(Wordcount: 625)
Quote:
Prompt 16 (Sounds of the Season): This time of year, seasonal music is heavy in the air, and you’re never far from someone’s festive music. You won’t be surprised to hear many modern tracks, and an array of timeless or nostalgic songs as well. Somewhere along the way, though, you hear something different. Someone puts on an old holiday record; you might not recognize the music at all, but you have a sudden, powerful image of someone you ‘used to know’. It doesn’t feel like an illusion; you can see them, you can hear them, you can feel them. Maybe it’s someone you lost contact with in this life, maybe it’s an old friend you haven’t seen, maybe it’s someone your starseed knows but you’ve forgotten, maybe it was a ghost from another life, a memory engraved in your heart but brought to life for a brief moment–whoever it is, it’s someone important to you. Whether you know why, or not. The song is only a few moments long, but for the duration of the music, they’re real. And then, on the last note, they disappear. Whatever magic was on the record has faded; even if you hear the song again, your companion does not return. (While you may converse with this person, they are an illusion and can only speak vaguely about things your character doesn’t know. They should not talk about meta information or detailed past life or pre-side swap information without staff approval but you can PM The Space Cauldron if you have something in mind!)
Everywhere she went there was holiday music playing. Classic, pop, even rock. So many Jinggle Bells, Mariah Carey, and Jolly Holidays. Each shop had some type of carol playing, sometimes in a loop. She saw quite a few employee’s just spacing out, their eyes glazed as ‘Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree’ started to play for the umpteenth time. Abby felt sorry for them but that didn’t stop her from continuing her shopping. She was running out of time. Lucky the internet was a thing. The majority of her stuff had already arrived and was already wrapped and under the tree. But there were still a few things, small things, that she wanted. Sentimental things. Something that would bring an unexpected smile to the recipient's face.
She ended up at an old store, an antique store of some sort. It was definitely eclectic. There were old toys, clothes, furniture, electronics, and even jewelry. Abby wasn’t expecting to spot anything that would be useful for her last few gifts but still, she browsed, tuning out the music as she went through the shelves of things. It was like a treasure hunt. Around each corner were interesting things to look at, nothing she needed or wanted, but interesting nonetheless.
The young woman was about to pick up a music box when the soft holiday music that was playing in the store paused a moment before the next one started up. Strange, she thought absently, mentally noting that most stores just played the music on a loop so there was really no pausing between one song and the next. Abby didn’t really care one way or the other but still she paused and listened to some of the new music. It seemed somehow very familiar but she just didn’t know from where, or when.
Abby turned to go back to the front to ask, her curiosity quite strong now, but stopped when a figure in the distance turned to face her. “Mum?” The girl practically breathed out. No! No, it was impossible! She knew that it was impossible. Her mother had died years ago. And yet there she stood, that smile, those eyes, that feeling of love just radiating off of her. “Mum,” She smiled even as tears started to well in her eyes and took a step toward her. She saw her mother grin and blow her a kiss before holding her hands over her heart, an action that they had done thousands of times when Abby was growing up before her death. Abby instinctually replied with ‘catching’ the kiss and holding it against her own heart.
Before she was able to do anything else the song stopped, and her mother faded away with it. Blinking away tears Abby hurried to the front, more than prepared to badger the person behind the counter to not only play that song again but to either sell her the CD or to at least tell her the title. She didn’t care if the hallucination she just had was a figment of her imagination. If it meant she could see her mom whenever she wanted she would be willing to go crazy.
She left the antique store with an old record and a record player, neither of which she went in for, but with the hope that she could replicate those few short moments, Abby hurried home. She would find that even playing the song over and over again, it would not allow her to see her long passed mother and yet, each time the song was played she remembered that smile, that kiss, and that warm feeling of love. It definitely wasn’t the same but it was still worth it.
It was still worth it.
