Lazy streets and hazy faces, the sidewalk is packed to the brim with people. It’s been three days since Eli and Audrey have arrived at their new home, and only now have they left the house and ventured into the inner city. During the course of the past three days, they’ve filled their every waking hour with constant physical labor, cleaning out the house and removing any of the potentially hazardous waste that could injure them down the line. The place may have been falling apart, but it’s still a building that once housed numerous families, it still possessed the necessary materials to clean it up.

Their fortune was most likely a result of some government official either forgetting to have the house cleaned, or a lack of interest in finishing the job after the authorities took over and put up the fence. After all, the building is old, so it’d only be a matter of time before it is torn down. Because of this, the two were able to clean the house up rather nicely, throwing out the broken glass and stray tiles, scrubbing the walls and floors with soapy water, eventually making the home livable again. The only annoyance would be that there is no electricity, which made working in the dark rather tedious.

Now finished with their spring cleaning, Eli and Audrey have ventured into the inner city, ready to start making money. Even though he’s repeatedly asked Audrey about the plan, all she’s said is that she’s done it in the past, so it shouldn’t be too different from then. This basically means Eli knows nothing. And so, with a curious glint in his eyes and a cautious step, he follows after his companion, who has brought her father’s guitar with her, the large case hanging over her shoulders with casual ease.

“Here? Are you sure?”

When they finally stop walking, the first thing Eli does is voice his hesitation. How could he not though? He’s grown up rather separated from most people, excluding the small classroom environment he was fortunate enough to place in. Being out in the open, surrounded by faceless droves of people, how could he not be hesitant to spend any period of time here? Unfortunately for him, Audrey’s plans are bigger than his discomfort and she carries on after sparing him a single pity filled glance. With quick steps and short breaths, she moves over to one of the walls facing the street, pressing her back against it. Then she opens up the case, removes the guitar with delicate hands, and lays the case open before her. The passing people shoot her a glance of interest as they pass by, never staying long enough to generate a crowd, but at least they prove that whatever she’s doing is generating attention.

Now ready to move on to the main show, Audrey takes a seat with the guitar in her lap and a small plastic pick in her fingers. Then, with sure strokes and a lingering smile on her pretty face, she strums the guitar, listening to the notes, making small adjustments to fix up the tuning. Gradually the amount of people shooting glances increases. The strange, wooden sound tickles their ears in a way they’ve never experienced. After tuning the instrument, Audrey closes her eyes, sucking in a deep breath and holding it for a moment. Then, after a single fleeting second she brings her raised hand down, striking the strings with a swift flourish.

The guitar springs to life, the gentle song rippling into the air like water on the surface of a lake. Every note is a raindrop, the cascade of noise filling the atmosphere with a sound unheard in many years. It’s a hollow sound, yet also a sound of warmth. The gentle strumming of the strings dance down the dark street, their twisting forms bending and spinning in a youthful, childlike lilting. The measures extend in length, the moment of stillness stretching onwards, unceasing in its quest to capture the hearts of all the onlookers. The sidewalk is still. The flashing neon advertisements color the spectators in blues and reds and greens, in cyans and pinks and purples. The chattering dies down, then eventually vanishes, as the onlookers stand in silence, phones still pressed against their ear. They stare wide eyed at the young girl rolling her hand up and down the fretboard with speed and precision. It's a long moment. A moment of tranquility in the harshness of reality.

This is peace.

This is music.

I’ve never heard anything like this before… Is this why Audrey’s father cared so much about that guitar? It’s amazing that such a simple tool can create such magic. Eli finds himself sinking into complete calmness, a drawn out moment of bated breath and awe filled respect. He sees the girl before him, her young face, her balanced features, her peaceful smile, and he finds himself longing for such an expression. He too wants to experience that quiet confidence, that ability to manifest magic into reality. As he listens, something else tickles his ears like a brush of wind. A soft humming, swaying like a blade of grass in a breeze. It fills the air with an electric charge, weaving between the notes of the music with precision.

Audrey hums, her untarnished voice filling the world with peacefulness and loftiness. Eventually, that humming grows louder, until she opens her mouth and words begin flowing out. The sounds are unrecognizable. A strange language none of the surrounding listeners have heard before. Even so, they find themselves enraptured, charmed by the alien nature of the music that feels weirdly familiar. The singing rings down the road, echoing almost infinitely, burrowing deeply into the ears of everybody in the general vicinity, and locking them in place.

