I’m putting this here because honestly, I’ve had a hell of a day at work, and I don’t know what to make of the information I’ve just received. I can’t exactly say where I work since if I happened to attract any attention, I’d probably lose my job instantly. All I can say is that I work at a space agency.
Things are kept pretty locked up here since they don’t want any information leaks until they’re completely sure of their findings (At least that’s what I’m assuming). I’ve been here for a while and still, all I really know is what I’ve been assigned. I wasn’t supposed to know this information. Fuck, I shouldn’t have taken that phone. What am I doing? I could get fired for this…
…Though honestly, maybe getting fired is the least of what could happen to me.
Alright, let me start with how I got ahold of the phone.
My boss-I’m not really going to describe her, she’s not that important to this story-Asked me to go drop off a couple of files in the processing lab. Now, the details of what it was aren’t really that important, honestly, and it has nothing to do with what I’m talking about now. It was just a couple of hypotheses she wanted to submit to see if they could actually do any research. What was important is that the processing lab is past Meeting Room AB, which I didn’t even know was being used that day until I heard a voice from inside.
I couldn’t really make out what was being said, the doors muffled too much of the sound and the recording wasn’t the best but the more I listened, the more I started to feel I recognized the voice. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but then I heard the other people in the room begin to speak.
“No one must find out about this recording. It could put our next mission in jeopardy,” One of the men spoke, I couldn’t really recognize his voice but I assumed it was probably someone I was meant to know.
“Someone replay it, there was a sound towards the end over their voice that I want to hear again,” A woman said, and then the sound of the recording was heard again.
That was when I realized whose voice it was, and my heart dropped.
Now, I have to admit something here that could probably get me into trouble but you know what, to hell with it. There is a fire alarm in a stairwell and I know for a fact that there aren’t any cameras in that area of the stairwell. At that point, I didn’t really think, I just had to get my hands on that recording to find out what was happening.
So, I hit the fire alarm.
Even if I get fired, it could be worth it.
People were leaving the building in a panic since this hadn’t been scheduled, and no one noticed me slipping into the meeting room, even the people that were already in there. I grabbed what was on the table-A pretty badly damaged phone-And tucked it into my pocket, making sure no one else saw me. Quickly, I joined everyone else leaving the building, making light conversation and acting confused to fit into the crowd.
During all the chaos, I slipped away to my car and put the phone in the storage compartment, locking the door and slipping back into the crowd. I would have left immediately, but I knew that if I left immediately after the phone went missing, I’d be the number one suspect.
When everything had been sorted out, obviously there was a whole commotion as they realized the phone was missing and everyone was searched. Eventually, they couldn’t keep us all there for too long and they let us go one by one after searching us. Thankfully, they haven’t bothered to check our cars, I don’t think they think anyone had the time to get their cars. It was a damn stroke of luck as well because if they had checked…Let’s just move on.
As soon as I got home, I let my mom and dad know that I had some work left to do and that I’d be up late so they probably shouldn’t bother me. This was common enough, so they wouldn’t bother me.
When I got to my room, I closed the door-I know, you’re probably wondering why I didn’t lock it. I come from an Indian (Desi) household, so if I were to lock the door my mom and dad would immediately suspect something was up. My sibling wouldn’t suspect anything but she’d probably be concerned. And I really didn’t want to get any of them involved in this mess.
I unlocked the phone quickly, bypassing the password and navigating to the voice recorder app, and of course, there were two files that were unlabeled. The rest of them seemed to be the names of popular songs, which after a quick listen, revealed that it was the same voice from the recording singing for fun. I knew that we had a charger that worked with that type of phone and connected it to my laptop, transferring the files.
As soon as it had downloaded, I grabbed the phone and hid it on my desk. As soon as I listened to the file, I’d make sure to get rid of it. No point in trying to return it, I would get caught either way.
Now, for another explanation: I have tried to link the files here multiple times, but for some reason, it refuses to upload. I have tried multiple times since destroying that phone and nothing seems to work. At this point, I just need to get this off my chest and I don’t want to have anything to do with it anymore. I’ve decided to just transcribe them as I listen to them.
Here goes nothing.
