L U C A

The six of them strolled underneath the night sky, which was cloaked in somber clouds of grey. Nobody spoke a word for a while, all probably wondering if any of this was a good idea, or if the price of justice was worth walking down a path with an unclear end.

    However, there was always one person who never let silence take over for too long before breaking it, and Luca was thankful for that.

    Shawn heaved a miserable sigh. "This is starting to make me feel uncomfortable."

    "Well, we are trying to catch someone's murderer singlehandedly, while the whole university and the police are convinced that it was suicide," said Arthur.

    "No, not that. I was talking about your outfit," Shawn said with a sneer, looking Arthur up and down. Arthur threw a glare at him, while the others tried their best to suppress their sniggers.

    At last, time for departure arrived; Nicholas and Eve left for the university's post office, Arthur and Isaac went to the locker rooms, and Luca and Shawn made their way down to the Berrington Hall.

    Silence reigned the walls of the large building as Luca and Shawn walked through the empty hallways. Luca had never been in the Berrington Hall after midnight, where the loudest sound that could be heard was the sound of their footsteps and their nervous breathings.

    "This way," Luca whispered to Shawn, leading him down a dim corridor and toward a staircase down the hall. The only light that was coming to their aid was the moonlight, beaming through the tall windows.

    "How much longer?" Shawn groaned impatiently.

    "We're almost there. It's on the last floor," said Luca.

    There was an uneasy batter in his chest, and Luca could not tell whether it was because they weren't allowed to be here at this hour, or if the reason to his pounding heart was Shawn Anderson.

    When they finally reached the fifth floor, the two boys descended into the music room, grievously afraid of what the night might old.

    "I'd never been here before," Shawn said in a quiet tone, looking around him in amusement.

    "Well, let's start searching. The sooner we get this over with, the better," Luca said without even glancing at Shawn, making his way over the teacher's desk to look through its drawers.

    "Why? Have you got somewhere better to be?" Shawn grinned, walking toward Luca.

    Luca tried to keep searching, pretending as if he couldn't feel Shawn's presence right beside him. As if he couldn't smell his sharp cologne from where he was standing.

    "Not me. But I'm sure you have to get to your late-night rendezvous with Betty," Luca said jokingly, but there was a certain bitterness to his voice that he could not hide away.

    "Actually, I broke it off with her the day after my last rugby game," Shawn said with a careless shrug, looking through the music sheet that laid everywhere on the desk, in hopes of finding one of the red envelopes among them.

    Just then, Shawn stretched out his arm across the desk to pick up another large pile of music sheet that his hand gently brushed against Luca's. Startled at the shiver that Shawn's mere touch sent down his spine,

Luca moved away from him in a quick motion, briskly walking toward the wooden shelves on the other side of the room and pretending to search for the envelopes there. He was terrified of the power Shawn had over him.

    "What was that all about?" Luca heard Shawn say, but he did not turn around. He kept facing the shelf with his back to Shawn, his heartbeat picking up speed.

    "What do you mean?" Luca tried to muster enough strength to say the words out loud without his voice breaking, but his odd behavior had not gone unnoticed by Shawn. 

    "You've been acting really weird lately, Miller," Shawn said, his voice lacking its usual playfulness. "What is it? Do you not like me? Is that it?"

    "Who said I don't like you?" The words left his lips weaker than he had hoped, but he managed to keep the tone cold and emotionless.

    "Nobody needed to say anything! It's obvious enough!" Shawn suddenly snapped. "You roll your eyes every time I open my mouth to speak, you frown whenever I make a joke, you never even look me in the eye if you can help it, and you keep moving away from me like — like I'm some sort of a disease! Do you really hate me that much?"

    Luca stood transfixed on the spot, still facing the shelves even though he had stopped searching through them. His hands had turned into fists at his sides, his knuckles going white. He was fighting back the urge to scream the swelling truth inside him. The words sat in his throat like stones that he could neither spit out nor swallow.

    "Let it go, Shawn," was all he managed to say.

    "No! I won't! Not until you tell me what's wrong!" Shawn harshly grabbed onto Luca's arm as he spoke, but Luca was quick to free himself of his firm grip. "What's your problem!?"

    "You, Shawn! You're my fucking problem!" Luca suddenly yelled out, turning to face him sharply with a blazing glare.

