Week 11 Story: Modern Day Musical Genius: Krishna

(Image Information: Woods, Wikipedia Commons)

Krishna was an 11-year-old boy who lived in a small town in Oklahoma. His home lay down a long winding dirt road, which continued into the woods. His house was directly in front of the woods. The woods were his back yard. He was good friends with all of the neighboring children. Every day they would get together and romp through the woods. Up until this year, Krishna had solely been interested in two things: exploring the woods and pranking his friends' parents. He was known as a trouble maker to all who lived along the dirt road, but his mother always stood up for him, in front of company, at least. Privately, he would get an earful and a good beating, but it never stopped him. 

At 11, he was still interested in these hobbies, but he had developed a third interest: music. Over the summer, he had discovered an old guitar in his family's storage room. He had picked it up and felt a strange feeling tingling through his arms. He took to carrying it around with him everywhere, strumming it absentmindedly. The dust fell off and the guitar became tuned, seemingly by itself. It was later discovered that Krishna had absolute pitch, allowing him to recreate any musical note he heard, yet that did not explain how his guitar became tuned merely from him plucking at it. It seemed he had skills beyond his natural perfect pitch, skills which no one could explain. Regardless, Krishna quickly became a talented musician, able to play any instrument he came across beautifully and skillfully. 

Krishna carried the guitar with him everywhere he went. While he and his friends roamed through the woods, the guitar would be strapped across his back, and if they ever paused for a break, Krishna would sit against a tree and begin playing sweet melodies, which seemed to flow from his fingertips effortlessly. One day, the group of children took a break beside a pleasant stream. Krishna, as usual, sat down against a tree and began strumming his guitar. Humming the notes under his breath, he watched his fingers rapidly moving along the strings, and did not notice that his friends had wandered off. After a few minutes, he looked up, and found himself alone. Standing up, he brushed himself off and started looking for his companions. He called their names but received no answer. He kept searching but could not find them. It was starting to grow dark, and while Krishna was not worried for himself, he did fear for his friends. He knew they would not abandon him, and he felt unease fill his belly. 

Finally, he discovered what had happened to them. They were in the center of a clearing, huddled together, unmoving. They were surrounded by venomous snakes. Krishna froze. He recognized the snakes from the stories their parents always told them in warning. The bite of these snakes was deadly. Krishna quickly wracked his brain. What should he do? How could he aid his friends? 

The answer came to him as if originated from somewhere else. He slowly adjusted his guitar and began strumming. The song he played was like nothing he had ever played before. Discordant sounds sprang from his instrument. The tune he played was terrifying, dark and twisting, bursting violently into the air. Hearing this horrifying music, the snakes slithered away, and his friends were freed. They thanked Krishna and walked home together. In the future, they never strayed too far from the boy and his guitar. 

Author's Note: This is based on Epified's version of Krishna, specifically this segment. I was intrigued by the idea of a modern-day kid being instantly musically genius without trying. There is such a thing as perfect/absolute pitch, which is when a person has the ability to effortlessly match/repeat notes in the correct pitch, but that's not quite as godly as Krishna's powers. I also liked the idea of writing about kids in the woods, because I spent my childhood as a kid in the woods.