Videotape

Chapter 3

I was lying in bed after school as usual, headphones on, listening to Radiohead and pondering my inevitable demise. On this night in particular, I was listening to their album OK Computer, losing myself in each and every song as if they were whole other worlds. I was about halfway through their song "Climbing Up The Walls" when the distortion-heavy, near-deafening outro of "Paranoid Android" began blaring through my headphones, sending a jolt of horror through my body before I remembered that it was my ringtone. Sighing with relief, I detached the headphone cable from my phone, sliding the headset around my neck as I checked the caller ID. When I saw who it was, I couldn't suppress the broad grin that pulled at the corners of my mouth as I answered the phone and put it up to my ear. "Hello?" I said, still grinning.

"Hi, Ase!" Felix responded cheerily. "How are you? I'm sorry I haven't called for a few days."

"I'm the same as usual, I guess," I replied. "And it's okay. I know you're busy. How's Iowa?"

"It's great."

"And Carmen?"

"She's good. She's really good," his tone changed a bit as he uttered the words, sending a surge of fondness flooding through my veins. The way that my brother spoke about his girlfriend never failed to make me smile. "That's good to hear," I said. "Anything new?"
"Nah, not really. Just the same old stuff. Studying hard and trying to get by."

"Yeah," I said. "Me too. I met some people today, though."

"Really? Tell me about it."

"They're twins. A boy and a girl. They just moved here from New York State. At least, that's what Caleb said. He introduced them to me and Gabby today at lunch. The boy is an artist. He had a sketchbook full of artwork that he let all of us look through. It was pretty neat. His name is Ethan Griffiths. And the girl..." I trailed off, taking a moment to consider the proper words to describe Jade. "...she's a musician, like me. Her name is Jade. She said she played electric guitar and drums. She sings, too, but only occasionally. She seemed nice enough. She had me give her my number so we could exchange recordings tonight, but I'm still waiting on her text."

"Huh." Felix was silent for a long moment. "Well, it's good that you found another musician. Like, a musician outside of the school band."

"Yeah, I guess," I replied. There was a long silence. Finally, Felix cleared his throat. "Mom told me you had your medication dose increased last week."

"Yep."

"How has that been so far?"

"Eh, it's alright," I replied. "It's only the first week, so my body's still trying to adjust. I keep falling asleep at random times."

Felix laughed. "That sucks," he said. "It'll pass, I'm sure." He went quiet for a moment. Finally, I heard him draw in a deep breath. "I really hope things start looking up for you soon."

I sighed. "Thanks. I hope so too." I glanced at my alarm clock, seeing that it read 8:02 PM. "It's later than I thought. Jade should be―" Before I could finish my sentence, I felt my phone vibrate in my hand. "Wow, speak of the devil. I think she just got back to me."

"Oh, nice," Felix said. "Is it a recording or something?"

"It might be."

"Go check now. You can call me again when you're done."

I immediately felt a wave of guilt wash over me. "Are you sure?" I asked.

"Of course," Felix reassured me. I could hear the smile in his tone. "I'm not going anywhere."

I gave a sigh of relief. "Good. You'd better not," I joked. "I'll be back in a bit. Love you, bro."

"Love you too!"

I hung up the phone, then opened my unread messages. Sure enough, there was a text from an unknown number. Hey there. This is Jade, it read. Sorry for the late text. Here's one of my better recordings. It's one of my original works. I hope you'll send one of your own! Below the text message was a Google Drive link. I tapped on it and waited for the page to load. Sure enough, there was an audio file waiting for me there. With a smile on my face and a curious ear, I tapped the play button.

The song started out simple, with nothing more than some steady drums and a straightforward lead guitar riff to accompany it. Though repetitive, the introduction was interesting and surprisingly easy to listen to. Before long, the introduction came to an end, making way for the beginning of the first verse. Jade's voice was soft and low in pitch, flowing like honey as she transitioned effortlessly from note to note. I listened intently as the verse ended and the chorus began, subconsciously noting that the song was gradually beginning to pick up speed as it progressed. I was utterly hooked.

When the song faded to silence, I felt a pang of longing deep in my chest. How could it possibly be over so soon? I sighed, closing the tab and returning to my messages. That was amazing, I texted back to Jade. You've got a real talent. I sat on my bed, patiently waiting for a response. When I received nothing after five minutes, it hit me at last that she was expecting a recording back from me.

Shoot. What was I supposed to do now? I absently opened my Google Drive, where I'd stashed most of my recordings as backups in case anything happened to the original files on my laptop. I scrolled through them, trying to select the best recording possible to send to Jade. After several minutes of nitpicking, I settled on my keyboard cover of "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" by Radiohead. After all, it was only a repetitive pattern of notes, and my vocals weren't awful on that recording in particular. Where could I have gone wrong with something as simple that? I copied the link to the audio file and pasted it into my conversation with Jade, then took a deep breath and pressed the button to send it.

Several long minutes later, Jade texted me back. Awesome cover! I like Radiohead, too. Your style of singing is a lot like Thom Yorke's. We should talk tomorrow at lunch.

I stared at the text in awe. Jade thought that I sounded like my idol? I hastily typed out a response. Wow, thanks. That's a first. We should talk!

After receiving no response from Jade after ten minutes or so, I decided to call Felix again. He answered the phone at almost the exact instant that I dialed his number. "Hi again. What was it?" he asked.

"You were right. It was a recording," I said. "A song she wrote. It was really good."

"Did you send anything back?"

"Yeah. It was that cover of 'Street Spirit' that I showed you a few weeks ago."

"I'm sure she'll love it," Felix said. "I sure did when I heard it."

I smiled to myself. "Thanks, bro," I responded.

There was a long silence.

Felix cleared his throat. "I miss seeing you," he said almost inaudibly.

I sighed. "I miss seeing you too," I said. I heard Felix draw in a long breath on the other end, then let it out slowly. "I've been meaning to come visit you, but everything keeps getting in the way, and I feel really bad about it all. It's just...I know you've been struggling more than ever lately, and I want to be here for you whenever I can, you know? I'm sorry." I could hear the sorrow in his tone.

"It's okay, Felix," I reassured him. "I know you're trying."

"I swear to you, I will come soon," Felix promised. "I swear. Don't you worry." I couldn't help but smile. "Thank you," I said.

We talked some more, and later that night, I went to bed confident that everything would work out soon enough.