Trembling With the Strings

More Bad Puns

I sat in the seat closest to the front, watching Darius coach Lyndell through warming up his voice. Darius was getting a bit aggravated, but Lyndell just kept cracking jokes in an attempt to keep his friend from blowing a casket. Oh, I didn’t even mean to make that joke! Get it? Casket? He’s a vampire and... Never mind. The point was that Lynn was very amusing to watch.

“Oh, sizzle down, tough guy,” Lynn was saying, a grin on his face. “I think I’m quite warmed up now. How about you show me how it’s done, hmm? Then I’ll sing after you. I want to get in a few more warm-ups, but I can’t do them with you hovering over my shoulder like my mother!”

“I’m not your parent,” Darius barked, rolling his eyes. “Fine, I will.” Darius walked over to the shelf full of instruments and pulled out a Gibson Les Paul Junior. He walked back over to the microphone and tapped it twice, checking the mic. He met my gaze momentarily before his stare darted to his bass as the chords started playing. He was perfect at the guitar—just as I had expected—but his voice was something else. I just didn’t like the song particularly. It certainly wasn’t the song he had been studying in his room just moments ago, but I knew the song when I heard it.

“Hello, I'm your martyr, will you be my gangster?
Can you feel my trigger hand, moving further down your back?
When you hide, hide inside that body,
But just remember that when I touch you
The more you shake, the more you give away.”

His eyes suddenly met mine and I froze, having realized that I had been trembling the entire time. A sadistic grin formed on his lips and there was a seductive look in his eyes as they bore into my soul. I tried to make myself look at the floor, but he had my gaze trapped as he sang the chorus. That part didn’t bother me, but the next part did since he never took his eyes off of me.

“Wait, another minute here, time will kill us after all.
Now can you feel its second hand wrapped around your neck?
So fall into my eyes and fall into my lies,
But don't you forget:
The more you turn away, the more I want you to stay.

“You're so endearing, you're so beautiful.
Well I don't look like they do, and I don't love like they do,
But I don't hate like they do.
Am I ever on your mind?”

He released my gaze as the last syllable was pronounced, but I kept staring at him, not able to take my eyes off. I felt like the walls I had built up around my mind had been torn down in less than three minutes. As his song came to an end, Darius’ eyes were on me and they seemed to be sizing me up. I couldn’t look away even though I could sense him trying to pry into my head. He would have succeeded if Lynn hadn’t torn me free from his trance with a sudden shriek.

“Oh, aren’t you precious? Okay, honey, now let the big, strong man do it.” He shoved him over and stole the bass out of Darius’ hands.

Dray jumped off the stage nonchalantly and strode up to me, his lips pressed into an impassive line. He dropped into the seat beside me and pulled me onto his lap, pressing his lips to my neck. I trembled as he nipped at my neck, smirking. I begged him to stop, but he snapped at me and I shut up out of fear of being struck. Lynn’s brow furrowed as he glanced at us.

“I changed my mind.” He switched his sheets of paper and glanced over it before he started playing.

“Hey girl, you know you drive me crazy.
One look puts the rhythm in my hand.
Still I'll never understand why you hang around.
I see what's going down.

“Cover up with make-up in the mirror.
Tell yourself it's never gonna happen again.
You cry alone and then he
Swears he loves you.

“Do you feel like a man
When you push her around?
Do you feel better now
As she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you, my friend,
One day this world's going to end.
As your lies crumble down,
A new life she has found.

“A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect.
Every action in this world will bear a consequence.
If you wade around forever you will surely drown...”

Darius’ grip on me tightened and I winced against the pain. Lynn’s eyes were boring into us as he played a verse. Dray suddenly shoved me off and stood, pushing me behind him.

“You got something to say, pretty boy?” he demanded, glowering at his friend.

“Maybe I do!” he screamed back, throwing the bass to the floor. I cringed as a string snapped. Darius wore the sadistic smile I hated.

“I finally have an excuse to rip your head off,” he whispered, his eyes mere slits.

Oh, how did I know this would end badly?