Strings of Memory

Chapter 14

And my heart skipped a beat.

She looked good up there—like she was born to be on that stage. Thinking of her in any other path felt wrong. She was meant to be a vocalist.

With a deep breath, she gripped the microphone. Elliot tapped his drumsticks together, counting them in.

Then, their first-ever performance began.

"If I'm a bad person, you don't like me
Well, I guess I'll make my own way
It's a circle, a mean cycle
I can't excite you anymore"

The moment she sang, a shiver ran down my spine. But that initial thrill quickly faded as I focused on the performance as a whole.

"Where's your gavel? Your jury?
What's my offense this time?"

Elliot was going too fast—mas nauunahan pa niya ang deskmate ko. Though it didn't seem to throw her off, it was far from ideal. The awkward silence from the crowd was proof of how unsynchronized they were.

"You're not a judge, but if you're gonna judge me
Well, sentence me to another life"

Rive, on the other hand, was too slow. His sound was coming in late.

"Don't wanna hear your sad songs
I don't wanna feel your pain
When you swear it's all my fault"

Then there was Zeira—the only one in perfect sync with my deskmate. My ears hadn't deceived me when I first heard her play. She was really good. I wondered how much practice she had to go through to reach that level.

"'Cause you know we're not the same
We're not the same
Oh, we're not the same"

And my deskmate? She was really good. Her voice was beautiful. But it wasn't affecting people the way it did when I first heard her sing. The problem? The chaotic clash of the instruments around her.

Whenever her voice got drowned out, she would instinctively sing louder to compensate, which made it sound like she was screaming rather than singing.

"Yeah, the friends who stuck together
We wrote our names in blood
But I guess you can't accept that the change is good
It's good, it's good"

And most of all—something was missing.

A deep, low sound that should've been filling the space between the drums and higher-pitched instruments. The very sound that would have balanced everything out.

The bass.

If they had a bassist, maybe their performance wouldn't be this messy.

I suddenly wanted to laugh at my thoughts. When I was first introduced to the bass, I dismissed it as unimportant. But now that I've grown up, I know better.

I know just how crucial that instrument really is.

Nang matapos sila ay walang pumalakpak. Tahimik ang buong lugar, at ang tanging maririnig lang ay ang paghinga ng deskmate ko na kuhang-kuha ng microphone.

I'm not surprised that no one cheered—because it was bad. It might sound harsh, but I'm just telling the truth.

Individually, they're all good. But as a group? Not yet. And it's not their fault. The band was just recently formed, they're still missing a member, and on top of that, they haven't had a single proper practice session. So this was to be expected.

Napunta ang atensyon ng lahat sa vocalist ng bandang nagsalita kanina. May hawak na siyang microphone ngayon, and when he spoke, his voice carried a certain weight.

"I'll be honest with the four of you," he started, looking at them seriously. "That was a horrible performance."

May ilang singhap akong narinig mula sa mga tao sa paligid—probably surprised by his brutal honesty.