This is where we all should be.
This moment. This time.
I dive in again, the rough edge of my voice lifted by the swell guitars and booming drums.
“But I’m still breathing, still standing tall.
Got my back against the first, won’t let myself fall.
You took the light, you took the fight
But I’m clawing through the endless night.
Yeah, I’m bleeding,
Yeah, I’m scarred.
But I’m still breathing with a shattered heart.”
My throat's already raw, but I push through, throwing everything I have into each line. I’m in my element, and I don’t want it to stop.
Ruby’s eyes are open again, and her fingers have stilled. There's something in her gaze that’s challenging us. She's waiting to see if we’ll crash and burn. She was the same in high school. The gothic girl, the loner, watching from the sidelines and waiting but never joining in.
Then she dyed her hair and flourished. She changed, reinvented herself, and became what we now need to succeed.
“The silence screams your name so loud
I wear regret just like a shroud
But this soul you left for dead
Is rising up instead.”
I’m sweat-soaked and hoarse, but the words keep coming, keep rising until the whole room is shaking like it’s about to explode. It’s hot and frenzied. This is what I live for, themoment when everything comes unhinged and brilliant, the moment that’s pure and true.
Ruby takes a step closer. The sheets of words and music I left beside her are now in her hand. She moves barely an inch, but I see it, and I can see how the music pulls at her, how she fights and fights, but it’s a losing battle.
I catch Cody’s eye and nod toward her as she inches closer. He pushes the riff even harder, the sound distorting and screeching against the brick walls of the studio. Then Otis flings a stick into the air and catches it without missing a beat. The grin on his face says more than words ever could.
My chest tightens, and I pour my heart and soul into the next verse, a bridge.
“So, here’s to every tear I cried
To every time I almost died
You broke me down, but not for good.
Now I’m stronger than I ever could.”
The wall of sound hits Ruby like a shock wave. It’s like watching a slowed down action scene as her body goes from tense to fluid, and she moves as if she’s part of the music. Her mouth opens, and she starts to accompany me in the chorus as back-up.
“But I’m still breathing, still standing tall.
Got my back against the first, won’t let myself fall.
You took the light, you took the fight
But I’m clawing through the endless night.
