A whisper in the wind. That is what Sonder is to many people, and what it has slowly become to me. I find myself, like many others, becoming unaware of its existence at all.
A small town on the edge of England, forgotten as fast as it was built. It isn’t on any map, and you won’t find it by exploring. A town older than most, smaller than most, and lonelier than most.
I got out 10 years ago. Whilst I can’t say the same about others who lived there, I know that it has come back for me. Perhaps it would explain why so few ever leave - Why ever leave something that will follow?
The Screamsingers have plagued my mind since the day I left. I’ll never forget what they took from me, or the part of me I left behind in Sonder. But it feels like that part of me is back, and I don’t know if I feel good about that or not. Because on New Year’s Eve, the Screamsingers plagued more than my mind.
They found me.
I work in a small office building. 3 floors, and I work on the top floor, with 2 others in my room. I’ve been working there for about 6 months. One of the best things is the flexible working arrangements they offer. You can do the usual Monday-Friday work week if you’d like. Or, you can work Sunday-Thursday. I went with the latter - Sundays are boring anyway, with a lot of places being closed. I much prefer my Friday/Saturday weekends.
It meant that I had to work New Year’s Eve, which I wasn’t thrilled about, but I could live with it. I did lay in bed the night before, contemplating phoning in sick to work, but I’ve not been at the company long and didn’t want to lie to my boss. I fell asleep fast that night, but I had a terrible nightmare.
In this nightmare, I was in my bedroom, and heard a familiar sound outside. Washing over the streets was a melodic scream. An enchanting whistle to some, but to those with the same memories of it as me, a blood-curdling horror. I told myself I was dreaming. I’ve had this dream before. But not for a long time - Not since I first left Sonder.
I got up and opened my bedroom window. The sound poured in, as if I had invited this presence into my home. I stood and listened until the sounds died down.
In the morning, I woke up colder than usual. I got out of bed to look outside, expecting it to have been snowing overnight. Instead, I found that my window was open. I felt a deeper chill wash over me as I realised it may not have been a dream.
However, I don’t doubt that it was a nightmare. Dreaming or not, hearing those things again, was a nightmare. A dreaming one or a living one, those sounds infect my mind all the same.
The next few hours went relatively normal, minus the eerie feeling I felt. I’ve been conditioned into thinking that hearing those noises means somebody is going to go missing soon. The last time I heard them, they took my brother. I knew something was going to happen again, but I pinned that thought to the back of my mind, in the deepest corner. I wanted to shrug it off so badly that it’s what I ended up doing - Brushing it away and forgetting about it by the time I was walking to work. I had convinced myself that this all-too-real event was a dream.
As I walked into work, the door chimes as it always does. ding ding
You have to slam the door shut for it to catch again. It’s a bit broken, and if you don’t do this, it’ll keep blowing open in the wind, playing that chime over and over.
It was only 2 of us in the office. Me and Davide - He works in the same room as me. The third guy doesn’t do Sunday shifts, and everyone else in the building had booked the 31st off. I didn’t have any holiday days left, so I had to come in.
It was a very laid-back day. Davide is a great guy and we always have a laugh, so having the building to ourselves was nice. We got chatting quite a bit, and didn’t get a lot of work done. He loves hearing about Sonder. He grew up in a big city, and has always loved the idea of a more rural upbringing. I haven’t told him the horrors within, only the good memories.
4:46pm. 14 minutes until we would have left. 14 minutes until we would get to go home and celebrate the new year with our families. That’s exactly when we heard the chime again.
ding ding
But the door didn’t shut. So, we assumed our boss had come in to check on us, since he’s often forgetful. We quickly sat up straight and acted as though we had been working all day.
ding ding
We couldn’t hear anybody walking upstairs yet. I thought perhaps it wasn’t our boss. But then, who else would it be? Perhaps another co-worker had left something in the office and had come to collect it? Or, maybe it was our boss, and he was here to lock up when we leave, and not to check on us.
