play that song for me

It was a cold October morning. Sylvester decided to take advantage of the 5am silence and pulled out his song book. Despite being a very neat and organised person, his songbook had seen a lot of use. The metallic silver edges beginning to wear down and fray, the book starting to show its age. Sylvester was gifted this book at age 9 when he began writing poetry; he was 17 now and the book had received years of abuse from a frustrated amateur writer. He knew he had to write something for his newly formed band, Rabbitfoot, but his mind just kept drawing a blank. He thought that looking out of his bedroom window would relieve him from the writer’s block that was consuming him. He watched the colours change in the sky from a dark, inky black to a bright orange as the sun awoke for the day. He saw the leaves fall gracefully onto the grass, shaking the dew drops from the blades. An absentminded smile spread across his snowy features when he watched a squirrel try to bury food before running off with its family. He looked at the clock thinking he must have zoned out because now the time on the digital clock read 7:17am. It was still too early to ask for any assistance from his friends. Or was it? He pulled out his phone and began to write a text. He knew that he wouldn’t get a reply right away but he knew that he will see the message when he woke up.

Sylver: Hi. I know it is early, but I was having trouble writing songs for the band and was wondering if you could give me advice on how to write something that is good. Many thanks – S

He sent the text and went back to staring mindlessly at the blank page of his notebook. Not even a 2 minutes went by when he heard his phone vibrate again.

Xander: yh, sure i’ll come over if that’ll help. 😊

Sylvester was shocked to find that the American boy was awake. He really appreciated the fact that he was willing to help this early so he simply texted him his address and waited for him to arrive.

It only took Xander around 15 minutes to walk to his house. He stood on the silver boy’s doorstep, being careful not to make any noise so that he doesn’t wake up the rest of the street and pulled out his phone to write a text informing Sylvester that he had arrived. Before he could do that, however, the front door swung open and he was greeted by a pyjama-clad Sylvester who smiled at him sleepily.

“Woah, dude, have you slept at all?” Xander asked in a whisper tone, eyebrows furrowing in concern.

“Yeah, I just woke up early.” The taller boy yawned, closing the door behind them. He led them up to his bedroom and he sheepishly presented the book to the American boy.

“So, yeah, this is what I have so far.” He presented to him a blank page, causing a frown to spread across Xander’s features.

“Is that really all you have? We’re meant to be rehearsing this song tomorrow.” Xander’s tone was harsher than he wanted it to be, causing Sylvester to look down at the worn out song book in shame.

“Well don’t panic. Don’t panic, I’m here to help you.” He took a breath and took a seat in the chair next to Sylvester’s desk.

“Right, so, lets start with how you are feeling at this current moment.”

“Well, I’m frustrated that I have writer’s block.”

“Good! Write about that!” With that, Sylvester pulled out a pen and began scribbling down part of the song. He read it over once before going to show it to Xander who was rummaging through the objects on the writer’s desk. There was a tense silence while he read over the first verse of the song. After, a smile broke out onto his face as he picked up his guitar and sung the words that were written.

I struggle to write songs effectively,

You could say that I lack creativity,

The world is plain,

Filled with so much pain,

And I cant bring myself to write.

Before Xander finished playing the verse, Sylvester had already began scribbling down the chorus and more of the verses. Xander’s huge smile grew when he saw his friend find a rhythm with his songwriting. They laid down the drum beat and the guitar chords before moving onto another song. He handed them to Xander who, once again, read over the songs, a sadness washing over himself while reading this particular piece. Nonetheless, he picked up his guitar, opting for gentle strumming and sung softly;

I’m always second best,

Second place,

After thought,

I’m no more special than the rest,

I’ll never win this race,

Who succeeds?

After the small performance, there was a short silence as the final note rang through the room. Then, abrupt applause filled the silence.

“That was so good!” Xander yelled excitedly. This caused Sylvester to chuckle nervously, not knowing how to take the compliment.

“Well, you brought it alive. They’d just be words on a page otherwise.” There was an awkward tension between the two, neither knowing each other well enough to continue a conversation.

“So, do you think the others will like it?” Sylver asked to break the silence.

“Finnley definitely would. He loves raw and emotional stuff like this. I can’t speak for the others though.” Xander replied, quickly adding “I’m sure they would though.” They continued like this for the next few hours, Sylvester quickly scribbling down lyrics and Xander playing the songs.

The next day, the band were rehearsing in Finnley’s house.

“Wow. These songs are so good, Sylver. They must have taken you so much time.” Rosie complimented the aforementioned boy, causing a blush to spread across his pale features in response.

“Well, I did have quite a lot of help.” Sylvester replied, motioning towards Xander as to pass on the attention. Xander smiled warmly at the eyes that were now fixed onto him.

“Well, I just sung and laid down some chords.” Rosie smiled brightly at the two, and grabbed one of each of their hands in her’s.

“Well, I think you both did a pretty good job.”