Have you ever stared at something so long that somehow time seems to fade into obscurity and what felt like mere seconds in reality have been minutes, well, me neither that was until I first saw it; ‘the void’. I can’t explain what it’s like or how it feels but it’s something that only can be sensed like when staring at the corner of your room in the dark; you can sense something is there but you can’t see it; you just know. That’s how the void makes you feel, the hairs on the back of your neck stand while your eyes just gravitate towards it unwillingly.
It all started when my girlfriend got her first apartment, it wasn’t anything fancy a small one bedroom in the middle of the city, she was excited and I wanted to be supportive so I did my best to show her adulation on her starting this new journey in life. I was on break for the semester and I was coming back home, me and my girlfriend have done our best to make a long distance relationship work and both me and her were beyond elated to see each other; but more importantly she was eager for me to see her apartment. As soon as I got home I told my parents
‘hi’
ate the delicious lunch my mom prepared for me something I was craving all semester and headed out to my girlfriends.
Arriving at the complex I was taken a bit back, the place was guarded with security that was armed, they swarmed around the perimeter guarding the entrances. As I approached closer I could see the arm guard began to look me up and down and before I was able to get a word out he interjected.
“Sir, no soliciting you must leave the premises” the over sized man told me.
The demeanor of the guard left me with a bit of bewilderment, thinking perhaps I had the wrong place. I pulled out my phone to double check the address and to add to my confounded mind I was in the right place.
“Sir, please the leave the premises” the giant man once again told me.
Still confused I did my best to mutter out a coherent sentence feeling intimidated by the man brandishing a rifle.
“My girlfriend Kimberly lives here, I…I’m here to visit her, she lives in 4B” I told the stoic man with my voice shaken from apprehension.
The guard remained silent and unmoved all while still staring at me intensely and several seconds passed by before he spoke, he radioed to whom ever was on the other side of the receiver.
“You’re good, please enter” the man told me while he now brandished a bit of smile or perhaps a smirk.
I politely gestured a light smile in return and walked past the guard entering the corridor, something about the entrance other than the unusual circumstances felt off; I could hear the most abnormal humming penetrating from the walls; I ignored it and walked towards the elevator still jovial at the revelation of seeing my girlfriend.
Approaching her door I could still hear the humming engulfing me as if some giant motor was filtering the air, I knocked on the door and stood with anticipation. As Kimberly opened all the worries that inundated my mind evaporated into a cloud of emptiness and all my attentions were set on the most beautiful woman in the world; my girlfriend.
“Hey!” Kimberly shouted while jumping into my arms.
I didn’t even have a chance to respond, my voiced being silenced as she showered me in an endless sea of kisses. She quickly pulled me into the apartment continuing to chatter on about how she has been and how life was coming into place for her but more evidently she was talking about her apartment. As she walked me around for the grand tour which only took mere minutes her rant continued on without a pause and as my mind gradually began to drift a bit, my eyes locked in on her balcony.
“You have a balcony” I asked her with a bit of enchantment.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to show you come on look” she quickly responded back, already grabbing me by the hand and pulling me outside.
I was a bit disappointed, I was thinking perhaps she had a scenery of the skyline, instead; it was a direct view into the courtyard, a view she shared with all of her neighbors. I looked around at the what seem to be an endless sea of balconies, staring at all the apartments above and below made me a bit dizzy.
“Whoa, I didn’t realize the complex was so big, how many floors are there?” I asked with astonishment.
Kimberly just shrugged her shoulders dismissing my question and started pointing to her neighbors, gossiping about who she suspects to be a weirdo. My eyes followed her finger seeing that most of the balconies were vacant of anyone there until I saw one person, it was a woman just standing still unmoved like some statue, she was leering down into the courtyard. That caught my attention, since she was positioned in such an odd way, I looked down to see if I could make out what she was witnessing but to my dismay I saw nothing.
“What is she staring at” I asked rhetorically.
Kimberly abruptly stopped talking and realized who I was referring to.
“Huh, I don’t know” she told me as she practically dangled the top half of her body from the guard railing as she tried to figure out what the lady was gawking at.
“Dammit Kim, be careful” I said with frustration pulling her back in side, she just stared at me curiously.
“This whole place is a bit weird isn’t it? I mean what’s up with all the security guards outside?” I asked with genuine concern.
I could see Kim’s charming smile drop with disappointment due to my criticism, her arms grasping at her waist side with frustration.
“So you don’t like my place? Thanks! Those guards are here because some politicians kid lives here or something like that, honestly it makes me feel more safe” she told me as she turned to walk away with disdain for me.
I felt knots turning in my gut knowing that I had hurt her feelings, so I approached her as she was still turned away from me and I embraced her, kissing at her neck.
“I’m sorry, it’s a great place I guess it’s just weird being back I don’t know” I told her while caressing her tenderly.
She turned and looked up at me with those enchanting emerald green eyes, I could feel my heart skip a beat, she then smiled. As the night progressed I tried to brush off the weird encounter from the balcony and I just enjoyed myself with the love of my life watching movies. I stayed the night and I found it difficult to sleep, I laid in bed staring up at the ceiling as my girlfriend breathed deeply in her slumber, it was that humming; I could still hear it. I got out of bed and walked into the living room, grabbing at my head; feeling an intense pounding permeating, the sound seemed to be coming from outside. I walked towards the balcony cautiously and slid the glass door open, the moonlight showering the complex in a vibrant blue tint. I stepped out in to the balcony hoping fresh air would relieve my anxiety instead I was presented with the most frightening sight; the lady from earlier was still standing in the same place staring down into the court yard.
