I didn’t want to open my eyes, but I knew that I had to. I gave myself a little pep talk, then decided it was time to get it over with. What I saw surprised me.

The room was nothing like I expected it to be. It seemed like it belonged in a royal palace instead of a cabin in Colorado.

From where I was laying on my queen bed, there was a walk-in closet to the right of me full of clothes; in front of me was an archway that led to a sitting room equipped with a red couch and two recliner chairs all facing a flat screen TV mounted on the wall above a fireplace; and to the left of the fireplace was a door that led to the bathroom.

Occupying the walls of the sitting room were bookshelves that went up to the ceiling. The majority of them were filled with books and the rest held board games and movies. I guess people get bored around here a lot.

I took a shower and dressed myself in skinny jeans and a plain light blue t-shirt with a grey cardigan over top. I was just tying some Converse on my feet when I heard a knock at the door, standing on the other side of it was Collin.

“How’d you sleep?”

“Fine, I guess, but I’ve got a headache.”

“Top drawer on the right in the bathroom has some Advil,” he said as he entered my room. I went to take some and as I walked back into the sitting room he asked, “Are you ready for today?”

“What’s today?”

“Today, we get to meet with Alec again and then you get to start your training. Hopefully you catch on quick in there so that we can get you and a few others out trying to defeat…”

“Defeat who?”

“That’s not for me to share.”

“You know, Alec said yesterday that you were going to tell me what was going on and why I was brought here.”

“Well, after you passed out yesterday, Alec decided it he should be the one to explain it all. So, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

He led me down a couple of hallways until we stood outside the same door as we did yesterday. Collin knocked twice and then just let himself in.

Alec was waiting for us on the other side and standing next to him was the girl that was going to show me to my

room when I passed out.

“Good morning, Erin. We missed you at the feast last night; did you get enough rest?”

“I think so, but why did I pass out? I’ve never done that before and I’m perfectly healthy.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said, avoiding my question, “I bet you’re ready to find out why we brought you here. You see, I was going to have Collin tell you about it but I think it would be better if it came from me. That way I can answer any questions you have and Collin and Mackenzie Taylor can fill in any missing pieces.

“You see, everyone in this room has some sort of magical power to them. Collin can see people’s auras and can heal them with one touch. And he can heal both mental and physical pain.

“Now, Mackenzie Taylor can manipulate and read people’s brains. She’s the reason you passed out yesterday when she came to take you to your room.”

“And what do your powers consist of?”

“That is none of your concern. Now, you have the greatest gift of all. You see, everyone here just has a power that’s like Mackenzie Taylor and Collin; they can only do one thing to one part of someone, like a brain or healing an injury.

But, you can manipulate all four elements and make them do your bidding. Everyone can manipulate a person; you can control nature. And that is why you are so special. You are so much more powerful than the other people here and that’s why we had to get you before the others do.”

“What do you mean by “others’?”

“We’re not the only people out there. There are those who like to use their gifts to seek revenge on those who they believe have wronged them in anyway. But, their biggest plot is to eventually take over the world. Mainly so the people who have hurt them in the past will see them rise up above them, and will then feel the pain that they inflicted upon them.”

He paused for a moment and then continued.

“And that’s where we come in. We’ve been hunting them down for years, trying to stop them from executing their plan. We are weeks away from them making one of their biggest moves yet. And we want you to train so that we can send you out with Collin, Mackenzie Taylor, and Andrew, whom you will meet today. You four will try to stop them before they reach the end of their plan. Now, that’s all I can tell you for now. Collin and Mackenzie Taylor will take you to the training room so you can start practicing.”

Then with that, Collin and Mackenzie Taylor, whom I forgot were still in the room with us, started for the door. Mackenzie Taylor walked out and Collin waited for me to follow, then we made our way to the training room.

The post Ordinary Doing the Extraordinary-Part Four appeared first on KRUI Radio.

It’s the middle of the night. Ginger has put the plane on auto pilot while he gets some sleep, and Esteban is passed out on one side of the plane. Since Martha had that little nap earlier in the car, she is wide awake, thinking about the day’s events.

Things haven’t been going so great for her. Anytime she takes a step forward, somehow she is always taking two giant steps back. Escaping the police after robbing Six Flags worries her. Getting away from them was easy. Too easy. Something has to go terribly wrong now and whatever that unknown wrong is, it frightens her.

To try to get her mind out of a pessimistic place, she decides to read one of her favorite books, The Gift by Richard Paul Evans.

Before they blew up the store in their hometown, they gathered up the items they truly needed to get them through the plan and gave it to Ginger to put in the plane right away. Esteban packed up his guitars and Martha gathered up all of her books and her buddy, Kevin.

