart labored in my chest and I was breathing heavy. Beads of sweat dotted my brow and I wiped them away on my sleeve. Just as I was about to start "playing" again, the doorknob turned. Fear shot through me since I knew that no one except people in the dance program were supposed to be in the dance rooms. The consequence for being somewhere you weren't supposed to be in the school was simple: immediate expulsion. (Even though I didn't really like the school at all, it was my parents dream to go here when they were my age. I didn't want to disappoint them… However corny it sounds.) Quickly, I ran back to the closet and threw myself in there. Just as I was closing the door, the other one opened. I cursed myself for not getting out of there sooner, even when I knew that the auditions for the dance production were in a few weeks. The door was open a crack, but I wouldn't dare trying to close it the entire way shut; the audible click would let anyone know that someone was hiding in the closet.

My heart was pounding in my chest when I when I heard the footsteps walk around the room, as if they were searching for something. Tears welled up in my eyes as I was sure that they had seen me diving for the cramped closet. I was going to be expelled for my own stupidity. How could I have let this happen? Calming down my panic, I put an eye up to the crack and made an inaudible gasp of surprise.

She was beautiful. Her dark hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck. Her entire outfit was black except for the explosion of her red tank top. I looked down and noticed her black tights rolled up to show her toned calf muscles, and that was when I saw them. Her black pointe shoes. I snickered and she turned in my direction. The pounding heart started up again, and I was sure that if she didn't hear my snicker, then she could definitely hear my heart. The odd thing was, I couldn't tell if the pounding was from the fear of getting caught or if it was from seeing her… The angel.

There was a sigh and some more footsteps walking away from the closet. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief and went back to watching her. Very softly, she put on some music and she began to dance. Though I could have guess that she liked harder music, I didn't think that she was going to dance ballet to some of it. "Animal I Have Become" by Three Days Grace began to play on the stereo and she danced. There was no pre-planned choreography, no conscious thought, just emotion and soul; that much I was able to tell. I could also tell that she had chosen that song specifically since I thought I could see tears falling down from her face and the raw emotion in her moves.

Finally, the song ended. She was breathing heavily and I could hear the tell-tale sniffle begin to slowly fade away. The angel was crying. Tears began to fall down faster from my eyes as I saw her collapse when the next song came on. It wasn't one I recognized, but it had some meaning to her. And the only thing that kept me from bursting out of the closet to give her a hand up was the fact that I would have been expelled from the school and I never would have been able to see her again. But as I began to listen to the song, I realized that it was much different from the first, it was slower. The harmonizing voices seemed to bring her to her feet and once again, she began to dance. Her tears had never stopped, but neither had her dancing.

Angel danced for almost two hours. My legs were burning from being in a crouched position for so long. I was tired, hungry, and thirsty but I couldn't do anything but watch. My own discomfort seemed meaningless compared to watching Angel dance. It was as if she had stolen my free will to look away.

Once she was gone, I waited a few more moments and then stepped out of the closet. I turned my head and looked at my reflection. The tear tracks had long since dried, but now stained my face, my hair was a mess, and my clothes were rumpled from sitting for so long. But I didn't care, I had a spark. A bit of inspiration.

Music is my release. It is my own odd way of expressing the emotions that I don't want to say aloud. With a smile on my face, I dashed out of the room before someone else decided to get in some extra practice time. I kept running and followed my feet to the music room and sent silent thanks that there was no one else there. I rosined my bow and tucked the purple violin under my chin. As soon as the first note was played, my eyes seemed to close of their own accord.

At first, the music was angry. I was irritated that people weren't accepting, tolerant, or had even the tiniest inch of morality. Faster and faster, my fingers moved along the neck of the violin at a speed I didn't think that I would have ever been able to master. The music changed just when I couldn't keep the speed any longer. It had gotten slower, softer, and more melodic. I was thinking about her, about Angel. Granted, that probably wasn't her real name, but she really did seem like an angel to me. That part of the song ended, so I put down the violin and walked over to the grand piano. As I sat myself on the bench, I smiled and thought of Angel again, then frowned when I thought of all her tears. My fingers began to play something, very slow and sweet, almost like a lullaby. A lullaby for Angel. The smile grew on my face once more and when I hit the last note, I smiled. For some reason, I felt a lot better.

The next few days went on the same. Once classes were done, I would do the required work, and then sneak into the large dance room. I would fool around in there for a little while and hide in the closet when Angel would come in and I would watch her dance. Yes, I did feel like a stalker, but I really couldn't help it. It was the closest I had ever felt to someone who I wasn't related to and I loved the feeling. Sometimes I would go back to the music room and play an instrument for a little while. Usually I played the violin, but occasionally I liked to spice it up and play the electric violin, piano, or even drums if the music seemed right.

