Erased Out Part 1

Following the dean of the school to her first class, Alienia smoothed out the skirt of her new school uniform.

"Now Miss Brate, our school is different because of the richer student body and unique extracurricular clubs. Please don't be too surprised when you look around. Also, you are a novelty, being an honour student and getting a scholarship. Here is your class. Homeroom is the first and last class of every day. You can get a map and your schedule from the teacher, Ms. Williamson. Anything else you need before your debut?"

Alienia shook her head as she stood behind the Dean at the door to her Homeroom. The Dean smiled and placed her hand on the top of Alienia's head. "Don't worry. You'll do fine here. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly."

The Dean opened up thee door to the classroom and the room fell completely silent in an instant. Alienia followed two feet behind, watching the tips of her shoes underneath the skirt and clutching the notebook held in her hands along with her bag.

"Class, this is Alienia Brate. She is the honour student that everyone has been talking about. Miss Brate?"

Alienia finally raised her head to look at the class. She nodded once in greeting and the teacher took over.

"Miss Alienia is not being rude. She doesn't, or should I say, can't speak. She doesn't know sign language fluently, but can communicate by writing. Please be patient and help her along."

The Dean looked once around the class. "Everything looks fine, then. I'll leave her in your hands."

Once the Dean had left the room, Alienia felt vulnerable in front of the seventeen pairs of eyes. Ms. Williamson seemed to notice this and decided to break the silence. "I have your classes here. You don't have to change classrooms until after lunch, which is around twelve-thirty. The rest is posted here next to the class name." She explained the paper before handing it to Alienia. "And here-is the map of our campus. If you ever get lost, just write the question to a teacher, they always give the best directions. So your seat. Let's go with right there." Ms. Williamson pointed to an open chair in the second row, right next to the window. "I guess this means you finally have a table partner, Mr. Kyoya. Please be civil."

Alienia looked over and saw a guy with his head down, using the light from the window to read his book.

"Ms. Williamson, you know that Kyoya isn't a people person. Why sit them together?"

"He has the best grades and takes the best notes out of the whole class. Any objections?" The class was silent. "Done. So Ms. Alienia, if your please. I have some announcements to make before I let you all on your own for the last half hour."

Alienia went to her seat next to Kyoya. He hadn't moved during the whole time unless to turn the page in his book or to push his glasses higher on his nose. The silence at the table was stifling to her as she clutched the notebook that sat in her lap. She paid to the announcements that the teacher was making, but felt her eyes wander around the room as much as they could without moving her head. The front of the classroom was plain, only a few posters where hung elsewhere. There were three tables in the first row and she had seen two more rows behind the one she was int. Outside, leafy trees blocked most of the windows on the second floor, but beyond that, she could see the outline of a flower garden and a paved pathway. Alienia turned her eyes as much as she could to look at the guy who sat next to her.



Author's Note:
Yes this is kinda short but it's one page, front and back, handwritten. Give me props, alright? And this isn't the exact end of the page, it just seems a good place to stop. 
Hope you enjoyed Part one and hope you continue with us for the rest of this Blog novel! 

All Right Here We Go!!

So Here's a bit of a Prologue before tomorrows release of Erased Out! I already gave you a bit of a synopsis, so here's some dedication bits and more information on later release dates.
Information: Since I really don't know how long this whole project will take there will be a five week break during the summer when I'll be without a blogger access. Sorry in advanced, but that will also give me loads of time to catch up since all of this needs to be written out in hand first. I really hope it doesn't actually take to long. If it does, I may have to push it up to two parts a week.
Dedication: 
First off, to my editor of this story who has been making sure I get a few parts a week, and my good friend (who is at the moment taking a nap for a few hours before we have to get up for the day), Squirrel. She really deserves the dedication this round! So cheers to her and hope you all enjoy this project that it has been an honour to write.
Thanks to everybody who will read this as it comes out, so here's a sneak peak that I just decided to come up with on the spot for waiting so nicely. I'm going to make it fit in the story


