Time To Live

Chapter 08: Witness

Rick stared down at the notebook page, then up to his friend, then back down again. "So, let me get this straight," he grinned. "After just one session, you wrote this?"

"Yes," Chris nodded and smiled. He took a slow sip from his steaming mug of coffee and then crossed his tattooed arms over his chest. "Why? Is there something wrong with it?"

"Not hardly," his friend laughed. "Last time I was here, you were showing me lyrics about murdering people, dismembering their bodies and then scattering the bones to the wind to hide the crime. Now you've got lines like," he paused to glance down at the page and read softly. "'You are an image of everything that is me, and I want to witness all that you shall be.'"

The vocalist shrugged. "It's rhyme-y, sure, but I think it explains where my head is at right now."

"I'm not arguing with it," Rick laughed. Taking a sip from his own mug and leaning back in his chair, he sighed. "This is like a fucking major one-eighty, dude, and I must say that I am very happy to see it!"

Chris smiled warmly. "Thank you for putting up with my shit for the past, well, year. I've been pretty ugly, and I've gone to some dark places, no doubt."

"Sure thing," Rick nodded in agreement. "That's what friends are for, right?"

Strolling into the kitchen to join his bandmates, Ryan began singing, "Can you feel the love tonight?"

Chris snorted, and Rick shook his head and rolled his eyes. "What's up with you, asshole?"

The guitarist tossed himself down into a chair at the small glass table and shrugged. "I've been."

"You've been, huh?" Rick quirked an eyebrow at his friend. 

Again, Ryan shrugged. "I went hiking last week with some peeps, went shopping over the weekend. Shot some hoops on Monday and here I am today!" He did a kind of jazz hands gesture at this and smirked. "I've been."

Chris laughed. "We're glad you've been!"

"Me too," the other man smirked. "So, 'sup?"

"We're just starting to piece together some lyrics for a few of the newer songs," Rick explained, jostling random papers across the table-top and pointing toward his open notebook. "That instrumental piece that you e-mailed us last week? Chris might have some lyrics for it that are spot-on."

"No shit?" Ryan grinned as he took the notebook that was passed to him. His brown eyes scanned each line slowly, and midway through he began to chew his bottom lip in contemplation. When he had finished reading, he began to shake his head slowly back and forth. "Shit, man, that's heavy shit! I dig the line 'When I look into your eyes, I see the man I want to be'. The words are simple but the meaning is deep, and it could be applied to so many situations."