One day, something changed. I was in the closet, per usual with me lately, and I waited for Angel to come. Time had passed and she still hadn't come. I sat there, worried and confused about where she was. An hour had passed, and I sighed, knowing that Angel wouldn't be here tonight. I stood up, opened the door, and walked out of the closet.

As I turned to shut it again, I saw a discarded cardboard violin and bow. I chuckled at the memory of my first time picking up my first cardboard violin, which seemed so long ago but really wasn't in reality. Against my better judgment, I picked it up, even though it bent in half, and put it under my chin and drew the bow across the gold strings. It turned out to sound like a ballad and I began to lose myself in my own little world. Then the song changed again. Now it was quicker and faster and my feet began to move once more. I felt like a faerie dancing in a mushroom circle. Eyes shut; I spun around and had fun. I laughed and was happy for the first time in a very long time.

"You know, music kids aren't allowed in the dance rooms unless they're invited."

My heart stopped and I lost my footing in mid-step. Tripping over nothing but my own feet, I fell on my back and had the wind knocked out of me. The violin and bow dropped from my hands and were just out of reach.

As I lay there, I berated myself for not listening to my first instinct of just leaving when I could. I was such an idiot. How could I have been so immensely stupid? While my heart was getting ready to restart and my lungs began to take in air once more, my brain was working furiously to come up with a good excuse.

"I swear, I didn't do anything. Really, the violin was bent like that when I got here. Please don't kick me out. I don't want to go home and tell my parents that the reason I got expelled was because I was in a dance room."

"Aren't you going to look at me?"

"In all honesty, I would rather get one last look at the ceiling before you throw me out. It really is quite filth…" the last few words died in my throat as a head took place of the ceiling I was previously looking at. It was her. It was Angel. My stomach flipped as she lowered her head and we were now only a foot away from one another.

"Are you okay? You seem a little… flustered." She asked me, with genuine concern on her face. Well of course I was flustered! I had never seen an ethereal being up close before. What did she expect of me?

"I… uh, well… I'm just going to go now… Sorry for taking up your time, Angel." I stammered without even thinking and tried to get up and run out the door only a few yards away. But Angel wasn't on the same wavelength.

Pushing me down with her hands, she straddled me and looked at me right in the eye. Blushing, I remembered hearing rumors that kids who were in the dance program were much more physical than others. But I had never really thought about the extent of the physical…ness.

I tried to throw her off of me, remembering a little bit of self-defense that I learned when I was a child. She smirked at me and grabbed my wrists, then pinned them above my head. My blush grew and all of my words got fisted up in my throat.

"I asked you once and I am going to ask you again. What are you doing here?"

I glared at her. My blush began to fade and anger began to take its place. How dare this little… dancer command me to do something? I have never taken kindly to being ordered around. "In all actuality, you never asked me that question before. So really, I am in no liability to answer a question with false pretenses. Get off of me." I spat and tried to wiggle out from under her, but the pressure on my wrists just grew.

She lowered her head to get in my face and to try to be menacing. "I could get you expelled for being in this room. You're lucky that I'm not going to report you."

I lifted my head to meet hers and I looked straight into her eyes. They were a gray-green and kind of reminded me of an ocean after a storm. I mentally shook my head of any other thoughts pertaining to her beauty. "Why wouldn't you? You obviously have some personal vendetta against people in the music program being in the dance rooms. Why? Was your boyfriend in the syllabus and break up with you?" I sneered in her face, watching as the anger grew in her eyes.

She snarled at me and gripped my wrists even tighter. The pain was getting pretty intense, but I wouldn't let her see that. She dropped her head down again, and now we were only inches away from each other. "Don't even go there with me. I don't have a boyfriend. I just don't like it when your kind comes and rips apart the studio."

My blood began to boil when she said that. How dare she? How dare she accuse me of destroying someone else's sanctuary? A growl was lodged in the back of my throat, my teeth were somewhat bared, and Angel lifted her head a little. "Look Angel, I may not be part of the dance program, but this is my safe haven. How dare you accuse me of destroying such a beautiful place? I am not, nor have I ever been, a destroyer. Now get off of me."

Angel looked slightly unsure of what to do; she could either let my go now or try to debate the topic that I had unwittingly brought up. I couldn't move since she had me pinned, but I just gave her a look that I hoped explained to her that I wasn't like everyone else who only wanted to destroy and hurt. For a moment, it seemed like she understood what I was saying and her hands loosened their grip for a second. I used that to my advantage, got my hands free and rolled her off of me.