    Shawn gaped at him, at loss for words. His face fell, but the expression upon his complexion was unreadable. Scrawled. Empty.

    Luca closed his eyes shut, running his hands through his hair in frustration. This was what he always did; every time he became afraid of getting closer to someone, he drove them away. He had been escaping love for so long that he didn't notice that his loneliness was hunting him down.

    Before either of them could get the chance to speak, however, their heads suddenly turned when they heard footsteps outside the music room.

Someone was walking outside through the corridor with a torch. It had to be the caretaker. If they were caught sneaking up here so late at night, they could get in a lot of trouble, not to mention they would raise great suspicion. He had to think fast.

    "This way," Luca said in a hushed voice, gesturing at Shawn to follow him. Without arguing, Shawn hurriedly followed Luca to the end of the room where a wooden wardrobe was. He opened it and stepped inside, and Shawn got in immediately after him, closing the wardrobe's door behind them as quietly as possible.

    The only light that crept inside the wardrobe was coming through the small gap between its two doors, from where Luca could see the caretaker walking inside the room. The man was now moving a few chairs around as he hummed a song to himself, and then emptying out the bin and cleaning the area.

    Luca tried to hold in his breath, remaining motionless as to avoid making any noise. The dread was striking through his veins, and his hands had started sweating. Although not all of it was due to the fear of getting caught.

    Shawn was standing way too close him. So close that their lips were only inches away from touching. Luca could feel his breath across his face, their bodies pressed up against each other. He tried hard not to look up at him, to contain his breathing and his rapid heartbeat, but he could feel Shawn's gaze on him.

    As if there were sirens singing in the depth of his black eyes, Luca was lured to look up at him, feeling out of control. Instant regret filled him up when he found himself imprisoned in his dark gaze. But then, his heart sank in his chest when he caught Shawn's eyes travelling down to his lips for a quick second.

    Your lips... they look so kissable...

    Luca shook his head to snap the thought away.

    It didn't take long before he was dragged back to reality when the caretaker turned off the lights and closed the classroom's door behind him. Luca was about to sigh in relief, but his whole body tensed up again when he heard the caretaker lock the music room's door.

    The two boys waited a minute longer to make sure the caretaker wasn't returning, before pushing their way out of the wooden wardrobe. The moonlight was enough to help them find their way across the dark room and toward the door. Shawn turned the doorknob, but it didn't budge.

   "Damn it! We're locked in!" he said.

   "Shawn, listen —" Luca began to say, but Shawn strode past him and looked down one of the windows to see if there was any way out, but he found it hopeless. "I'm so sorry for what I said earlier."

    "It's fine. You can hate me all you want," Shawn said rigidly, examining the room as if to avoid Luca's eyes.

    "That's the thing," Luca spoke breathlessly, "I don't hate you. I never have. I... I never could." There was a short silence as Shawn looked at him sideways. Luca wetted his lips, looking down at the floor. "It's just that... sometimes it's easier to pretend like I hate you."

    Shawn stopped at those words, pausing for a second longer before slowly turning to face him doubtfully. "Why?"

    Because it's easier than loving you, knowing that you'll never feel the same way.

    "Because another person walking into your life just means another person that can walk out," Luca muttered these words instead. They were true enough.

    "Oh..." Shawn was silent for a while. He then swallowed, putting his hands in his coat pockets awkwardly before taking slow steps closer to Luca.

    "Luca... I know that you've never liked to talk about this, but... Does this — does this have anything to do with your mother?" Shawn started in a soft and carful voice, trying to find the right words to say, even though it was impossible to achieve. "She... she died when you were young, didn't she?"

    Luca stared back at him. His mouth felt dry. He was suddenly back in his old house again, as though time had flown backwards, the memories gushing back to him.

    The black doors closed shut in front of him... Tears were streaming down his face... He wanted to go out, he wanted to reach for the doorknob... Stanley was ordered to take him up to his room... From his window he could see the car driving out through the iron gates, leaving, never to return...

    Leaving... Always leaving...

    "Luca?" It was Shawn's voice that drew him back to reality, to the present time. "Do you want to talk about it?"

    Luca didn't trust himself to speak, afraid that he would break down, so he merely gave a shake of his head.

