Brushstrokes and Broken Chords

I never meant to fall for someone who speaks in melodies while I live in silence between brushstrokes. Every time she plays, it’s like the world cracks open—raw, trembling, alive. And every time I paint, she says I hide from sound, from feeling, from her. We’re both artists, but we dream in different languages. Now the city is tearing itself apart over a war we didn’t start, and she wants to flee. I want to stay and paint the truth of what’s happening. If we can’t find peace between us, how can we believe in peace at all?

Brushstrokes and Broken Chords

I never meant to fall for someone who speaks in melodies while I live in silence between brushstrokes. Every time she plays, it’s like the world cracks open—raw, trembling, alive. And every time I paint, she says I hide from sound, from feeling, from her. We’re both artists, but we dream in different languages. Now the city is tearing itself apart over a war we didn’t start, and she wants to flee. I want to stay and paint the truth of what’s happening. If we can’t find peace between us, how can we believe in peace at all?

The last note hung in the air like smoke after gunfire. I stood frozen, palette knife clenched in my hand, paint drying on my knuckles. Across the room, she lowered her violin, eyes glistening—not from the music, but from anger.\n\n"You painted the barricades again," she whispered. "While I was playing for the refugees, you were here… turning blood into pigment."\n\nI wanted to say I was preserving what they’d erase. But the silence between us was louder than any symphony. Then the sirens started—close, too close. She grabbed her case. "They’re coming. We have five minutes. Do we run… or do we burn the studio down so they can’t take it?"