• They have always wanted me to learn a musical instrument; Kyle thought morosely – this must be the next one. He stood in the shadow of the old grand piano now sitting in their sunken lounge. Shafts of dappled afternoon sun had come through the net curtains to illuminate the currently matte surface. There were fresh fingerprints littered over the lid and case disturbing the blanket of dust built up from extended neglect. It was almost as if the piano had been rudely woken from a slumber which had been claiming it for years.
    ‘It’s a concert piano. I got it in my uncle’s will and it was delivered it this morning. Do you like it? ’ Grant asked from behind him as he entered the room. ‘I inherited a few things but the rest is rubbish, a few odds and ends; Polaroid camera, an old record player, a stamp collection and a box full of knick knacks.’
    ‘My great uncle. When did he die?’ Kyle ran his finger through the dust along the piano’s front lid and made eye contact with his father.
    Grant looked confused at the question before waving it off. ‘Uncle Edward. He had a brain aneurism a week ago on Saturday.
    ‘The real question is will you be any good at playing it. I’ve organised a tutor. Lessons start on Monday next week. Oh and I have some old sheet music in the attic if you can find it. I wrote it back when I was about your age.’ He gave Kyle a light two pats on the shoulder before he left the room. Instead of going up to the attic Kyle decided to rummage through the knick knack box. After a while he had to concede that on this occasion his father was right, it was rubbish. It all came from an age Kyle didn’t understand. Most of the boxes’ contents were ominous and coated with dust just as the grand piano was. Some had oriental patterns on them, others had moving parts that appeared to do nothing and one had a hidden blade that Kyle nicked his finger on when he happened to discover its release switch.

    Kyle found himself walking up the attic stairs. He told himself it was because he was curious and not because he was trying to please his father. Sucking his cut finger, he used his other hand to twist the doorknob and let himself in. He fumbled in the gloom until he found the pull string for the light bulb. He dragged out a few boxes of papers and photographs from under an old coat rack. In the last box he found a stack of loose music sheets, yellowed from being left in the sun at some stage. It was cold up there so he decided against staying a bit longer to soak up nostalgia. Kyle looked around to see if there was a window that needed closing and found the only one shut tight. In the same inspection he noted that every corner was strung with wispy grey cobwebs. He just grabbed the papers and stood up to turn the light off above him. When he did the attic fell into complete darkness. The light downstairs had been turned off while he was up there and he hadn’t noticed since his light had still been on. Kyle headed for the doorway he knew was straight ahead of him and instead of finding the doorway and banister with his reaching fingers, he encountered the door. He could have sworn he hadn’t closed it behind him when he came in but he wasn’t concerned. It must have been the same person that switched the hallway light off. Searching for the doorknob and not finding it he sighed, leaning against the door to carry out a more thorough search.
    Suddenly he fell through the door. Kyle was sent hurtling down the stairs, his left ankle twisting beneath his weight. Shooting pain arced up his leg. Luckily the movement of his ankle carried him in the direction of the banister and he was able to grab hold of it to stop his momentum. He stood there in the dark with his chest heaving. He used the banister as a crutch and hobbled down the stairs, almost slipping over again on the papers he’d dropped when he fell. When he finally got to the bottom of the stairs and switched on the light he was still shaking. It was difficult to pick up the papers with a twisted ankle but that wasn’t what bothered him. There was something not quite right about how he’d fallen through the door, and it wasn’t just because he hadn’t turned the doorknob. Kyle looked up at the open door. His pulse sure didn’t slow down any. The attic door can’t open outwards.

    Kyle decided it was best to keep the minor details of how he hurt his ankle to himself. He was walking home from school with a limp but it was the last day of the week and Canberra Grammar School was only a short walk up the road from his house. He’d been able to downplay his twisted ankle as a simple misstep on the staircase when his parents and schoolmates had enquired about the limp. After explaining it to his father he’d been told that since clumsiness was the cause of the injury it voided his chance of getting a lift to and from school. He’d never been more thankful for only living two blocks away.
    Footfalls sounded with gathering speed behind him. Kyle stopped walking without turning to see what it was. The night before had him spooked even though he was in broad daylight. However, he certainly didn’t expect the person approaching to grab his arm. He flinched and reflexively raised his fist.
