The Bluebirds

Safe and Sound

Madeline's breathing quickened as she looked out at the class she was playing for. She was nervous, extremely nervous. Messing up would be a nightmare, especially with her friends telling her she would do great. She started on the first chord, E minor, taking a shaky breath.

 "I was scared of dentist in the dark, I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations oh all my friends are turning green, your mother shunned her sister in her dream." She was doing well so far, only messing up with G major when she hit a higher note with her voice. The students all looked enchanted, as if they had seen and angel, and she continued. "Ooh, ooh, ooh! Ooh, ooh, ooh, and they come unstuck!"  

 Madeline winced when she hit the one note that she couldn't get that high. Surprisingly though, not one person seemed to notice."Lady, running down to the riptide, taken away to the dark side! I wanna be your left hand man! I love you when you're singing that song and I got a lump in my throat cause you're gonna sing the words wrong..." She trailed off as the song came to a short end. As she heard modest clapping, she started on another song.

 This song was harder, more difficult than Riptide had been. She was picking, and she had to rely solely on memory.She started the picking and the class quieted as the heard the familiarity of the song. "I remember tears streaming down your face when I said i'll never let you go. When all those shadows almost killed your light...," Safe and Sound was soft, so she need to focus. "Hold on to this," she messed up and quickly corrected herself. "No, sorry. Hold on to this lullaby, even when the music's gone, gone. Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and i'll be safe and sound."

 Madeline looked up and heard thunderous applause, only to see her language arts teacher, Mr. Shields, being the loudest of all. "You did amazing!" He said loudly, his voice echoing into the halls. "You did a very good job." And for the first time, in a long time, Madeline did something she probably shouldn't have done. She played another song, very loudly, out in the hall. And she almost got yelled at. Oh, the good old days of middle school.