[First Audio Recording Begins]
It’s been almost a week since they selected me to be the first solo adventurer to go into space. The more I think about it, the stranger the situation feels. I mean, I know they’ve been prepping me to do this for years, they’ve been prepping all of us in this training program. Which is what kind of weirds me out? You’d think that they would do some testing, select the people that are the most probably choices, and focus on them to be on the mission, but no. They trained all of us and then chose me.
Although, I can’t lie and say that I’m not giddy about it. I’ve always wanted to be an astronomer. Or more, I’ve always wanted to go to space. The fact that I’m even here, I’m grateful for, and even more that I was chosen to be able to be the first solo explorer.
I remember that I fell asleep in the meeting room. It was…Strange, it was some sort of weird haze that just made me feel absolutely exhausted. I just thought that it might have been my thalassemia or anemia causing me to feel tired again, so I drank some water but it didn’t make me feel any better. Eventually, I fell asleep but now, thinking back on it, it really did feel different. It felt…Off.
When I woke up, it was evening time, and someone was shaking me awake. Karina, a girl who was in training with me, had a smile on her face, “Hey, don’t tell me Madam Chosen One is sleep-deprived right before the big day?” She asked me teasingly,
Karina and I always had a…Thing. Wasn’t quite a romantic or sexual thing but it certainly wasn’t just friendship. We were kind of somewhere in between and we were both fine with it, but it had made training a lot more enjoyable to have someone like that for me.
“No, no, I’m fine, Rina. I…Uh…Did I miss something?” I asked, rubbing my eyes, “I honestly just passed the fuck out, I don’t even know how.”
“It’s cool, Madam-Shit, I forgot, is it okay if I call you that today? Would you prefer something more androgynous?” She said worriedly, handing me a bottle of water. She always worried about things like this. It was adorable.
“It’s fine,” I responded, smiling and drinking from the bottle. It was only then that I noticed everyone in the training room was simply just hanging out and talking, “Is…Did the meeting end?”
Karina laughed before telling me, “Oh, it ended a while back, but it didn’t really apply to you. Honestly, I don’t know why you even came, it was meant for all of us except for you, Madam Chosen One.”
I rolled my eyes, “You can stop calling me that now, or the novelty will wear off. Anyways, are you going to keep being cute or are you going to fill me in?” I teased her.
She simply sat on the table next to where I was sitting on the chair, “They were just telling us that since you’ve been chosen for the program, we’re all being let go. This will be our last day here since you’ll be sent off at what, dawn tomorrow?” She began to explain. I nodded, and she continued, “It wasn’t anything major really, just that they appreciated us volunteering for this program and that the time we’ve sacrificed will be compensated in money.”
I frowned, “That’s it? They’re just letting you all go?” I asked, “That’s…I mean, I’m sorry, Karina. I know everyone here wanted this opportunity as much as I did, for them to just let you all go…”
She shook her head, “Hey, hey, no need for apologies. We all knew what we signed up for, and only one of us would be selected. Besides, all of us kind of agreed that if anyone should go up, it should be you,” She smiled, patting my head comfortingly.
I was hesitant but I ended up saying, “…If you say so.”
“Hey, Chosen One! Heads up!” One of the guys in my training group, Matt, stood up and tossed something at me which flew gently, heading right for my face. I ducked out of the way and looked behind me to see it was a paper plane.
“Oh, you’re on,” I grinned, grabbing a piece of paper and setting out to make the best fucking paper airplane in my life.
Things devolved from there, with the nine other people in the room, including Karina, making their own paper planes and beginning to throw them at each other. It was…Really nice. The room was bathed in golden sunset hues, and there was so much laughter. Honestly, with how competitive we were to get the spot, it was surprising we were all getting around so well.
“Alright, alright, settle down everyone!” A familiar voice called out, and we all turned to see Bruce in the doorway. Bruce was a big man, mostly muscled, but he had a kind face. Don’t let that fool you, though, he was a strict trainer when we were in the program, but he was fair. He was a good guy, “Now, where’s our lucky trainee?”
I raised my hand, raising my eyebrows, “Here, Sir. Anything you need?” I asked.
His face broke into a smile, “I come bearing gifts. Or a singular gift for now,” He said, and opened the door a bit wider for a familiar person to peek inside.
