Glad You Came - The Wanted (Instrumental)

(I was going to go with ninja Kirby, but then I decided to go with Meta Knight because he's awesome)

This song has been stuck in my head ever since one of the clubs used it in their Makin' Music show. I can actually sign the chorus too, more or less. Still working on that.

Oh yeah, our club won the Spirit of Makin' Music award! Woot! See big trophy thing below.

And here be a couple videos of the cast in costume and such. 

NOTE: Turn down the volume on this one. The person recording has a tendency 

to cheer and scream really loudly as she is filming. XD

Every club did an amazing job ^_^

Anywho, The Monday after I finished with Makin' Music stuff (Saturday), I volunteered to be a stagehand for the Cinderella musical. We had five official performances of that (ending Sunday afternoon).
After two weeks of music, singing, choreography, catching flying props, moving heavy props, and hiding in shadows behind curtains, I think I'm done. I don't regret any of it (except maybe for the parts where I didn't have enough time to study for test), but now I'm really tired. Just two weeks left of school and a week of finals! YAY! That means I'm this close to seeing my family. ^_^

Oh, oh! And some amazing friends of mine hosted a bake sale for my family (since buying 7 plane tickets to travel halfway round the world then driving all up and down the east coast takes money). The awesome part is, they came to me with this idea and said, "Hey, we want to do something for your family. We're having a bake sale and we want you to sit at the tables and help us." So I did. I kinda felt bad though because I didn't help with baking the cookies (because I was at work from 6-10 or later every night last week working with the musical.)

Now just to get back into the groove of being seen in public and doing well on assignments. And getting enough rest. I need to do that.

I relax by writing so, lucky you, I have more story.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The Promised Land: (Part 9) Dead Man 

Eden ran around the truck and ducked behind a broken wall. She peered over the crumbling brick to look for Caden. A few toppled cars littered the ground in front of her hiding place. There he was, huddled behind a smashed vehicle with his weapons ready. A few more shots went off from an unknown location. With a deep breath, Caden spun out from behind his shelter and ran into enemy fire. Swerving to the sound of gunshots, Caden leapt to the hood and top of a car. Without missing a beat, he somersaulted over the side, shot three bullets from each gun mid-flip, and rolled into a crouch when he landed with two dead men behind him. Sprinting once again, Caden fired into enemies on either side as he ran by their rubble hideaways. He darted into an opening of a two-story building with a large chunk of wall taken out of the corner. Eden could still hear gunshots, but she couldn’t see where Caden disappeared to. Within a few minutes, she spotted him on the rooftop. He jumped from the roof to a barren flagpole and slid down like a firefighter. Upon reaching the ground, he stood straight and rolled his shoulders back. Walking back to the truck, Caden scooped up a rifle and rested it on his right shoulder.

“How can a preteen have that much skill?” Eden asked herself in surprise. She was both amazed and terrified by what she just witnessed. “Were this a movie, I wouldn’t think twice about it.” Eden wasn’t quite sure if this increased or decreased her trust in these two mysterious wanderers. She turned around and screamed when she saw a pale and silver face in front of hers. Shiloh jumped back with his eyes incredibly wide. Apparently, he hadn’t expected her to turn around so fast, just as she hadn’t expected him to be standing behind her.
“Sorry, Shiloh,” Eden said as she tried to get her breathing under control again. “You scared me.”

With a sheepish grin, he handed her the jean jacket she left behind.

“Oh, thanks.” As Eden took the article, something touched her shoulder and she spun around, screaming a second time.

Caden stood back with his hands up. “Jumpy much?”

Eden didn’t realize he was wearing fingerless gloves until just now. She wondered if he had them on the whole time or if he put them on when she wasn’t looking. His dark eyes were red, presumably from use in his little escapade.

“I-I just…” In her anxiety, Eden failed a few times in trying to get her arm through the sleeve. She almost put it on backwards at one point. “Never mind. How old are you?”

Caden tilted his head. “Sixteen. Why?”

“How in the world did you do that?”

“…Do what?” His confused expression melted into a smirk, which Eden found entirely obnoxious.

She crossed her arms and frowned. “You know very well what. The Jason Bourne, ninja-spawn moves!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Caden shook his head and turned to look at the scene.

“Yes, you do!”

“Hush.” Caden dropped the rifle from its resting position on his shoulder and glanced around suspiciously. He was tense, but Eden remained oblivious.