Kevin is a stuffed Minion given to Martha by her friend for her birthday one year when they knew they wouldn’t see each other as often as they did. All of her friends know how much she loves Kevin and would never leave him behind, so judge her all you want, but Kevin had to come.

When they awake the next morning, Martha is a little tired from not getting enough sleep the night before but once she has some breakfast and juice in her she is ready to go. Esteban has been up for a couple of hours already, waiting for her to wake. He has already had his morning chocolate milk fix and is waiting for her to get settled.

Martha moves Kevin next to her, has a plate of cookies for breakfast balanced on her knee and a glass of Mountain Berry, and says, “Now what?”

“You’re eating cookies? For breakfast?”

“No shame, Esteban. No shame.”

“You should eat Poptarts. Poptarts are amazing!”

“What are we doing now?” She tries to get back on topic.

“You should eat the brown sugar ones .They’re the best!”

“Esteban, stop talking about poptarts and focus on the situation.”

“Well, we can’t do anything in the air. We’ll have to wait until we land in Africa. Where are we landing again?”

“Johannesburg.”

“Well, we’ve got a lot of time on our hands before we land so, what are we going to do?”

“That’s what I wanted to know!”

“I’m going to get myself some more chocolate milk. If we’re doing anything productive, then I’m going to need a little boost.”

Esteban goes to refill his glass of chocolate milk and comes back with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and hands it to Martha saying, “Here. Apparently it’s happiness in a cup.”

“First you judge me on my cookies and now you are giving me ice cream? You make no sense,” she says as she eagerly takes the ice cream from him, “So, what are we going to do today?”

“I planned on watching some New Girl and maybe playing some guitar.”

“Wow, you’re boring.”

“What else do you expect me to do? We’re a thousand miles above ground. It’s not like I can go outside!”

“Nothing’s stopping you,” she laughs, “but seriously, this is like your twentieth time watching that show, how can it still be entertaining?”

“New Girl changes lives! It’s the best show around!”

“No, Friends is the best show around! Have you even tried watching it like I told you to?”

“I did! I just can’t do it! It’s like an older version of New Girl and I don’t like old shows!”

“It’s not that old!”

“Whatever, I’m still not going to watch it. What are you going to do today?”

“Probably read. I haven’t had much time to do that recently and I’ve got a lot of books to start.”

“How is reading any better than what I’m doing? If anything, it’s worse!”

“It’s not! You just haven’t found the right book; if you had one that interested you, you would actually like to read!”

“Reading is boring.”

“Read The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans. I really think you’re going to like it.”

“I’m not going to read it.”

“It’s not that long! It’s only like 125 pages! That’s nothing!”

“It’ll still take me a year to finish. I’ll read the first page and never continue.”

They continue arguing about this for some time. Eventually, the conversation turns back them arguing about Friends and New Girl. Time passes quickly as they move through conversation after conversation, just talking away. They haven’t seen each other for a couple of weeks, and all they’ve talked about was the plan, so they had a lot of catching up to do.

****

They land in Johannesburg and head to a hotel in the middle of the city, thinking that it’s best to be in the middle of a large crowd than stand out among them. Once they got settled into their hotel rooms, Martha asked, “Now what?”

“Now it’s time to meet with our dealer.”

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I am extremely happy to be reviewing this album because it is the first time that I’m one hundred percent positive that the album is a concept album. I’m still brand new when it comes to listening to concept albums, but I am fascinated with the ones I have heard. Concept albums are what an album should be: a perfectly curated collection of songs that truly move a person if you’re listening to it the right way.

It is so much more than slapping together 20 songs and releasing them under one title. On “The Bride”, Kahn tells the first-person story of a woman about to be married before her fiancé passes away the day of their wedding and the grief/recuperation that comes afterward. I am excited to hear what Bat For Lashes came up with to create the story, but I’m expecting more than cookie-cutter love songs.

The opening track, “I Do”, is a very blissful introduction to the album. The lyrics are easy enough to understand. A woman is singing about her upcoming wedding and describes how the words “I do” will mean the end of all trouble in her life. The music is like a lullaby, but also is clearly a tune that would be played at a wedding. The song sounds like it would be played during a daydream, which would be calming if I didn’t know how heartbroken this woman was about to be.

The tone of the album changes immediately as the second song, “Joe’s Dream”, starts. The track serves as a warning, either from the singer or from her soon-to-be-husband. As the title suggests, the story turns to one of a “dream of God’s searchlight,” which suggests that the dream was an omen of imminent death. The music itself in this song becomes repetitive but adds a lot to the feeling the listener is supposed to get from the story at this point. It is haunting but it is beautiful.