    ‘Whoa, sorry dude, I thought you would’ve heard me coming.’ He eyed Kyle off.
    ‘Liam.’ He dropped his fist. ‘Nah, I was giving my ankle a break.’ Kyle accompanied the claim with a forced wince.
    ‘Yeah that’s too bad man. I’ve done that playing soccer. At least it’s not a long walk back to your place. C’mon.’ Liam was one of those easygoing straightforward types. He was the blonde guy that all the girls at school giggled over though Liam never noticed.
    ‘What?’
    Liam slipped on a big grin, ‘You mentioned an old concert piano. That’s all but inviting me over wouldn’t you say?’ Liam was really into music. Especially pianos and keyboards. Kyle knew that there would be no putting him off the idea now.
    ‘If you want to come and see the piano that badly,’ Kyle angled his head, ‘I hope you have the money to pay me for it.’ For a second Liam looked as if he had taken him seriously. Kyle chuckled.
    ‘You must’ve been a bully in your past life Kyle.’

    ‘He’s a beauty!’ said Liam. He went straight to the piano and lifted the fallboard to run his fingers over the keys and see how it sounded.
    ‘He?’ Kyle raised an eyebrow.
    ‘I call musical instruments ‘he’s. Something has to be male. Everyone calls objects ‘she’s.’ Liam smiled. ‘Are you gonna have lessons?’
    ‘According to Dad, I am.’
    Liam let out an audible knowing sigh. ‘Nothing has changed then.
    ‘So are you sad about your great uncle?’ The question caught Kyle off guard. He’d given his great uncle’s death a lot of thought the night before after he’d almost fallen down the stairs. The idea that the accident was steeped in the paranormal gave him the shivers.
    ‘No, it doesn’t bother me. I never even met the guy.’ And yet he seems to be haunting me. ‘My Dad doesn’t seem bothered either actually.’ Liam started playing a few random tunes; some were familiar, others not. Kyle’s eyes were fixed on the curtains. On the strange bulge that he could have sworn wasn’t even there until it steadily began growing. Evidently real ghosts didn’t feel restricted by daylight. He rubbed his eyes – paused – pulled his hand down his face and tossed around the idea of warning Liam that there was a phantasm in the curtain behind him. What Kyle really wanted to do was flatten the lump against the wall and prove it wasn’t really there.
    ‘I’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be back in a second.’ Kyle said, noting that he was ignored. Liam was immersed.
    The water was cold and sobering. Kyle stood for a while doing nothing more than letting the water drip off his face and into the sink. In a few deep breaths he was ready to return to the lounge. The ghost could scare him but it couldn’t harm him if he didn’t let it.
    ‘Ah, so you are home.’ The displeased look on Grant’s face gave Kyle the impression that his father had come in expecting to see him sat at the piano, not Liam. Grant averted his gaze then. His eyes moved on to rove the piano.
    ‘You know what Kyle?’ Liam still didn’t look up. ‘You have five keys in a row here that don’t sound right.’
    ‘You mean it’s out of tune?’
    This attracted Grant to the piano. ‘Do you know much about grand pianos Liam?’
    ‘I don’t know much about the mechanics of them, but I know music.’ Liam looked at Grant as he said this. To Kyle he said, ‘Piano keys don’t go out of tune in a clump like that. These keys sound more muffled than out of tune. The rest of them are fine.’
    ‘Have you looked inside?’ Kyle asked before his father got in with the same question. Liam just shrugged so Kyle went ahead and propped up the back lid to take a look. He saw a note blocking the strings and pulled it out. His eyes widened. He turned his back to Liam and his now frowning father to read the short message written on it.
    ‘Is it anything interesting?’
    Kyle shoved the note in his pocket before Liam could get too curious and snatch it off him. ‘I think since you invited yourself over you’ve been here long enough. You’ve seen the piano. I’ve got to get some homework done.’
    ‘Kyle?’ Liam watched him walk out of the room.
    ‘Bah. What’s wrong with him,’ said Grant.

    It was Monday and Kyle had recently finished his first frustrating piano lesson. The teacher had left a few seconds ago, most likely gone to give his father the verdict on how talented Kyle was with a piano. A lot of them said similar just to secure more paying students. He looked at the practice sheet he’d been left with, his other hand stroking a few keys at random. His father would be coming in soon to see how he went. He sighed and gave up the pretence of pretending to practice.