“I most certainly will not hush. You can get yourself ki-”

“Would you just-”

Something tackled Eden just as gunfire exploded. A sharp yell blasted through her eardrums. With her hands pressed firmly against her ringing ears, Eden vaguely heard Caden fire back. Whatever force knocked her to the ground kept her pinned down. Eden had no idea where the sound blast came from, but her ears were ringing like crazy. She kept her eyes shut and curled into a ball as soon as the pressure holding her down was lifted. When she cracked her eyes open, she realized something was terribly wrong. Ears still roaring and panic building, Eden sat up with her hands still clamped against her head.

Shiloh was lying on his side with Caden kneeling beside him, speaking quietly. Shiloh would slowly nod or shake his head every now and then, but his face was scrunched in pain the whole time. As the ringing died down, Eden removed her hands and crept closer.

Dazed, she didn’t know what to do. “Are… are you ok?”

Shiloh answered with a loud hiss from his clenched teeth. Eden glanced up to find Caden’s red glare burning through her.

“Instead of sitting here,” he said in a calm, but stern manner, “why don’t you make yourself useful and find a car that works?”

Eden gulped. “But… what if there are more people with guns?”

“Then use yourself as a meat shield next time.” Caden’s attention turned back to his brother. Hurt, Eden felt tears welling up as she stood. After all, it wasn’t her fault that Shiloh was injured. Right? She never asked for his protection. She didn’t even ask to be here. Everything was going just fine until she woke up in this nightmare. Nevertheless, Eden obeyed and started her search.

Eden hoped Shiloh would be ok. If he wasn’t… She tried not to think about it. She crept between bodies and debris. It was deathly quiet and, without Caden’s heavy coat over her thin jacket, she was cold again. She wondered if the whole country was this way: cold, dry, silent, and dead. Eden wished for something living. She wanted to see green grass, blue sky, and yellow flowers again. Thinking back to her task, Eden found two trucks that looked semi-decent parked behind a large, bare tree. They were both unlocked and the windows were down, but Eden couldn’t find keys for either one. Picturing the missing keys on the a dead body somewhere disturbed her. She didn’t know how to hotwire a truck and didn’t think she could figure it out on the first try. She continued her search, but only came up with rubble. Eden made her way back to the twins. Shiloh was lying on his back now, but he looked like he was in even more pain than before. He winced with every breath. Caden ignored Eden’s approach entirely and continued whispered to Shiloh. The only words Eden caught were, “…blockhead…sacrifice…hero…Dad…”

Bump in the Night - Allstars

This song really has nothing to do with the rest of the story. However, it does relate to Makin' Music!

Yes, I told myself I'd never do it again, but here I am. Remember two years ago when I talked about being the queen of hearts and being in this big music production?

http://playitgrand.blogspot.com/2011/04/all-right-moves-onerepublic.html

Now you do. 

Anyway, this year's show is awesome. Better than the one I did two years ago. I'm not actually a member of the cast this year (no fancy dress, makeup, or choreography). I'm a stagehand instead. 

It's like, all the fun without the sore feet and time dedication. This show is about aliens on Pluto (Say what you want, it's still a planet) and they mine blue crystals, but some astronauts come and try to steal them. It's awesome. ^_^

Here's the tech run. If I get a better video of the final production, I'll post that later. 

Course this is before the significant improvement of costumes, additional props, and more practice/synched choreography. 

Note: I am not the guy who runs out and grabs the crystals. Nor am I on the side with the spaceship. I'm actually on the OTHER side, waiting to work with props that weren't made yet. XD

Anywho, here be more story. 

The Promised Land: (Part 8) The Sound of Silence

“We have to keep moving,” Caden said as he walked ahead. He didn’t answer Eden’s question. He didn’t want to. He was tired of being interrogated. Most of all, he was tired of her. Eden was everything he wasn’t: talkative, whiny, annoying, helpless, and selfish. The last two were what really got to him. “If there’s anything worse than a blue, it’s a grey,” he thought to himself. “Who knows how many people were killed in Jericho and she doesn’t even care. She doesn’t have a clue. What if those soldiers reached- No. Don’t think about that. I’m sure they’re just fine. These attacks aren’t as rare as they used to be. Now the Atari is involved. We need to complete our mission before it’s too late.”

Caden continued walking in deep contemplation. Behind him, Eden pulled out her slider phone and texted Shiloh again.

“What’s his problem?”

“He’s probably still upset about the bacon.”

“What’s really wrong with him?”

“Nothing. Maybe he’s just mad because you keep speaking. Talkative people sort of annoy him.”

“So I talk too much?”

“Not to me, I enjoy the company. When you’re not yelling, that is.”