“Hey, Oh my God!” A huge smile stretched across my face, “It’s been a while, get over here!” I opened my arms and my younger sibling ran over, crashing into me. Being at the training program meant that I didn’t really get any visitors, and my sibling had been so busy recently that I hadn’t seen her in a while. I guess that and the combination of knowing that I would be going away for…A while…Made me a bit more emotional.
“Hi,” She said, hugging me, “I can’t believe you’re going to go into space,” She grinned.
I shook my head, “Honestly, I can’t believe it either. This has been my dream since I was five…But what are you doing here? How did you even know I was here, I thought this was meant to be a secret-” My sister cut me off.
“I’ve actually been working here for a while as well. I didn’t know you were working here either, I only found out when you were chosen. We decided to keep it a secret so I could come in and surprise you today!” She said while smiling.
Honestly, after that, our conversations felt a bit like a blur, everything blended together. I know I was having fun with my sister and my…my friends. The more I think about it though, the more I feel something was wrong with it.
Ah, now I think I know.
It all felt staged.
I don’t know how to explain it but it felt too perfect. It might sound stupid, but I’ve never been someone who has perfect luck. There was almost never a situation when everything went completely right. All of this…This was my ideal situation, all of the trainees getting along, the picturesque setting, my sister being here…All of it was what I’d prayed to have before I left. But maybe I’m just saying that I felt something was wrong because of what I know now.
Before I knew it, I was being ushered into another room, a cafeteria. There was all my favorite foods, and there was a cake. It was…It was a farewell party, I think? Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I realize that there were certainly more people there than I actually knew. Maybe other employees? But even then, why would they be at my party?
At the time, I didn’t care. I was having so much fun, people were congratulating me, shaking my hand, hugging me, and kissing me on the cheek.
I think I really should have recognized something was wrong by then.
I’ve never been one to let people other than extremely close friends and family be physically affectionate with me. It just wasn’t something I was comfortable with. The fact that I was letting people do that and get so close to me without feeling even the slightest bit worried, or anxious, or uncomfortable should have been a clear indicator that something wasn’t right.
But it wasn’t. And now I’m here.
The party went on for a while, the sun had already set by the time things began to die down. It was just me, my sister, Karina, and Bruce left and everyone else had left.
“So, Chosen One, feeling confident?” Bruce asked, eating a piece of cake.
“Ugh, still nervous as hell, obviously. Bruce, I have anxiety, remember?” I said, glaring at him, “Anyways, what’s with the whole ‘Chosen One thing? Is that a nickname or a joke everyone came with? Seems like everyone got the idea,” I asked.
Karina laughed, drinking water from her cup, “Don’t be anxious, darling, you’re going to do wonders! You were born for this, you know?” She said, sipping it.
My sister was strangely quiet at this point, and I knew sometimes she could get quiet but she had been quiet for almost three minutes now and I was starting to get freaked out, “Hey, are you okay?” I asked her.
She turned to me, her expression blank and confused, “What’s…Where am I? What’s going on?” She asked us.
“We’re…At my going away party? Hey, are you alright?” I asked, confused.
Karina made a small noise of concern, “Here, maybe you’re tired, how about you get a drink of water and take a nap, hm? We’ll wake you up when Madam Chosen One here has to go,” She said, handing my sister her cup of water, “Here, waterfall from this.”
My sister nodded and drank some of the water, and I wiggled my fingers, reaching for the cup, “Come on, I’m thirsty as well.”
“Ooh, thirsty, hm?” Karina teased, “I’m sitting right here, madam,” She said while grinning.
“Don’t start, Rina,” I rolled my eyes, “You know that’s not what I mean, as cute as you are,” I responded, nudging her with my shoulder and taking the cup from my sister and drinking from it, “You feeling better?” I asked my sister.
“Mhm, a little bit,” She smiled.
Bruce sighed, “You really should probably get some rest, you seem like you’re tired. Maybe you can go home and come see your sibling off tomorrow morning.”
My sister shook her head, “No, no, I’m fine. I’d feel really bad if I let my sibling go off to space without spending as much time with her as I can.”
Bruce nodded understandingly, “I understand, but I just need to remind you that she needs to be put into the quarantine area at 8PM so that she’s all set to go for the mission tomorrow. The Chosen One needs her sleep, of course.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. It’s already 7:30…” I said, looking at the clock, “By the way, where is this quarantine area?”
