Hayley shifted uncomfortably in her seat as pleasant chatter sustained at the dining table around her. This wasn’t an environment she was used to. Hayley was used to silence, and sometimes muffled crying coming from the next room. She was used to having dinner (which you could barely call “dinner”) left outside her door, on a good day. Other days, she would just have to suck it up and pretend that she was going to be okay, though she knew, deep down, that she wasn’t.
Hayley had been living in an orphanage for seven years, ever since she was eight. Her parents had been killed in a car crash, or so they had told her. Even at seven, Hayley was smart enough to figure out there was something else going on. All the bewildered looks and hushed tones that followed her the next few years heightened her suspicions. One night, they were confirmed when she overheard Mother Danielle and Mrs. Archibald, her friend, whispering about her.

“Poor girl. She thinks her parents died in a car crash.”
“Yes, but it’s better than knowing the real truth of what happened to them.”
“No one knows the real truth. The murderer was never found, and doctors can’t figure out how they were killed.”
“We have to keep her in the dark about this. It would be easier for her to let their death go.”
“Amen to that.”

After that night, Hayley knew that no matter how hard she tried, she could never let her parents go after she knew they were murdered. 
However, times were changing. Mother Danielle, lovely, sweet Mother Danielle had passed away, at age 93. For the first time since her parents’ death, Hayley cried. She wept and wept, like a baby, and didn’t care who saw, for Mother Danielle was gone. She was really gone, and Hayley had never felt more alone. The orphanage got a new mother, Mother Geraldine. Mother Geraldine was an old lady, but a tough one. She made sure that everyone knew who was boss. Her face resembled something of an American bulldog. Hayley despised her.
But she soon received her glorious ticket to freedom when a family suddenly adopted her, out of the blue. She didn’t care how or why, she was just relieved to be free of the horrid Mother Geraldine.

Hayley was pleasantly awoken by the sound of the piano. Liszt-Sonata in B minor, she realized. Classical music was one of the few luxuries Hayley had had at the orphanage. She couldn’t believe she was adopted, just earlier today, out of the blue- something she thought would never happen. It felt like a dream.
The music was hypnotic. It was the most beautiful music she had ever heard. She closed her eyes and savored it for a moment, then got up out of bed to follow the music.
After a while, she found it.  It came from a room, bare as a stone, except for a grand piano. Hayley stepped into the room, and the playing stopped. The player, a boy who looked about 16 years old, looked up from his sheet music. The boy was quite attractive, with blue eyes and jet black hair. He looked deathly pale in the moonlight.
“Hi, I’m Hayley. You must be Brandon, Mr. and Mrs. Allen’s son.”
The boy said nothing, only smiled and looked down.
“I heard you playing Liszt. It was beautiful.”
His eyes lit up and he grinned from ear to ear. “Thanks. Music is my passion.”
“I figured as much,” Hayley said, and they both laughed.

Hayley and Brandon stayed up almost until dawn talking about anything and everything relating to music- Bach, Vivaldi, Brahms, Handel, Chopin.
“Well, I’d better get some sleep while I still can,” Hayley said.
“Oh, um…okay. Okay. See you later.”
Hayley walked out of the piano room, and tried to forget the look she saw on his face before she left. A shiver ran down her back, and she walked back to her room as fast as her legs allowed.

The next morning, Hayley walked into the dining room for breakfast, expecting to see Brandon there. But he wasn’t.
“Good morning sweetheart! Have a seat and get yourself some breakfast,” Mrs. Allen said cheerily.
“Where’s Brandon?” Hayley asked. “Will he be down soon?”
“Oh honey, Brandon’s been on a camping trip for three days. He should be back tomorrow.”
“What? But I saw him in the piano room yesterday…”
“Don’t be ridiculous, sweetie,” she said, “we don’t even have a piano room.”