    ‘Mr Wentz says you could have what it takes to do well on the piano. –With practice.’
    Right on schedule. ‘Yeah, I don’t mind it. It’s not as awkward as playing guitar.’
    A key sounded on the piano. Kyle was instantly alert and looked to see if he had accidentally leant on the piano. Both of his hands had been holding the sheet in front of him; a fair distance from the keys. Kyle looked to his father to see if he showed signs of having heard it too, but Grant was looking out the window above his head. He watched the piano to see if it would sound again. It seemed that the strange things happening always had something to do with the piano.
    ‘Dad, what was Great Uncle Edward like?’
    Grant looked down his nose at Kyle, ‘What makes you ask that?’
    ‘Curiosity.’ A simple answer always worked best with his father. Grant tended to be very critical of peoples’ reasoning. Kyle supposed it stemmed from him being a psychologist – by work and nature. Judging by Grant’s now mundane expression Kyle deduced that his answer had somewhat pacified him.
    ‘Uncle Edward was an eccentric. My side of the family usually is, regrettably.’ Grant appeared thoughtful.
    ‘You don’t seem that bothered over his death. You mustn’t have been very close.’ Kyle knew his father would appreciate the analytical side of his observation rather than be offended by it.
    ‘Quite right; we weren’t. Uncle Edward always told me that I lacked feeling and derring-do. He didn’t like my choice of career either. He told me it suited me far too well. I haven’t a clue what that was supposed to mean, but as I say, he was an eccentric.’
    Kyle had turned to face his father as he spoke to him when two more keys interrupted the silence. Both of them turned their eyes to the old piano.
    ‘It couldn’t possibly be a player piano.’ Grant strode forward to look inside. The back lid was still propped open. Kyle said nothing while his father investigated.
    The lid visibly shivered.
    Kyle barely had time to shout: ‘get out—!’
    His father looked up from his position, his arm outstretched within the piano. Though Kyle reached for the lid it slid from his grasp. It came whistling down, smashing with unearthly force onto Grant’s forearm. Kyle saw the shock in his father’s face before his mouth pulled back into an expression of searing pain.
    Great Uncle Edward had just snapped his father’s arm.
    ***
    Liam had heard the news through the gossip rounds by mid-week. Someone at school who lived next-door to Kyle said she heard shouting Monday afternoon. She saw Kyle on his front doorstep, watching his parents drive off somewhere in a rush. Apparently Kyle’s dad had been holding his arm in a makeshift sling stained with blood. When they were seen returning, Grant’s arm had been in a cast. Liam had no reason not to believe the girl who told him the story. She was a good friend of Kyle’s – one of the many female friends he attracted.
    I should have told him on the first day back at school! Liam said, slamming the side of his fist against his locker. If he was right—and he usually was—his idea of putting that note in the piano could have made Kyle even more jumpy. Had Kyle finally taken it out on his strict father? It had been too much of a temptation when Liam had noticed how jumpy Kyle was. He’d looked spooked. It hadn’t been hard for Liam to line up his friend’s attitude with the death of his great uncle. He would have admitted to writing the note on Tuesday if he’d seen Kyle but he’d been absent two days running now. Liam hadn’t had a chance to speak to him.
    As Liam got close to Kyle’s house he tried to work out what he was going to say in his head. He subconsciously looked in the direction of Kyle’s house, wording the apology. The house loomed at the end of the street. Stood out in front of it, Liam saw that Grant’s car wasn’t in the driveway. He was pleased since he wasn’t too fond of that old deceptively calm beast. Liam reasoned that Celia, Kyle’s mother, was also out of the house since Grant couldn’t drive with his arm in a cast. Celia; Liam didn’t mind too much. She was quiet but from what he’d seen of her also very kind.
