…
“Evan! Craig! Where are you!” I called out, terrified.
Rustling came from my left and I stumbled back, my pulse spiking. “Who is it!”
Calm footsteps approached. “Shh.”
“Evan?” I flinched as a gentle hand held mine and began leading me away. “Evan? Is Craig okay?”
“Yes,” came the raspy reply.
This didn’t feel right. The hand was wrong. The voice was wrong. The attitude was wrong. Not sure if it was my gut feeling or just my paranoid fear, I reached for their wrist with my other hand. My heart dropped. There was no scar.
“Let go of me!” I yelled, yanking my arm away.
A man yelled as I ran, and he laughed when I tripped and fell. My heart pounding, I scrambled up, jutting my arms out in front of me as I shuffled as fast as I could. I didn’t make it far before I tripped again, this time landing on something soft that grunted.
“Wh-what …” a groggy voice mumbled.
“Craig!” I shook him. “Craig, call for help!”
“Huh? What … happened? Oh shit … my car.” He groaned as he moved. “Where’s Freckles?”
“I don’t know! Call for help! There’s a guy after me!”
I heard him rattle keys as he said, “My phone … I don’t have it, but—” I gasped as he pulled me on top of him and held me tight. “Stay away from her! She doesn’t know anything!”
My rapid breaths puffed against his leather jacket as I felt his hand slide around my ass, but I soon forgot all about that when a force pulled me away.
I screamed. “Let go of me!”
“Leave her alone!” Craig yelled, his voice cracking. “Or you’ll pay for this!”
The man dragging me away laughed, and I fought his hands as I yelled, “Let me go! I didn’t hear anything!”
“If you take her, we’ll come for you!” Craig yelled.
“Good luck finding us,” the man said, hoisting me on his shoulder as he walked up what felt like a slope.
I continued yelling for help as I struggled to escape him, my heart in a frenzy, Craig’s voice getting further and further away. It didn’t seem like there was anyone around except for us, and I really hoped what Craig said was true and not just an empty threat.
I soon found myself stashed in a car between two men, and my frantic pulse stuttered as I threw myself over the man on my left to reach for the door. The other guy pulled me back against the seat, and I screamed for help as he tried to hold me down.
The car took off, and I manically began kicking between the front seats, making the men curse as the car swerved. Hands pinned my legs down as a rough palm pressed over my mouth, and I jerked my head, managing to gain enough space to sink my teeth into skin.
Left Guy yelped, and an explosion of pain erupted from my face. I gasped and shrank into myself, trembling with tension as I anticipated another punch, involuntary tears trickling over my throbbing cheek.
“Hey!” Right Guy said, reaching over me to push Left Guy. “What’re you doing, you’ll give her brain damage!”
“She bit me!”
“Can’t you restrain a girl without punching her in the head!” the woman in the passenger seat yelled as she pushed my legs back. “We’re lucky enough you didn’t kill her in the crash!”
“I didn’t hear anything,” I said, sniffling as the men held my arms and pinned my feet beneath theirs. “I hung up right away. I promise.”
“Desiree. That’s your name right?” the woman asked.
I nodded.
“Desiree, let’s not start things off with lies. Our inside man told us the transmission lasted five seconds, and that it was sent to your number.”
“Inside man? You mean the guy you blackmailed?”
“Seems like they told you quite a bit.”
“They also told me the message is lost.”
She scoffed. “Lies. They took you to retrieve it from your memory.”
“No, they took me to protect me from you guys who won’t believe I don’t know anything.”
“They want the same thing we want. The only difference is, we’re being honest with you.”
I frowned, not wanting to believe.
“We apologize for the abduction,” the woman said, “and we understand that you didn’t sign up for this, but you’re involved now and we’d appreciate your cooperation as we attempt to retrieve the message.”
“They said there’s no way to retrieve messages from memory.”
“Not yet, but we’re all working on finding a way, including them.”
“So you don’t know how to either?”
