Second time around

It was a typically warm December night, where the air had begun to thicken with the impending excitment of the festivities that were soon to start.
The holiday season was in full swing with local streets festooned with age old decorations pulled from the basement of the city's town hall, some of the more expensive houses had heavily decorated with elaborate flashing light settings, some with Santa's legs sticking out of their chimneys others had him being pulled along by Rudolph and the other reindeers on their front lawns, all seemed to have an unenviable need to outdo each other, regardless of the ridiculous cost that burning thousands of little lights for the extended period that was Christmas.
Still, despite the underlying desire to win the prize of ' best decorated' house, which was awarded by the local newspaper each year, most people maintained a robust exhuberance towards each other. After all it was nearly Christmas and for most people the fun would soon begin, the shopping malls had become a hive of activity with everyone busily buying presents for their loved ones.
" Humph" exhaled the lonely figure staring back at himself in the bathroom mirror, not looking forward to Christmas he thought, other than his birthday it was probably the loneliest day of the year for him, he couldn't recall one Christmas in recent times that held any extended moments of melancholy for him, he had no family or friends, he would normally spend the day at home listening to his records though he would be able to clearly hear all the nearby joyous laughter and singing.
Frank White was closer to fifty than he cared to aknowledge, he had no real sense of accomplishment with his life, and often wondered when his end would come, at times wishing it would be sooner rather than later, he stood just under six foot tall with a medium build,a rather good looking man, always clean shaven with chiselled features and deep blue eyes, if it wasn't for his abusive upbringing at the hands of Gods monsters, the doers of evil dressed in church like clothing, that he had the misfortune to be entrusted to,that had taken away his innocence and crushed the trusting and loving inbuilt nature he was born with, if not for them he would probably be married with a couple of kids by now, with the normal problems that came with marriage, instead he was constantly wary of people and what there real motives may have been ,he was guarded in all aspects of his life even a trip to the shop for groceries made him nervous and he was definately too shy to strike up a conversation with a member of the opposite sex.
His once darkish hair was starting to grey, now more a salt and pepper coloring, "the distinguished look he said to himself" without any real conviction. He had bought himself some hair coloring products occasionally, which he used if he felt the need to boost his self esteem, which had been often, now he no longer cared about his looks, there was only so much that could be done before age thrusts itelf upon you anyway, the unused bottles now sat at the back of the vanity cupboard gathering dust.
Frank had no real desire to go out anyway, he was a loner by nature,other than going to a movie or a play by himself, which took all of his courage, he visited various music shops around to build a music collection, that had taken years to collate into an impressive ever- growing library of his favorite artists, he had them all in alpnabetical order,with deliberate gaps for songs he hadn't been able to locate yet, evey song came complete with words and music sheet if he could get it, which became easier since he found the World Wide Web, he kept his library under lock and key, and he knew them all by heart, music had been his one and only solace since growing up at the Holy Trinity orphanage, and in his mind, his own personal fortress of solitude.
He had been smaller than most of the other  orphans or "the poor unfortunates", ( a phrase he had heard on numerous occassions when he was younger) and he was definately one of them, he had learnt that if he did'nt keep his wits about him, his food or meager possessions were in danger of being stolen, sometimes straight off his plate even if he dared look away momentarily while eating his meals, so he mainly kept to himself, out of trouble or at least only as much trouble as he could control for himself.
Frank was a loner even back then, although the orphanage had been run by the Christian Brothers it was hardly a friendly place, more a front for evil, he would normally hide himself away in the old run down storage shed that was at the back of the orphanage, behind a large untrimmed hedge, it was a secondary shed since a new larger one had been built a few years before on the other side of the compound, now this one was only used when they had certain items no longer needed but too good to throw away.
Inside there was an old upright piano covered by a dusty brown blanket that barely covered half of it, the vintage mahogany timber was mostly faded,there was a candlabra screwed into the face on either side of the manufacturers name that said C,Lienert,Berlin in fancy gold lettering, it probably had'nt been tuned since it was donated to the orphanage some fifty odd years before, the white ivory keys had become more of a yellowish color, some of the keys would at times even get stuck but it was there he felt most safe,it was a magical place to him, his only safe place, making up songs, singing about nothing in particular, no one ever came there and being away from the other buidings no one could hear him, so he never held back for he felt he had the stage to himself.
He had a very good voice for his age but he never sang to an audience, other than his parents when they had been alive, he was much too shy, the only time he did sing in front of others, was when he sang in a school play, it was a sad sad song his mother had taught him when he was about six, it made him think of her and tears had formed then rolled down his young face mid song.
He remembered how the other kids were pointing at him and snickering.
His mum had told him it was ok to feel the song from deep within, they had been so proud of him and made him feel special, even if he cried, which was little consolation now that they were gone, instead of adoring gazes from people who loved him, he was now ridiculed by his peers and some of the unkind teachers for being "too emotional" not to mention Greg Savage the school bully.