Alienia Brate walked out of the gates of the campus that was going to be her newest High School. She gave a gracious nod to the guard who had opened the gate for her earlier in the day and looked back over the building that was looming over her back. How she was ever going to survive tomorrow, she didn't know. She had gone only gone to public schools her whole life, now she was supposed to just fit into a life that never would have fit her anyway, even if she was born into it. Prestige, wealth, and fame. What she wouldn't do to normally stay out of that kind of life. She sighed and turned back to the road with her newest uniform and backpack hung over her arm, unaware that a few groups of people were watching her from the building.

"Are you sure we should just let her be? I mean, what if she becomes the next pawn for the student council. She looks to much like-"
An older figure closer to the window stopped him by raising his hand.
"She's a transfer student. She's never like those kind of people. And we're also those kind of people. Just keep an eye on her. Be nice. Even you could do that. Right, top student?" A smirk crossed the older one's face as the other one cringed back a bit.
"Don't call me that. Even if your my club leader, I won't take it."
"I understand. Just help me out Kyoya. I made sure you had similar classes. Keep an eye on her and keep tabs of the student council. They won't mess with you, but she's new bait for them. You owe me one! I made sure she was fine, so you watch over this one. Got it?"
Kyoya bowed his head slightly to the one still watching Alienia walk away from the school. "I understand."

"President! What are you going to do with the new transfer, Miss Brate?"
The President glanced out the window as the student in question rounded the corner, out of sight.
"I believe she will become slowly untouchable."
"Sir? What do you mean?"
"Send Kaye out. He has the most tact out of everyone. He can plan something with that girl he likes. We must try and keep it natural though. No smothering her. We know what could happen with that plan. Understand?"
"Yes sir. I'll get right to it."

A Present before Erased Out!

Background: I had to do a project in school and I chose the story writing idea. I had a page limit so don't blame me is it's bad. 

It looked like a normal apartment on the outskirts of the city. Nothing too rundown, yet not the best, or even second best. That was the place I had stayed in for twelve years of my life. I didn’t live. I had stayed there. It was neither a home nor the place I consider where I grew up. It was just that. A place. Nothing less, nothing more. The place that taught me, yet I wasn’t raised. I was taught what I was. I was taught what I am going to be. I wasn’t taught how to be something else.
My story isn’t a heartfelt tale, but it is the truth. Truth that has been ignored by those who don’t believe it. But I hope you will listen to it even if you think it is nothing more than a tale. A tale of those less fortunate.

This is my story. My name is Laura Rowina Williamson. This is what occurred to me at this place I stayed when I was only sixteen years old. This is my tale.

It was a cold winter’s day when I had come home from school. I had rushed home after the school day was worse than normal. Once again I had been teased about how loud my stomach growled in the middle of class and how wrinkled my clean clothes were. That day, it had only taken me half an hour to get back to the apartment. I climbed up the stairs that lead to the third floor and opened the door and snuck in as fast as I could.

“Laura? You home?” My little sister greeted me from the hallway.

“Yes chibi, I’m home. Tell mom I’ll be in the room.”

“Kay. Oh, oh, you know everything, right?” She asked while nearly bouncing in anticipation.

“I guess,” I sighed at the eagerness of the kindergartener. “What do you want to know?”

“What does pauper mean?”

“Where did you hear that?” I had stiffened up while taking off my boots.

“We were reading a story. Then the boy sitting next to me called me that.”

I had sighed and felt like crying at the innocent face of my darling sister. She knew next to nothing but I knew I wouldn’t be able to have a normal life for her for much longer. We were paupers. “Well, Katherina. A pauper is someone that is poorer than everyone else.”

“Oh. Okay.” Thank God for her tiny attention span.

