Chapter 48: Tightrope

Pre Author Note: As per a couple requests, I’ll now be adding the song’s I take inspirations from before the Chapter, instead of after. To that effect, kindly listen to Imagine Dragon’s ’Walking The Wire’ for reference.

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{Silver Comets | 23rd, September 2016 | Act 2 | Scene 8 | Take 1}

"Silver Comets!" the host of the preliminary rounds called out one last time!

Seeing that they were yet to arrive, much to the visible lack of interest from an audience looking to start leaving in the absence of said band, the man proceeded to end the event.

"Well, rockstars," he turned to address the crowd, some of whom were already leaving.

"It seems like that’ll be all for tonight--"

Owen, Simon, Alex and Luke suddenly burst onto the stage, Owen raising a hand to stop the man as he said;

"We’re here! We’re here!"

Previously feeling himself, especially since he was rather certain they would be the top pick from this borough, the smirk on Leeroy’s face suddenly vanished.

Judging by his expression, it was all too clear that he hadn’t expected to see Owen at the competition, or even with a band for that matter.

As for the host whom had been waiting for the past five minutes, he simply shrugged his shoulders and did his part;

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Rock this place out!"

In sync, the uninterested audience simply looked at them, a lack of anticipation in the air as the host made his way off the stage and left the floor to the four youths.

As their chests heaved up and down, the crowd staring back at them almost as if they were telling them to get it over with so they could all be on their merry ways, Owen moved towards the mic and picked up the electric guitar.

His bandmates followed suit, Sam grabbing the bass, Alex taking his position by the keyboard and Luke sitting behind the drums.

Then, as they looked to the crowd which had gone deathly silent, Alex’s fingers descended upon the keyboard.

A soft, lonely note drifted through the venue, lingering in the air for a second.

Then Owen’s guitar joined in, a clean electric tone ringing out and carrying an inspiring warmth that immediately drew a few interested reactions from the crowd as he sang;

Do you feel the same when I’m away from you?

Do you know the line that I’d cross for you?

We could turn around, we could let it go,

But we’ll take what comes, take what comes

No sooner had he finished that first verse, Luke lightly tapped the kick drum as Simon’s bass slipped into the now growing melody that synced with the second verse;

Oh, the world’s pushing hard against us now,

If you’re scared of falling, then don’t look down,

But we took the step, yeah, we took the leap,

And we’ll take what comes, take what comes,

Every lyric he sang carried the weight of someone chasing a dream despite knowing how easily it could all come crashing down, just like this ragtag band of theirs.

Yet, somehow... everyone understood that feeling.

Which was why, as the tune soared towards its pre-chorus, Owen’s voice gaining a powerful energy with each lyric...

Feel the beat in your chest...

Feel the rush, no regrets...

... Silver Comets exploded into the chorus, their voices harmonizing to deliver a punchy declaration!

We’re threading a tightrope, now!

We’re threading a tightrope, now!

We’re gonna go higher, up!

We’re threading a tightrope, tightrope, tightrope!

The crowd went wild in excitement, their voices rising with every cheer and threatening to drown out the very performance they’d had no interest in a minute ago!

Yet, as the Luke crashed upon the drums without restraint and Simon pushed the bass to high surges, the chords of Alex’s keyboards soared in sync with Owen’s triumphant voice;

There’s nights we’ll think we should walk away,

And there’s doubts we’ll have that might never fade,

It’s the risk we take when we chase these dreams,

And we’ll take what comes, take what comes,

Once again, the melody climbed in sync with the pre-chorus, the warehouse practically erupting like a volcano...

Feel the beat in your chest...

Feel the rush, no regrets...

Only for all four to roar out their convictions as their voices jumped to an even higher crescendo!

We’re threading a tightrope, now!

We’re threading a tightrope, now!

We gonna go higher, up!

We’re threading a tightrope, tightrope, tightrope!

And then, as the song’s tune lowered to an undercurrent, Owen sang its bridge, his voice honest and true as he looked to his band members...

Oh, I’ll take your hand when the pressure grows,

And I’ll stand with you through the highs and lows,

And I promise you as we rise above,

That we’ll take what comes, take what comes,

Then, with one more surge in the instrumentals that merged their powerful voices, they sang the outro together!

So look out, here we go...!

