Chords Against Tyranny

“Could you be any slower? I thought you were the smart kid”

I sighed exasperated, turning around to Maya hanging upside down from my bed. The leather spinning chair squeaked in annoyance. She was blowing her bangs up out of her face. Her pale freckled face scrunched in mock determination.

“No one forced you to come,” I grumbled. The endless train trying to pick through every memory of every song I had ever written along with the constant pacing and sitting back down was starting to make me dizzy. The family picture sitting on my dark wooden desk seemed to be taunting me, like it knew something I didn't.

“Oh come on,” She replied, twirling a strand of hair. “Miss out on a genuis musician with crippling depression save the world? Never”

I stuttered on my words. “I-I’m not any of those things!” I exclaimed.

She tilted her head at me curiously, the sunlight from the freshly cleaned window igniting her hair like fire.

“Why don’t you believe in yourself?”

My stomach dropped. I was at a loss for words, that psychological jab caught me off guard. This partnership we had was getting way too personal for my liking. I’ve worked so hard to avoid another betrayal like before, the kind that stabs you deep, hitting every insecurity and fading pieces of trust on the way through your back. It was better this way, keeping to myself. As long as it meant never feeling like that again, or risking what had happened to my dad from happening to me. When your dad’s murdered by his best friend you tend to have some trust issues.

But the inside workings of my screwed up brain was the least of my worries at that moment. The sound of the clock ticking pounded in my skull like a bomb about to explode. It had been a few days since I had last heard from my future self. I had no idea how precautious the situation was right then. All I knew was that time was running out. The pressure was beginning to weigh on me, and the guilt. What is it about this particular melody that my mind just won’t let me remember? I could remember everything I had played since I was five. It was like I had locked it away in a top secret vault never to be accessed again.

Running a hand through my short chestnut hair I began pacing the room. The air was thick and heavy and I went to my window to shove it open. I think Maya could tell I was getting agitated because she fixated herself so she was sitting up and looked at me worriedly.

“Listen, are you sure you can’t remember anything else? I’m sure we could try more to try to jog your memory if-”

She was interrupted by the sound of knocking on my door.

“Leo?” My mother called. “Can I come in?”

I gave a helpless glance to Maya. I’ve never really had friends over, let alone a girl. Not that anything has or would happen but…. there’s a good chance she might be a little too excited that I had finally, as she would say, “come out of my shell.”

“Come in!” I replied hesitantly.

My mother opened the door slowly and peeked in.

“Oh hello!” She chirped to Maya, sapphire eyes lighting up. “Are you a friend of Leo’s?”

Before she could answer I jumped in defensively.

“She’s just a classmate mom, we got paired up for a project and we were just trying to come up with a thesis,” I said stiffly.

I felt a slight stab of guilt at the sound of Maya wincing quietly, but what was I supposed to say? We weren’t friends. She just so happened to stumble into this whole mess I had to deal with. At the time the sound of someone helping felt like a huge relief. Unfortunately we’ve gotten absolutely nowhere. From hypnosis to meditation and everything in between, nothing was working and now my bedroom permanently smelled like “fresh golden coast” incense. I was starting to think I should have just tried to figure something out myself.

“Oh alright then” My mother replied in disappointment. “I just came to tell you I was going through some stuff in the attic and, this is your dads right?”

She opened her palm to reveal a small triangular piece of plastic. After taking a step forward and observing it more closely my throat contracted realizing what it was.

That day was a really awful one for me. The day my friends had decided I wasn’t worth it anymore. When I came home all I wanted to do was hide in my room, but my dad had insisted on trying to get me to tell him what was wrong. After I refused he left me alone, but told me he had something cool to show me. His new guitar pic, with little chemistry symbols that I thought was the coolest thing ever at the time. We sat down, and I played my first original melody. I remember the feeling, the sensation of the chords vibrating through my fingertips. He was so proud of me, maybe even more proud than I was of myself.

