Day 333 - Katzenklavier Story

Katzenklavier Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

The music, if it could be called that, was a painful screeching that wreaked havoc on the ear. The instrument was handmade and had a keyboard like a piano that was attached to a bizarre box structure. The player, because it would be an injustice to call him a musician, sat at the keyboard but his body and face were hidden, cloaked in a strange darkness. It was as if his arms were pulled and stretched away from his body. He sat so far away from the keyboard that it seemed as if it would be impossible for him to reach the keys. And yet he did. Elongated arms and elongated fingers. It hardly looked human at all.

Strange sounds came from the box – hissing sounds, screeching sounds, scratching sounds. They were cries of painful torture. But there was a tone and a pitch and a tune that carried from one scream to the next. Somewhere within the suffering was a melody. A dark and twisted melody, but a melody all the same. There was some method to the torturous madness.

Felix was afraid to look inside the box. He didn’t want to see what was making that terrible noise. He didn’t want to know. He was scared it would just be too awful.

And yet, he was weirdly drawn to it. Knowing it was forbidden made it all the more tempting. Knowing it would be terrible made it all the most fascinating.

Felix looked back at the player, as if he would somehow lend Felix his support. All Felix wanted was a word, a nod or an acknowledgement of some sort. The player made no attempt to connect, and made no effort to console. The player was masked in shadow and doubt. Felix was on his own.

And still, the box beckoned.

Fingers to the lid, knowledge always came at a price, but Felix didn’t care. He had to see it. He had to know.

Inside, instead of strings, there were sixteen children, bound and confined. Instead of the hammer there was a nail attached to the hammer shank. The nail would strike a different child depending on which key on the keyboard was pressed. Each child cried a different cry. It was a cacophony of pain.

Felix was instantly horrified. He didn’t know how he knew, but he knew something was wrong about all of this. He looked down at his hands and he suddenly had paws and claws. He was covered in fur. He was suddenly transformed into a feline.

And that was the moment he woke and the dream ended.

It was a little after four in the morning. It was far too early to be awake. Somewhere, in a nearby place, there was an annoying cat doing its best to shriek the night away and keep Felix from falling back asleep. It was far too early and Felix’s mind was still far too groggy, but he wished it had been that cat inside the organ box from his dream and he was the player inflicting the damage. It was going to be a long night and he was going to get very little additional sleep.