Chapter 14:
Chapter 14: Together in Tandem
Connected by Melody
NOAH
It’s been almost a week since I last saw Melody, and days since Cassandra tried to take her own life.
Myself, Yuki, and Wolfgang visit her almost every day. Even Professor Birdwhistle drops by sometimes, standing by her bedside, quiet, as if waiting for her to wake up.
Despite coming so close to death, Cassie still hasn’t opened her eyes. She just lies there… fragile, unmoving, like a melody frozen mid-note.
This is the sixth day we’ve come to see her,
but visiting hours haven’t started yet.
So the three of us sit in the waiting room, the clock ticking louder than usual.
No one really understands why Cassie would try to end her life. Yuki thinks it’s stress. Wolfgang blames the pressure of exams.
But I… I can’t agree.
Because I remember what Melody once told me.
The Hollows are the embodiment of self-harm.
I don’t fully understand how they work,
but I’ve seen them. I’ve felt them and I have seen them in action.
I remember, her voice, her song,
how it drove those things away.
So every day since then, whenever I visit Cassie, I bring my guitar. I sit beside her hospital bed, and play soft melodies, nothing special, just whatever comes to mind.
Because if there’s even a tiny chance that my music could drive away the Hollow inside her… then I’ll keep playing.
Even if she can’t hear me.
Even if no one believes me.
Even if nobody understands me.
I sighed and leaned back in the chair.
The sound of the fluorescent lights buzzed faintly above.
"I wonder what Melody’s doing right now…" I murmured. I haven’t been able to reach her, not even in dreams.
Wherever she is…
I just hope she’s safe.
After all… she’s facing the Hollows all by herself.
Apparently, Zoe and Jiji were assigned to this hospital for their internship.
So of course, they would visit, especially after what happened to Cassie.
But she wasn’t the only one.
There were two more suicide attempts this week.
All of them… from the same town.
Something wasn’t right.
For a while now, I’ve been writing new songs.
One for the upcoming contest, and one to fight back against the Hollows.
I’ve been thinking about what Melody told me before.
I have a theory,
when you play, the Hollow gets irritated,
but when you sing, it weakens.
Which means I have to do the one thing I’ve always avoided…
sing in public.
That night, the sky outside the hospital was a dark, restless blue.
Yuki and Wolfgang had already gone home.
Minnie stayed behind, trying to convince me to leave too, but I refused. Jiji eventually left as well.
So now, it was just me, Minnie, and Zoe,
sitting quietly in the hospital’s waiting room.
I took out my guitar and began strumming softly. The melody echoed faintly against the sterile white walls. I started humming along, my voice low and unsure.
"I call this song…" I murmured under my breath, but before I could even finish naming it,
I heard it.
A voice. Faint, distant…but unmistakable.
Melody.
Her voice, light, trembling, beautiful,
it drifted through the corridors for only a few seconds, like an echo from another world.
My heart stopped.
I stood up so fast that the chair nearly fell.
"Melody…?"
I didn’t even think. I just ran.
The voice came from above.
The rooftop.
I bolted up the stairs, taking them two at a time. My chest burned, my lungs aching,
but I didn’t stop until I reached the rooftop door.
When I burst through,
the cold night air hit me like a wave.
The city lights shimmered below,
but she wasn’t there.
"Melody!?"
No answer.
I turned back, I had left my guitar in the room.
I reached for the door,but when I tried to open it again…it wouldn’t budge.
Locked.
"What the—?" I pushed, pulled, but nothing.
It was jammed.
Then I heard it again. Melody’s voice, but this time, it wasn’t singing.
It was screaming.
A sound of pure pain.
My blood ran cold.
The Hollow is doing this.
"Oh no…" I whispered.
She’s here and she’s fighting it.
But I didn’t have my guitar.
No strings, no chords, no harmony,
nothing to protect her.
Her cries grew sharper, like they were cutting through my chest. I fell to my knees, clutching my shirt, feeling her suffering pulse through me like static.
