The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Pianist  
by Alex Grehy

He strokes the keys so skilfully, his touch

nuanced, eyes closed, imploring, drawing

music from a device that would surely 

be dumb without his touch.

.

His audience applauds, ecstatic.

His sycophants turn to me with envious eyes,

wife of the maestro, imagining his long 

fingers playing with their senses.

.

They are dazzled by his smile, nodding as he

pontificates about the complex mystery of the 

piano – both keyboard and percussion instrument, 

each sweet note enabled by the unseen force of 

felt-padded hammers striking taut strings. 

.

This is the truth of his love, disguised

in virtuosity – the stroke and the strike.

.

I shimmer with each impact, until, like the strings.

I’m stretched and thinned, out of tune, the

nurse’s touch akin to the turn of a tuner’s

spanner, patching up in one visit what

took months to harm. 

.

He went too far.

.

I hear the billionaire bought the piano 

from the movie, Casablanca, for a record price,

the most expensive piano in the world, for all that 

it had been a movie prop, never played, virginal.

The maestro was to be its first, a private recital.

.

But the piano refused to respond to his artistry. 

Disappointed, humiliated, he lost his temper, 

tore the vintage instrument apart, key by key,  

blaming it, as he often did, for his own failings, 

believing his rage was the sun, drawing all to 

its orbit, to attend and worship. He was wrong. 

.

The owner believed the piano was priceless;

but players? Well, they’re a dime a dozen. 

He called in his goons. 

.

From the basement, far away, I hear the strike of 

a hammer, the crunch of little finger bones, screams, 

a whole orchestra of punishment and pain.

.

Alone with the ruins of the piano I stroke one

undamaged key, see the muffled mallet 

strike the strings – a plangent note floats

through the garden door, 

rising with the birdsong 

in a chorus of freedom.

.

I follow.

.

Fiction © Copyright Alex Grehy
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from author Alex Grehy:

Alex Grehy’s (she/her) work has been published in a range of zines worldwide including Luna Station Quarterly, Aphotic Realm and The Sirens Call as well as anthologies published by Water Dragon Publishing and Red Penguin. Her essays on being a “Lady of Horror” have featured in the Horror Writers Association Newsletter and The Horror Tree blog. Her words are also available via a global network of prose & poetry dispensers run by French publisher Short Edition.  She is recognised for her original view of the world, expressed in vivid prose and thought-provoking poetry.

Please click here to discover more!