Keys Of The Heart

• Cecilia Nguyen, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2008

Keys of the Heart

“Play…”

A voice whispered to me as the winter morning air kissed my frozen cheeks. I suddenly snapped out of my trance and looked up at the opened window that was letting in the cold air. My fingers lingered above the keys before my eyes.

“Please…”

No…The memories that I tried to suppress came rushing back, filling my mind, making me remember all over again.

“NO!” I slammed my fists down on the keys, making the noise echo throughout the room.

“Why can’t you forget?” Tears stung my eyes as I looked up to see him staring back at me. His trademark smile was gentle, but I could see the pain behind it. He slowly turned and began to walk away.

“Wait! PLEASE! Don’t leave me…” I grabbed onto his arm, tears already welling up in my eyes. His hands were ice cold against mine.

“I’m sorry.” And before I could look up, he was already gone, leaving me alone with the wind that seemed to be whispering unheard music to me. “Be ready, you’re about to preform soon.”

Before I could stop him, he had already disappeared, leaving the wind to whisper its unheard song to me.



Everything was completely dark. I stared down and the piano and traced the keys gently with my fingers, breathing in its blissful smell as I did. I felt his hand suddenly on mine, his breath tickling my neck.

“You’re ready,” he smiled, his cold lips brushing against my neck. “Remember, I’ll be your eyes, and you are my hands. Close your eyes,” he whispered.

And before I knew it, my fingers were flying over the keys with his, the music harmonising perfectly in my ears. The song breathed out everything I felt. Every note comforted me as each flowed one after the other. With each note, I could see clearly everything that I tried so long to forget. His face before that car suddenly swerved out of no-where, the blood…there was so much blood, until he was suddenly cold and lifeless.

The song then slowed to an end, making the last note linger in the air.


As I opened my eyes, I could feel a single tear make its way down my cheek and onto the keys. I looked up to see him smiling next to me, his eyes shinning with tears. I couldn’t see or hear anything else then except for him.

“Thank you…goodbye Leila…” his lips touched mine softly.

“Goodbye…Evan…”

And with that, the wind took him away, leaving his whispers behind with me.

“Leila, that was amazing! It was so hard to imagine that one person played that,” my friend congratulated me afterwards.

“It wasn’t just me,” I smiled lamely. “He’s always there with me, every time I play.”

“So what are you going to call this piece?”

“I think…” I smiled up to the night sky, “I’m going to call it Keys of the Heart.”