    Shawn was quiet for a while, stealing glances at Luca as he tried to think of a way to cheer him up or at least change the subject.

    "So..." he began, pursing his lips together. "Niko told me that you have a surprise for us. He said it had something to do with your music."

    "Yes," Luca mumbled, sitting down on one of the chairs in the classroom. They didn't turn on the lights, not wanting anyone outside to see that they were inside the building. 

    "Well? What is it?" Shawn questioned, taking the seat beside him.

    "It's obviously nothing important, but there's this concert taking place in London at the end of March, and they are holding open tryouts in November, and I... I really want to go for it. I'm not sure if I can get in — I mean, the competition is fierce, because there will be experienced pianists there, and they only choose one person for it — but I've been waiting for a chance like this my whole life."

    "Luca, that's brilliant!" Shawn exclaimed ardently. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

    "Because first I wanted to see if I could get the part or not."

    "What are you going to play for the auditions?"

    "Moonlight Sonata," Luca replied.

    "I have no idea what that is," Shawn said with a little laugh. "You've got to play it for me."

    "All right." He grinned. "If we get out of this place alive, I'll play it for you tomorrow at lunch break."

    "No. Not tomorrow," said Shawn, shaking his head. "Now."

    Luca's eyes widened. "Now?"

    "Why not?" He smirked widely. "There's a piano here and we've got all night. No one will hear us."

    "I don't know, Shawn —"

    "If you're too afraid to perform in front of one person, how are you going to do it in front of dozens of people?"

    Luca glanced back up at him. There was something about the look in his eyes that gave him the courage to raise to his feet and walk toward the piano in the center of the room.

    Drawing in a deep breath, Luca pulled back the piano stool and sat down, and began to play. The music was peaceful and calming, soon becoming the rhythm of his soul. His heart beat along with it.

    Once it finally came to an end, Luca waited a moment before turning to look over at Shawn to see what he thought of it, but there was a grimace on his face.

    "Absolutely not!" Shawn shook his head fervently, shooting up to his feet. "What the hell was that?"

    Luca gaped at him. "What?"

    "That was too boring! It was too slow, and not to mention way too long!" Shawn spoke his opinion freely, not holding any part of it back. "Look, it was beautiful, and you played it nicely; I'm not going to deny that. But it didn't make me want to dance!"

    "W-well, you can't really dance to Beethoven," said Luca, shifting awkwardly on the stool.

    "I can dance to anything," Shawn said with an arrogant grin. "But the one you just played made me want to cry. Just play something else right now, will you?"

    Luca stared at him for a few seconds as if thinking it through, before letting out a sigh in defeat. "Fine."

    Shawn smiled to himself triumphantly when Luca turned on the stool and placed his fingers on the piano keys again. Another deep breath in, and thus he began to play. He closed his eyes this time, and let the music erupt through his heart.

    When he was done, he felt out of breath, and yet more alive than ever. He pulled back his hands, his cheeks a deep shade of pink as he smiled to himself in satisfaction.

    "That was great! You have to play this for the auditions!" Shawn let out enthusiastically.

    Luca chuckled. "I'm not sure if I'm allowed to play that."

    "Why not? It was actually a great song!"

    "Well... because..." He nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Because I composed it."

    "Wait — really?" Shawn said in a hollow voice, staring at him in disbelief. "That was actually yours? How long have you been doing this?"

    "For a few years," Luca replied in a small voice. "I've always wanted to create something of my own. Something that outlives me."

    "Why is that?" Shawn asked softly.

    "I know this might sound silly, but I..." Luca paused, picking his words cautiously. "I feel like our memories are the only proof that we were once alive. If nobody remembers us after we die or everyone forgets us... it would be like we never really lived at all."

    "I th—"

Shawn began to say, but he suddenly stopped, his eyes catching sight of something.

    "What is it?" Luca asked, frowning.

    "Stand up!" Shawn demanded, walking closer toward the piano.

    Luca turned around to see what Shawn was referring to, and that was when he saw it.

He saw the red corner of what seemed to be a paper, sticking out from inside the piano stool.

    Hurriedly, Shawn opened the stool's lid, revealing nearly five or maybe six red envelopes inside it, and on the back of all of them, one thing was written in black:

NANCY
To John