By the time “In God’s House” starts playing, our bride is waiting for her fiancé at the church for their wedding ceremony. The lyrics are composed of her anxious thoughts and speculations about why he could be running so late, most of which involve his death. This song gets more musically intense than the previous track and continues to get more intense as the bride and listeners realize together that her love has passed.

“Honeymooning Alone” confirms that the worst the bride could have imagined has come true. This song seems to be the beginning of the recurring loneliness theme of the album, as the bride drives away from her wedding towards her honeymoon without a husband. The lyric “I can’t speak because I don’t have you here by my side,” breaks my heart. She doesn’t even know how to feel without her love by her side. The song definitely cues the listener into the singer’s emotions, even though anybody could easily assume what her emotions would be. Her vocals are float-y and hollow, which strengthens the emotion.

“Sunday Love” is the first song on “The Bride” to confuse me. I do not quite know what Kahn is singing about. She is singing about “Sunday love”, but personifies it as a “her.” This personification makes me wonder if Kahn is singing about an actual person, or fantasizing about having the love she had with her deceased fiancé again. The song definitely holds some contradictory resentment in it with the lyrics “Sunday love is so cold” and “I want Sunday love in my heart” juxtaposed together in the chorus. There is a lot that is still open to interpretation, however, and I’m not sure if I have it figured out. Musically, the outro is beautiful. I love the way that the song seems to be letting itself go, which hopefully alludes to our new widow letting go of her pain.

Emotions shift again with “Never Forgive the Angels” to anger. This song is eerie to me because it holds such a calm outrage that I almost missed it completely. The song sounds like one of sadness, until I hear the words “I will never forgive the angels for [my love being gone].” She is no longer dwelling on past events as just things that happened but is now dwelling on them as things that happened directly to her. Her fiancé was taken, he didn’t just die. The music behind her words is soothing and could’ve just as easily been used for a song about having a perfect wedding and happy marriage. If it weren’t for the music and the slight reverb used on Kahn’s voice, I think the song would fall flat.

I had been wondering for the entire album how the relationship between the two lovers had been prior to their wedding. They could have been extremely close or it could have been abusive. “Close Encounters” confirmed to me that their relationship was an amazing one. Kahn sings about how she can still feel her fiancé everywhere that she goes. She feels like she can still communicate with him, and describes it as being able to go over to “the other side” when she needs him with her. It must have been an incredibly harmonious relationship in order for her to feel like her love can still comfort her even though he isn’t physically with her. The song sounds a lot like the previous track did, but doesn’t hold a grudge.

I probably wouldn’t choose to listen to “Widow’s Peak” unless it was in the context of this album and I was listening to the story again. I take this as a success on the artist’s part since it’s such a strong part of this one album that it doesn’t belong anywhere else. The song reminds me of a musical interpretation of a nightmare the bride may have had after her love had died. There is no singing, and there isn’t too much inflection in the tone of her voice while she is speaking. I can’t tell who the widow is talking to exactly, but I could assume that it would be either death, whoever she sees responsible for her love’s death, or her love himself. The song is so unique and curious that listeners have surely come up with numerous interpretations

I had to listen to “Land’s End” a few times before I had a sturdy understanding to write a review about it. The simplest lyrics connected and created the story for me, including “I drove down that old country road” and “for my love I will bleed, gonna drive until I set myself free.” Along with the repetition of the phrase “land’s end” I take this song to mean that the bride is so devastated, angry, depressed and confused that she plans to die in the same way her love did. Some of the string instrumentals sound like something that would be played at a funeral. The song is, again, much calmer than the emotion being portrayed, which makes it so much stronger.

“If I Knew” is a song that I’ve been putting on repeat since I understood it for the first time since because of its relevance to my life right now. The artist finally seems to feel some kind of peace within the situation as she reminisces about the relationship that she had with her love before it ended. She sings about how much he lifted her up, how much he taught her, and how much positive change he put into her life. She thanks him for helping her find herself again.

She says he showed her that the mountain she was trying to climb had a mirror at the top, that all that she had ever been aiming to find could be found inside of her the entire time. She speaks of how she has no regrets and would live it all again if she had the chance. This is the truest love song I have heard in the longest of times, and it is one of my new favorites. I would be lying if I said it hasn’t brought me to tears.

The widow looks back on the journey she’s had since she lost her fiancé in “I Will Love Again”. She acknowledges how she was feeling, but doesn’t feel shameful or embarrassed, which is an important message to send to those listening. The music the music is calming and reassuring, and even though it goes on its own for nearly an entire minute before the lyrics begin, I don’t get bored listening to it.