ding ding
The stupid door would not shut up. Even our boss wouldn’t leave it this long. Once he realises it keeps playing the chime, he goes to shut it properly. At this point, I thought maybe a delivery driver dropped a package in and left. It would’ve explained the silence downstairs. But the silence broke quickly enough for this thought to be dismissed.
ding ding
Footsteps, creaking up the stairs. Except, they didn’t have the right sound to them. They were heavy, yet slow. They also didn’t have the right pattern to them. It was a footstep, then 2 quick footsteps, then none, then 3 quick footsteps, then a slow one. They felt less like feet, and more like an omnipresent “bang” getting closer.
ding ding
Me and Davide looked at each other. I wasn’t scared, and he didn’t look to be, either. We were just both confused and uneased. The constant chime; the irregular thuds; the silence that they both pierced through. None of them created a feeling of contentment.
ding ding
The thuds were loud now, as the final few steps creaked. We were both peering out the door, looking at the stairs to our floor. Waiting. Hoping to see our boss’ head, or a co-worker, or anybody we recognised.
ding ding
A figure slowly emerged up the stairs. A figure I knew all too well. As the grey, skinny, morphing figure slowly became visible, my mind raced back to that day in the woods. The day I saw a figure on the rock. Only this time, I had nowhere to run. I was sat there, motionless, at my desk.
ding ding
The chimes still echoed up the building, as the creature slowed down. It stood out in the open room, looking at us. I don’t know whether Davide could see it, or whether he saw nothing, much like my brother. But either way, there we were, both frozen.
ding ding
The lights went out. After being sat in front of a monitor for so long, my eyes were not used to this. A deepest of darks had encased me, and shrouded the room. Silence filled the air, as the Screamsinger seemed to stop making noises entirely. But I knew it wasn’t gone. It was still there as I tried my hardest to make as little noise as possible.
ding ding
The darkness felt thick. Like a blanket. It was as if I could reach out and grab it. Of course, the truth was quite the opposite - Anything could have reached out and grabbed me. I realised at this moment that I could hear something else: My heartbeat. All I could think about was my brother. Jacob was taken from me 10 years ago, and this thing was responsible.
ding ding
A creak in the floorboards. Something was moving. Was it the creature? Was it Davide? It doesn’t matter what it was. Because the next thing I heard was a scream. Not the tune-like call of a Screamsinger, but the pain-filled cry of a man. It had gotten Davide. It wanted me to hear - I know well from my time in Sonder that these things can silently take lives. It had chosen, purposely, with clear intent, to not force silence on this kill. It wanted to torture me, to remind me. It didn’t want me dead - It wanted me terrified.
ding ding
I could hear nothing but dripping. A pitter-patter similar to the rain hitting your window. The lights returned, and the Screamsinger was gone, along with Davide. His chair was soaked with blood, as a puddle of it was growing on the floor below. I sat there just staring at this chair. I think I felt so scared that I was almost numb to the feeling of it at all. I just sat there. I wasn’t thinking, I wasn’t moving, I was just sitting.
I noticed that the chair was contorting. The number of legs on it kept changing - 2, then 3, then 1, then 4. I don’t know if I was seeing things. I would assume I was if it weren’t for what I had witnessed just seconds before. But a morphing chair leaves more questions than it presents answers. By the time the police arrived, the chair was back to normal. If you consider a blood-soaked chair to be normal.
I have no doubt they were called in from the scream. They took me to the station and questioned me, of course. I told them everything except for what I had seen. They’d call me crazy, so, I told them that the power was cut and I couldn’t see what was happening, I just heard it all. I was being held for a few days, but was released last night. They confirmed that the power did go out briefly in the area, and suspected that it had been tampered with intentionally. I don’t know if they’ve checked CCTV, and I’m not sure what it would’ve even captured. I just know that I’m no longer the top suspect, although I would assume they’re still keeping a close eye on me.
Davide was a good man, and the first life I know of to be claimed by the Screamsingers outside of Sonder. But I keep thinking, what if there have been more? What if he isn’t the first? A thought even more worrying - Will he be the last?
The Screamsingers are now out and free. So many questions, and I suspect all the answers lay within Sonder.
Perhaps it’s time I go back.