She walked over to the living room as I went into the shared bedroom. I shivered for a moment as the coldness of the apartment finally sank in past my clothes. It was only slightly warmer inside than outside. I should probably describe the room I shared with Katherina for whoever decides to listen to the story. The room was small, but still the largest in the apartment. A bunkbed was in one corner with my desk right underneath the window in the other. The faced the back of the apartment building. Between the furniture and the few toys that were hand-me-downs from when I was a toddler, there was barely any room to stand or sit.

The average person would be wondering now how or why a group of people would be living in these conditions. Three days after little Katherina was born, my father died in a car accident. We went from being a growing family with steady income to having to sell the house in the suburbs and move to a slightly run-down place on the outskirts. Our mother can’t work more than a few hours a day or else she would collapse. Katherina is still too small and I have only recently been allowed to get minimum wage. We have less than the normal family but our main concern is always the food Katherina needs to focus in school. I get free lunch at school and smuggle food home every now and then, but it can’t feed three people. The government only helps us with some donated food and free child care when mother has to work later than normal. The neighbor next door says the government doesn’t care about a few invisible people on the outskirts of towns that barely pay the taxes they use to “stuff their gut”.  

The neighbor is the same as us. He was in an accident that left him unable to use his left leg and his left arm stops working sometimes. He lives with three other people so they can split the rent and still be able to buy food. He never knew the three other people until they moved in with him. One working student who is trying to raise money for college, and a retired woman share one room, while our neighbor and a runaway, a year older than myself, share the other. They take care of my little sister when the daycare is closed or when we both get lonely. The working student, Marea, is my best friend along with the runaway, Alexander. They are both older than me, but know what I go through so they help me out as much as they can. They say I am much smarter than they are and hope I could get a higher education. They are the family I gained when I lost my father.

“Laura! Come into the living room!”

“I’m coming!” I tossed my backpack onto the top bunk and slung my jacket over one rung on the ladder and walked back out of my room to join my mother in the main ‘living room’. I saw my mother braiding Katherina’s hair as the small television we owned was turned to the news. A few plastic bags were on the coffee table in between the couch and the tv stand. “What is it?”

“I got some more food for us. Can you check to see how long it will last us with what I got last week?”

“Mom, I told you that we should be saving money. A computer would be unbelievably useful at this point in highschool and for finding jobs. I don’t always want to use Marea’s.”

“I got it from the local church. They don’t know we’re not religious,” she didn’t break the pattern in the braid or even look up at me.

I groaned and went to the plastic bags leaning on each other on the table. It was all the normal things you get from donations. Mostly really cheap and knockoffs. I started carrying the dry food into the kitchen that branches off from the entrance. Seeing that mother was in a relatively good mood, I thought it was the time to give her the ‘good’ news I received that day in school. “Mom. The teacher called me in today.” I took a deep breath and continued. “He said my grades were good enough that I could apply for a private university.” Here it comes.

“What! Do you know how much that costs? Are you absolutely insane?” I saw Katherina duck behind me and escape into the room we shared.

“Have you even looked at the grades I’ve been getting? My GPA is 4.0! Perfect all the way through! Marea and Alexander both think I could get into a great university. Financial aid is always an option!” I pulled out the paper I have stuffed into my pocket at school. “My teacher told me to give this to you. I’m done with the food. I’ll be going out for my job.”

I ran off before mother could go off on another tirade. I bolted back into my room and grabbed my work bag that held the homework for the next day. I gave Katherina, who was hiding in her bed, a quick hug and rushed back out to the entrance, barely getting my boots on before smalling the door. I slowed down when I got the to the cool air outside and actually tied my boots on. When I turned, I saw my two only friends hanging out on the stairwell conversing in the way they normally did, with Alexander sitting on his perch made by the railing and Marea leaning back in the corner on the railing a foot away from Alexander’s swinging leg. I walked over to them, and by the look on their faces, they had heard the argument. I had planned to walk past them, but Alexander lifted his legs to rest on the opposite stair railing, blocking the stairs completely.

“Come on Alex, I have to get to work. Move your heavy feet!”

