Boredom, that’s all I can think about as the clock on the wall slowly ticked on as I am stuck in the nurse’s office sitting on one of the swivel chairs thinking to myself how long does it take to find a damn finger splint. I take my guitar out of its case and start to tune it up, the nurse walks in holding a number of splints with a roll of athletic tape.

“Put your guitar down so I can work on your finger.” She says to me flatly, obviously not wanting to waste time.

I set down my guitar on the left side of the swivel chair, holding the neck with my hand so it doesn’t fall. “How long will this take?” I question.

“Not that long, I just need to see if you set your finger correctly, reset your finger if I have to, then you leave with a splint.” The nurse says unamused, her tone of voice harsh but completely warranted. “Surprisingly you set your finger correctly, seems like you are only leaving with a splint and some ibuprofen.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to set a finger.” I say flatly.

The nurse places the splint over my finger and lightly taped the metal down to secure it. “I wouldn’t remove this until you get home, wear it till you have full motion of that finger. Here’s some ibuprofen for the swelling and pain. Show this to your teachers so they know I gave you the medicine.” The nurse says as she hands me a piece of paper saying that I was at the nurses office and what she gave me, I can tell that she is trying to get me out of her office as fast as possible.

“Thanks.” I reply as I grab my guitar and throw the strap over my shoulder, not wanting to put it back in the case. I give a wave to the nurse as I walked out the door.

As I make my way down the main hall once again and looking behind me as to not get flattened, I see Rainbow leaning up against a wall waiting for someone or something. As I get closer to her she locks eyes with me, “sorry about your finger.” She says with slight embarrassment.

“It’s nothing, just be grateful that you didn’t bust up my guitar or amp.” I quickly reply the tone of my voice made her wince a little. “Later.”

“Hold on!” She barks out, “what was it that you wanted to ask me at lunch?”

“Oh, yea. Do you want to join a band?” I say with a little mirth in my voice.

“I’m already apart of the most awesome band ever. And we’re playing the battle of the bands coming up, sorry.”

“It’s all good.” I say a little defeated, “I might just do a solo act or something.”

I stand there in silence for a bit, “do you know where the music room is? I need to work on a few songs.” I ask

“Follow me, I have this first hour off so I can show you where everything is.” Rainbow says excitedly as she grabbed my hand and took off.

Not sure what was going on I thought to myself “is everyone here this hands on with new people?” As I race down the hall while my guitar is rocking on my shoulder only supported by the strap, rows of lockers and classroom doors fly by as I’m trying to hold my amp tightly. I feel my grip loosen on the handle and feel the weight of my amp slip. “Hey Rainbow slow the fuck down I’m about to loose my amp.” A call that falls on def ears apparently, we round a corner and come to the music wing of the school. Rainbow slows down from her dead sprint and I loose my amp, it lays flat on the carpeted floor with a thud and I hear the springs in the reverb chamber bounce around.

“Thank you Jesse Chambers.” I say sarcastically.

She looks at me in annoyance and says, “Anyway, here’s the music room.”

I pick my amp up off the ground and check the reverb chamber to see if it was damaged. “You’re lucky that once again my amp is not damaged.” I say to the prismatic haired girl with a biting tone.

I walk through the doors of the music room and look around. Open space not much to look at aside from a small wall to wall riser possibly for larger instruments like percussion or upright basses, I pull a chair from the corner of the room and set my amp on my right side, looking around to find an outlet to plug into. Getting my cable out of the hard case, dropping my school bag behind my amp I hand my guitar to rainbow to get the rest of my gear. I can see out of the corner of my eye that Rainbow is looking over my guitar. “Like it?” I say to her.

“It’s alright, my guitar is more awesome though.” She says with a little bit of a mocking tone.

I tune up my guitar and strum a few chords to warm my fingers to get loose, then I start to play. I hum softly as I play an Em7 chord droning on the low E and B note alternating my picking while lightly flicking my ring finger over the D note on the B string.

Siren in the distance wales out her sad lone cry, corrupting those that believe it’s lies while the world falls around me, when people act strange, I sit down to ponder are we in the final stage?

I quickly switch to the Dsus2 chord and fall down to an Asus2

Dance the razor’s edge of sanity my friend with one foot in the grave is where it will begin, tell me how does this show end.

Strumming quietly I change over to a CMaj7 and alternate between strings and adding the 9th with my pinky.

Where does this path lead when opinion turns to fact, while the truth bleeds, and the epitaph reads: here lay all we know to be challenged, questioned, and changed; but now lay in the cold ground buried and gone a thought of a bygone era forgotten to all.

I slowly gain momentum in my strumming bringing up the tempo and volume, switching from CMaj7 back to Asus2, flourishing on a Dsus2 down to the Em7 up to C7 sliding down to B7 and back up a whole step to the C7 chord, all the while my eyes are tightly shut and my face contorted into a snarl. I slow down in my strumming while playing a drone note on the low E string while sweeping the Em7 chord.

I dance the razor’s edge of sanity my friend when I lay down in my grave is where it will end, then I’ll tell you how my insanity began.

Singing the last verse with a quiet ragged voice just above a whisper I end my song with a long Em7 chord that fades being replaced by the low hum of my amp. I look around like a toddler who just woke up after falling asleep in the car then ended up in bed, not knowing what’s going on or where he’s at.

“Why are your lyrics depressing and cryptic?” Rainbow asks. “It’s just… while your playing is very good and your rhythm is on point, I don’t understand the opening verse. “Who or what is the siren and what it’s it’s cry?”