"I can’t… just sit here…"
So I closed my eyes.
Took a deep breath.
And for the first time,
I sang,
not for an audience,
not for a contest,
but for her.
For Melody.
"I thought dreams were silent things,
Lost between the dawn and dusk.
But your voice, it stayed…
Even when the world went still.
hmm… hmm… hmm… hmm…
I walk where the echoes sleep,
Carrying songs I don’t recall.
If I sing, will the stars awake?
Will they remember us at all?
Every step feels borrowed,
Every note feels true.
If I’m still standing here,
It’s because of you."
And then, I saw her.
Through the faint shimmer of moonlight,
Melody’s form appeared before me, faint and flickering.
She was kneeling on the other side,
and behind her, that monstrous shadow twisted and screamed, it was clutching its head, its body fracturing like glass struck by vibration. My voice, my song, was cutting through it.
"Together in tandem,
Even if the light fades slow.
Together in tandem,
Through the quiet undertow.
I’ll keep the tune inside my chest,
Even when the wind forgets.
Together in tandem,
We still glow."
The Hollow began to waver.Melody looked at me, her eyes wide, trembling and reached her hand forward.
I reached mine back.
Our fingertips met,
Two worlds touching through sound.
"Do you still hum when you’re alone?
Do you still listen to the rain?
Sometimes I think I hear you laugh,
And everything feels right again.
Maybe I’m chasing something gone,
But still, I can’t let go.
If love was just a melody,
Then you’re the only song I know.
Together in tandem,
We don’t need the world to see.
Together in tandem,
That’s enough for me.
Even if the stars move on,
Even if I’m left alone…
Together in tandem,
I found home.
hmm… hmm… hmm… hmm…
The night hums quietly…
And I hum back."
The Hollow screamed one last time,
before its body shattered into glimmering shards of light and vanished.
When the final note left my lips,
the world fell silent again.
And for the first time,
I realized, music really could save someone’s life.
It’s been almost a week since I last saw Melody, and days since Cassandra tried to take her own life.
Myself, Yuki, and Wolfgang visit her almost every day. Even Professor Birdwhistle drops by sometimes, standing by her bedside, quiet, as if waiting for her to wake up.
Despite coming so close to death, Cassie still hasn’t opened her eyes. She just lies there… fragile, unmoving, like a melody frozen mid-note.
This is the sixth day we’ve come to see her,
but visiting hours haven’t started yet.
So the three of us sit in the waiting room, the clock ticking louder than usual.
No one really understands why Cassie would try to end her life. Yuki thinks it’s stress. Wolfgang blames the pressure of exams.
But I… I can’t agree.
Because I remember what Melody once told me.
The Hollows are the embodiment of self-harm.
I don’t fully understand how they work,
but I’ve seen them. I’ve felt them and I have seen them in action.
I remember, her voice, her song,
how it drove those things away.
So every day since then, whenever I visit Cassie, I bring my guitar. I sit beside her hospital bed, and play soft melodies, nothing special, just whatever comes to mind.
Because if there’s even a tiny chance that my music could drive away the Hollow inside her… then I’ll keep playing.
Even if she can’t hear me.
Even if no one believes me.
Even if nobody understands me.
I sighed and leaned back in the chair.
The sound of the fluorescent lights buzzed faintly above.
"I wonder what Melody’s doing right now…" I murmured. I haven’t been able to reach her, not even in dreams.
Wherever she is…
I just hope she’s safe.
After all… she’s facing the Hollows all by herself.
Apparently, Zoe and Jiji were assigned to this hospital for their internship.
So of course, they would visit, especially after what happened to Cassie.
But she wasn’t the only one.
There were two more suicide attempts this week.
All of them… from the same town.
Something wasn’t right.
For a while now, I’ve been writing new songs.
One for the upcoming contest, and one to fight back against the Hollows.