“Hello?” I apprehensively asked out loud directed towards the woman.
She remained still and unresponsive, the surreal of the situation sent chills down my spine. That’s when my caution morphed into a bit of horror, through my peripheral I noticed there were now more neighbors on their balconies; all standing in that same emotionless stance. I turned to get a closer look at the others and realized they too were all staring down into the courtyard and as I stared at them with disbelief one man turned his gaze to me catching me completely by surprise. The expression that riddled his face was one of pure terror, defeat engulfed his eyes as they glistened in the moonlight from tears, I could see him whisper something to me from across the courtyard and as my brain did it’s best to put the words together that he was mouthing; I soon realized he was asking for help. I stepped backwards back into the apartment horrified, me retreating away from the moonlit balcony and back into the darkness.
“Hey”
I practically jumped into the air like some scared cat, my girlfriend startled me.
“What are you doing, why did you get out of bed” Kimberly asked me.
I remained quiet for several seconds; me trying to recover my breath that had escaped me, my heart still beating a million miles an hour.
“Sorry, I couldn’t sleep, that humming was bothering me and the balcony…”
“Again with the balcony? Just don’t go out there if it bothers you so much and what humming are you talking about? The air conditioner?” Kimberly angrily asked me.
I understood she must have felt as if I was again criticizing her apartment so I didn’t respond, we just went back to bed.
The next morning I returned to my parents house under the guise of me wanting to spend some family time, well at least that’s what I told Kimberly; in reality I couldn’t spend another moment in that horrid apartment. Just thinking about what had happened last night caused my skin to crawl and I could feel a wave of relief wash over me knowing I was far away from that place; away from those people. Days passed and it quickly turned in to weeks and my mother became some what curious of why I was no longer spending time with my beloved girlfriend.
“I don’t get it, summer is almost over and soon you’ll have to return to school; why don’t you spend the last week you have here with Kimberly? Or did you guys break up?” My mother questioned me with concern coming from her tired voice.
I didn’t know how to respond because in all honesty I haven’t even spoken to Kimberly in weeks, in fact, she hadn’t even texted me or called me and for some reason that left me feeling a bit inside out. The feeling of being perturbed quickly morphed into one of concern, once I had the revelation of perhaps her neighbors had gotten to her.
“Son, are you okay?” My mother once again asked disrupting my deep thought.
“Uhmm yeah, I’m sorry mom I sort of I guess I was just thinking of how fast the summer had gone by and you’re right, I’m going to see her today actually; we have a big dinner plans” I lied to the woman that gave birth to me without hesitation, no need to get her involved with this apartment nonsense I thought.
I reached into my pocket to retrieve my phone and I nervously searched for Kim’s number, I dreaded calling her knowing what place she lived in almost as if the complex could sense my fear. There she was, a finger press away from knowing if she was okay but yet I waited and waited; time clicking ever so slowly as I could hear my mothers foot steps in the background almost as if urging me to dial.
‘click’
The phone didn’t even ring it just went straight to voicemail somehow in the back crevasses of my mind I knew what had happen, that place wanted me to go there, it wanted me to rescue Kimberly. As I stood still lost in my own contemplation an impulse that I could not explain other than divine intervention took control of my limbs and with haste I stormed towards the door and out to my car; I was going to save the love of my life.
Arriving to the apartments I noticed that the arm guards were no longer there, in fact, I didn’t see any movement of life outside at all; the complex was desolated. I also could hear that dreaded humming from outside, the sound was getting louder, I almost regretted my decision to come back to this place but I had to save Kimberly. I cautiously made my way up to her apartment and to my dismay her door was wide open. The apartment was absent of sound and any light, darkness protruding out into the corridor.
“Kim, are you there?” I called out.
I breathed in deeply swallowing my trepidation and walked in to the apartment. As my eyes adjusted to the dark I wandered around still calling out to Kimberly and that’s when I saw her, she was out on the balcony. She stood unmoved as her body cradled back in forth in one place as her head was positioned down towards the court yard. I quickly ran to her grabbing at her shoulders turning her face to mine but her gaze was vacant, her eyes were glazed over.
“Kim, Kim, answer me what happened snap out of it” I demanded of her as tears began streaming down my face.
She remained unresponsive and bit of drool poured down her chin, she was completely gone and all I could do was embrace her in my arms crying wishing for her to come back and that’s when I heard her voice. It was calling me from the courtyard.
“K-K-Kim?” I whimpered out, utterly confounded.
I carefully looked over the balcony my eyes crawling its gaze down into the dark courtyard, all the neighbors were still in their same positions and that’s when I finally saw it, it was something I’ve never seen before, some sort of chasm that glowed, I don’t know how I couldn’t see it before.
“I’m down here, it’s beautiful, come down here with me” Kimberly’s voice told me.
That humming, it was coming from that void and now I couldn’t look away I just kept staring down into it, Kim’s down there I just want to be with her, I don’t know how long I’ve been staring at it, but if you ever hear a humming just know it’s coming from the void and whatever you do, don’t stare at it.