During the chorus, there is a two-part harmony between the voice we have been hearing for the entire album and what sounds like a male voice. I wonder if this voice is her would-be husband, reminding her that, yes, she will be able to find somebody to love again. The music goes on its own again for over a minute and a half, but I am not bored with it this time either. I think that it symbolizes the time that she is taking/has taken to let everything go.

The last two songs, “In Your Bed” and “Clouds”, confuse me. They seem to be either the widow going back into her depressed state or the widow finding another “true” love but still looking for the love she lost in everything she sees.

I hope that “In Your Bed” is the widow describing how the love she’s found years down the line is just as amazing as the one that she had with her deceased fiancé. This song taking place in the future makes sense with my interpretation of the end of “I Will Love Again,” but I also get the feeling that she could still be singing about the love that she used to have, and is becoming angry again that he isn’t there with her anymore. I was excited for the album to have a somewhat happy ended with her finding a new love, so I’m going to try and convince myself that Kahn was speaking to a new lover, and developing the new dreams spoken of in the lyrics with somebody new.

“Clouds”, the final track on “The Bride”, also seems like it takes place years into the future. I was expecting a song about the bride getting to see her husband again in the afterlife because I suppose I’m dramatic like that, but I don’t feel that coming from the lyrics. The only thing I can pick up is that she is waiting for her new love to show up in her life, but that would contradict the previous song where I had interpreted her speaking to her new lover about their relationship. I can’t come up with a conclusion about these last two songs, but it’s possible that they are disconnected from the story. It’s also possible that “The Bride” has an unsatisfactory ending, with the widow never finding a love and always being hooked onto the man that she was supposed to spend her life with.

The songs flow together in the way that any other personal journey flows, slowly and not all at once. The album doesn’t change musical style every time a new track starts, but each song leads the way into the next. Slowly, “The Bride” goes from unaware naivety to haunting recollection to a new hope and finally settles on peace before the listener can even realize that there was a change in tone at all. This album was clearly meticulously planned and written and placed in order for a story to be properly told, and I appreciate it. This album is so different than any other that I’ve heard before, and I will no doubt be listening to it again.

Listen to “The Bride” by Bat For Lashes below or here.

The post Album Review: “The Bride” by Bat For Lashes appeared first on KRUI Radio.

“Hey, you okay?” Benny asks.

“Yeah, I’m just worried about my dad,” Joe explains.

“We’ll find him, don’t worry,” he reassures.

They lay in silence until the rest of the group wakes up. Eragon tells them that they need to keep moving. They pack up and rummage through the house, hoping to find something useful to take with them. Unfortunately, they leave empty-handed. They head down the street, Eragon leading at a brisk pace.

          “Where are we going?” Bella asks.

          “To Limbo, it’s supposed to be safe,” Eragon explains.

          “How do you know that it’s safe?” Benny asks.

          “I don’t, but we don’t really have any other option do we?” Eragon says.

Joe walks in silence as she takes in the deserted town. She sees a house with blue shutters. It reminds her of her own home. She wonders what the people that used to live in that house were like. Were they a family similar to hers? A widow trying to raise her spunky, seven-year-old daughter? Or was it home to an old couple whose children have long grown up and moved out? Whose only worries now were what flavor of tea they were going to drink as they watched the children in the neighborhood laugh and play in the streets? Sweet or unsweetened? Joe hopes that whoever lived in that house were together now. Even if they were both zombies together, at least they were together. 

They hadn’t walked for more than a mile, when they heard the sound of moaning in the distance.

“We need to find somewhere safe to hide out. We are sitting ducks out here,” Eragon says.

They keep walking, faster than before, until they reach a police station. The station is a mess. Scattered loose papers cover the floor along with tipped over computers. As soon as they get in, they barricade the doors with desks and chairs. Afterwards they start looking for something to eat. Instead of food, Scarlett finds a radio. Eragon sends out a distress call.

“Attention, anyone who is still alive. Four other people and I are trapped in a police station with zombies surrounding us. We are two miles away from Spring Valley. We are weaponless and without food. We won’t last long. Please help,” Eragon speaks into the radio clearly.

They sit there for a while, waiting for a response. Suddenly they hear moaning outside the station. Then slamming

against the window. The zombies can smell their flesh. Joe timidly walks up to the window to see how many are out there. She sees about 5 “men” walking around aimlessly in front of the station. One of them turns around so Joe can see its grayish face. Joe gasps and falls to the ground when she sees bloody drool pouring from the mouth of her dad. She gets up and watches him move in her direction. He lifts his stained-red hand up to the window and stares into Joe’s eyes.

“He recognizes me,” Joe whispers.