“We’re in the experimental phase, but the message you heard is too important to pass up. We’ll keep trying until we retrieve it.”
“But I don’t remember anything. There’s nothing to retrieve.”
“It’s in your subconscious. Your mind remembers what it heard, even if you don’t.”
My skepticism merged with tentative curiosity. “What are you going to do to get it?”
“You’ll see,” Left Guy said.
“No I won’t, I’m blind. So tell me.”
“You’ll listen to recordings of radio static made during the same time as the call,” the woman said. “We’ll also introduce weak electric shock to help stimulate the mind.”
I tensed up. “Electric shock! I don’t want that!”
“It won’t harm you. We don’t intend on harming anyone.”
“This guy just punched me!” I said, nodding at Left Guy.
“And I’ll do it again if you get feisty,” he said, squeezing my arm.
I recoiled, expecting a second punch, and he chuckled. After a few seconds with no violence, I let out a shaky breath, my anxious heart thudding. I didn’t know who to believe anymore and I just wanted to ensure my survival.
“You’ll let me go afterwards, right?”
“Of course,” the woman said. “The moment we retrieve the message.”
“What if you don’t get anything from me?”
“We will, or we’ll keep trying.”
“But for how long?”
“As long as it takes.”
“How will you even get me to recreate static for you?”
“That’s something we’re keeping secret for now. But rest assured it won’t harm you.”
I frowned, my anxious pulse thudding in my chest. Their words were vastly different than their actions, and I found myself confused and uneasy.
“How do you even know the message is important? It’s probably nothing.”
“Or it could make us rich,” Left Guy said.
“You’re costing people their lives for the tiny possibility you’d get money?”
“We didn’t cost anyone their life,” the woman said. “We were merely trying to get you to pull over. The crash was unintentional.”
“You were shooting at us!”
“Warning shots,” Right Guy said. “I made sure not to hit anyone. And no one was injured in the crash.”
“Except for that ugly car,” Left Guy said.
“This recording wasn’t even meant for you,” I said. “It’s for Evan and Craig’s grandma’s group.”
“They lost possession of it which makes it free for all,” Left Guy said, leaning towards me.
I squirmed in my seat as I felt his onion breath on my face, and I gasped when pain erupted from my thigh.
“Settle down,” he said.
“I’m not doing anything, just don’t come closer to me!” I said, straining against him.
I turned away in fretful disgust when he huffed in my face, and I felt Right Guy push him back as he said, “Cut it out.”
Left Guy stopped harassing me, and I let out a wavering sigh as I held back tears. I didn’t want to go through any of this, but the sooner they got their stupid message, the sooner I could go home. And I was pretty sure I was done with any adventures from now on.
After the car stopped, Left Guy dragged me through an echoing hall, and I kept my ears on high alert as I tried to pick up any clues to my location, to their identity, and to possible escape routes.
“In there,” the woman said, her voice coming from ahead of us.
The man dragged me to the left, and the echoes spaced out. Were we in a garage? A warehouse? I gasped as he shoved me on a chair, and my panic spilled over as they began strapping me down.
“Why do you have to tie me up?” I asked, struggling as they immobilized me.
“For your safety,” the woman said.
I could feel them wrapping things around my fingers, but that was soon forgotten when someone grabbed my head and shoved a helmet over it. I tried to jerk away from them, my screams flying free, but another set of hands held me still as something snapped below my chin.
“What is the helmet for!” I yelled.
“To isolate the sound and capture eye movements,” the woman said. “Let’s start at five percent.”
I jumped as my fingers began to tingle. “Is that the electric shock?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Increase to ten percent.”
The tingling became more aggressive, and I gasped as I tried to wiggle the wires off my fingers. “Ow, you said it wouldn’t hurt!”
“I said it wouldn’t harm you. Once it’s over, there will be no permanent damage. Go up to fifteen percent.”
My hands twitched as biting currents raced all the way up my arms. “Ow, stop please!”
“Twenty.”