At this, Bruce grinned, “I’m glad you asked, cadet. Come on, it’s about time we get you up there and I’m pretty sure everything should be ready by now anyway.”
Now, if you asked me exactly how we got to the spiral staircase tower, I would not be able to tell you. I have no idea how Bruce took us there, I have no memory of the area around us. Everything looked familiar and yet I have no firm memory of where we went. All I remember was getting into the tower which was lit with blue lights and had a spiral staircase. As I stepped inside, I heard the sound of party horns, and confetti fell down. The other trainees were standing towards the upper part of the staircase, holding confetti poppers and party horns in their hands as they grinned.
“You guys!” I yelled up to them, a grin on my face as I held back the tears, “This is so sweet!”
“Yeah, yeah, Chosen One! Now get on up here, and take your walk of victory. Or your climb of victory, I guess,” Matt called out, teasing me.
I rolled my eyes, “I thought I told you to stop calling me ‘Chosen One’, Matt!” I called back, “Makes me feel weird as fuck!”
As I climbed up, my sister, Karina, and Bruce were behind me, watching and smiling as I high-fived some of the trainees, hugged some of the others, and had small conversations. When I started taking too long, Bruce put a hand on my shoulder, “Hey, as much as I don’t want to rush you, it’s 7:45 and I think you’re probably going to want to get to the top of the stairs,” He said to me.
I took his word for it and climbed the last few stairs and instantly, I felt the tears build up in my eyes, “Mom, Dad!”
Well, of course, I called them what I call them in my native language, but for the sake of anyone who finds this and listens to this, I’ll just keep everything in English.
I ran over to them and hugged them. If there was something that people knew about me, it was how much I loved my family. My sister joined in the hug and my mom leaned back, “We are so, so, so proud of you. All your aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins, we’re all so proud of you for bringing honor to our family. You’re going to be a part of history tomorrow!”
I nodded, “Yeah, I’m really excited! …But I’m going to miss you guys so much…I’m going to miss everyone,” As I said that though, something began to feel strange to me. Something about this…All of this. I couldn’t put it into words but it just felt…Weird. Why was I even doing this?
“Hey, you alright?” Karina asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just getting emotional, I think,” I said, trying not to cry as I laughed. I drank some water and took a deep breath, “I’m alright. I’m so happy to have this opportunity, and I won’t let you down, Mom and Dad. I’ll do what I have to and make history, and then I’ll come home and we can celebrate,” I said, hugging my parents once again.
“We know you will, you’ve gotten this far, haven’t you?” My dad asked, “This is what you’ve always wanted, to go to space, so now, it’s time to make your dreams come true!”
I nodded, and Bruce cleared his throat, almost sounding like he was holding back tears, “While I hate to break this moment up but our Chosen One here has to get inside for quarantining so she’s all set to go for the mission tomorrow. Cadet, it’s time for you to say your goodbyes.”
Turning back to my parents, I hugged them tightly, my tears falling, “Goodbye, Mom and Dad. I’ll be back home soon, I promise,” I said to them.
Then, I turned to my sister and hugged her tightly, “Be good, okay? Do well in college, do well in your job, and be good to Mom and Dad. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, okay?” I said. When I pulled away, she was crying.
“Be careful, and stay alive. Don’t do anything stupid and get yourself blown up,” She said tearily, sniffling.
“That’s what the training was for, kid,” I grinned, trying to hold back my own sobs. Hugging my family once more tightly, I couldn’t help but feel something was very wrong. Did I…Did I really want to go on this mission and leave my family behind? But before I could say anything, they were already waving goodbye and heading down the stairs. Maybe…Maybe I did want this.
With that, I turned to Karina, “So…It’s been a fun ride, hasn’t it. We’ve been together through all of this,” I chuckled, looking at her through tears. She stepped forward and took my hands in hers. Even though she was the taller of us two, I was the one who could carry her easily, even in 5-inch heels.
Her hands were gentle.
“It has. And I hate that it has to end,” She told me softly.
I laughed a little then, reaching forward to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, “Who says it has to? I’m going to come back here for you, darling. Um, as long as you don’t forget me,” I said, raising an eyebrow.
“Forget you? You’re so silly. If anything, I’m hoping you don’t forget me, O’ Chosen One,” She said with a mocking bow, and she kissed my hand.