“You’re missing the big picture of my song if you’re asking about specific parts.” I say with a melancholic tone. “The siren is all of us, it’s cry is the voice of self doubt that clouds our judgement and leads people down a path that they normally wouldn’t travel. People acting strange is the reflection on how society treats itself but also the people in it, the final stage is the subtle yet rapid collapse of the society.” I explain to Rainbow as she looks at me with confusion.

“If you are worried about the collapse of society and people becoming disillusioned with reality then why not say that instead of using metaphors and phrases?” Rainbow questions, I raise an eyebrow at her as I completely underestimating her ability to compartmentalize and logically break down an explanation.

“Because if you say what you mean to someone they will take it the complete opposite way you intended the meaning to go, or they will completely reject what is being said to them because it challenges their perception of reality.” I say to her, “As for my lyrics being depressing, it’s not meant to be that way. More of a social commentary on how I see the world and myself.”

“I dance the razor’s edge of sanity my friend when I lay down in my grave is when it will end, then I’ll tell you how my insanity began.” I repeat the last verse of the song to Rainbow, “the razor is the fine line between being normal and accepted by society or ostracized, rejected and alone. It’s a glimpse into my life rather than the commentary on society but it also reflects on the society we live in as a whole wether that be here in high school or out there working for a living, my friend is just that; a friend that I lost a few years ago because she’d always say how I was insane whenever I spoke my mind or when I was getting way to heavy with simple topics.”

“So she just ended everything because you were getting too deep and philosophical with her? Rainbow asked.

“Yea, I don’t blame her for it either. She’s a good gal just didn’t like to think deeply about anything. But she’d always ask for my opinion on topics of say religion or spirituality, friendship, or just my personal thoughts that I have. I think she was fascinated by how I could dive so deeply into such a simple question.” I tell her while looking off in the distance past Rainbow Dash. “She asked me something about society and people one time, I gave my thoughts and opinion on how society and the people that make it up are very contradictory in the sense of setting standards, what is important, and what drama to follow.”

“So why did she stop being your friend?” Rainbow asked again.

“Because she didn’t like to think for herself, Id tell her that nothing that she thought matters, really matters; to think for herself and draw her own conclusions.” I say with a more defeated tone than before. “Then one day she said that she doesn’t like me and that I am way to deep with everything.”

Rainbow stood there looking confused. “And that’s the look she gave me the last time I saw her.” I say.

“If she didn’t want to accept you for who you are then she wasn’t really your friend.” Rainbow said to me in a deadpan tone. “But you on the other hand really cared for her and wanted her to be the best she could be in the end right?”

“Yea, some people don’t get that because a lot of people see me as the fool but when I speak up or speak out on a topic then they get scared of my insight on topics that are brought up.” I tell her while looking down at my guitar, I strum lightly while thinking of my next response to her question. “I know more than I let on and speak to the point or be still, a lot of people don’t like that especially if all they’ve known is soft language and candy coated responses.”

“That’s lame.” Rainbow says annoyed “I want people to give it to me straight rather than give me a run around.”

I adjust my guitar a bit while sitting up a bit in my chair. “Wanna play a bit together?” I ask wanting to change the topic.

“Yea, let me just get my guitar real quick.” Rainbow says enthusiastically as she bolts over to the wall to wall riser by a blue drum kit. Grabbing a dark blue guitar that looks like a cross between a Z-body and a Parker fly with an Indian Laurel fretboard and custom gold pearl lightning bolt inlays. An interesting guitar style, a bit to flashy for my taste but just like people instruments have their own style, voice, and soul.

Rainbow hauls over an amp and plugs it into the outlet and gets everything ready on her end. “What type of music do you play?” I ask.

“Mostly just my own style I don’t really know any music terms or anything like that, but I can keep time fairly well. What about you, what style do you play mostly?” She asks.

“My own style, mainly inspired by blues, early prog rock, and classic rock. Growing up listening to whatever my dad put on the radio and what I could find in his vinyl collection.” I reply, “his generation had some of the best music as far as actual bands and guitar playing.”

“Right on! I got into my mom’s old vinyl and absolutely fell in love with those old bands she listens to.” Rainbow exclaims. “The riffs and solos are amazing.”

I nonchalantly pull out my weed pen from my breast pocket and take a puff or two to get right and hold it between my index and middle finger while I start a warmup.

“What’s that smell?” Rainbow asks trying to find the source of the sweet smell of my weed pen.

“This.” I say holding up the device that is between my fingers. “Wanna try it?”

“What is it?” She asks looking at me.

“A weed pen, I know not allowed at school but it’s better than going outside and finding a secluded place to roll a number.” I say as I toss it over to her.

Rainbow catches the pen and looks it over and tosses it back to me. “Nah man, why are you doing drugs, you know they’re bad for you.” She says in a serious tone.

I take a long hit off it and try to reply while holding in the vapor. “This isn’t a drug.”

“It is too a drug!” She half yells at me.

“Is not!” I yell back like a child. “Let’s play cause I am getting a good buzz and would like to see your style.”

Rainbow looks at me like I’ve lost my mind trying to wrap her head around why I would do something like this. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine now let’s jam.”

Author's Note

Long break between the second chapter and this one. Work has been picking up as the summer season approaches so that means I won’t be able to work on this story as much as I’d like, also the songs in the story are written and produced by me. There will be links to those songs added in at a later date when I can get time to record them.

Hope everyone is liking this story so far and I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts, DM me if you have any questions about the lyrics or just questions in general and I will try to give an explanation of my thought process.