“Oye, Lina.” I glared when he used the name he made by combining my first and middle name. “Get that glare off your face. We both know you don’t have to work for another forty minutes. What’s eating you?”

“Nothing. I want to get to work early.”

Marea had picked the wrong time to take a drink from her water bottle and snorted at my white lie. A second later, she was holding her hand under her nose as Alexander nearly fell off his perch in laughter. “Laura, we both know you hate getting to work early. Was it the argument about the university you wanted to go to? Wait till she learns it’s in Europe.”

“She won’t let me go because of money! Stupid poverty line. I won’t be able to get out of this slump unless I do something else. She thinks working to the bone will help us. I don’t even have a bloody laptop to get a better job.” I had given up trying to get past and just sat down on the top step, handing Marea a napkin from my bag to keep the water dripping down her nose from hitting her book. “How will I be able to convince her to let me go to the opposite corner of the world and go to a university when she doesn’t know the first thing about higher education.”

“It’s better than just going to high school like Alex and getting a diploma like me.”

Alexander glared at Marea. “Just tell her to get a roommate and share the room with Chibi. It’ll be just like us with the old man.”

I sighed. Marea stayed silent since she also knew how it was with my mother. She didn’t like strangers and hated the idea of letting people she didn’t know having a key to her sanctuary. It was lucky enough that our neighbors are as normal as they are. It was quiet for a few moments as Alexander continued to swing his legs back and forth before swinging himself off his perch. “Let’s go. I’ll walk with you to your job.”

I waved a goodbye to Marea studying in her corner and followed Alexander down the stairs. He often walked me to my job at the cafe since it was better than doing nothing. It is at these times that I can’t tell what he’s thinking since he becomes completely silent, even when I ask him a question. I just follow him as he walks to the cafe. He does look back every now and then to make sure I’m fine. This day however, he walked next to me.

“Why do you have to go to a university?” I was shocked at his question. I had always thought that he wanted me to get some extra education after he dropped out. After all his encouragement and help for all the time he was my next-door neighbor, now he asks why?

“Why would you ask that? You of all people should know that I want to be a translator.”

“Well, it’s because,” he stopped walking and turned to look at me. “We both know this city and can make a living here. Why would you have to go halfway across to ocean just for a piece of paper. It’ll cost a million dollars at the least-.”

I had stopped listening and ran to the cafe. I heard him call for me, but since he was against me wanting to get an education, I didn’t hear him. I thought he always wanted me to succeed. I knew him for years, and he pushed me in every class I took. Never ever made me look back and pushed me forward.

The day was slow at the cafe, yet my mind kept wandering to why Alexander would want me to stay in this stupid city. I was so out of it, that I barely had time to hide as classmates had entered the cafe. I couldn’t risk having them see that I actual work at a cafe. It would just lead to more teasing to the ‘impoverished worker’. Not what I want to deal with for two more years. With that, the day ended with the manager giving me my paycheck and studying on the way back home. It was already eleven, but streetlights and the occasional car lights make reading possible. As I neared the apartment, I saw Marea wasn’t sitting in her corner and neither was Alexander. I walked slowly up the stairs and stood outside my door for a minute.

Just as I was about to head in, a second voice that wasn’t Katherina’s or my mother’s talked talking. I pressed my ear closer to the door even as the coldness of the door was biting and stun my ear.

“Madam, you do know we are your daughter’s good friends.” That was Marea’s voice.

“She talks of you two often. I thank you for all that you have done for this family. It’s helpful.” Two? That means-.

“We wish to talk with you on Laura’s education. I know she told you this today, but she has a chance at this.” He used my real name! Not the ‘Lina’ name.

“If you are talking about the University in Europe, you should know that I absolutely can’t let her go! She is the breadwinner. You should understand this, you of all people!” I heard the tiny running footsteps of Katherina going to her room. I couldn’t hear what was being said inside since Alexander’s voice had gone all soft. All that I heard was mother’s gasp as she muttered a few words. “You really do?” Was all I was able to catch.