Angel's hair was down and it spread out around her like a reddish brown halo. Her face wore a look of surprise with an underlying hint of anger. Before she could even think of pushing me off so that we could start this process all over again, I grabbed her hands and forced them to the ground while I straddled her waist. The situation was getting heated and we both knew it. I could tell that there was anger and fury coursing through both of our veins. She glared at me again, giving me a look that would chill most to the bone. But I smiled at her. And without a moments though or hesitation, I bent my head down and kissed an angel.

It was the single most brilliant thing I had ever experienced. The kiss was very short, but it had so much meaning. Suddenly, I realized what I was doing and quickly got off of her. I ran towards the door, trying to free myself of the headache that I had just caused when I spared a glance back at her. She still laid on the floor, seemingly in awe at the kis-… the k-thing. Her eyes were searching the ceiling, like there was some sort of divine answer that there was to find when I felt them turn to look at me. My face heated up and I bolted out of the room and ran through the halls, not caring who saw me. Everything seemed to be jeering at me in this place. I could feel myself getting hotter and hotter and knew that I needed to get outside quickly, before I decided to do something stupid.

I ran. Faster and faster my legs pumped me through the grounds of the Academy, my feet steering me towards the woods. My heart labored in my chest, seemingly fighting me with its stubborn nature. I did not listen, I just kept running. Leaves lackadaisically fell to the soft forest floor as I pushed past them; branches left angry red welts along my skin, but I just kept running. Tears began to blur my vision, but I thrust them aside and continued deeper and deeper into the forest, until I could no longer move and collapsed to the ground.

Landing face-first into the cold, wet ground, I lay there… For the first time in a long time, everything was quiet. I outran my thoughts, my feelings, my music, myself. So I just lay there… I just lay there and remembered to breathe slowly, making myself think of only that and nothing more.

All at once, it came rushing back to me with a strength that I had not known could be allowed to things that did not live outside of me. The force of the invisible attack was enough to right myself on my back so that I could see the sky and a raven slowly crossing the disgustingly blue sky.

What was I thinking?! How could I have possibly thought that kissing Angel was a good idea, let alone an idea in any sense of the word. I could feel the acid churning in my stomach, making me want to throw up everything, possibly in the process I would relieve myself of the harassment charges I knew were soon to follow. Self-pity and degradation, my good old friends, slowly crept upon my soul and I sighed the sigh of complete defeat. Nothing was ever going to be the same… Nothing was ever going to be right again.

"Are you okay?"

My heartbeat raced again when I heard her voice. It was like a poison or a drug that I was slowly becoming addicted to. It wrapped it's tendrils around my mind and my heart, filling my veins with its inky despair. I sat up quickly, looking around desperately for the owner of the voice. But there was no one there.
"Are you okay?"

Again! Her voice followed me to this hiding spot where I could be my miserable, depressing self in peace. Wildly, I continued to look around to try and find the girl who was haunting me in my time of desperation.

"What do you want with me?! I get it! It was a stupid and I shouldn't have done it! Be gone, demon angel!" I shouted to the swaying trees. My mind told me that I was crazy for talking to myself in the middle of the woods where there was obviously no one else, but I could care less. I wanted her gone and out of my head. She needed to leave!

"Are you okay?"

That sickly sweet voice… That demonic voice asking me if I was all right… How could my mind have turned against me like this? I pushed myself off of the ground and circled around the tiny clearing like a mad person, searching for the voice…

"Are you okay?"

My hands flew up to my head and I felt tears beginning to fall. I started grabbing my hair, trying to get to the source of my torment, trying to make it stop. A frenzied giggle erupted from my mouth as I began to walk out of the forest… That one question following me whichever way I turned.

Finally I was back at the Academy, that hell hole… In a daze, I ended up back in my dorm room that I shared with my invisible roommate. No one wanted to dorm with me since I was so bizarre and so peculiar. It had never bothered me before this moment when I wanted someone to come up to me and ask what was wrong.

I shut the door behind me, locked it and slid down on the hardwood floor. I lightly traced some of the knots in the wood, trying to make myself forget all of the events of the day. Tensing, I waited for the inevitable question that had been following me this entire time. Are you okay? HA! When I'm 'okay', the world will be over and the new coming will have already arrived.

My eyes wandered over the harsh white of the walls and they finally rested upon the full-length mirror that innocently hung on the wall. I saw my cowered reflection, sitting by the door with a crazed look in the eye, an insane smile gracing the face. Crawling over, I took notice of all of the filth, cuts, and dots of blood that covered my body from my little run in the woods. Slowly standing, I realized that I was just going slightly mad from all of the terrible things that had happened over the years with abandonment and hateful words. They were all bound to catch up with me at some point.