That wasn’t the melody I was looking for though. No, the one I was trying to remember was buried deep in my memories, overshadowed by the worst day of my life. I was in a particular good mood that day, a rarity for me at the time. My dad had been working overtime so I could get presents for Christmas. It all seems so pointless thinking about it now. I wanted to give him something special for working so hard. I found an unfinished sheet music and finished it for him. I was going to show him when he got home.

I didn’t know he was never going to come home.

My heart sped up as more memories came back to me. I was torn between falling apart and jumping for joy. I recorded it. There was a tape.

And I knew exactly where it was.

~2046~. The State Capital.~

Beep. Beep. Beep. Attention workers in shift 3. Your shift is ending soon. Please make your way to the shuttles.

“Dude” Maya hissed at me from her desk. “Has he contacted you yet?”

I groaned. “No he hasn’t.”

“We’re running out of time! The festival starts in 15 minutes.”

“I know I know I-” My bag started vibrating.

Maya gasped and looked at me with wide eyes that I mirrored back at her. We gave each other a silent nod.

…

“Hurry up!” Maya shouted as she ran in front of the group.

“Come on Maya!” I gasped. “You know I’m not athletic!”

The sounds of the group's footsteps pounded on the lush carpeted floors echoed through the high ceiling and vast hallways. Maya slowed down a little, I caught up to her wheezing a little trying to catch my breath. I stopped to lean against the wall letting people pass us by.

“Leo?” She asked, turning around. “What's wrong?”

My chest felt like there was a fist squeezing it, but it had nothing to do with the running. I looked back up at Maya and sighed.

“Maybe you shouldn’t come,” I muttered.

“What?” She marched up to me with a glare. “And why is that?”

“Maya this could go badly what if…”

“Hey!” She grabbed my shoulders. “None of that mister! We’re both gonna be perfectly fine. Well, at least I will, I can run and fight, you cannot. Which is exactly why we’ll stick close together to keep each other safe, okay?”

Even though what she was saying made sense, I was still bothered. I guess she must have noticed because she dropped my shoulders and wrapped her arms around me tightly.

“Listen,” She said softly. “You are my best friend, have been since junior year. I was always seen as this weirdo and outcast, but then I met you, and even BIGGER weirdo and outcast”

I chuckled.

“I want to free the people as much as you do. You might have some guilty conscience that says it's your fault and you need to fix it yourself but, that's not the case. So let's go and end this, yeah? Oh and I’ll help you get with Max after this”

She winked.

I smiled as she stepped back.

“Yeah”

…

“Does everybody have their headphones?!” I shouted.

There were a series of yeps and yes’s and oh shoot’s. We pilied as many people as we could into the elevator and the rest of us bounded up the spiral staircase. I made sure to pay attention to the sounds around me, so that if the sound began going off I could alert everybody right away. It was important everybody put them on as quickly as possible, before the mind control sets in.

Security guards were on us the moment we made it up to the presidential level. I stumbled trying my best to dodge anyone coming once we were coming up to the control room. A person tackled me to the ground, my shoulder slammed into the marble flooring and sharp pain shot down my arm. Through the fogginess I managed to twist my attacker's arm and wrestle the gun out of his hands.

With an unsteady hand I shot his shoulder making scream in agony and got off of me. I pushed myself up shakily and kept running. A few minutes later I could hear the sounds. It started worming its way into my brain, almost making me forget what I was supposed to be doing. I shoved the sound proof headphones onto my head and kept moving forward.

I passed by the grand event hall glancing at the crowd of people there. I sucked in a breath of horror at their void expressions and willed myself to move faster. Even though my chest burned and my legs were numbing I didn’t stop until I made it to the control room on the opposite side. There were no guards, but that was to be expected. No one could bypass the complicated digital lock the president had put on every single door in this place. No one except me of course.

I grasped for the USB in my coat pocket and shoved it into the side of the keypad. A little screen came up with a percentage.