The twitches became agonizing spasms, and I jerked against my bonds as I screamed, “Stop! Stop, please!”
“Go back to fifteen.”
I let out a tearful breath as the pain became somewhat more tolerable.
“Start,” the woman said.
A deafening rush of static filled my ears, and I screamed and recoiled into the seat, trying to escape the grating noise.
“It’s too loud!” I cried.
“Louder,” the woman said. “I don’t want her hearing herself. No distractions.”
“No, please!”
I didn’t think the volume could get any higher as it felt like my brain was pulsating inside my skull. I strained and bucked in my seat, shrieking as tears poured, but I couldn’t even hear my own cries.
“You’re going to deafen me!”
I flinched as they adjusted the coils around my fingers, the currents tearing at my nerves. What were they hoping to achieve? What was I supposed to do other than writhe in agony?
The static roared in my head, shattering its way inside my core, vibrating in my bones, melting my sanity and scrambling it with my cracking endurance.
Time became as vague as my future, any coherent thoughts shredded by the auditory massacre. Waves of shadows passed me by as I began hallucinating, and I cowered as I tried avoiding their ominous forms.
Every breath was a cry for mercy as the torment wrung my spasming heart. A day that started as a welcome escape now left me yearning for one.
A touch drew me back to the physical world as I felt someone tug at the helmet, and my hoarse screams scraped my throat raw as I shook my head.
“Not louder! Please!”
A finger pressed over my lips and I jerked away, sobbing. “Please, let me go.”
The person ignored me as they began fiddling with the coils around my fingers, and I continued weeping. “Please don’t—”
I gasped as the coils were removed and skin pressed against my palm. My eyes widened and I felt around, afraid to believe. A scar above a wrist.
“Evan?”
His finger pressed against my lips again. I must’ve been louder than I thought. I didn’t know how to feel as he unstrapped me, but at the moment all I cared about was taking the helmet off. Once my arms were free, I grabbed at it, desperate to yank it off, but I couldn’t. I felt Evan pulling at the strap under my chin, and my hope wavered. It must be locked.
“Can you lower the volume?” I asked.
He shushed me again before helping me stand up. He probably didn’t know how, and there probably wasn’t any time. With my muscles shaky, I leaned on him as we walked, but the overwhelming static toyed with my balance as the hallucinations disoriented me. After stumbling a few times too many, I gasped as Evan lifted me up.
The next few minutes were a blur as he ran, his tense arms cradling me as he turned, ducked, and swivelled, the roaring static adding to the mind-scrambling rollercoaster as my stomach turned. Gripping him tight, I cried as I hoped this nightmare would end soon.
With time undefined, I somehow ended up on Evan’s lap, his gentle hands guiding my head off his shoulder. After a second of pressure under my chin, the helmet was removed, and I gasped as I felt like I was falling into an endless, silent void. I jerked back, my heart lurching, and Evan pulled me close. Trembling, I burrowed into his hug and clutched his shirt, desperate for stability as I waited for my body to regulate.
With my hearing crisis resolved, my other senses came back into focus. We were in a moving car, it was raining, and I could feel Evan’s steady heartbeat. His clothes were damp, but he didn’t smell like sweat or blood. It reminded me of the lake my parents and I would go to in the summers. My parents.
“Are my parents safe?” I asked.
“Yes.” He swept my hair to the side, lightly touching my tender cheek. “And so are you.”
Still shaky, I slid off his lap and sat beside him, wary and tense. “Will you let us go?”
“Let you go? You’re free to go whenever you want. Especially once those guys get arrested.”
“Arrested?”
“Yes, for the hit and run and your abduction.”
I rubbed my fingers. “You can add torture to that list.”
“We’ll definitely try to get them charged for that as well. I’m just sorry we didn’t get there before they started.”
“I don’t even get what they were trying to do.”
“They were hoping electric currents plus the AM frequency would revive your memory and your involuntary eye movements would translate the message.”
