In the music room on the first floor of the Stone house, Tempest slammed away on the grand piano keys, her tiny fingers moving fast as she played her self- composed masterpiece. She focused on the keys, channeling her anger and her anticipation, shifting the cherry sucker in her mouth from side to side as she concentrated and waited...
She had been playing the piano since the day of her third birthday when Darleen found her tapping away on the grand piano in the music room. She knew immediately that Tempest would be an amazing pianist with the proper lessons and she had been right.
***
Dante was visiting from college; he promised his mother he would come for the holidays. Even though he would rather face sudden death than come back home right now, he did as his mother requested, but that didn't mean he had to be around everyone all the time. The Stones were a large family, but Dante didn't care to mingle with the people who shared his last name. He didn't want to hear about family events, babies, marriages, or scandals; he would rather talk about business he had more important things to focus on. Fortunately for Dante, he had taken extra classes this semester, so he was able to hide away in his bedroom and immerse himself in his work to pass the time, as he waited for the holidays to end.
Yet, even though he had enough work to distract him and had barricaded himself in his room, Tempest (that horrible little nuisance) was still able to distract him.
Tempest was playing one of the piano pieces she had composed last year, her fingers furiously slammed away on the keys through the angry, albeit energetic song. It was a loud, haunting tale that drove Dante crazy and she knew it; he was convinced she had written the little ditty just to drive him mad. He would never get any work done with her pounding on that piano as he preferred silence when he worked- no noise, no distractions, no movement, and absolutely no Tempest.
He tried to drown out the sounds, deciding to review the report that he had his friend Sylvia re-type for him. Sylvia was a nice girl with a submissive nature, who possessed a high intellect and was so awkwardly pretty, that most over looked her word altering lisp. She had grown attached to Dante last year for some reason unbeknownst to him. He was not pleasant to her and while he freely accepted Sylvia's standing offer of sex, offered her no promise of monogamy. Sylvia liked to believe they were a couple even though he repeatedly reminded her that they definitely were not. In her little make- believe world she imagined his heart felt something his words did not convey.
Dante looked down at the floor in annoyance as the sounds of Tempests' loud tune drifted upward. He tried to be the bigger man, especially considering Tempest was 10 years his junior. He tried with everything inside of him to ignore her, but it never worked- his silence always backfired on him. He walked over to his large mahogany desk and took a seat in his large emperor's chair, deciding to ignore the distraction and focus on all the extra work he had brought home with him. He had a few papers he needed to re-check, a paper he needed to write, and he needed to review the paperwork he had Sylvia transfer, then print up for him.
He grabbed his duffel bag then opened it, withdrawing the large, hard cover folder Sylvia had given him. He quickly discarded the little love letter she attached to it, and grabbed his pen. He was ready to clear his mind and get some work done, but then just as he opened the folder, a clear plastic bag that had been carefully attached to both inner sides of the folder split open and spewed red paint all over.
Dante sat there blinded by rage, feeling his temper over power him. As red paint dripped down his face and his shirt, he looked down to see his paperwork was ruined, and he felt his blood instantly boil as his anger made his entire body start to shake.
"TEMPEST!" He roared.
Tempest immediately stopped playing the piano when she heard him yell. she looked up to the ceiling with a brilliant, victorious smile on her face. Of course he knew it was her- who else would it be? She had already disposed of the evidence, scrubbed her hands clean of any traces of red paint, and had her defense speech ready. She skipped outside to the garden, unable to remove the huge smug smile on her face as she slid her cherry tootsie roll pop to the other side of her mouth. Dante Stone was the one person in town that did not adore Tempest Rush. On the contrary, he could barley tolerate her. She managed to irritate him like no one else. He had honestly believed that no one other than his brother Davis could irritate him to the point of murder, but Tempest had proved him wrong. It was worse for him; he would actually prefer his irritating Brother Davis or even Diago to Tempest. With his brothers, he could always put them in their place and keep them in check one way or another. But there was nothing he could do about Tempest; she was a tiny little thing with a big mouth and he could not fight back. Dante grew more and more irritated with her, and the more irritated he became the more she went out of her way to pester him.
