Matt popped the tape into his Walkman and listened to it, rather impressed at what he heard. He heard a set of bridge chords running at a speed he had never thought possible. He grabbed his Walkman and rewound the tape so he that he could hear it again. He would have rewound it the entire thing and listened to it from the start, but he wanted to listen to the whole thing before he reached school and rewinding would take time; a problem the compact disc player would make easy once it started becoming popular and cheaper. But till then, it was the good old fashioned tape.
He kept on listening until the rain stopped at the station he was supposed to get off at. He picked up his bag, careful no to get entangled in the wire that came out of it, and walked out of the door still listening. Enchanting maybe the wrong word to use to describe rock music but Matt was really enchanted. even when he was through the college gates where at times the discipline master stood, he was reluctant to take off his headphones. But as he approached the assembly area, he took off the metal band that connected the two little woolly muffs and placed them in his bag. He was not only amazed at the music but also at the fact that the band's lead singer had given him the tape in the first place. It was a demo tape that contained five songs, one of which they had not even played for anyone else yet. He was amazed that Gavin had even thought about him when he was giving out the tape. Considering they had quite a negative and short-lived history, Matt had even been suspicious when the tape was handed to him. Matt had dated Gavin's sister for awhile and she had been unusually upset about their breakup. The story was long and tedious and he did not want to go through it in his mind. Gavin was two years older than his sister and the same age as Matt was. Matt and Gavin had known each other through basketball and were closer than acquaintances but not close enough to be called friends. The day after the breakup, Gavin had cornered Matt before school started. Being considerably larger than he was, Gavin took him by the collar to pin him against the wall.
Well, the story went as one would think the story would go. Gavin shouted a number of not so empty threats and Matt nodded a lot, wanting to be out of the bathroom and in the safe company of people. The rest of the day had gone by as usual and so had the rest of the days till then. They no longer talked. The tape occurrence was indeed a very strange thing. Maybe it was his way of saying that things were okay between them. Of course he had only thought that in the morning. He saw Gavin three times that day and was totally ignored by him. The song was all he could think about so it did not matter. He knew Gavin's band had been good but he had had no idea that they were super good. He supposed that Matt would have just been giving it out to everybody and that he just happened to see him first. Either way, good music did not need a reason and he was happy with the tape.
He found himself listening to that particular song once again during his lecture while trying to concentrate on indices. He happened to look down at the rows in front of him and found Gavin staring up at him. When their eyes made contact, Gavin's lips curled up into smile. Matt would have smiled back if he had not thought that Gavin's smile was more for himself than for Matt. It was three days late when Matt found himself listening to the same song on the train to school. He had come to not simply be amazed by the music but had almost come to fall in love with the song. He had kept rewinding it and playing it over and over. Each time he listened to it, he would discover something new about the song, the way the last chord of the second verse would reverberate, the way it almost sounded as if there were two sets of drums. Gavin must have used some electronics device on his voice for the last part.
He had developed a headache on the second night when he was trying to sleep. Music had always helped him to sleep and when he played the song, not only did it help him sleep, it almost seemed to cure him of his headache. He had slept like a baby and had woken up to the sound of the tape jamming itself on the stereo system. It was one of those systems you had to switch off when the tape was done so that it would stop being pulled along. He took out the tape and placed it in his Walkman while getting ready for school so that he would not forget to bring it. Four days after he had been given the tape, he found himself very restless in class. He was unable to concentrate on anything and began to think about the song, playing it in the Walkman of his mind. He had listened to it so often that he could hear every specific sound in his mind; though of course nothing was good as listening to the real thing. Finally, he got the Walkman out of his bag and placed the headphones over his head, sliding it down to the back of his neck where it could not be seen. He lay down on his desk where he hoped he would be inconspicuous and listened to the music that he actually might have believed was made by the angels in Heaven.