“I would like for her to have the chance we never had. Community college and just a high school diploma doesn’t suit a girl like her. She could be much bigger than any of us. She has a dream and should act on it before it’s too late. The university provides financial support for those like us with grades like she has.” Is this the same person who had questioned me earlier?

“The rent. We won’t have an income and I don’t want to let strangers inside.”

I heard Alexander take a breath as if he was going to his own trial. “Myself and Marea here are willing to move in with you and Katherina. We aren’t afraid of sharing the same room since she works nights and I found a job at the record shop during the day. I feel like it would be the best idea, if you wish to accept it.” He had found a job. I had sunk to my knees while listening in to the conversation. They both really wanted me to carry their dreams for them.

I stood up and started to unlock the door. The voices immediately shushed as I walked in and shed off my boots. I walked into the living room to see my mother sitting on one couch and Marea and Alexander sitting on the other. Katherina had sneaked back in and was watching from behind the corner of the couch.

“Why’s everyone here? I didn’t get the cops called on me.”

My mother stood up and stood in front of me. For once, I saw how the work had aged her. She didn’t look like my mother. “Alexander and Marea talked with me today over the school you want to go to in Europe. I looked at the letter your teacher sent me and with what he said.” The air hung still with the unfinished sentence. “I believe that if you want to become a News Translator, I will let you go to Europe.”

The weight of the burden from the idea of university finally fell off my shoulders and I felt my legs give away. Before I hit the ground, Alexander had caught me in his arms and spun me around. When I could finally see straight again, I saw my mother smiling with that true smile from when dad was still around, I saw Marea looking pleased with herself in her seat, and saw Alexander holding me at his eye level.

“Don’t let me down Lina.” He leaned forward and rested his chin on my forehead. “You better hurry back too. You still have two years until you will have to move.”

My story ends here with my acceptance into the university of my dreams. From poverty to Europe was something that most people believe would never happen. Yet, I survived my stay. I made it through when others said an education would be useless. Poverty is here, in places you never really check. It’s a step in life for everyone, but one some can’t escape. It’s here. Just take a look around and take a  minute.

I want you to know

I need to speak with you.
I want you to know there is nothing I wouldn't do.
And I just want you to see,
The person that I can be.
Because you are the one I want to be with,
And sometimes this just feels like a myth.
But if this were a myth in a dream, then I wouldn't want to wake.
I would want to stay, if not for mine then for your sake.
So in the end, I'm glad you are in my life.
And I really wish we could live life twice.

Update on Erased Out!!!! Official Release Date!!!!~

So days of writing till my fingers cramp up and Squirrel (editor for Erased Out) really liking the story has already brought the count up to 12 parts... So there may be more than twenty parts. I'll guess maybe around 30-40 parts. Maybe even 50! That being said, an official release date has also been set!
On the 21st of May, 2012, Part one will be released each week until I have to go back to Austria for five weeks. After that though, it will continue until it is finished. And as an added bonus, I may even post long lost poems in between parts.
So be patient in waiting! Erased Out will be very good and worth all the waiting (I hope)!
Till then! Ciao!

Introduction To my newest Project~!

Sorry, for my prolonged absence from posting poems and such. I say this often, but I worked on stories a lot more now. Poems are more of a side bit when I'm really bored (which doesn't happen when I'm watching Korean Dramas) or when I have writer's block.
Recently, I found a page of a story I started a such a long time ago, the page started fading from white to a beige. Seeing that I knew this would only make it to another short story, I decided that it would be a good experiment to see if I could hand write a 20 page story, cranking out 1 page (front and back) every week.
So, in exactly 2-3 weeks, I'll type out the story from the pages on here once a week. And if I miss a week, the next week, two parts will be posted up. This will be done each Monday until I finish the story. This does mean there may be a very long break in between when Summer arrives, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
So, look forward to this newest "Blog Novel". If it works out, I'll do more works like them. Without further ado, here is the summery (just like you find on the back of a book) and the title.