I frowned in disbelief. “Are you serious?”
“I told you, some groups are getting desperate to one-up our discoveries. We never resort to causing pain, but most don’t care, and unfortunately the organizers of the competition don’t have set rules on this.”
“They should.”
“Agreed.”
My unease surfaced, fatigue and uncertainty clogging my mind. “How do you know what they were trying to do? Is that your method too?”
“No, Dez, I already told you, we’ve accepted that the message is lost. But when the ten of us stormed in to save you, we found their plans.”
I turned to him in surprise. “Ten!”
“Yes, we wanted to get you out of there safely, and the rest are still there to make sure those guys don’t go anywhere before the police arrive.”
“Oh.” I felt a soft bashfulness intermingling with gratitude. “Thank you. How did you even find me? The guy seemed pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to.”
“I guess Craig didn’t give you a heads-up. He slipped his keychain tracker in your back pocket.”
“Oh,” I said, remembering Craig sliding his hand over my ass. “That was quick thinking.”
“He has his moments. He wanted to join the rescue too, but we assured him ten of us were enough.”
“Is he okay?”
“He got pretty banged up in the crash. He’s in surgery now, but he’ll be fine.”
“Oh no,” I said in shock. “I had no idea it was that bad. What about you? Are you okay? After the crash, I called out for you but you didn’t reply.”
“I landed in the river and got swept downstream. By the time I made it back, you were gone and Craig told me what happened.”
“Did you get hurt?”
“No, nothing that’ll leave a scar.”
“That’s good.” I gave him a small smile. “Thanks, by the way, for letting me feel your scar back there. I never would’ve known it was you otherwise.”
“You’re welcome! I’m glad it worked, I had no idea how to get you know it was me until I remembered you feeling my arm a couple of times.”
I reached out, and he met my hand. “How’d you get it?” I asked, tracing the scar.
“Bullies broke my wrist pretty badly in school. My whole bone was sticking out.”
I cringed. “Oh, ouch. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. It’s in the past. Back then I felt like I didn’t really fit in with my classmates, my family, my body, and kids tend to pick on those who act different.”
“And now? How do you feel?”
“At home.”
I smiled and brought a hand closer to his face before I stopped. “May I?”
“May you what?”
“I want to know what you look like.”
“Oh, sure. Sorry, I keep forgetting you’re blind.”
“It’s okay, I actually like that.”
His damp hair met my fingers and I brushed it aside, tracing his cheekbone before reaching the stubble on his chin. With my other hand, I outlined his eyebrow and the bridge of his narrow nose before letting my fingertips rest on the curve of his lips.
“Am I what you imagined?” he asked, breathing across my fingers.
I pulled my hands away, still smiling. “Sort of. And I take it you have freckles?”
He chuckled. “Yes. Craig doesn’t give nicknames to just anyone, but when he does, expect to never hear him say your actual name again.”
“That sounds like the annoying thing he’d do,” I said, chuckling along.
“Do you mind if I ask about your blindness?”
“No, I don’t mind. It was a brain tumor. They took it out when I was a kid, but it messed up the connection between my eyes and brain. My eyes work perfectly fine, but their info can’t get anywhere.”
“Is there no surgery for that?”
“We’re in touch with a few doctors, but there’s nothing promising yet.” I sighed. “But I’m not complaining, I have amazing support from my parents.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” a man said from the front, making me jump. “But is Desiree’s bag in this car or the other one?”
I let out an awkward chuckle. “I didn’t know there was anyone else here. You’re very quiet.”
He laughed. “Did you think this was a self-driving car?”
“I don’t know. I’m not really firing on all cylinders right now.”
“Understandable, it’s been a crazy day.”
“That’s my eldest brother, Jonas,” Evan said. “He’s a lot more likable than Craig.”
Jonas laughed. “That isn’t a very difficult thing to be. So, is her bag here?”
“It got lost in the crash,” I said. “Why do you want it?”
