Our World Fell Apart by Kyros Amphiptere and Orion T. Hunter

Ryan James settled his considerable bulk into the executive chair he’d pulled up beside his friend Billy Calloway, watching as the man’s hands flew across the mixing board.

When Billy, BC to his friends, nodded, apparently satisfied with the sound coming through the recording booth speakers, Ryan leaned forward. “See what I mean, BC? They’re good. And this song? It’s like they pulled it straight from all our talks about Xeres.”

His friend nodded. “I gotta admit, I thought you were kidding when you told me about them. I see now why you want me to produce them.” He  glanced up at the three musicians in the recording studio on the other side of the glass.

Ryan was about to comment when BC leaned forward and pressed a button. “Ok, could you take it from the top again? Jeromy was a little late coming in with the guitar.”

The guitarist’s voice came over a speaker. “Sorry about that. By the way, Jeromy’s what my mom calls me. Everyone else calls me Trip.”

From the speakers drifted the words of the ballad that had caught Ryan’s attention in the first place.

Trees of orange and blue

and memories of you

but dreams, they never die

I just wake and I cry

Then the heart wrenching chorus followed:

We three joined together

yes, we were at the start

we dreamed of forever

till our world fell apart

“Hannah, move closer to the mike, just a little.”

“Okay, boss.” After a moment, she came through the speaker again singing the first words of the chorus again. “Is that better?”

“Yes. Much,” BC replied. As the musicians repeated the first verse and chorus, he turned to the recording company rep, asking quietly, “So have you talked to them about Xeres yet?”

The big man shook his head, his dreadlocks whipping about his face. “No. That’s why I asked Cynthia to join them. She’s the best studio drummer I know. Plus she’s the one who told us about Xeres in the first place. I had to know if you two heard the same thing in these lyrics that I did.”

“Oh, yes. There’s no doubt in my mind. These two have to be reincarnated Xerians.” He made a face. “Well, at least one of them has to be. How else would they know those details?”

Something caught his ear. “Cynthia? Can you try picking up the tempo a bit?”

In the recording studio, the drummer did a quick beat across her skins, ending in a crash of cymbals. “You got it, BC.”

That earned her a smile and a thumbs up from the man.

“All right, pick it up at the second verse.”

We orbit the same star

you’re so close, yet so far

we’ve lifetimes more to chart

yet we’re missing our heart

When the trio hit the chorus, the men in the mixing booth shook their heads, awed by the emotion Hannah poured into the lyrics. The two of them listened, mesmerized, as Hannah’s smoke and honey voice sang the next verse.

In our dreams we collide

but we’re on the wrong side

where once you were a friend

now our wars never end

“What are the odds?” Ryan said, almost whispering. “These two wrote a song about Xeres in Wisconsin. Then it lands on my desk in California, literally the day after Cynthia tells us about meeting people like us starting to remember past lives on that planet.” He shook his head. “If she hadn’t gone to that convention or if their demo arrived even a day earlier, I’d have written it off.”

“I know I would have,” BC said. “When she told us about the weird things she’d learned at that convention, I thought maybe we’d all gone a little round the bend. I mean, giant cats called hunting tiglas? Then this band shows up calling themselves Hunting Tiglas with a song that resonates to so many of the things we’ve talked about? It’s uncanny.” He turned to his mike again.

“Hannah? Trip? Let’s run through the last verse one more time, then we can break for lunch.”

Memories of our kissing

the life we are missing

so we send out this call

though it be our downfall

Ryan and BC opened their control booth door to find the three musicians already in the hall. BC extended his hand to Trip, then Hannah.

“I love this song. Hearing you sing it, Hannah…Damn, girl, you’re powerful! I’m looking forward to working on the rest of the album with you two.”

“Uh, folks,” Ryan interrupted. “There a cafe around the corner.” Focusing on the drummer behind the duo, he asked, “Cynthia? Feel like joining us?”

The woman was tapping out a beat on the wall. Raising her head, she smiled. “Sure. I think we’ve got a lot to talk about with these folks.”

The producer put one arm across Hannah’s shoulder and the other across Trip’s, leading a parade through the hall toward the front doors.

As they exited onto the street, he asked, “So, out of curiosity, what’s your inspiration for this song?”

Hannah leaned forward, her long dark hair swinging with the abrupt movement. Exchanging a meaningful glance with Trip, she answered, “We first connected over this shared dream world when we were kids. But there always seemed to be something missing.”

Trip’s lazy baritone filled the hall. “Not something, someone. Sounds crazy, right? We wrote this song over a weekend in January, right after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks in Paris. We were both in a funk and this song just kinda flowed out of us. It practically wrote itself.” He shook his head.  “It’s hard to believe it’s only been three months and we’re already here in Los Angeles recording it.”

Ryan, following behind with Cynthia, asked, “But where did you come up with the name Hunting Tiglas?”

Hannah and Trip both chuckled. “From our dreams! Hunting tiglas were these imaginary pets we both had as kids. They were these big cat-like creatures. We thought it would be perfect for our band name.”

Once they reached the crowded cafe, Ryan spoke with the hostess. Turning back to the group, he grinned. “We’re in luck! She says we only have a fifteen minute wait before we get a table.” He motioned to Cynthia, mostly silent so far. “You want to pick up the story from there?”

The tattoo covered woman nodded. “Um, well, a few weeks ago, I went to a sci-fi convention up in San Francisco to meet other people who remember things like what you mention in your song: the weird trees, the hunting tiglas, and…oh, a whole bunch of other things. The three of us,” she indicated Ryan and BC, “all remember a past life on another planet. It was called Xeres. The trees were orange colored and had blue leaves.”

She paused to assess the shocked looks on the other musicians’ faces. Smiling, she continued. “I had a hunting tigla too. The boys here only had house tiglas.” She shot a smirk at the two men. “Wimps!”

Ryan and BC sputtered incoherently for a moment.

“It was another life….”

“My mom thought they were too dangerous….”

She waved the two men off. Turning back to Hannah and Trip, she raised her hands and shrugged. “So you can imagine our reaction when we heard your song….”

Realization dawning, Trip nodded. “You knew we had to be from there too.” He looked at Hannah. “Wow. I forgot all about that. I remember hearing it called Xeres in one of my dreams too.”

Hannah whipped around on him. “Why didn’t you tell me about that?”

“Would you have told me,” he asked, raising his eyebrows, “if one of your dreams told you that we were reincarnated aliens?”

She chewed her lip for a moment. “Hmm, good point.”

They all turned as the hostess approached. “If you follow me, I can show you to your table now.”

As they moved through the crowded cafe, BC spoke over his shoulder, “Maybe your song can reach more people like us.”

“You think so?” Hannah asked, blinking in surprise. “That’d be cool. I wonder how many more of us there are out there?”

Trip looked at her, longing in his eyes. “Maybe we can find the person we’re searching for. The one who’s missing from our lives.”

As they reached their table, Ryan and BC shared a look.

“Let’s make that happen.”

* * *

“Next up on Hot K102 FM, the song everyone’s talking about. It’s taken the pop charts by storm this spring, peaking this week at number 11. Here’s Hunting Tiglas with Our World Fell Apart.”

 

Trees of orange and blue

and memories of you

but dreams, they never die

I just wake and I cry

 

We three joined together

yes, we were at the start

we dreamed of forever

till our world fell apart…