Scholar in an Ivory Tower

[author's note: sesungguhnya saya malas nak menceritakan kisah hidup sebenar. so here's another fiction based on kisah yang separa benar. bacalah tulisan suka-hati saya. sekian.]

Nights can still be peaceful even when the silence is shattered. By the hooting of owls, the chirping of crickets, and occasionally, by the plucking of guitar strings.

The sprawling white mansion behind my house has been empty for years before a family moved in a few years ago. My first glimpse of the eldest son was on the night of their arrival. He was hanging heavy brocade curtains on the window of his room, saw me, and waved. I hesitated before waving back, just as the curtains dropped. A cascade of royal blue cloth, concealing us from each other.

I never saw him again through our windows, but I sure heard him. When we were twelve, I heard him arguing with his dad about his “too-early bedtime.” Several years passed, I heard voices telling him to stop tying up the line to talk with “those chicks from school.” By the time we’re seventeen there were no more arguments, no more voices. Only the sound of his guitar breaking the nights’ serene stillness. But every time I tried to peek, the only things I saw were blank, whitewashed walls on the uppermost part of his house where his room is and the same royal blue curtains hiding him from me.

I can tell he was taking guitar lessons from the way his skills improved each and every day. From chord to chord, he managed to turn his rusty transitions smooth. From hesitating before the start of each verse, he can now play full songs perfectly. And me; from feeling annoyed by the twangs of his guitar, I looked forward to his repertoire of musical notes. Without realizing it, I started to leave my nightlight on a bit longer each night and only turned it off when the music stopped. He became my invisible lullaby, and I became his silent ovation.

My family moved away shortly after my high school graduation and I never met our neighbor again. Yet I still remember the lesson his guitar-playing taught me: once you’ve braved yourself to take the first few tentative steps, you’ll manage to shine in everything you do.
And I’ve been shining ever since.

~My music is within you, and wherever you are, as long as your heart beats, it will always be.~