She moves the desks far enough away from the door so her tiny body can squeeze out. She can hear the screams of the crew inside, telling her to come back, but she keeps running toward her dad. Once in his arms, she feels his teeth rip through her neck, but she doesn’t feel any pain. She falls to the ground, her body slowly becoming numb. Relief rushes over her.

TO BE CONTINUED

The post Adventures of Joe. Pt 2 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

“Hey grandma, I was just about to make some Mac N’ Cheese. Do you want any?” Joe yells.

No response. Joe walks towards the entryway. She can hear someone in the living room, but it doesn’t sound like her grandmother. With the pot in her hand, she rushes in. It is her grandmother, but she’s not herself.

Her face is grey and drained. Her arms and legs look like they have been dislocated. And there is a red stain smeared around her mouth. She is drooling over the couch, right where Joe had been sitting only a couple minutes ago.

“Grandma? Are you okay?” Joe says creeping towards her.

Joe’s grandma turns her head towards Joe and moans loudly. She stands up and starts limping in Joe’s direction, her head cocked to the right and her eyes drooped low. Joe’s father had warned her about this. There had been an outbreak of a virus in Canada that made people forget who they were and start attacking anyone with a heartbeat. They were calling the people who had been infected zombies.

Joe holds the metal pan tight to her chest as her now zombie grandmother gets closers. A tear rolls down Joe’s thirteen year old face as she lifts up the pan and slams it into her grandma’s cheek. Her grandma hits the floor with a thud. Joe kneels next to her and lets the tears fall. Caught in remorse, Joe doesn’t notice her grandma coming to until she feels her hands grab her body. She lets out a surprised scream and stabs the zombie with the handle of the pan. It breaks through the soft skull and impales its brain.

Joe stands up and walks backwards, towards the front door. She stands with her back against the brass knob, trying to catch her breath. Suddenly someone opens the door, causing Joe to fall on her back. She gets up frantically, in fear that another zombie is about to attack her, but it is just her neighbor, Bella. Joe throws her arms around Bella, thankful to see a friendly face. When she lets go, she sees Bella is not alone. Her other neighbors, Scarlett and Benny, stand in her driveway, looking as scared as Joe feels.

Just as Joe is about to tell Bella what happened, the kids hear lazy moaning coming from the end of the street. A dozen zombies stumble towards them. They slowly creep back in the direction of Joe’s house, trying to find an escape route. As the zombies get closer, Joe begins to cry again.She knows this is it. Suddenly a man on a black horse comes riding down the street. He hits the zombies in the head  with the butt of his shotgun, taking them out.

“You guys look like you need some help,” the man says, “My name is Eragon. Follow me.”

Joe walks next to Eragon’s horse as they head towards his ranch to get more materials. After they gathered everything they need. They get into Eragon’s truck and drive until the sun starts to set. They stop at an abandoned town that appears to be safe and rest, thankful for the day to be over.

TO BE CONTINUED…

The post Adventures of Joe appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I am a lone warrior living on the streets of New York.

These streets have been my home for ten years next February. I live in a box in the alley on 22nd and 9th. No one talks to me. No one visits. No one asks me how my day is going. I try not to let it bother me though. I enjoy my streets. I like to sit on the sidewalk, basking in the sun as I watch people rush by.

I have made friends, though. I find things on the street people have dropped or lost. Things people have thrown out because they don’t have a use for it anymore, things kinda like me.

I found so many things that I started a club. We meet every day, when it gets too cold to stay on the streets. We use my box as our clubhouse. I, of course, am the president of this club. The vice president is a toy train some little boy dropped when his mom was pulling him across the street. She keeps me on track when I start rambling at the meetings.

The secretary is a magic marker that rolled down my alley one rainy day. He records all our important discussions. A ball of yarn I once used to tie my box shut during the big snowstorm last January, is in charge of security. A sand shovel I found on the curb of 24th and 8th last summer is in charge of finding snacks.

The other members consist of a dried-up piece of chewed gum, a penny I found heads up, a McDonald’s Big Mac wrapper, a stuffed puppy with one eye missing, a used Band-Aid, and the last, but not least, a picture of a beautiful girl with long, auburn hair and happy, green eyes. She is wearing a white dress, standing in a meadow with hundreds of sunflowers surrounding her. I found her in the garbage can in my alley one sunny afternoon last fall. The edges are worn and the color is faded, but she is still magnificent.

I named her Claire, because a beautiful girl deserves to have a beautiful name. She reminds me of a girl I met while I was fighting overseas. They both have the same piercing eyes. Whenever I feel like I am back fighting, I look at her and she helps me come back home, to my box in the alley on 22nd and 9th.

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