Silencing the Cadence

I hauled my boots up the clattering ivory keys to confront the dark wooden pyramid squatting atop the piano. An insolent mechanical metronome dared to keep rigid, orderly time in my shadows. Disgusting discipline. I wrenched its front cover off and glared at the silver pendulum poised to mock me. Snatching a heavy, rusted iron square nut from behind a stack of tattered sheet music, I shoved the cold chunk of metal straight into the brass escapement gears. The balance wheel choked with a brutal crunch, freezing the weighted arm at an agonizing tilt. Let this hollow box tick no more; disorder rules my realm.