I’ve been thinking about what Melody told me before.
I have a theory,
when you play, the Hollow gets irritated,
but when you sing, it weakens.
Which means I have to do the one thing I’ve always avoided…
sing in public.
That night, the sky outside the hospital was a dark, restless blue.
Yuki and Wolfgang had already gone home.
Minnie stayed behind, trying to convince me to leave too, but I refused. Jiji eventually left as well.
So now, it was just me, Minnie, and Zoe,
sitting quietly in the hospital’s waiting room.
I took out my guitar and began strumming softly. The melody echoed faintly against the sterile white walls. I started humming along, my voice low and unsure.
"I call this song…" I murmured under my breath, but before I could even finish naming it,
I heard it.
A voice. Faint, distant…but unmistakable.
Melody.
Her voice, light, trembling, beautiful,
it drifted through the corridors for only a few seconds, like an echo from another world.
My heart stopped.
I stood up so fast that the chair nearly fell.
"Melody…?"
I didn’t even think. I just ran.
The voice came from above.
The rooftop.
I bolted up the stairs, taking them two at a time. My chest burned, my lungs aching,
but I didn’t stop until I reached the rooftop door.
When I burst through,
the cold night air hit me like a wave.
The city lights shimmered below,
but she wasn’t there.
"Melody!?"
No answer.
I turned back, I had left my guitar in the room.
I reached for the door,but when I tried to open it again…it wouldn’t budge.
Locked.
"What the—?" I pushed, pulled, but nothing.
It was jammed.
Then I heard it again. Melody’s voice, but this time, it wasn’t singing.
It was screaming.
A sound of pure pain.
My blood ran cold.
The Hollow is doing this.
"Oh no…" I whispered.
She’s here and she’s fighting it.
But I didn’t have my guitar.
No strings, no chords, no harmony,
nothing to protect her.
Her cries grew sharper, like they were cutting through my chest. I fell to my knees, clutching my shirt, feeling her suffering pulse through me like static.
"I can’t… just sit here…"
So I closed my eyes.
Took a deep breath.
And for the first time,
I sang,
not for an audience,
not for a contest,
but for her.
For Melody.
"I thought dreams were silent things,
Lost between the dawn and dusk.
But your voice, it stayed…
Even when the world went still.
hmm… hmm… hmm… hmm…
I walk where the echoes sleep,
Carrying songs I don’t recall.
If I sing, will the stars awake?
Will they remember us at all?
Every step feels borrowed,
Every note feels true.
If I’m still standing here,
It’s because of you."
And then, I saw her.
Through the faint shimmer of moonlight,
Melody’s form appeared before me, faint and flickering.
She was kneeling on the other side,
and behind her, that monstrous shadow twisted and screamed, it was clutching its head, its body fracturing like glass struck by vibration. My voice, my song, was cutting through it.
"Together in tandem,
Even if the light fades slow.
Together in tandem,
Through the quiet undertow.
I’ll keep the tune inside my chest,
Even when the wind forgets.
Together in tandem,
We still glow."
The Hollow began to waver.Melody looked at me, her eyes wide, trembling and reached her hand forward.
I reached mine back.
Our fingertips met,
Two worlds touching through sound.
"Do you still hum when you’re alone?
Do you still listen to the rain?
Sometimes I think I hear you laugh,
And everything feels right again.
Maybe I’m chasing something gone,
But still, I can’t let go.
If love was just a melody,
Then you’re the only song I know.
Together in tandem,
We don’t need the world to see.
Together in tandem,
That’s enough for me.
Even if the stars move on,
Even if I’m left alone…
Together in tandem,
I found home.
hmm… hmm… hmm… hmm…
The night hums quietly…
And I hum back."
The Hollow screamed one last time,
before its body shattered into glimmering shards of light and vanished.
When the final note left my lips,
the world fell silent again.
And for the first time,
I realized, music really could save someone’s life.
Please sign in to leave a comment.