Erased Out

Alienia Brate just got into on of the most respectable schools in the whole country. Her homeroom teacher is understanding and sympathetic towards her and new friends help her from day one. No mean feat for Alienia, for she has been a mute since the accident that claimed her mother and left her little sister in a coma. But behind the normal academy life, a darkness waits behind the scenes. Through the lavish extracurricular activities and great teachers, a dark message warns her on day one.

"LighT in ClUB Of dArk
-be aware"

This one message written on piece of paper will carry Alienia farther into this wealthy world of allies and enemies then she would have ever imagined. Or have wanted to. 

That one wrong word could have you erased from what could have been. Blacked out from history, like it never even happened.

Hope that made some of you wonder! I haven't even finished the story, so it's a surprise even to me how it will end. Look forward to my unedited works! Only one other person will be able to read these before they are posted so I'm going to say it now. I'm not going to give any people who ask a sneak peak. What's written above is all you're getting! See you all soon with part 1!!!!

Writing Contest Results

If you saw my other blog, you already know since the results were out early.
But I did not win. I did choose my best works but I guess they weren't that good (or the judge has no idea what a true word-smith is).
Anyway, I'll be making a much better short story! I won't let this get me down! Beware of the new inspired me!
New poems and new short stories! Coming soon to be published on this blog!

Ramblings

Background: I have said before that I get a lot of ideas in the middle of the night. So this is a prose kind of poem that I just wrote once when I woke up. I had my glasses off and it was in the dark so I can barely read my handwriting and I don't know why I wrote it in the first place, so hence the title: Ramblings. I think I actually fell asleep after this. It was a long night since I had to finish tons of homework. It was the day before the end of the semester.

Ah, to drown in the scent of ink

The authors mind to be released from the confines of social and structural law

Stay away from the words that will slowly bend your mind and drive you away from the light of sanity

The place of no return-so it has been dubbed.

A carousel of pain and fear, one that will never end

Round and round it goes, fear, emotion, suffering

And the pain of the endlessness

For it is our duty, no, more, our destiny to record the words of those who have been silenced by fear, destroyed by emotions, and those who have themselves been around the endlessness of wandering

Duty to find those words of the suffering emotions

Bringing out a pen and paper to show the world the TRUTH

The truth you don't believe in because you don't wish to believe

Where We Can Be Free

Background: I started writing this a while back but I had lost the paper and had the edit the first verse since it didn't fit. I think I wrote the first verse during the AYLI-A-Thon and just kind of went with it. It does follow a scheme, reason why the first verse didn't fit. I'll still add it here though. Then come the new first verse and the rest of the poem. It can be interpreted in so many ways, but if I say the real reason, it will ruin it.


On a lonesome tower, I stand alone
Seeing the darkness creep upon my home
I wish to fly away from here
To a place where I can be who I am
Away to a place where the gypsies roam

Come ideas, come away with me
Come now, where we can be free
Our adventure has come and gone
Our life has been so long
Let us stay here at our home
And will never again have to roam

Come Child, come away with me
Come now, where we can be free
You will fly as I could not
You will be all I could not
Let us travel to where-ever we wish to go
And we never ever be trapped again so low

Come lover, come away with me
Come now, where we can be free
We shall marry far away
We will dance here in the May
Let us live the way we wish to
And I will never be apart from you

Come sister, come away with me
Come now, where we can be free
We shall never be taken again
We will never be at the end
Let us run 'tween the rose so red
And we will use the meadows as our bed

My pearl

I've been doing my work day in and day out, I get so tired that my head gets full of doubt.
I work on my homework that is suposed to be "fun", but still I really wish that it would just be done.
I let my mind drift from reality to this beautiful pearl, one that would be the envy of any rich earl.
And if you were to see it from afar, it would defenitly make you think you were gazing at a bright star.
But I would rather give it away to someone I knew, If it ment I could spend more time with the pearl that is you.

