Etude 5: Lento Semplice

So I decided to ditch the previous attempt at Etude 5. I like this better. Now it's time for High Adventure in the Dreamscape! Yay! I felt like including more play markings in. If you don't know music, er, just ignore them or something, I guess? (Or you could look them up.)

mezzo piano.

They stood together on a vast, open plain. The sky above had the color and texture of fish scales. The grass below was soft and slightly squishy, resembling uncooked dough in both feel and appearance. Somewhere in the distance were mountains of reddish rock, stabbing at the sky. I've been here before, thought Sarah. I've been chased through here. She looked at Armand, who crouched beside her, clutching his head. She tapped him on the shoulder hesitantly.
"Armand?"
He looked up at her. This time she dodged aside when he threw a punch at her. "Bitch!"
"I don't know what this is! I'm sorry! I've only been here in my dreams!"
Armand glared at her. "So you know how to get out?"
"No, I usually just wake up."
"Great, so all I have to do is figure out how to wake up."
"I think this area is dangerous."
"Even better." He looked as if he were going to try to hit her again, but instead he let his shoulders sag. "Okay. I'm not going to do anything to you until you get us out of here. After that... No guarantees."
"That's fair. I'm really sorry about this. I don't know what's --"
"I don't care about your excuses. Let's get moving." He headed off, towards the mountains.
"Wait!"
He stopped and turned to look at her. "You said this place was dangerous. So I'm getting out of here."
"I think the forest is safer." She pointed in the opposite direction.
He glared at her. "Fine. You lead. That's just fine and dandy with me." His voice dripped with sarcasm.

crescendo.

Armand stomped off towards the forest that Sarah had pointed out. He had no idea where they were. It looked kind of like something out of an acid trip, but he knew it wasn't. And it was all that girl's fault. Sarah. He kicked at the dough-y grass. It collapsed, then sprang back into place. He growled in frustration. The last thing I want do is be somewhere dangerous relying on a twit like her for directions. Which is exactly where I am now. He kicked at the grass again. I don't want to be here. I just want to be back to having a normal life instead of having crazy mists take over my mind and stalk girls. I have my faults, but I am not a stalker. Who would want to stalk her, anyway?
"Armand?"
"What," he growled.
"I think you should stop kicking the grass."
"Why?" He kicked it again. "It's not like there's anything better to kick."
"Stop it!"
And then the grass he'd kicked sprang back up, and started growing. It sprouted into a myriad of tendrils, all flailing and grabbing at him. "Armand!" Oh, very useful, he thought. Scream my name, that's going to help. He tried to kick the grass away, but it had trapped his feet and wrapped around them so tightly he couldn't move.
"Wait!"
"I'm not going anywhere right now, thanks to this crap." The tendrils were still growing, wrapping themselves around his legs and torso.
This time he felt the gathering storm, the tension in the air as thick as molasses. "Stop!" She screamed. And everything stopped.

forte. fermata.

The world held its breath as Sarah stared in shock at the effects of her scream. She could feel the tension in the air, like a string pulled out of place and just waiting to be let go so it could snap back in. The grass was frozen, tendrils held immobile mid-thrash. Armand, too, was frozen, as he had been once before. But I have to help him. This is all my fault that he's here. She gingerly approached the grass. The tension seemed to mount inside her head, but she knew if she released it, time would resume its flow. She grasped a tendril. It was firm now, and seemed heavy. Heavy with time... She tried to pull it away from Armand. It moved slowly, so slowly she wasn't sure it had moved at all. She was soon panting with exhaustion, head throbbing from the effort of maintaining the tension. I can't do it. Not like this. Oww, my head... I've never had headaches this bad before. And then she lost control, and time rushed back to fill the gap.

mezzo forte.