The relief he had got when he popped the headphones over his ears unnerved him for awhile. It was like how some brands of food were sprinkled with nicotine so the people would crave for them. The music was like a drug... A week after he had been given the tape, he had suffered three headaches which he promptly soothed with the song he had taped multiple times onto one tape. he almost had his Walkman confiscated during one of his lectures. It took him ten minutes of pleading and numerous vows of how it was never going to happen again before he could get it back. Promptly, he stashed in his bag till the next lecture where he took it out again. A fortnight after he had been given the tape, the same teacher caught him listening with his headphones, during her tutorial. She had literally held him back after class and demanded that he give her his Walkman. He refused and the argument eventually evolved into him walking off only to be pulled by the sleeve.
In a reflex action, he had used his free hand to take the nearest plastic chair and hurl it at her, more to get her off him than to hurt her. He was violent. In a state of shock, she had just watched as he ran out of class, looking as if he was trying to escape from an ugly monster. There was definitely something wrong with him and it definitely had something to do with the music. he had slept listening to it every night since he had got it and he needed to hear it in order to do anything. Something was wrong with it and he knew it. maybe it was something scientific, like the way certain sights and sounds could cause your brain to send strange signals to your body. There was something wrong with it and he would have to tell Gavin about it. He would have to ask him if anything had happened to any of his band members when they listened to it. He would have find out who else he had given the tape to. It was then that it finally hit upon him.
Gavin might have been the one behind the whole thing in the first place. He could not believe he had not realised this in the first place. It was completely unnatural that he could not function without the song. Lunchtime was approaching and he would confront him. But in the meantime, he needed to listen to that song so he locked himself up in a cubicle and put on his headphones... 'What the hell in on this tape Gavin? Tell me!' 'Tape? Music! What else?' Gavin looked at him with exaggerated perplexity. 'Gavin! Please stop this. I can't even get through a normal day...' Matt was speechless when Gavin cut him off. 'Oh! Oh you can't, is it?' His voice was sarcastic. 'Well, now you know what my sister went through. You think i don't know what you did to her?' 'I did not do anything! Our relationship just did not work out,' Matt tried to explain. 'Please, just take the tape back. Can you? It's not worth doing this for your sister. We were friends before.' 'You are not my friend! And don't you dare insult my sister! Good luck to you. You are never going to be able to throw that thing away. You can listen to it for the rest of your life. In fact... you have to!'
The sun was such that the light fell perfectly through the small windows of coloured glass that ran along the church wall. The multi-coloured light fell onto the carpets as the sun sank along the horizon, painting a distorted copy of the window's picture onto the floor. Matt ran in and looked into the confessional booth in a panic, seeing if anyone was in there. Finding no one, he ran to the church office to find the priest he had been looking for doing some paperwork. 'Father!' he burst out as he almost fell through the door. 'I need your help, please.' Telling him the entire story, Matt was almost in tears in his desperation. The priest took the tape and played it in the ancient looking machine that he kept in his office. He listened to the song and told him that he could not hear anything wrong with it. But he knew some people who knew some back masking techniques. They had worked on a teen and parent retreat he had held; one of the topics had been the peril of rock and roll decadence.
Meanwhile, he placed his hand on Matt's forehead. 'I want you to give me this tape willingly. I want you to say it out loud and to renounce its power over you.' The entire process was difficult be he had managed to. He did just like the priest had said and he felt something lift from his shoulders. It was three days later that he received a call from the priest saying that the tape had been back masked and that there had been words recorded on the other side. They were in Latin and were hard to interpret. The words were probably from a curse or had been said in accordance with a ritual that had been performed while the song was being recorded.
Pulling the tape from it's casing and cutting it with his scissors, Matt dumped the musical carcass on the canteen table where Gavin sat with his band. 'I don't need your stupid tape anymore.' Gavin looked at the tape and raised an eyebrow at Matt. 'The poison is in your blood. It might not strike now, but sooner or later, it will cause your death. I bet it is sooner.' Matt broke down and cried.
