Sally tore off the page, crumpled it off and threw it in the overflowing trash bin.
Calm down, she tried to tell herself. Her hands were itching to play a chord so hard that the strings just break. If that would even help.
It would just mean extra work for her.
The management had given the deadline for the song within this week. And she had concerts everyday, and today was the only chance she'd get to write a complete song.
So Sally had been spending the last four hours, trying to come up with a good song.
Why did I become a god forsaken singer?
Pressure. Parental. Peers. Everyone. 'A good voice must not be lost', 'Oh! You're so creative, writing songs at the age of ten!'.
Compliments, yes, but very tiring. A lifelong cause of exhaustion.
Kringgg, kringgg
Sally wanted to grab the phone and throw it across the room. If it turned out to be the agency, she swore that it would be what she did.
It was her elder brother, Elijah.
"How far with the song?" his soft voice asked from the other side.
"Nowhere. I don't even know what to write it about."
There was a little pause as Sally heard the sound of traffic coming through the phone.
"What would be the easiest thing for you to write about?"
"I have no idea, brother..." she started saying, as the panic settled. She didn't talk about it for so long, she kept it all inside, because she knew that if she started talking about the stress she was feeling, she would end up having a breakdown. "I feel so scared...I don't know if I can do this, I don't know if I want to continue doing this, if I should leave, if I should let go of all these issues. I don't know what I should do..."
"Sal, calm down for a bit," came his voice. "I give you an hour. Grab your phone, open your gallery, and scroll through the pictures you've saved up in your favorites."
Sally was slightly confused about what that was supposed to do. "And after one hour...?"
"I'll be back and I'll talk to you about it."
"You got off work early today?"
"Yup, I got some work that needs to be done online, so I decided to come home and finish it. The boss has faith in me."
"Huh, such a reliable dude."
"Your brother is the most reliable person you can find out there."
"Okay, I shouldn't have complimented you, ass."
"Uh huh, now you go and finish the assignment I gave you. Keep in mind to keep the guitar in your hand while you go through the pictures and videos."
"Sure, although I still don't get what's gonna happen."
"That's a mystery to solve after you finish the assignment," Elijah said with a smirk, ending the call.
Sally frowned at her phone for a bit before moving to comply. Elijah was smart, the smartest person she knew. He doesn't speak or do things without a reason. Whatever his reason may be, Sally knew him well enough to know that it's best to just listen to him till he explains, because in the end, he will. And when he does, you realize it was a grave mistake to not take him seriously.
She opened gallery and opened the 'Favorites' folder. It was mostly pictures of trips or get-togethers with her friends and brother. Her brother was the person who was closest to her, second to none. And he always helped her out whenever she was in any sort of fix.
We all need someone like him in our life, she thought as she smiled a bit at a picture of her preparing to throw a snowball at him from behind as he tried to pretend as if he didn't know.
There were more pictures, him being by her side when she got her first award, and older pictures of when they were younger, Elijah teaching her guitar.
Then she saw a picture of an old postcard she had got from Elijah when she had gone to Germany for a concert.
It was a short , dumb poem he had written. Which had succeeded in making her smile.
Even when the night falls in a foreign land,
And for once, I'm not by your side,
You just have to wait for me with your band
For I'll soon be right there, smiling wide.
Sally paused for a moment and then hurriedly grabbed her notebook, writing down the poem.
Wait. I can feel something building up. The lyrics! I have to write it down before I forget.
She shut out all other background noises that surrounded her.
The sound that finally shook her out of her reverie was the sound of the bell. By then, her song was done as well. She had also figured out the basic chords. What was left was the drum fill, the bass, and the finer notes, for which she just had to hand in the prepared version to her band.
The door below opened as someone had opened the door for the 'guest' who strode right to her room and opened the ajar door.
"So Sally, still need help with the song?" Elijah said, with a smirky smile at her as he took in the condition of the room: Sally on her chair, the guitar and phone lying on the bed, and her notebook opened and full of text in various colors of ink.
"Nope, you're just slightly too late," Sally said, smiling back sarcastically. "Why do you like suspense so much? It makes things so much harder than they need to be."
"What's the fun in doing the easy thing?" he said, coming in and sitting at the edge of the bed. "Besides, if I had told you my intention behind telling you to scroll through your gallery, would you have been able to go on a roll and finish it? Your mind would think like 'I need to look for inspiration in these pictures and write the song'. Since I didn't tell you, your mind got the chance to relax. And a relaxed mind is the starting point of any creation. If you're stressing and forcing yourself to create something, you would be able to do nothing."
"I don't remember you doing an MA in psychology," muttered Sally under her breath.
"Hehe, anyway, I wanna hear what you wrote."
"No. Come to the studio during the recording day."
"Why can't I hear now?"
"Suspense. Do you even know what's in my favorites section of the gallery?"
Elijah thought for some time. "Don't know, probably trips and friends? I'm unsure since you got no significant other, or super close friend, but things like that I guess? Or maybe lives and certificates and prizes that you won."
"Wow, what kind of person do you think I am?"
"A failure at romance, and a person who is a tsundere to herself, but takes pride in her work too," said Elijah and quickly ran out of the room before Sally could throw anything at him.
"Dumbass," she muttered. "Just come to the studio when I record it."
