Deprived of Sound

    The art of piano had been ingrained in the Dubois bloodline for generations, stemming all the way from 1824. The eldest child was always the successor of the grand-master of the house and school. It seemed as if the following successor would always have more talent than the previous, creating the now well-known notion that the Dubois Piano School was the strongest in the world.

    The current grand-master, Camille Dubois II, dubbed “the greatest Dubois” had been looking to retire soon. Under her leadership, the Dubois Piano School had reached heights it had never reached before. She brought in record breaking income, and the school has produced the greatest pianists and young pianists in the world.

Just like everything else in life, even greatness must come to an end one day. The reign of Camille, even if unwillingly, had to come to an end soon due to health issues. It had worsened throughout the past year, and simply playing the piano for a few minutes caused her great pain to her hands and back. Even so, she felt confident that her son and successor would take the Dubois name to even greater heights.

After all, why would he not? He had won every competition he entered, he had even won “The International Chopin Competition” by age seventeen - the minimum age requirement to enter. Calling him a prodigy would have been an understatement, he was a once in a lifetime talent. 

Now aged nineteen, his name already lived in infamy - Jeanne Dubois. 

Camille, alongside her husband Damien, a well-renowned violinist, called Jeanne into the master’s room. It was time to discuss the succession process. 

    “Jeanne, I am sure you know what I have called you in for.”

    “Of course I do, mother.”

    “Good, the rest of the higher ups have already approved of this succession.”

    “You are forgetting one more person’s approval, mother.”

“And who may that be?” Camille’s smooth yet old skin slightly moved, an expression of confusion arose on her face. 

    “My approval, mother.”

“Well, my goodness!” She laughed, her face had relaxed. “I did not know my son was such a comedian, this house will truly be blessed! Do you accept your responsibility as the new head of the Dubois family?”

Jeanne looked at her and Damien, his face was void and his eyes were cold. His black hair was messy yet classy. After a solid ten seconds of silence, he spoke. “No, mother. I do not accept the position.”

    “What?”

Now she was truly stunned, Damien was as well. Their son had just refused them, the same son that they had groomed into a true piano master. It was outrageous, a treason of the highest order to Camille. How? Why? Why would he refuse? A life of grandeur awaited him, the ability to part his knowledge onto future generations - his name would have lived on infamy.

    “No, mother. I do not-”

“I heard what you said!” The emotions of happiness turned into anger, comparable to the rage of a dragon. “Why? What is your reason to refuse?”

Jeanne completely visualized his mother’s rage right in front of him, he pictured a thunder sky with terrifying dragon’s swarming him. But, he faced it head on with no fear. 

    “I have lost my love for piano, I quit.”

Camille had broken into tears, with Damien comforting her. Her makeup began to mess up, her hands had lost all control and shook. “How? How could this be? Did I not raise you to love the piano?”

Jeanne looked at his distressed mother, she sat on the luxury bed with her husband. “And you have only raised me to love piano.”

“What does that mean?” Damien interjected, his arms around Camille.

“For as long as I could remember, the only times you could ever see me was when I shun on stage. When was the last time we ate together, father?”

“You are overstepping your boundaries, boy. It is not an option for you to succeed your mother, but rather an obligation. Do you not feel any shame?”

“I do not feel any obligations towards becoming the head, Sylvie would be better suited to becoming the head.”

“She is twelve years old, Jeanne! Do you have any clue about what you are saying? You are choosing to be selfish and put the responsibility of the greatest piano school and bloodline on a twelve year old girl.”

“Yes, I am well aware of how selfish I sound,” Jeanne took another look at his agonizing mother, her emotions were completely in overdrive. “But is it not selfish to force someone with no interest to succeed you?”

“Enough!” Camille screamed, wiping her tears. She had slightly recovered from the initial shock of her son’s statement. “You are to succeed me, and that is a non-negotiable decision!”

“Sorry, mother. I am afraid I can not let that be.”

“Have you not seen how much pain your mother has been in, boy? You have no heart, none whatsoever.”

“And have you not seen how much pain I have been in for the past fifteen years, father?” Jeanne looked down, emotions slowly crept up onto his face. “Do you not know how much I have hated playing this stupid instrument everyday of my life? Dedicating all of my time to this with so much expectation weighing down on me!”

Camille and Damien were left silenced, they had not truly raised their son. They only gave time to him when it was related to fame and piano, discussion of feelings were forbidden unknowingly - an unspoken rule. 

Before they even had the chance to speak, Jeanne continued. “Look at you two, you have nothing to say to me other than demands. You do not know what I truly love doing, you have no clue about who my friends are or who I have fallen in love with. You do not even know how I do at school, you send your maids to attend to parental matters!” His face began burning up, to him it felt like the rain had started to pour. “Every Time you watched me on stage, I hoped whatever I played would reach you two - I was hoping that my cries of you to look at me would strike your hearts. But it never did, it only made you even more blind towards me.”