Look out, here we go...!

Look out, here we go...!

Threading a tightrope, tightrope, tightrope!

So look out, here we go...

With that, Silver Comets kept playing the electrifyingly uplifting tune for a couple more seconds, each of them lost to the high frequency they were performing at as their heads bobbed without restraint before they ultimately had to force themselves to bring it to a gradual halt.

Not that it stopped the crowd from cheering hard, their voices louder than the amps in the venue as Owen, Simon, Alex and Luke’s chest heaved up and down in thrilled exhilaration.

Then, looking to each other with immense feelings of pride, they all moved forwards, cuffed their arms over their shoulders and took a deep bow.

-

The venue was still vibrating with a fever-high excitement, the extras having long forgotten that they were acting.

Even Harrison himself was stunned to high heavens, and so was Henry and Victor, their mouths slightly agape as the director completely forgot to call for the shot to end.

All around him, the cinematographers, the indie bands and the productions crew were much the same, evidently gripped by the almost otherworldly performance from all four artists.

The members of the indie band especially couldn’t help but stare on in dumbfounded awe!

With this level of performance, Silver Comets might as well declare themselves a real band and not constrain their limits to the plot of the movie.

That was just how amazing what they had experienced was!

As if to also echo that belief, it wasn’t until a minute had passed before Harrison finally called for the shot to end.

Only then did Niall and trio stop acting as actually looked to each other and spoke;

"THAT! WAS! AMAZING!" Sam actually shouted over the deafening cheers!

"I KNOW, RIGHT!" Niall met his energy with an energetic laughter of his own!

"IT WAS LIKE WE WERE POSSESSED!" Archie remarked to which Lucas similarly said;

"THE GOOD KIND OF POSSESSED! I’VE GOT GOOSEBUMPS, EVERYWHERE!!"

Then they laughed again, hugging each other in shared excitement as the crowd kept cheering in unrestrained fervor.

They hadn’t even shot the other scenes in the movie, and yet, everyone seemed to have unequivocally agreed that the scene they’d just finished shooting would probably one of, if not the scene in the movie.

As that interaction played out though, Henry whom was backstage had grabbed Victor’s shoulders with both hands as he laughed, his mirth on full display;

"Vic! This movie’s gonna be a fucking hit!"

Seeing his buddy laughing so genuinely for the first time in a long while, Victor simply said, his smile reserved;

"Let’s not spring up the red flags, okay."

Then he looked to Niall through the cameras.

Even now, he could see it. Eyes that sparkled with a light unlike any other... a light that was so rarely seen, Victor could count on his fingers the number of artists he’d ever seen it in.

And because he knew how rare it was, he couldn’t help but promise himself;

’I’ll get you there...’

’The kind of actor you want to be,’

’I’ll get you there. I promise.’ he affirmed.

*

Joaquin had managed to secure a couple spies amidst the set of [Silver Comets].

Given how many extras the movie needed at frequent intervals, especially when the performance scenes were involved, it wasn’t particularly unexpected.

But more than that, he also had a few spies that were on the main production crew.

To that effect, he’d already gotten a whole lot of information about who the movie’s main players were, how much they’d invested into it, and their plans for distribution.

However, what he certainly hadn’t expected to hear from all of them today was how [Silver Comets] was gearing up to be one of the best musicals they’d ever witnessed.

Reading yet another message on his phone from one of said spies that was much the same, he couldn’t help but swipe it away and toss the phone aside.

’Now that won’t do...’ he thought to himself.

’Give Henry a single updraft and he’ll be a pain in the ass for years to come,’

’I can’t let that happen.’ he mused to himself as he brushed a thumb across his chin.

Currently seated on a sofa in his penthouse, his legs crossed and a glass of wine in his hands, he began pondering over what to do to ruin the movie given all the information he had.

However, the more he thought about it though, the more he realized the best bet he would have at ruining the movie’s chance of success would be yet again during post-production.

Given Henry’s warning, it would be extremely hard to do anything during the movie’s production that his stepbrother wouldn’t find a way to track back to him.

Mulling over it for a couple more minutes, he then picked up his phone as he proceeded to make a call;

’I guess I’ll just have to crush it at the box office. Given how much they hate them, it might just work in my favor.’

Advance Chapters are available on Patreon!

/Caer07