Just half a page more and you hit it. Evoke the placidity, the moodiness, the beautiful terror. The audience is with you every moment. You grabbed their hearts in the first fifteen bars, when the glinting black and white keys first fell under the spotlight and you began bleeding them for all they were worth. Every minute since has been their roller-coaster; a twisted dominatrix where only your ego is boosted and you clutch at their very minds, yanking them where you wanted them to go and making them feel how you wanted them to feel.

It is all very close now. The coda, a 50 second thrill ride that pushes you to the limit and makes them gape, wondering if the feelings they're having are real. Their thoughts are your drug, and it's a high unmatched by anything on Earth. The music builds. You feel your arms pulsing, but your mind is clear and you can only focus on the crescendo. You know none of them are breathing, but as you leap forward they have no choice but to follow.

You mount the insurmountable, and it's terribly tragic. A romantic flood, more powerful than any tidal wave and more submissive than a slave. A cataclysm of emotion is brought to life. For an instant, people can hear their own beauty, happiness, and misery. Nothing equals the feeling. Nowhere can one entity be so powerful and exalted in his own mind. When the intensity is maintained, you become a demigod and all the forces of earth converge upon your instrument and tool. On a whim, you carry them up, up, intensify, and release them, only to drag them back in, always faster and deeper. Countless waves crash against the hall in exponential, sporadic chaos. A break comes and you allow them to breathe, but the final torrent rains down like unbidden tears and it rips at their hearts as they almost scream.

Perhaps there is a God that instilled such moments... where humans meld with their own thoughts, their past wants and loves. Amid the chaotic myriad of existence, these moments are brought to life in music. People cry at beauty because it reminds them of their loss. Music evokes a desirable agony, acting as a painful and marvelous tool that runs over them like a waterfall. With music you can give them something few people can give, and it's perhaps the most gratifying experience ever.

You look up and feel the hurt slide back with undertow. You stand before them and they're on their feet. It's a rare thing to be cheered for inflicting pain.