“For your ID for the hospital,” Jonas said. “We’re taking you there to check your injuries. And we found your bag.” I heard some rummaging before I felt a weight on my lap. “It was up in a tree.”
“Oh, thanks! And there’s no need for a hospital. My mom’s a doctor, she’ll make sure I’m okay.”
…
“Are you sure you want to do this?” my mom asked, holding my hand as we walked down the hall.
“Yes,” I said. “It’ll be fine. I survived a high speed chase, a car crash, a kidnapping, and attempted murder by radio static, this is nothing.”
My mum squeezed my other hand. “Oh, Deedee, don’t remind me. I hate imagining you going through that.”
“You’re looking at it the wrong way. I can do a lot and survive. You don’t need to keep babying me.”
We stopped walking, and I heard a knock as Evan said, “Grandma? I’m here with Desiree and her parents.”
“Yes, enter,” came the reply.
A door creaked, and Evan said, “After you.”
“Thank you, sweetie,” my mom said as we walked in.
“I heard a rumor you survived,” Craig said, his voice coming from a lot lower than I expected as he approached with a motorized hum.
I turned to him in surprise. “Hey, you. Are you in an electric wheelchair?”
“Yea, stuck in it until the swelling in my spine goes down.” I could hear the smirk in his tone as he said, “Guess my voice isn’t making you nauseous anymore.”
“It wasn’t your voice, it was your comments. Thank you, by the way, for putting the tracker on me.”
“Couldn’t stop him, so I did the next best thing. Wish it didn’t have to happen, though.”
“Me too. And I’m sorry about your car.”
“Yea, well, it was overdue for repair anyway. But it’s the last time I’m picking anyone up in it. You hear that, Freckles? Take your own car on your next date with Toph.”
“It wasn’t a date!” Evan said. “And that was the last car I wanted you to pick us up in!”
“I’m open for an actual date, though,” I said with a smile as I turned to Evan. “Assuming Toph is me.”
“Yes, it is, and I am too! Open for a date, I mean. If you’re interested.”
I chuckled. “I already said I was.”
“Evan, you’re more than welcome to come over for dinner so we can get to know you better,” my mom said. “Now I just want to know what a Toph is.”
“She’s a badass earth bender who’s blind.”
“Oh, that’s sweet,” my mum said, having no idea what I was talking about.
“So, which one of you is her real mom?” Craig asked.
“We both are.”
“I mean, which one of you popped her out?”
“Neither,” my mom replied. “We adopted her into our hearts.”
“Oh, that explains why she doesn’t look like either of you.”
“Just a second ago you were wondering which one of us was her birth mom.”
“I was just being polite.”
“Craig, don’t you have somewhere you need to be?” Evan asked.
“I do, actually. My girl’s coming over, and I’m about to show her everything still works downstairs, if you know what I mean.”
A woman in front of us cleared her throat. “The doctor told you no strenuous activity, Craig.”
“Don’t worry, grandma,” he said, his chair humming as he went towards the door. “My girl’s going to be doing all the work. Catch you later!”
“Is he always like this?” my mum asked.
“Unfortunately,” Evan replied.
“Hello, Desiree,” the grandma said, walking closer. “I’m Zuri. I’m holding a hand out for you to shake.”
“Oh.” I reached over. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Evan’s told me a lot about you.”
She warmly shook my hand. “And he’s told me a lot about you. Are you certain you want to do this?”
“I’m curious, and as long as it’s not deafening or electrifying, I think I can handle it.”
“I’ll be assigning Evan to be by your side.”
“Why not us?” my parents said in unison.
“Mom, mum, it’s okay,” I said. “I’ll be fine with Evan.”
“Well, just make sure the moment you’re uncomfortable, you say so,” my mum said, kissing my forehead.
“Don’t worry, we won’t let it get that far,” Evan said.
A few minutes later, I found myself sitting in a room with Evan, our hands entwined over the table between us. My pulse raced as I anticipated the speakers releasing a stream of static, and he rubbed his thumbs over my knuckles.
