The last stroke

"Donny, are you ready?"

The conductor said as he reached out to Donny with his hand.

Both of them were about to enter the stage but Donny, even though he was 24 years old, still had stage fright.

"Y-yeah!"

Donny said as he confidently stepped up the stairs to the stage.

"You can do it brother!"

Donny was cheered on by his younger sister.

Donny grinned back at his younger sister as he walked onto the stage with the curtains still drawn.

He could hear the throng, which was waiting for the curtains to rise with bated breath.

Donny inhaled deeply and placed his bow on the violin's strings.

He took one final deep inhale before unleashing sound waves around the performance hall before the curtains lifted.

As the show's special guest, Donny took the stage in front of everyone and stood next to the conductor, who was leading the group behind him.

The conductor swung his hand into the air and yanked both of them down. The band, including Donny, abruptly ceased playing.

Felix Gallardo, the conductor, greeted the throng in front of him with a bow while turning his back on the group.

"Thank you for coming"

Felix turned back towards the band and before the music started, he tapped his baton twice on the book stand.

"Ready?"

The group raised their musical instruments. They were showing that they were ready to play and bring joy to the people watching.

"And a 3. 2. 1. Go!"

His hands were raised with such power that his torso shifted slightly rearward as well.

The room was filled with magnificent pieces of music for the following 29 minutes. During those 29 minutes, no one said anything. They did nothing except listen and watch the band perform old classical music from the 18th century.

Donny's gaze was fixed on his violin the entire time he was playing, and he didn't even look around. He was in the zone, playing perfectly in tone with the others without looking at a book.

This feeling…

Stroking the strings. Gently shaking the violin.

On that day, on that play, he was reminded why he loved the violin so much.

.

B6

.

"Congratulations everyone! We can take a break now!"

The conductor—Felix—said to everyone as he sat down next to the violin group. He drank his water bottle while checking if everyone was doing alright after the one hour long audition.

In the break room, the trumpets, flutes and clarinets were cleaning their mouthpieces.

One person from the percussion group was done resting for a minute and he walked to the conductor, and asked:

"Mister Felix, can we go home now?"

Felix looked at the boy and smiled.

"Yeah, sure. The show is finished anyways"

—Felix was a tall man, almost hitting his mid 30's. He has braided black hair and has a darker skin tone than the other members of the band.

The boy quickly grabbed his bag and left the resting room. Before leaving, he waved goodbye to everyone. And then the doors closed.

"I'm going to, Maestro"

Another waved goodbye.

"Yeah, have a safe trip home!"

Felix waved goodbye too.

Two people, both younger than him, had left the room. But, there were still other people sitting and or cleaning their instruments. The violinists were cleaning their bodies from the sweat. Someone from the strings, playing the double bass, cut their fingers and was getting treated by his friends.

Being the conductor of the team, being the leader like he used to, he was happy that his team was able to do the one hour long audition.

"So, Donny…. How was it, huh?"

He turned towards Donny, who was sitting alone at the edge of the room where he was scrolling through his phone.

Felix walked towards him and handed a bottle of water to Donny.

"Oh, thank you for the water"

Donny took a sip of the water first, and then answered Felix's question.

"It was scary at first, because it has been long since I did a live play on top of a big stage"

"Oh? I thought you did a couple of stage performance back in Indonesia"

"No, I didn't do any stage performance back home. And if I would do one, not a lot of people would even stop and listen. They like the music in the 21st century more than the ones before"

"Then, why do you want to play old classical music? I heard that you were struggling to shine in Indonesia before"

"...Well that… I can't really explain"

"Is it personal?"

"y-yeah…"

.

C3

.

"Donny!"

Felix shouted in front of his locker.

"Hm?"

Donny was about to leave and go back to his hotel. He had already packed his violin and put it inside it's case. His hand was already touching the door handle and he was about to pull the door open. But Felix called and he let go of the door handle, closing it afterwards.

"Can you play for a minute?"

"Just me? What about her?"

"Yeah… give her a break. She said that her lungs hurt"

"Oh… get well soon then." Donny crouched down to place his bag and grabbed his violin from its case. "So, what song do you want me to play?"

"Can you do Klavierqueatett a moll?"

"Hm? The first movement or…?"

"The first movement"

"Okay. I can do that"

After that, he put his violin on his neck and slowly stroked the strings with the bow.

3 2 1 go

He said in his mind before starting to play, just to get his mind straight.

But then, not long after he started, both of them shook as they heard what it sounded like an instrument from above them—the stage—was off tune.