Eli sinks. He falls, deeper and deeper, dragged to the bottom of the black sea of calmness. His open eyes lose their focus, and in that hazy stillness, the world once again unravels. Red and silver. The two colors intertwine into a glowing tornado of luminescence. The crowding people dissolve into bundles of coiled strings, the red slowly mixing with silver as the music fills their ears. The silver corrodes away the red’s rusted outside, leaving the strings burning like an open flame. The new memories surge into existence, mixing and overwriting the joy of yesterday. The song serves as background music to the tangled mess of the individual lives. It ignites the strings of the past, a single silver string coiling down the road of history, slowly filling the world with that metallic glint. The world slowly begins to fill with mystery. With unpredictability.

Even the surrounding buildings, massive towers of tangled red, unravel and ignite in the area that Audrey leans against. It’s a beautiful display. An exhibition of power and magic, a surefire declaration of Audrey’s charm and influence. With such simple movements she easily seizes the hearts of the onlookers, trapping them in a world of music, altering their very being by removing themselves from the eroding reality and drawing them into the silver dream. Such a peaceful embrace has captured so many, entangled them like a spider’s web, sure to leave its mark in the years to come.

As with all things, the music ends, pulling Eli to the surface. The strings fade away. They slowly dim, escaping back into the background, slipping between dimensions until they’re once again unseeable. Despite not being capable of observing the echoes of history, Eli knows that the few before him have changed. Droves of people quietly remove a handful of stray bills, and orderly toss them into Audrey’s open case. It’s a forgotten practice, one lost over the years as real music steadily disappeared, but the action comes naturally, like breathing or eating. Their thankfulness and respect is paid in full.

Eli watches in silence, awed by how quickly Audrey wiped away his worries for the future. To think she knew a way to make so much money. Why is she choosing to live on the streets though? It’s a question he’s honestly afraid to ask. Not because he fears the answer itself, but because his attachment to Audrey will most likely draw out his dismay when he realizes the depths of her unhappiness. It’s not too difficult to reach some kind of conclusion when considering her circumstances. It makes sense why emotionally, such a young girl is hesitant to step back into society. Not to mention she’s still underage, with almost no way of legally earning money and supporting herself.

Still, I feel all of those reasons simply support the simple truth that she can’t live in a world without her dad. He feels he’s struck the core of the matter. During his extensive stay with her, where he’s constantly observed and studied her, Eli has concluded that the girl’s love for her father is something he’s incapable of fully realizing. And, in a way, that in of itself allows him to understand. The infinite amount of love she feels towards her father, is surely something that she feels in every waking moment. Eli is confident without a shadow of doubt that there’s not a moment in the day that she’s not thinking about him, like a curse haunting every aspect of her life.

“Hey! What are you standing around for? I said we needed to get moving!”

Eli’s attention is drawn back to reality by the subject of his contemplations. Seeing her grinning expression, where she’s almost ramming her nose into his face with a sparkle in her eyes, Eli can’t help but let slip a dry chuckle. An edge of defeat lathers his words.

“You’re a very special person, you know that?”

Audrey blushes subtly as she backs away, averting her eyes slightly while tightening the straps of her guitar case around her shoulders. It’s not her usual response, where she would have casually deflected his words. This reaction strikes him as being more genuine, which eases his embarrassment a bit. Ahhh, I really didn’t mean to say that... As though to erase her past embarrassment, Audrey turns around with pursed lips.

“Hey, ummm, it’s about time we leave. If we come back at the same time tomorrow, we’ll start to establish a schedule, so we’ll be more likely to have repeat visitors. At least, that’s how it worked out in the past…”

“So, um, what about me? What am I supposed to do? I can’t just stand around doing nothing and expect to be fed, right?”

“Ah, um, I guess you’re right? You could, um, keep watch I guess? Let me know if trouble looks like it’s about to show up… Yeah, that’ll be your job!”

“Um, sure, yeah! Let’s do that! I’ll be your bodyguard!”

The two awkwardly stammering youths escape the inner city, a bundle of cash easily acquired. Their pockets bulge, but they’re too embarrassed by the other’s actions to really care too deeply about today’s haul. A fleeting thought brushes past Eli's mind. His lips curl ever so slightly.