The relief he had got when he popped the headphones over his ears unnerved him for awhile. It was like how some brands of food were sprinkled with nicotine so the people would crave for them. The music was like a drug... A week after he had been given the tape, he had suffered three headaches which he promptly soothed with the song he had taped multiple times onto one tape. he almost had his Walkman confiscated during one of his lectures. It took him ten minutes of pleading and numerous vows of how it was never going to happen again before he could get it back. Promptly, he stashed in his bag till the next lecture where he took it out again. A fortnight after he had been given the tape, the same teacher caught him listening with his headphones, during her tutorial. She had literally held him back after class and demanded that he give her his Walkman. He refused and the argument eventually evolved into him walking off only to be pulled by the sleeve.
In a reflex action, he had used his free hand to take the nearest plastic chair and hurl it at her, more to get her off him than to hurt her. He was violent. In a state of shock, she had just watched as he ran out of class, looking as if he was trying to escape from an ugly monster. There was definitely something wrong with him and it definitely had something to do with the music. he had slept listening to it every night since he had got it and he needed to hear it in order to do anything. Something was wrong with it and he knew it. maybe it was something scientific, like the way certain sights and sounds could cause your brain to send strange signals to your body. There was something wrong with it and he would have to tell Gavin about it. He would have to ask him if anything had happened to any of his band members when they listened to it. He would have find out who else he had given the tape to. It was then that it finally hit upon him.
Gavin might have been the one behind the whole thing in the first place. He could not believe he had not realised this in the first place. It was completely unnatural that he could not function without the song. Lunchtime was approaching and he would confront him. But in the meantime, he needed to listen to that song so he locked himself up in a cubicle and put on his headphones... 'What the hell in on this tape Gavin? Tell me!' 'Tape? Music! What else?' Gavin looked at him with exaggerated perplexity. 'Gavin! Please stop this. I can't even get through a normal day...' Matt was speechless when Gavin cut him off. 'Oh! Oh you can't, is it?' His voice was sarcastic. 'Well, now you know what my sister went through. You think i don't know what you did to her?' 'I did not do anything! Our relationship just did not work out,' Matt tried to explain. 'Please, just take the tape back. Can you? It's not worth doing this for your sister. We were friends before.' 'You are not my friend! And don't you dare insult my sister! Good luck to you. You are never going to be able to throw that thing away. You can listen to it for the rest of your life. In fact... you have to!'
The sun was such that the light fell perfectly through the small windows of coloured glass that ran along the church wall. The multi-coloured light fell onto the carpets as the sun sank along the horizon, painting a distorted copy of the window's picture onto the floor. Matt ran in and looked into the confessional booth in a panic, seeing if anyone was in there. Finding no one, he ran to the church office to find the priest he had been looking for doing some paperwork. 'Father!' he burst out as he almost fell through the door. 'I need your help, please.' Telling him the entire story, Matt was almost in tears in his desperation. The priest took the tape and played it in the ancient looking machine that he kept in his office. He listened to the song and told him that he could not hear anything wrong with it. But he knew some people who knew some back masking techniques. They had worked on a teen and parent retreat he had held; one of the topics had been the peril of rock and roll decadence.
Meanwhile, he placed his hand on Matt's forehead. 'I want you to give me this tape willingly. I want you to say it out loud and to renounce its power over you.' The entire process was difficult be he had managed to. He did just like the priest had said and he felt something lift from his shoulders. It was three days later that he received a call from the priest saying that the tape had been back masked and that there had been words recorded on the other side. They were in Latin and were hard to interpret. The words were probably from a curse or had been said in accordance with a ritual that had been performed while the song was being recorded.
Pulling the tape from it's casing and cutting it with his scissors, Matt dumped the musical carcass on the canteen table where Gavin sat with his band. 'I don't need your stupid tape anymore.' Gavin looked at the tape and raised an eyebrow at Matt. 'The poison is in your blood. It might not strike now, but sooner or later, it will cause your death. I bet it is sooner.' Matt broke down and cried.
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