I rolled my eyes, “Again with the-You know what, forget it. Just…I’ll be back for you. You’re just as important to me as my family, and you know how important my family is to me,” I said to her.
She laughed at that, “Okay, firstly, nothing is as important to you as your family, so that obviously isn’t true but…” She stepped closer to me as she continued, “…I’d like to think I’m a close second?”
“Yeah. Yeah, you are,” I said, and my voice was a bit breathy. This girl really was too sweet. She stepped a bit closer to me, and now there was barely any room between us.
“I know you don’t really do the whole…Romance thing. But I just…” She began to say, nervous. I just smiled and wrapped my arms around her waist.
“A hug would be nice. You know, for good luck,” I said to her, offering her the chance she seemed to be asking for. She rolled her eyes and hugged me tightly.
As she pulled back, she whispered, “Good luck, Chosen One. I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” And with that, she slipped away from me down the stairs.
Finally, I turned to Bruce, who gave me a sympathetic smile, “It’s time for you to head inside, Cadet,” He said, pointing to the huge, open, metal door.
Huh. I realize now that hadn’t even noticed when it had opened at the time.
“Thanks, Bruce. You really did take care of me and trained me to be the best cadet that I could be. I’m glad I got you as my trainer, I feel totally prepared for space,” I said playfully, elbowing him.
“I sure hope so, Chosen One. We’re all depending on you,” He said, and there was underlying seriousness to his voice as I stepped into the room and turned around, waiting for the door to close, “Goodbye, Chosen One,” When I turned to look back, my heart rate spiked as I saw him waving at me with a strange, pleasant smile. It was…Off.
The door closed, and I think that was the moment I knew something was completely wrong. As the door locked in place, I couldn’t convince myself that the weird, sudden lack of emotion on Bruce’s face as he closed the door and said goodbye was just my imagination. Walking up to the door, I tried the handle to find that it was locked. No keyhole, no password, nothing.
I had been locked in.
As I began to explore the room, I was thankful for the fact that it was large, seeing as if it was small and cramped, I certainly would have lost my mind. I was also very glad I’d brought my bag because it seemed like the only entertaining thing in this room was the glass dome ceiling, showing the night sky in all its glory.
To be fair, it was very entertaining to me, but with all the nervous energy I had, it certainly wasn’t going to help me calm down. As I checked my phone, I realized with a sinking feeling that I had no signal in there.
Great. Trapped in a huge empty room all alone, with nothing to do but stare at the stars. I hadn’t even brought food with me honestly. Or water. Come to think of it, I hadn’t even seen anywhere to sleep.
On cue, my eyes landed on a lump that I recognized to be a sleeping bag. Seeing as I had nothing else to do, I set up the sleeping bag and just…Stared up into space.
It was beautiful, especially since this facility was located away from the lights of the city, the stars could be seen much better here, so much so that you could even see galaxies with your naked eyes. I’ve always loved staring up at space, losing myself in its beauty.
Eventually though, around 11 PM, I started to feel very strange. As I went over the day’s events in my head, I started to feel off about them, the way I mentioned earlier. Everything felt rehearsed, scripted, almost like a play. A play to make me happy, to make the Chosen One happy.
I think this was when it truly occurred to me to question how strange it was that everyone seemed to be calling me the “Chosen One”.
It was funny as a joke but now, the more I began to think about it, the creepier it felt. Karina had called me that. Bruce had called me that. Matt had called that. Hell, even my own mom and dad called me that, and if that wasn’t fucked up-
Mom and Dad.
I sat up. What Karina had said had been right. I love my family more than anything. More than myself. So, in that logic, why the hell would I have agreed to go to space and come back at…God knows when!
I didn’t even know when I was returning!
That was when the piece began to click. There was a knock on the door, and out of our curiosity, I walked over and whispered, “…Hello?”
“Ahari?” That was the first time I’d heard anyone say my name all day “Ahari, can you hear me?” The voice called quietly through the door.
“…Karina?” I asked in surprise, “We…We already said goodbye, what are you-“
She cut me off, “Don’t drink the water.”
I blinked, and was filled with even more confusion, “What?” I asked.