0% 5% 10%

I pounded on the door willing it to go faster. Then I heard a voice behind me.

“Go faster you stupid lock” I whisper yelled.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

I whipped my head around finding myself face to face with President Roland himself. His cold dead eyes bore into mine, his sharp features pulled down into a sneer. He straightened his cherry red tie walking towards me nonchalantly.

“My own godson, trying to ruin me.” He said with an alarming amount of calm.

My hands folded into fists, my nails biting into the skin.

“Don’t call me that” I grit out.

He smiled, and I was overwhelmed with the desire to smack it off of his face.

“You look just like your father you know” He replied, taking a step closer.

The rage was almost blinding now, through my vision all I could see was a hazy red.

“You don’t get to talk about my father you murderer” I spat.

He shrugged like my fathers death was merely a slight inconvenience.

“He knew what we could accomplish if we finished that melody, but he didn’t care. Lucky me you were there to complete the puzzle. Right Leo?”

My rage subsided a bit and was replaced by a sick feeling. Part of me is saying it's not really my fault, but deep down I don’t honestly believe that.

“I won’t let you control me or anyone else anymore” I stated as clearly as I could with my voice trembling.

“You really think a little thing like you can stop me?” His muffled voice barely reached through the headphones, but sent a chill down my spine nonetheless.

“I’m certainly going to try” I bit back trying to sound every bit as confident as I wasn’t. I desperately looked around trying to see if anyone had come here with me, but I saw no one.

In a flash the president had a fistful of my shirt and slammed me against the cold metal door. My head pounded as a shrill ringing echoed in my ears. He ripped the headphones off my head with a jerk, tossing them to the floor. The sound of the mind control mechanism starts to fill my ears. I strain against it even as my brain starts to feel hazy.

“Don’t be a fool!” He spat. “You’re alone, and just as weak as the rest of this pathetic country, and soon they will all be under my control so everything will finally be as it should be. Perfect.”

I struggled against his unmoving hold and glared up at him with renowned determination despite my growing lightheadedness.

“You’re wrong.” I growled. “ The people aren’t weak. Together, working against this messed up society youcreated, we’re stronger than you’ll ever be. Who cares if we’re not perfect? We try. In the end that's all that matters. Oh, and I’m not alone.”

A fist came from the side and landed a perfect hit to the side of his perfectly symmetrical jaw. He let go howling in pain. Maya stood behind him and gave me a thumbs up. I smiled and turned to swing the door open as I saw her jump on his back with all the rage of a roaring inferno.

I slammed the door behind me and looked around at all the blinking lights and buttons. When I found what I was looking for I almost cried in relief. I jumped to the computer, accidentally knocking over the chair. I typed furiously until the code was fully updated. I slammed a hand down on the audio control and the sound of my original melody blasted into the speakers.

One by one I saw the people in the room through the window start to come back to themselves. I knew this wasn’t over, but I could feel in my gut the worst of it had passed., and so had my guilt.

~2026. Liberty High School~

I gulped feeling more nervous with every step I took to the school. I was glad the whole mess with my future self got resolved, but something still bothered me. Even though we had succeeded Maya had felt off when she left my house. I didn’t know what to do to make things better, or if it was even a good idea to.

My thoughts were loud and distracting the whole way to the chemistry lab. This whole crisis reminded me why I decided not to give up on music. To honor my past and strive for a better future. Maybe it’s not the only thing I shouldn’t give up on.

I sat down next to Maya who was scrolling on her phone and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry”

She raised an eyebrow. “Go on”

“You’ve done nothing but be kind and try to help me all week, and I just dismissed it and pushed you away. It was cruel. I think I just… it’s hard, after being by myself for a while, to try to have a friend again, but I think, I think I can trust you.”

Her face lit up and she jumped up to wrap her arms around my shoulders. After a little hesitation I hugged her back awkwardly.

“So, chemistry project, for real now?”

She groaned. “You’re a nerd.”

“I know”

The End