Edgar Allen Poe - My Favourite Works - Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason
(as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the side of the sea.

Edgar Allen Poe - My favourite Works - The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

Song From A Music Box (Updated Version)

So here we are the final draft, sent in copy of my short story. I added in new details and finally gave that ending that was bugging me a good end (You have no idea how much time was spent on Wikipedia looking around for an answer.)

One turn, two, then three. When she heard the fourth click, she let go of the little key in her hand. As the music swelled from the box in her hand, her mind drifted back to when she saw the stars in the night sky and the clouds during the day. Eleanor looked to where the window was, her music box now on the window sill. With a hand delicately resting on the stained glass, it was cool to the touch from the snow she knew was drifting down slowly. -Silent and colorless. Just like me.-

As the music slowly went silent, she picked it back up in her hand. When it stopped, Eleanor rewound it again. Same notes as always, yet still so beautiful. Her mind wandered and she saw herself at the piano with her knight standing against the wall behind her with a hint of a smile on his peaceful face. It was his favorite song. And she learned it just so she could make sure that every time he came back home, he would feel relaxed again. The music stopped and she fell back into the real world. Back to where her knight has not returned. Back to where she could no longer see his face when he returned. Back to where she could no longer play the song for him, even if she could see.

The piano was gone. The room where she played for him was gone. The courtyard where she first met him while trying to escape was gone. And her dress she was going to wear when he was to become the Champion Knight was gone. All in flames the day she ran to live. She had no time to save anything but the music box that was at her side on that early autumn day, the only reminder of the song that filled the house that had stood for generations. It was a rebellion of the other nobles, who had grown jealous of her family’s growth in wealth. Hired mercenaries slaughtered every servant, every worker, and every noble, regardless of age.

Hiding along with her maidservant, her toddler son, and the lady invited to stay as a guest. As the smoke started to suffocate them, several mercenaries rushed into the room. The guest had tried to make a mad dash for the door. The crimson blossomed on the white gown like roses. While preoccupied with the lady guest, Eleanor grabbed her maidservant and ran out into the hallway. Across the room, through the charred hallway, and dashing across the shortcuts known only by her. Suddenly the maid tripped, her son tumbling across the ground as Eleanor stared back in fear. The mercenaries had followed and their sights on the fallen maidservant. The maidservant looked at her son and back up at the lady with a pleading look set in her eyes. Eleanor grabbed the child and ran on, not looking back to see what transpired for the young maid. Now running with an oddly silent toddler, she could finally see the last escape route not cut off by the flames. Turning the last corner, a burst of flames made her stumble backwards and trip over herself when fleeing the larger flames behind her. The reason she had escaped from any deadly fate or mortal injury was the knight that was at her side every waking moment. He scooped her up from the ground where the embers had found those once deep green eyes and ran with the toddler outside to the cloaking darkness. He had brought her to this church, one that served her family for years before the house was built. The toddler had gone to the orphanage, she to the head priest.

She shook her head to empty her mind of that painful day. -No use dwelling on that day a year and a half ago.- Even though she tried as hard as she could, Eleanor could still remember when she woke up in a bed, and panicking when she couldn't see any light. Her knight had been next to her and had placed her delicate hands on his face so she knew it was him. When she had asked him what happened, she knew his face had fallen.

Her eyes were not damaged in the fire. She should be able to see. Eleanor had heard the priest talking with her knight in the hallway the day after the fire. Those burns on her body will not scar though the burns on her face, however, might steal some of her youthful beauty; Including her green eyes. Eleanor felt anger inside her mind and stumbled out from her room. Her knight was there. The priest was silent. She grabbed her knight’s hand and placed her mouth on the palm of her hand. -I am not vain! Please be honest my dear sir.- Her pleas echoed still in her mind back in the present. -Do tell me. How does my face fair? I feel my hair yet, my face. It feels changed.- At that moment, her knight teared his hand away from hers. He had never shied away from her. Never turned away from her words, so silent and soft. Tears came to her eyes for the last time as she rushed back into her room and stumbled back to the bed.

