Tempest nod and head back to his apartment, not realizing his door had not shut fully. The woman's pain had reminded Temp why he had moved. It had been a year but it still felt fresh. He sat at his piano keyboard and started to play glad Jo had turned down her music. Tempest started to sing gently as he played.
Joanna closed her door and leaned against it. She slid to the floor and started to cry again, the kind where your stomach hurts and you feel like you may throw up. She covered her face with her hands and hiccuped still sobbing. But they died down and she breathed shakily hearing the soft piano music…
A soft voice carries just above the piano.
"Why must the good ones leave?
Just thought there was more for you to receive.
Why must the kind move on?
It hadn't even seemed long…
Why did the world take you?"
The voice said, shaking at each line as…she was brought fresh to his mind.
Jo heard every word, feeling it hit her in the pit of her stomach. It brought on new tears, and she let them slide down her cheeks. She hummed along softly as the piano did.
"They say it gets better, that the pain isn't forever, but I'll say…they didn't know you.
They never felt your sweet embrace,
or seen your acts of loving grace…
they never knew your soft kind ways…"
it was becoming harder for him to keep going, but he felt he had to.
She started visibly shaking, the lyrics were hitting her hard. She couldn't take it anymore- maybe she had just met this guy, but she needed to go talk with him. She stood and walked out of her apartment and knocked on his door/
Tempest stopped playing, jumping a bit at the knocks. He wiped his face quickly and got up from the piano. He opened the cracked door
"H-hey Jo. Can I help you with something?"
She looked up at him. "You know how you asked if you could get me anything earlier?" She asked softly.
"Yeah I remember…did you change your mind?" He asked in a soft tone
She nodded a bit. "C-could I get a hug?"
Tempest looked to her in a caring manner "Of course Jo." He responded and held out his arms to her
She hugged his waist and birdied her face in his chest. "I-I heard your singing…" she said softly.
"Oh y-you did now…h-how much did you hear?" He asked as his face flushed with color
She pulled back. "I- may have heard the whole thing…." she mumbled.
"Oh…I uh…thought I was better…" He muttered, not meeting her eyes
She looked up at him confused. "Better? What do you mean? I thought it was lovely."
"Th-thanks…" he replied, kind of glad she hadn't caught on. "are you feeling any better?"
She looked at him wiping her eyes. "N-not really… your song didn't help much… but it wasn't bad!" She retorted her wording.
"sorry 'bout that" He responded, and through the door sheet music was seen propped on the music stand. it was really rough looking, handwritten and looking like it had gone through countless revisions.
"N-no it's really good. It just didn't help my mood is all." She half a apologized.
he just nodded, the little pain in his stomach he had worked months to lessen once again took hold as Temp was not as well as he had thought he had been.
She noticed the look on his face. "Temp? Are you- are you OK?" She asked gently.
Tempest took a deep breath "I'll be okay, just had to deal with a lot this year…one really hard thing hit the hardest…"
"Can I help?" She offered with sympathy dripping from her tone. It's strange, she only just met him, but they both seemed to trust each other. Honestly it was really strange.
"I dunno…you wanna come inside. Get you coffee, tea or something?" Tempest asked as he opened the door some more for her.
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd love a cup of tea." She smiled taking the sleeve of her sweater and wiping the dark makeup from under her eyes.
Tempest went through his cabinet and pulled a tea bag from a tiny box "peppermint okay?" he asked as he started to fill a pot up with water.
She nodded. "Sounds lovely darling." She spoke with an accent, laughing.
Soon enough he had poured her and himself tea in small white glass mugs. He put her cup on the short kitchen table and sat down next to where he put it and sipped his tea "Sit, relax a while…you need it."
She picked up her glass and took a sip out of it. "So, what was the song about?" She asked trying to strike up conversation.