Young Writers Society

“Don't worry, you're gonna do great. We all have faith in you.”

Man, I wish I could believe that. This was a big deal. A really big deal. People needed to hear what I had to say, well sing.

I just hope I picked the right song.

My hands were sweating like crazy. And shaking. I looked at our drummer, Courtney. She was twirling a drumstick through her fingers, something she did when she was nervous.

Glad to know I'm not alone. We only get one chance to sing one song. Every performance so far had been fantastic, like I knew it would. There had been other bands singing on stage, a gymnast team doing flips in the middle of the arena, and now a dance company was performing a routine to some inspiring song I couldn't remember the name of. My brother, Michael was staring at me.

“Did you hear me?” he asks. He's our electric guitar player and backup vocalist. A neon green guitar was strapped around his neck as he picked some warm up chords. The rest of our instruments were set on stage, but Michael never let anyone touch his guitar so he just kept it around him. I swallowed.

“Y-yes, it's just that there's a whole lot of people here, dude.” I answered. He grinned.

“Well I would imagine that a lot of people would attend a Relay For Life event,” he says. I sighed and turned to look around. There were at least fifty booths set up around the civic center. Each one was selling something that would go to Relay For Life charities. In the center there was a link of fences set in a circle that people had been walking around. They were walking for family members and friends that had been taken by cancer and for those battling it. Some of them are gonna be walking all night.

We were doing this as a tribute to my other brother, Jaiden. He had passed away just last year from leukemia, but he had been battling it for years. He was just eighteen. Two years older than me and four older than Michael.

“Maybe they won't pay attention to us,” I say turning to look at my band. Austin, our bass player, smiled at me.

“Aaron, when they hear your voice they're gonna drop everything and listen to you.” I had to admit that made me feel a little better but I was still as nervous as hell.

“And I know Jaiden would have loved to be here to listen to you.” Courtney added. Now that made me feel whole. Jaiden had taught all of us everything there was to know about music.

We all looked up at the stage and watched as the dance team performed its final moves. My heart began to pound. The team bowed, lined up, and filed off stage. Courtney tapped my shoulder.

“We're up. Let's go.”

I sighed and followed the rest of my band up the stage. My legs felt like jelly and I could barely breath. I walked to the front of the stage and took my place behind the keyboard. Thankfully my hands had stopped shaking. I positioned the mic in front of my mouth and made sure everyone was in their place: Michael on my right, Austin on my left, and Courtney backing us up. I took one last deep breath and leaned into the microphone.

“Hi,” my voice boomed, “We're Emotion and we're gonna be covering The Script's song, “Live Like We're Dying,” I paused,”This is for you, Jaiden,” A few people turned and looked at us, “We picked this song because it was something he had always said. He never looked down on the fact that he was dying. He always looked up.”

I positioned my fingers over the A minor chord and turned and nodded to Courtney. I turned my head back and faced the crowd. Three wooden clicks counted us off. Michael walked a little to the front of the stage as he began playing the guitar intro. My part was almost up. I took a breath and leaned into the microphone.

“Sometimes we fall down, can't get back up

We're hiding behind skin that's too tough

How come we don't say I love you enough

Till it's to late, it's not too late,”

My adrenaline started to rise. Some people started making their way towards the stage. I turned and smiled at Michael. He smiled back.

“Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come

And we could make a feast from these crumbs

And we're all staring down the barrel of a gun

So if your life flashed before you,

What would you wish you would've done?”

Michael and Austin leaned in the microphone to sing with me.

“Yeah, we gotta start

Looking at the hands of the time we've been given

If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking

If every second counts on a clock that's ticking

Gotta live like we're dying.”

“We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to

Turn it all around or to throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them

While we got the chance to say

Gotta live like we're dying.”

I was in the zone now. My voice echoed throughout the center. There were at least a hundred people at the foot of the stage dancing and singing along now.

“And if your plane fell out of the skies

Who would you call with your last goodbye

Should be so careful who we live out our lives

So when we long for absolution,

There'll be no one on the line, yeah.”

“Yeah, we gotta start

Looking at the hands of the time we've been given

If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking

If every second counts on a clock that's ticking

Gotta live like we're dying.”

“We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to

Turn it all around or to throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them

While we got the chance to say

Gotta live like we're dying.”

I could picture Jaiden's face as he showed me this song for the first time. His soprano voice echoed throughout my head remembering when he taught me how to play and sing it.“

Like we're dying, oh, like we're dying.”

“We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to

Turn it all around or to throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them

While we got the chance to say

Gotta live like we're dying.”

“You never know a good thing till it's gone

You never see a crash till it's head on

Why do we think we're right when we're dead wrong

You never know a good thing till it's gone.”

“Yeah, we gotta start

Looking at the hands of the time we've been given

If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking

If every second counts on a clock that's ticking.”

Gotta live like we're dying.”

“We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to

Turn it all around or to throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them

While we got the chance to say

Gotta live like we're dying.”

“Like we're dying, oh, like we're dying..”

“We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to

Turn it all around or to throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them

While we got the chance to say

Gotta live like we're dying.”

A huge applause erupted from the crowd as Courtney crashed against the cymbals and Michael rang out the last notes on his guitar. I leaned one last time into the microphone.

“Thank you everyone!” I say. I looked up, reached my hand out, and said a silent prayer.

“I'll always live like I'm dying, Jaiden,” I finish.