"Don't just stand there, do something!" Armand shouted.
"I'm trying!"
"Try harder!"
And then a memory came, fleeting, back to her, of a dream she'd had once. A dream where she could control the landscape... "Retract! Diminish! Calm!" But her shouts did nothing.
"Useless bitch!" Armand flailed wildly against the tendrils of grass, which were up to his arms.
I'm trying, damn it! I'm trying! Do what I say! And then the building of tension, and the snap-crack release. And the grass suddenly wilted and diminished until it had returned to its original height. And then she could no longer ignore the pounding of her head, and she collapsed.

rest.

Etude 5 (?): Allegretto Leggiero

Okay, I've just realized that I don't like this stuff. But it's words. So it goes in the count, and it goes in the blog. I didn't want to figure out what happened after yesterday's cliff-hanger, so I put it off by giving Sarah amnesia. Now I'm thinking of just tossing both Sarah and Armand into some dream realm and having them run around adventuring, in which case this section will go bye-bye.

Sarah woke in her bed, and couldn't remember how she got there. The events of last night seemed dream-like and unreal; had they been a dream? She wasn't sure. But she touched her face, and felt the bruise there. So it couldn't have been a dream. She wished she could remember what had happened after she'd run after Armand... Maybe I should call him to see if he's okay? No, wait, he'd probably kill me if I tried to do anything like that... And I already know he has a temper. She fingered the bruise, poking at the area to see how large it was. Ow, ow, ow, not ow, ow, ow... Wait, how am I going to cover up this bruise? I can't just go around with a big bruise on my face -- everyone will look at it and ask me questions about it! And I don't want to tell them what happened...

She turned over in her bed and looked across the room to see her roommate at her desk. "Maggie?"
"Hmm?"
"How late did I get in last night?"
Maggie turned around to face her. "Pretty late, but I don't know when. I was in bed when you came in. Why?"
"I, uh, don't remember what time it was and I want to know how many hours of sleep I got." Which is also true.
"Oh. Well, how do you feel?"
How do I feel? "Tired."
"Probably only a couple of hours then. Are your eyes throbbing?"
"No, but my head is."
"Poor baby. It's Saturday, so you can sleep in if you want."
"What time is it?"
"Nine o'clock."
"That's pretty early."
"Only for you." She grinned.
"Well, um, nyeah."
"Sleep. I think you need it."
"Okay."
But after a couple of minutes, Sarah couldn't fall back asleep. "Maggie, I can't sleep."
"So read or something until you're sleepy."
"No, now I feel really awake."
"Ahh."
"I think I'm getting up now." She sat up and swung her legs out over the edge of the bed. "Whoo, that made me dizzy..."
"Sat up too fast?"
"Yeah. Ow, my head."
Maggie made a sympathetic noise. "I have some Tylenol if you want."
"Let me see if it passes first."
"Okay."
Sarah gingerly got herself off the bed, holding onto it when a wave of dizziness passed through her. Can I get to the bathroom without showing my face to Maggie? She looked around the room. Blast it, I don't think so. Okay, how can I tell this to Maggie? Let's see... "Maggie, last night I got chased by Armand, who turned into a bright, menacing ball of light. Then the light disappeared and he tried to kill me so that the light would stop taking over his mind. Then I have no idea what happened, but anyway, I got these bruises when he punched me." Yeah, that'll go over real well. Even if she believes she'll try to convince me to report the incident, and if she doesn't, she might report the incident as "Sarah is hallucinating, I think she needs psychiatric care." Okay, so what's the usual explanation for bruises. Oh yeah "I ran into a door." Um. Except that nobody believes that... How about "I tripped and fell?" That did happen last night... Or maybe I could just pretend I don't remember what happened last night... I guess I'll try that first. Okay, Sarah, here we go.
"Maggie?"
"Hmm?"
"Did I try to tell you anything last night?"
"No, you didn't wake me up at all. Why?"
"Umm, I've got this bruise here --"
Maggie turned to face her. "What? Wow, that's a shiner all right!"
"-- and I don't remember how I got it."
"Um, Sarah, are you sure you're all right?"
"Yeah, I think so. It's just... Umm... I don't want anyone asking me questions about the bruise..."
Maggie nodded. "You really don't remember anything?"
"Not since after my recital."