    Momentarily distracted, Liam almost forgot what he’d gone there for. He searched for Kyle’s bedroom window up on the second floor hoping to see some sign of him. It was a possibility that Kyle had gone out with his parents and with the sun setting beside the house he almost didn’t see him. Once Liam’s eyes had focussed, Kyle wasn’t the only person he could see in the upstairs bedroom. Kyle’s face was clear and low, sat at his desk overlooking the window. The figure that baffled Liam was that of a man almost identical to Kyle’s father; stood behind the desk. Liam shielded his eyes and took a few steps back so he was more in Kyle’s line of sight and could see more of the other man. Kyle failed to see him. Liam stepped further backwards and waved his arms, which eventually captured Kyle’s attention. Liam motioned that he wanted to know what was up – his arms open in a shrug.
    Kyle stood up from his desk and the man with him came up to the window. Liam saw that it definitely wasn’t Grant because there hadn’t been enough time for him to grow a moustache since last he saw him. Kyle was motioning wildly back at him. Liam thought it was almost like he was signalling for help. He watched Kyle race off out of sight. Liam wasn’t sure if Kyle needed help or if he was coming out to meet him. He stayed put and watched the strange man standing at the window.
    Kyle came out the front door.
    Liam pointed up at the window and shouted out to Kyle. ‘Who’s the guy in your room?’
    ‘What!’ Kyle craned his neck to look up at his bedroom window.
    ‘I said: who’s the guy!’ In the middle of Liam yelling this, Kyle snapped his head back to Liam and immediately started off towards him. Liam was baffled as to why Kyle was approaching him at such speed.
    The look on Kyle’s face told him something was wrong. Liam paid more attention to his surroundings. He looked over his right shoulder first, at the road that lead on up the hill – the same road he was standing on.
    Liam somehow hadn’t heard it coming and now it was too late for a warning to do him any good.
    Something hit him.

    Grant and Celia were led into the ward at Canberra Hospital where the boys were. Liam turned and watched them come in. Grant was holding a familiar note in his hand and Liam must have been staring at it because he held it up as he came to his son’s bedside.
    ‘Does this look familiar Liam? The Doctor said Kyle was carrying it when he pushed you out of the way of the truck.’ Grant’s eyes were hard under the sterile hospital light.
    Liam felt himself shrink under the stony gaze. ‘Did the Doctor say how Kyle is?’
    ‘He’s in a coma because he saved you. Now tell me about this note. He’s been acting crazy since he found it. He closed my arm in the piano and claimed it wasn’t even him that did it.’
    ‘Sorry sir. I did write the note and I put it in the piano.’
    Kyle’s parents stopped next to the bed. Celia rushed to her son and broke down. Grant on the other hand, cast his eyes to the note and read it aloud: ‘I won’t harm, if you don’t tell.’
    ‘I know sir. It was in very poor taste and I’m sorry.’ Liam lowered his head and stared at the ground.
    ‘What I would like to know, is what provoked you to write such a thing—‘ Grant paused as if considering, ‘—on something like this.’ Liam was handed the note. On the other side of his message there was a photo of a tall man with a moustache. Liam got a shiver. The man looked a lot like that figure he’d seen in Kyle’s bedroom window before the accident.
    Liam turned his wide eyes to Grant. ‘I swear it was blank! I checked that it was when I picked it up.’
    ‘Ha! I get it, because it’s a Polaroid it mightn’t have developed when you supposedly wrote the note, but I don’t want excuses. No more lies boy, I want to know how you found someone that looked so much like my dead uncle. No wonder Kyle was scared stiff and acting up! Sick prank, is it? Well my boy is in a coma because of you!’
    Liam couldn’t speak. He could only stare in open-mouthed shock at Kyle’s father. He had no answers. All he could do was apologise.
    ***
    ‘You shouldn’t have involved the boys in your experiment! Now look what you’ve done to Kyle! If I’d known, I’d have stopped you.’ Celia nursed the tissue box and dabbed at her eyes.
    Grant was sat across from her, adding the finishing touches to his paper and addressing the envelope to Psychology Today, his favourite periodical. The paper he’s written is titled A Human’s Reaction to the Paranormal.
    ‘Yes, the outcome was regrettable but it’s not going to stop me from submitting my paper.’
    ‘But you involved Kyle’s friend as well, what if he’d been injured too?’
    ‘You know I didn’t mean for that to happen. It was an unforseen complication, but at least he’s okay, and Kyle may still wake up.
    ‘Y’know, Uncle Edward hated me so much. With everything that went wrong, it’s almost as if he was trying to ruin my paper from beyond the grave.’