“Thanks, I guess... You know what, kid? You’re all right, but your brother’s got issues.”

“Don’t mind him too much. He’s not so bad once you get to know him.”

“If you say so.”

“I can go talk to him.”

Eden nodded and tucked the phone into her pocket after Shiloh handed it back to her. She watched Shiloh increase his speed until he caught up with his brother.

He walked along for a few moments before swatting Caden’s arm to get his attention. From there, the two proceeded to communicate with each other.

Had Eden been able to understand the various hand gestures, she might have been able to pick up pieces of the conversation. As far as she was concerned, it just looked like Caden and Shiloh were preforming a strange air guitar battle. Every now and then they would point back at her, but neither one looked in her direction.

Eden wasn’t happy that she couldn’t understand the conversation, especially since it seemed to involve her.

“Somehow,” she thought, “people talking about you in front of you is just as bad as if they were talking behind your back, especially when you don’t know what they’re saying. I bet they’re still planning to ditch me at the next town.”

Eden decided to focus on something other than the two teenagers in front of her. The scenery hadn’t changed all that much. The sky had a little bluer tint than it did before, but it was still overcast and dreary. The trees still had leaves clinging to the branches, though most were brown or deep red. There were a few scattered buildings here and there in the distance, probably old houses that were once ransacked and left for nature to take over. Where are all the people? Where are all the animals? Eden wasn’t sure she enjoyed the dead silence. In fact the longer they walked in silence, the more she loathed it. Even the wind had died down to nothing but mere whispers. Eden was glad she chose to stay with Caden and Shiloh, even if she did question their methods and sanity. She dreaded the thought of being in this dead silence all by herself. An icy shiver ran up her spine, but not from the cold. Again she redirected her thoughts, this time to Jericho. “I wonder how many ‘infected’ are there. I hope that guy wasn’t really serious about putting them out of their misery. Is being Infected really that bad? Is being Pure any better? I wonder if there are zombies…”

After a while, Shiloh slowed his pace to walk beside Eden again. Resuming their phone conversation, Eden typed, “What did he say?”

“That you’re grey.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Not exactly. He doesn’t like greys.”

“Oh. What did you tell him?”

“To give you a chance.”

“Is he going to?”

“He might.”

Going against her better judgment, Eden decided to pester Caden again. “How much father do we have to go?”

Caden stayed ahead of the two, but raised his voice so he wouldn’t have to turn around or slow down. “Jericho is still about 20 miles away.”

That meant nothing to Eden, other than it should be a 20-minute car ride. Or at least it would have been had they not lost the jeep. “… How fast are we walking?”

“Not fast enough to get us there in less than five hours.”

“FIVE HOURS?!” Eden unintentionally exploded. “Are you kidding me? How are we supposed to walk that long? What about stopping for food or rest? My feet can’t possibly last that long!”

Caden ran a hand through his dark hair with a deep breath. “We don’t have to worry about food. All our provisions were in the je-”

“And resting? We have to stop some time!”

“Then it will just take us longer to ge-”

“But that’s FIVE hours!”

Caden turned his head just enough so he could see Eden. “You have a bad habit of cutting people off, you know that? Walk faster.”

“But I’m getting tired.”

“Already? We haven’t been walking that long.”

“Can we stop soon?”

“Are you serious?” Caden threw his hands into the air. “We haven’t even walked a whole hour yet!”

“I was up early this morning.”

Caden’s palm slapped his face so hard, Eden wondered if he would knock himself unconscious if she kept talking. She looked to find Shiloh shaking his head, shoulders juddering with concealed laughter.

“Why?” Caden asked through gritted teeth. “Why won’t you stop talking?”

Eden let the question linger until the silence sunk in for a few moments. She solemnly whispered, “It’s too quiet. How can you stand it?”

Caden didn’t answer. If there was anything Eden really didn’t want right now, it was the silent treatment. They were coming up on what looked like another bombsite. Charred buildings and pieces of heavy machinery littered the ground. The closer they got to the ruins, the slower Caden walked. He stopped when they reached a semi truck lying on its side.

“Stay here,” he whispered. With minimal sound, he slid his bag off, drew two pistols, and slunk around the front of the truck. Eden moved to follow him when Shiloh grabbed the arm of her coat.

Eden whispered in protest, “I just want-.” Shiloh’s green eyes stared back intently as he shook his head. As soon as she heard gunfire, Eden slid out of the sleeves and made a run for it, leaving behind a bewildered Shiloh and empty coat.