The knight had left her in the same church a week later. Only a hand placed gently on her head and a faint kiss on her hair. Not a word, nor thought. No letter from him and no tears from her. Eleanor was trapped in a god-forsaken world without her best friend. He had left to go back to the battle field where he believed he belonged. A year had passed and the only word that had come from him was in the form of four words written on a piece of paper.

Again, Eleanor tried to clear her head of the past. This time she was able to stay in the present moment on a cold winters evening. She placed the music box key back on her necklace as she felt night approaching by the cooling air. She had spent the day in her chair waiting for him as she always did. What else was there to do? A bed, a table, a desk, a bookcase, and three chairs. The bookcase had only three useless books and a small statuette of the local deity. The table across the way from her held food, though she barely ate. The two other chairs stayed in their spots across the table. The last bit of space held her desk. Nothing else, nothing less. Stone walls like a prison creeping in. Not even the everlasting darkness could hold the secret back. Her only guest was the toddler she had saved, filling the room with some sound. Only once a week was she able to hear something other than cold wind, echoes from the past life, her own voice screaming inside her, and the footsteps from the hall from the monks.

Eleanor stood up to walk over to her desk and reached out for a small cloth bag. Inside was what he saved for her. Along with the letter, he had sent a remnant of what had survived from the room when the flames had swept through it. Reaching her hand in the bag she first pulled out a white chess piece from her set that was in the shape of a horse. She knew it was white as that was the only side she ever played, since she was the White Lady. And in the bag was also an ivory key from her much loved piano that she played so diligently. And the letter, carefully folded around the key, with four words written out with a piece of charcoal. Two small mementos, three with the music box, and four including her necklace.

A set of chess pieces charred to no remains. A lady with no house left to lead. An ebony piano destroyed to the point of nothing being left but ashes. A knight with only a fragmented land left to protect. A forgotten and hidden church serving no family any longer. The only followers left were a young knight, an even younger toddler, and a disabled girl.

A swift knock sounded on her door as she quickly placed her treasures back on her desk. 

“My Lady, it’s from the knight!” The priest from those days long gone rushed to her. “It’s another letter! Would you like to know what it says?” When she nodded, he continued. “‘To my White Lady.’ It comes with a gift.”

Dismayed the letter said the same thing it did last time, she reached her hand out for the gift. The priest had rushed back out the second he had pressed the letter and the gift in her hand. She opened the cloth bag and out fell a carved figure. She felt it careful before realizing it was in the shape of a phoenix, the old symbol for her house and linage. She set the carved figure on the desk. -What does it mean? He did love riddles. I hated solving them.- Eleanor had just set the bag down and heard the sound of metal hitting wood. She picked the bag up again and reached into it a second time. When she pulled her hand back out, a small gold ring was in her hand. -Wait. How can I tell it's gold?- Blinking once slowly, she saw her hand holding the ring, and the stone floor beyond it. Hearing movement next the her, but the door not being opened since the priest came, she suspected they had come with him.

Turning to face the sound, Eleanor saw a man in full armor on one knee and his head bowed. As his head lifted, a familiar smile on his face. "Good Evening, my White Lady. Did you know that there are several medicines, associated with a Phoenix, that, after being forged in gold, have healing abilities for those who wish to no longer see?”

Tears came to Eleanor’s eyes once again and streamed down her face as she held the ring in her hand and ran to her knight.

“Didn’t I promise I would come back? And I promise I will get you back your title.”

Eleanor took her knight’s hand and held it to her lips. -I do not care about my land or title. Just a place I can call home with a piano.- Lifting the hand away from her mouth, she smiled. “My sweet Sir Tristan, the music box will play again as loud and strong as before.”