A Noisy Night
This was me,” Uncle exclaimed as he pointed out himself in a B&W photograph. “I used to play the piano and sing. I was the best baritone in the band.” He smiled blithely as he recollected his old memories. He showed me so many photographs of what he was doing when he was young. He then pointed out his ex-bandmates looking overjoyed holding their instruments in another picture.
“Yolanda…Michael…Stuart..” Uncle squinted his eyes as he tried to remember the names of his fellow bandmates. It was evident that he missed them. A tragic smile carved across his face as he exhaled deeply.
Uncle was the only band member saved from a cruise shipwreck which almost took his life some years ago. The ship was blazing wildly because of a mistake made by the kitchen staff that caused the cabins to sink completely. People were stuck in the flaming and sinking ship while some others decided to jump off into the infinite sea. It was a monstrous event. Thousands of people were dead while uncle and a bunch of other passengers were found with severe injury. He told me how he and his band would go to wedding ceremonies, hotels, and even political inaugurals to entertain the guests. These dead people on the photographs were once his soulmates, I thought.
His music room was grand and full of photographs and rusty instruments: a saxophone, a grand piano, flute, trombones, and drums. I remember he suggested me to sit down on a stool and watch him play a piece of music with his piano. He played it incredibly well. His hands were moving so eloquently despite the fact that he was seventy. Both of his eyes were shut, signaling that he truly felt his music. I was mesmerized.
But since my uncle’s sudden death from cancer, I roamed his house alone. The days felt lonelier and somehow haunting. One night I woke up hearing a blasting noise from outside my room. I instantly detected a sound of an old jazz music. I was petrified, but I couldn’t let the noise go away. I went-
outside my room and noticed that the music sounded even noisier as I made myself closer to the music room. I decided to open it.
The first thing saw was my uncle playing his piano religiously. Two men were playing saxophone, their eyes dead staring at me visionless. A tall lady wearing a tufted dress was singing beside uncle, two other people playing the flute. They were all dressed in semi-formal party dress code. But other than that, they have another thing in common: the skin that mantled them so pale I can see no life inside their body. And yet they played the music ridiculously impressive.
Soon the room was filled with dancing pale couples hyping up the floor with their effortless grace. The men were in suits and tie while the ladies were in cocktail dresses. Their form was all grotesque and peculiar. I noticed an afro girl with no lips dancing with a man whose head almost fell off. It hovered up and down as he did dance moves.
I started shivering and my heart was pounding as I watched a woman with full dark roasted skin dancing her heart out. Ashes came out from her bloody figure. The smell of flesh being burned sneaked through my nostrils and I felt dizzy that I wanted to vomit. I knew something unparalleled was happening. I noticed the band was playing the same music over and over again but each time faster and these pale people also danced even faster.
Splashes of blood were stained everywhere along with the sound of chattering and laughing. Happy expressions on bloody faces. The whole scene made me feel uneasy.
A hand suddenly reached my shoulder from behind, I gazed. It was a man. I couldn’t quite find his head until I noticed that he held his own head upside down with his left armpit and wedged it onto his chest. Blood came out from his blistered skin. His sliced neck was full of wriggling maggots. I covered my nose by reflect.
looked like a frown because of his head position. He then asked me with a hoarse voice: “Hey lady, would you dance with me?”.