“Any time you want to bail, just tell me,” he said.
“I know.”
The speaker crackled with Jonas’ voice. “Ready? Three, two, one.”
I held my breath as a soft buzz filled the room, and my tension ebbed as it didn’t trigger distressing memories.
“You okay?” Evan asked.
I nodded. “This is a good volume.”
We remained silent as we listened, and I tried to focus on my inner visions. I wanted to see if the hallucinations I had were caused by the static itself, or if they were just due to the insane volume plus stress, shocks, and fatigue.
A few minutes passed, and I didn’t sense anything. Gathering my courage, I asked, “Can we increase the volume a bit?”
“Are you sure?” Evan asked.
I nodded, and Jonas said, “Okay, ready? Three, two, one.”
The rush of static got louder, and I held Evan’s hands tight.
“You okay?” he asked, squeezing back.
I nodded, letting every hum, click, and glitch flow into my mind. There they were. The shadows. From above. Smaller. Fluttering.
“Evan, can you get me a paper and a pencil?”
Without a word, he jumped up and returned, sliding a stack of paper between my hands and slipping a pencil between my fingers. And I began to draw.
…
“They look like upside down flames,” Jonas said as we all sat around a meeting table. “And that looks like a pitchfork.”
“So, what are you saying?” a man asked. “We’ve been recording chatter in hell this whole time?”
“That would explain all the politicians.”
“Those look nothing like flames,” a woman said. “They’re more like streamers. And I’ve never seen a pitchfork that looks like that. It’s more like a cake with candles.”
“There we have it,” Craig said. “Aunt Deb cracked the case. The spirits are holding a deathday celebration.”
“Shut up, Craig,” someone said.
“It’s another realm,” a woman said. “Those things she drew could very well be unfathomable to us.”
“Isn’t anyone going to question how she saw this?” a guy asked. “She’s blind!”
“Uncle Pip, are you even listening to yourself?” Craig said. “Toph saw this in her mind by listening to static. You don’t need eyes for that.”
“Desiree, do you think you could’ve still been hallucinating?”
“I thought it was that when the static was very loud,” I replied. “But at the lower volume, I saw the same movements but zoomed out. I got a clearer picture. There are fluttering things up there, like flames, and that weird shape. The whole place feels crowded, but not, if that makes sense. Sorry, I’m not a good artist, and it doesn’t help that I can’t see what I’m drawing.”
“Evan, did you experience any of this? You were in the room with her.”
“No,” Evan said, “but she was super focused on the static while I was super focused on her.”
“She also doesn’t have visual distractions,” a man said.
“Desiree, Do you have synesthesia?” Jonas asked.
“What’s that?”
“Where you feel like sounds have texture or colors have tastes. Like a crossing of senses.”
“No.”
“So, are we to believe she is reading not the spirit’s dialogue, but their activity?” someone asked.
“Or maybe their energy reflections,” Evan said.
“What?” a few people asked, their chairs creaking.
“What if the energy the spirits emit is bouncing off stuff, like a bat’s sonar, and it affects the radio frequency. When recorded, somehow those nuanced differences can be converted to help us get a spatial understanding of the spirit realm.”
“Or of hell!” Jonas said.
“It’s possible,” Zuri said. “Our focus has been mainly auditory, which explains why we hadn’t considered this unique option.”
“This really opens up a lot of opportunities,” a woman said. “If it’s true, we can eventually cook up a code and create 3D models of the spirit realm.”
“Or of hell!” Jonas said.
“We must continue testing,” Zuri said. “We should listen to other recordings with Desiree and be blindfolded to see which of us have similar sensitivities. Desiree, if you’re willing, I’d like you to join our team. If this project has potential, it could be a fulfilling career.”
“Oh, that’d be amazing!” Evan said.
I felt my parents squeeze my hands as they sat on either side of me, but they didn’t say anything, and I smiled as I replied, “I’d love to.”
Part 1 - Part 2
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