Fugue a la Gigue

         Scott sat down at his desk to check his e-mail before going to school. Looking at his calendar, he smiled. It had been nearly two months since he had met Maya at the club, and the past couple months had been very good to him. He hadn't had any suicidal thoughts, and he found that his desire to self injure had been reduced. Sometimes, he'd find himself thinking about it, but then he'd look at a picture of him and Maya at Hammock Creek park. The picture reminded him that there was a lot of things for which he ought to keep his skin clean and free of marks.

         Flipping through his e-mail, he didn't see any new messages in the inbox. He decided to peruse his junk box to see if by chance he may have missed anything inportant. He was greeted by the usual parade of advertisements for everything from mortages to rather, well, unspeakable concepts. One subject line caught his eye:

Oh, Scottie!

         Despite the sender had some incomprehensible name, he opened it, anyway. When he did, the page loaded kind of slowly, revealing a picture bit by bit. After about three minutes, the picture had completely loaded. Scott looked at it, and a smile crept upon his lips, visible even under his moustache. There on the screen was a picture of a pretty brunette girl with thick chocolate cherry hair, lightly tanned skin, and hypnotic green eyes. Her shirt seemed to be falling off, as the picture showed her attempting to keep the shirt from slipping , revealing her chest. Her petite, mauvey lips crafted a demure, if not rather embarassed smile. Scott smirked to himself, clearly enjoying the picture. An idle glance at his watch jerked Scott from his reverie.

         Crap! I have to go to school.

         He quickly shut down his computer before heading off to his car.


         A few thousand miles across the ocean, a young girl with reddish blonde hair sat in a small room, looking at some pictures. Though she had been idly flipping through most of them, one picture made her freeze. Her blue-gray eyes glassed over as she stared at the picture. Crisp knocking on an adjacent wall interrupted her from her activity.

         "Come in," she said.

         Another girl stepped into the room. "Hey, Cate."

         "Hey, Mary," the first said without bothering to look up.

         "What's going on, Sis?" Mary asked. She stepped over to Cate's bed and looked over her sister's shoulder. "You still haven't gotten past Chloe's death?"

         "Can't say I have," Cate mumbled.

         "Me neither. How'd the visit to the doctor go?"

         "Terrible."

         "Really?"

         "I'd rather not talk about it."

         "Cate..."

         "Mary, it's not good. I want to wait until I can talk to Mom and Dad."

         "Now I'm really concerned. Why won't you tell me?"

         Cate sighed. "Mary..."

         "No, Cate. I'm not letting you get out of this one. You're my sister, my twin! I know something is really wrong. Please tell me."

         Cate turned to face her sister and dropped the picture. A tear slipped, startling the girls.

         "What?" Mary asked.

         "Well, Sis," Cate whispered. "Congratulations. You're the first to find out that I have brain cancer."


         A discordant beep signalled the end of second period, and students hurriedly prepared for the next class. Maya gathered her books and left her physics class. As she made her way to the chorus room, Sandy came up behind her and grabbed her by the shoulder.

         "Sandy!" Maya yelped. "You scared me."

         At that, Sandy smirked. "Doesn't take much to scare you. I was just sayin' hey. I don't see you much these days. Wha 'cha been up to?"

         "Same ol', same ol'," Maya muttered. "You know my life isn't that exciting."

         "Oh, can it," Sandy said. "Surely something interesting is happening when your parents tell me you're out everytime you call."

         "Damn!" Maya exclaimed, and Sandy looked at her friend in absolute shock.

         "Maya?" Sandy asked.

         "What?" Maya replied in kind, looking at her friend and then at the door they were near. "Look, I've got class."

         "Well....okay...." Sandy said, and with that, the friends separated.

