9:15 P.M. New Jersey, Saturday
Music. How can I describe it? I guess I can say it's like electricity. When it hits you, it's just so...energetic. And it's like a current. Music goes from the laptop, into my headphones, through my ears, and to the rest of my body. It just fills me with so much...that's just it. Music is so powerful, that I can't just use one word to describe how it makes me feel.
But the music that is currently going through my ears, it's missing words. And it is my job to fill that wordless void.
Keeping in rhythm, I spit bars into the silver ball of a microphone that is just six inches away from my mouth. I recall every word of the song, not having to look at a reference. I try to be careful. Don't miss a beat or syllable Nick, just keep going and focus.
As my verse ends, my friend, Loretta, finishes it off with her singing into her own microphone. She leaves a powerful ending impression for the song. Though her time is a bit brief, her voice and the emotion she is using really gives the song that extra 'umph' to it.
As Loretta finishes, the instrumental starts to slowly fade away. I look to her and she gives me a nod with a huge smile on her face. I look to Pat, who is by the laptop, and do a slashing motion across my throat, telling him to cut off the mics. With a smile on his face too, he looks down at the computer and hits a single button. And the second he does that, celebration ensures.
"AWW YEAH!!" I shout, feeling like I'm on top of the world. Pat runs to me and gives me and Loretta a high five each.
“That was awesome!” My bud, Connor, says, clapping his hands together a couple of times. He's Loretta’s boyfriend.
“Totally,” I say, taking off the headphones covering my ears. “And that was only the third take of that cover. And it was so dope! How many songs did we record today?”
“About fifteen songs. Hip Hop, R&B, Rock, Contemporary, Pop, were the main genres. And there was that one show tune as well.”
“And those are the only genre’s we should stick with,” Pat says. “Cause almost every other genre sucks!”
“So true,” Connor, Loretta and I say. What me and my friends are currently doing, or what we just finished, is recording cover songs and a little bit of original material to post on SoundCloud. The four of us record in Connor’s basement because it is very roomy (and well isolated) down here. There is also plenty of space to set up microphones, laptops, headphones, the usual equipment for home recording.
Me and my friends here share a passion for music and love singing. But I am a bit of a black sheep because I also enjoy rapping. I can not express how much I love hip-hop and rap music. I've been told I'm a good rapper and a good singer. I'm a bit of a renaissance boy, and I want to put myself out there. My dream is to be on a stage in front of hundreds, even thousands of people, all wanting to hear me perform. Normal life is boring, living in the limelight is how I wanna live it.
I take a look at my sliver watch and notice it is nine sixteen at night. “Guys, I gotta run,” I say, heading toward the staircase. “See y'all Monday.”
“See you later Nick,” Pat says. I walk up the stairs, pull out my iPhone and check my messages. No new messages tonight. Good, less of a distraction while I'm on the road. The cool thing about my phone is that I have a special case on it so it can charge up. The battery for case is solar powered, so it only works in the presence of light. An acquaintance of mine was able to hook me up with one of these. I heard that cases like this, are only available China.
I exit Connor’s house by this point and walk down the driveway, toward my car. It's an old, and kind of beat up, Honda civic, but it's great on gas. I insert the key into the slot, turn it left twice and the car unlocks. I open the door, get in and shut the door. "Good night," I mumble. I put the key into the ignition and turn the key until the car purrs alive. I flick that knob on the stick that is on the wheel to turn on my headlights. Alright, all systems are ago. I back out of the driveway and start diving home. It is only a fifteen minute drive. Easy peasy.
So, while I am on the road, I might as well give some introduction. I am Nick, I'm seventeen years old with a couple months left in my junior year, great looking, and doing good academically. My wardrobe has a bit of an urban vibe to it: solid red t-shirt, Phillies snapback on my head, brown cargo shorts and some red Reebok's. But the urban look isn't complete without some bling: class ring with a ruby, my silver cross necklace and my silver watch. Now, back to the road.
About halfway home, my car is starting to slow down for some reason.
"The Hell?" I utter. I take a look at the dash board for any sort of indication as to why my car slowing down. And it turns out, the gas gauge is pointing to E. “Well great,” I say sarcastically. I pull over to the side of the road, put on my flashers and keep the car on. Just the battery, not the engine.
I get out of my car and pop open the trunk to pull out a gas can. I keep an extra one in the back in case of an emergency like this. I never had to use it, but now is the time. I open the lid of the can and see that it is empty. I let out a sigh and put the gas can on the ground. “Just perfect.” I thought I would have a nice, peaceful drive home from my friend’s house, but this happens instead.
I aimlessly take a look around my surroundings. I am on a road next to an open field with trees surrounding it. It's quite nice out here tonight. Peaceful really. Stars are shinning bright, along with the moon, a very calm and light breeze flows through my hair. It's a sensational night. Well, it would be sensational if I had some damn gas! Then, I remember something.
“On the other side of this field, is a town. If I just go across the field into town, walk about a block or so, a gas station should be there and…am I monologuing again? I need to stop doing that.” I tend to monologue once in a while. It's become a bit of a habit of mine. That’s what I get for being a theater kid.
So, with a plan in mind, I turn off my car, keeping the flashers on, and walk across the field holding on to the gas can. Walking through a field with my own thoughts is very peaceful and nice. But this does not last too long because a storm cloud starts to form in the sky.
“That’s weird,” I think to myself. “I checked the weather earlier, and they said clear skies for the next two days.” I start to quicken my pace so I can try to avoid any potential rain. As my pace quickens, a a bright and oddly coolerd lightning bolt flashes almost ten feet in front of me! I drop the gas can out of being scared. “I have to get down!” But before I could, a different bolt zaps me right on the head. Nothing but electricity and heat surge through my body. It hurts like a mother f##ker! I feel my entire body spazzing and hurting in more ways I can think of. Then POW! I'm out like a candle.