Just as I was about to turn away, I saw her. Her voice did not follow me here, no, it was the embodiment of her in the mirror. She smiled sweetly at me, seducing me with her grey-green eyes like the mythological sirens seduced sailors to their death. Her hand outstretched and she reached for me through the mirror. Anger, hate, fury, and worthlessness coursed through my veins, filling me with an ugly feeling of destruction. She did a small twirl, her hair floating majestically around her; beguiling me for a moment with the wares she was not afraid of exploiting.

Finally, the emotions were too much for me to handle. I couldn't take it any longer. Thoughts and scenes from all that I had seen over the years flashed before my eyes and I yelled, brought back a fist, and then punched the mirror.

It spider-webbed, but I could still see her laughing at me… laughing at the pathetic thing that I had seemingly become after such a short time of knowing her. I pounded the mirror, felt the small shards pierce my skin, but I didn't care. I wanted her gone and away from my sight. After what seemed like forever, the mirror fell to the ground and stabbed at my legs when I fell with it.

Dry sobs made my body convulse and soon I began to laugh myself. My hands… my hands were ruined. I needed them to be able to play my music, my release. Not only that, but I could be expelled if I didn't play music since this was a school for the arts. My belly-aching laughter soon turned into a maniacal fit of giggles as I fell onto my back and into more broken glass. I could feel my heart pumping my life-giving liquid out of me and onto the floor, slowly staining the beauty of pure birch.

Hours may have passed, but all I knew was that the moon was now out and I could stand again. In the darkness of my dorm, I could barely make anything out, but I made my way to the door through touch and walked out into the softly illuminated hallway. My arms were stretched out and were leaving a bloody path on the walls, but I didn't care. I felt like some sort of zombie, walking with no more purpose than to just move and with nothing to live or die for.

My wandering feet finally brought me in front of the great oak doors of the grand auditorium. Weakly, I pushed open the doors and continued my midnight walk to the best piano that there was at the Academy and that only a chosen few were allowed to play. When I reached the bench, I unceremoniously plopped myself in front of the crisp white and black keys. Tenderly touching them, I noticed that my hands no longer looked like a gruesome candy cane, but more like black gloves… Black velvet gloves in the moonlight instead of the pompous white ones that most masters enjoyed wearing. Gently placing my hands on the keys, I pondered on whether or not I should actually play. Then I heard a voice, a sweet, clear voice that told me to just play.

So I did.

I had no idea what I was playing, but I didn't really care at the moment. I just wanted to get rid of this feeling of hopelessness and loss. Music is my salvation, my way of life… This had to work or there was nothing left for me.

A dull throbbing pain was beginning to work its way up my hands and into my arms, making them feel terribly heavy. For a moment, I considered stopping but then I realized that if I stopped I would once more become reality's prisoner and I didn't know if I would be able to escape a second time.

One wrong note hit… I ignored it. Two wrong notes, I began to worry. All at once, the beautiful music that I was making turned into something that resembled a cat running with trash can lids attached to its feet. I frowned and opened my eyes and gasped at what I saw.

Those beautiful keys were now stained red… red with the life that I had always given over to music. All those hours of practicing and the fights with my parents at wanting to do normal things, like play soccer and go to the park with people, instead of playing flitted through my mine and I laughed, somewhat grimly… I was literally losing my life to the music, but I couldn't bring myself to care. What artist hadn't sacrificed something for their art?

A thought had popped into my mind. Angel would never hear the lullaby that I created for her. I realized that I shouldn't care since I smashed a mirror that had her apparition on it, but it cut through me deeper than any shard of glass had. This odd, twisting feeling that I felt for her was making me feel remorse for her and for what I had thought of her. "This one's for you." I whispered into the darkness.

My mind groggily grasped the fact that my heart was beating way too fast and that I had probably lost too much blood than was good for me. I felt woozy and light-headed… Almost as if the only thing that was keeping me sitting was the need to share this simple gift that I made for this indescribable feeling.

I started the lullaby just like I had in the practice room that day, which seemed so long ago. The rich slow sound of the song weaved its comforting way around me, like a blanket on a cold day in the middle of winter. I closed my eyes so that I could feel the music wrap its warm arms around me and I noticed that the song was getting softer. That my slow, sweet, slightly mournful song was beginning to fade out, much like my conscious effort to try to stay awake. I was so tired and all I wanted to do was submit myself into a world of music notes and dancing wings.

With the last bit of strength in me, I opened my eyes to look at my hands, still playing the lullaby, upon the piano keys and thought one single thing before it all went black…

Perfect.