         Maya walked into the chorus room smirking to herself. So far, she had been able to keep Sandy in the dark in regards to her newest extracurricular, but she knew that she couldn't keep this up much longer. Truthfully, she knew that the inevitable was beginning to creep in, and she would have to let people know. Thinking back to her conversation with Sandy, Maya suddenly realized something. She had given Sandy a giant hint! Well, it wouldn't have been much longer, and she understood that. Her behavior had been slowly changing. In fact, when she had been to the Village last week, she had offered Beth a lighter to light up a cancer stick. Maya shrugged the thoughts from her conscious and set her books down by the music cabinet. She looked for her folder and took it to her seat just as the bell rang, signalling the beginning of third period.


         "Okay, class, for next time, do the odd problems for section 5.6. We will be discussing means of central distribution."

         Scott quickly scribbled something in his statistics book before gathering up his things and leaving. As he left his statistics class, he smiled. It had been a good day for him, but one thing kept lurking in the back of his mind. What was behind that e-mail? The girl he'd seen was just so...striking. Granted, Maya was by no means unattractive, but this girl was striking, like a human representation of the cosmos. Who was she? Why did she seem so familiar?

         As he ventured to the student union for a quick bite to eat, Scott contemplated the picture. He thought back to the morning he had met up with Maya at Donaldson Park. He had enjoyed that day, but... The realization dawned on him so slowly that had he blinked or mentally spasmed even for a split second, it might've departed his conscious. He'd seen this...angel that morning before he went to the park. She was different that morning. As opposed to the slightly titilating image he'd seen on his computer, she was sitting on his commode, fully dressed in navy, busy with looking up stuff on her PDA. To him, she still was a picture of beauty, even in that state.

         No! he internally screamed. She isn't the one in your life! She's just a daydream. You have Maya.

         With that guilt, Scott made his way into the student union building.



         "Well, Cate, ready to go home?" Mary asked her sister.

         "No," Cate replied tearfully. "I'm scared."

         Mary rubbed her back. "I know, sis. I know."

         With that, the two left their dorm room and headed for the Underground. After catching a train, the two of them were headed home to Hammersmith. The ride was relatively silent, as the sisters were lot in their own thoughts. While Cate was obsessed with her new condition, Mary contemplated what had happened to her sister. In retrospect, something hadn't been right with Cate since before Chloe's death. Was the cancer to blame? Mary shook her head, but the thought lingered. She remembered their pre university days; while she had stayed home to study, Cate loved going out nearly every night. Once they had entered the university, Cate initially was always out on the town, but that didn't last very long. She stopped going to the clubs before she met Chloe, but that wasn't the only thing amiss. At that, Mary sighed.

         There's no need to think about that. You need to be there for Cate.


         Thank God today is over!

         Maya fought her way through the throng of students trying to exit the school. All she wanted to do was get home and call Scott. She had a choral recital, and she was hoping Scott would make it. All the way home, she sang a Bach chorale, increasing the tempo with every repetition of the soprano phrase. Such singing probably wasn't a good idea before the intense performance she would have tonight, but she shrugged it off. It didn't matter to her when she sang, and happiness always triggered her to work her golden pipes. She was so caught up in her singing she missed her house altogether. It was only when she was near the intersection of Verona and Main that she realized she had missed her house.

         Whoops! Better turn around

         After turning around in the back parking lot of the Jacaranda and continuing west on Verona did she make it back to her house. Upon arrival, she jumped out of the car, leaving her books and homework in a pile on the front seat. She ran around to the back door and sprinted to her room. When she got there, she slammed the door behind her and briefly looked around. Now a little more composed, she picked up her cordless phone and called Scott.

         "Hello."

         "Hey, Scott. It's Maya."

         "Maya! How was school?"

         "Same ol' stuff. Prep for my recital tonight."

         "That's right! Your recital..."

         Maya's brows creased. Did Scott forget her recital?

         "Are you gonna be there?"

         "...Yeah, I'll be there."

         "Good. I'll see you later, then."

         "See ya."

         Maya hung up, thinking about Scott's tone. It seems as if he'd forgotten about her recital. At that, Maya shrugged and looked at her clock.

         I have two hours until I have to get ready for the recital.

         With that, she closed her eyes for a short nap, all the while thinking about the most important person in her life.

Marching Song