“That’s enough, boy.”

“No!” Jeanne had raised his voice for the first time in his life, he had been reserved all his life. “It’s not enough, it will never be enough until you understand I do not wish to become mother’s successor.”

    In his head, all the elitist antiques and furniture inside the master’s room was not present. Instead, he was in a field and stood against the staggering dragons. The thunderstorm had gotten stronger, the sensation of his burning throat had gotten stronger, yet the strains in his heart seemed to lessen.

“What is it then? What could have made you cast aside the greatness of the piano?” Camille asked, she was clearly furious but she had tried her best to remain calm. 

“Write, I am going to write mother.”

“Write? Do you wish to compose music?”

“No, mother,” Jeanne stood his ground, firm and steady. “I am going to write beautiful stories, stories that stem from my mind. Stories that you can not find in this manor, stories that even the piano can not convey.”

The rumbled up emotions inside Jeanne turned into a warm smile as he talked about his dreams of writing, just like how a rainbow always appears after a storm. 

Not everyone will always approve of another’s dream, however.

    “Preposterous, child!” Camille stood up, she was a few inches shorter than Jeanne but she looked him the eye. “You? Write stories? There is nothing that would separate you from your average novelist, that is not your specialty. The only stories you can tell are only through the piano, not through a pen and paper!”

“You do not faze me, mother. I would rather live a life of mediocrity if it means I do what I love.”

“Spoiled child, absolutely spoiled!” 

In an instant, Camille had slapped her own son.

Damien’s eyes lit up with shock, while Jeanne was also in disbelief for a bit.

“My resolve is firm, mother.”

He looked at her, his eyes had found warmth just from the thoughts of writing. This was the moment Camille realized there was no chance she would ever convince him, even if he was officially named as the head, there was no guarantee he would perform his duties. 

“I am finished with you, child,” Camille took a slight step backwards, her hand was in pain from slapping him. “As of today, you shall no longer represent the Dubois name. You are no longer part of my family.”

“Camille, are you sure? Think about this!” Damien asked, his head was clearly in a more rational state than Camille’s.

“Oppose me if you wish to join this failure of a child.”

Damien stayed quiet. He looked at his son, realizing how much of his life he had neglected. He could only feel shame.

“If this is all it took for you to label me a failure, I assume you never loved me to begin with-”

“Speak another word and I shall report you for trespassing, begone now.”

Like that, he opened the glamorous wooden double-door of the master’s room. One tear fell from his right eye, no matter how much he accepted something like this would happen. 

Waiting for him outside was a small brunette, she had reached only to Jeanne’s stomach. It was his sister, Sylvie, another talented piano prodigy.

“Brother, is everything alright?” Her tone was worried, and her soft voice was incredibly disarming.

Jeanne looked at his sister, his throat began to hurt again. He realized he would no longer be able to see his beloved sister, the only family member that had connected with him. How would he break the news to her? She was the new successor, he did not want to unsettle her. 

“Everything is fine, Sylvie.”

    He tried smiling, hiding any sense of pain in his heart.

    “I heard some screaming, is mother alright?”

    “Mother is alright, everything is okay.”

    “Is that so? Okay then.”

    She smiled and walked away towards her room. He stood in place and watched, the guilt and pain in  his heart only grew stronger with every step she took. It was as if she was taking a stairway to a place he could no longer reach her at. 

    “Sylvie!” He called out to her, his fists clenched. “The truth is, I will be leaving the manor.”

    “Leaving? Well, where is your trip to?”

    “No, not a trip. I won’t be coming back.”

    Sylvie quickly walked back towards her brother.

    “What? Why not?’

    “Mother and father got upset with me, I am no longer welcome here.”

    “I… I will make them forgive you!”

    Before she could even get a chance to walk inside the master’s room, Jeanne stopped her.

    “No, Sylvie. I have done something bad, but it is good for me.”

    “Good… for you?”

    “You may or may not ever understand it, but for now you must love the piano, okay? You are gonna be a great head of the house.”

    “But you’re much better than me!” She looked at Jeanne, her eyes began to tear up.

    “That’s objective, the only sound from the piano I love is yours,” He kneeled down in order to hug Sylvie. “Take care of mother and father for me.”

    “Where will you go?” Her nose began running. 

    “Somewhere far, somewhere I can do what I love.”

    He looked at her again, his warm smile had left her quiet. She could not say anything anymore, instead she silently understood what her brother wanted. She could only wish him the best, and she now had to overtake her brother’s skill.

    The emotions were high within the main branch of the Dubois family, tradition had been broken for the first time ever since the piano school was founded. With the assistance of her husband, Camille was able to continue with her duties - stepping down when Sylvie became seventeen.

    Every-time she played piano, she remembered her brother’s sound very fondly - remembering the loneliness of it. Those sounds would be translated into her memories with him, hoping that one day it would reach him.