“The water,” She repeated, “Don’t drink the water. That’s what they’re using to make us all be quiet and obedient. If you drink it, you’ll do whatever they want you to do. Ahari, you cannot drink the water, or else you’ll go to space. You’ll do what they want you to do.”
I was completely lost by now, “What…Karina, you said you were happy that I was going, that I was meant to go. That I was the…The chosen one?” I started saying.
“No, no, that wasn’t me. I don’t want you to go, Ahari, I want you stay here. Not just because I love you but because if you go, you might not…You might not come back,” Karina said, her voice shaking.
“Karina, slow down and tell me everything,” I said seriously, genuinely scared by now.
She made a frustrated sound, “I don’t have time, if they find out I’m not in my room anymore, they’re going to get me again. And they’ll make me drink the goddamn water,” She whisper-yelled.
“What does the water do?” I asked, trying to get some answers out of her.
“I don’t know exactly what it does, Ahari, apparently it makes us want to send you into space on your own, with no backup, and randomly selected! Doesn’t it seem weird to you?” She asked, and I had to admit, as the haze was starting to fade from my mind, she was right. Like I said at the beginning of this recording, why would they randomly select one of us to go into space? They didn’t even tell us who was the best in training, they just suddenly said that I was the chosen one.
I realized something at that moment, “Karina, I don’t think I want to go to space. I don’t know if I ever did. You know how much I love my family, why would I want to leave them and go into space and come back at some unspecified time? Hell, they haven’t even told me a return date!” I was starting to yell, my panic taking over.
“That’s because they never intended for you to come back, Ahari!” Karina responded just as panicked, “Think about it, what was the first thing they did when they offered you this position to work here? You didn’t apply to be a part of this training program, did you?”
Slowly, I shook my head, but realizing she couldn’t see me, I spoke, “No…I applied to just be a researcher here. I never wanted to leave Earth. And during my interview, they…”
“…They offered you a glass of water, didn’t they? And they told you not to tell anyone what your actual job is, right?” Karina asked.
“Right,” I whispered.
“Listen, I don’t have much time, I don’t know what’s going on, but promise me, do not drink any water that is here. When they let you out in the morning, do whatever you can and fight your way out. You need to get out of here, please,” She pleaded to me.
At this point, I was completely ready to listen to her, “But…What about you?” I asked, “I can’t just leave you here,” I called out to her.
“I will be fine, I promise you. I can get out of here much easier than you can, just swear to me-Fuck, someone’s coming, do not drink the fucking water. Okay, just don’t-” She began to say desperately but cut herself off with a breath. Then, there was silence.
“Karina?” I called out.
No response.
“Karina, can you hear me?” I tried again.
No response again. I ended up accepting that Karina was gone after waiting to hear her again for 5 minutes and getting no response at all, not even the sound of anyone breathing.
She had been right, though. During my interview, they did give me water. Throughout the whole training program, they’d always provided us with food and water, not stuff that we brought in, but their own food and water. And it was true, so much of today had felt strangely perfect like not a single bad thing was happening. It was all too picturesque, like a stage play. And throughout the whole day, I’d seen Karina drinking water, I had drunk water.
And then it hit me. My little sister.
She tended to carry around her own water bottle more than anything, and towards the end of the party, she had been acting strange, as though she had no idea what was going on. If she hadn’t drank as much of the water, maybe whatever effect it had on her had worn off. And then when Karina had given her water from her cup, it might have brought on the effect again.
I took a deep breath. All I had to do was not drink the water from the water dispenser in the room, right? That couldn’t be too hard.
I laid down in the middle of the room in the sleeping bag. At least I could look up at the night sky to keep me company. It calmed my nerves a bit. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always loved space. Back then, I really wanted to go into space but now…With the life I have back home, and the people I have on Earth, I don’t think I’d want to go anymore.
It was about two hours into laying there that I started to feel something was very, very, very wrong. My heart dropped, and my heart rate quickened. It was almost like I was having a panic attack but it couldn’t have been one, seeing as there was no trigger. I was all alone in this room with nothing else, no one else, there was nothing that could have triggered the panic attack. I couldn’t even tell what was happening.
It took me way too long to realize what was wrong.
Looking up at the sky, I felt this deep, unending, terrible fear, this horrible emptiness inside of me. I don’t know how to explain it because this feeling-God, I wanted to rip my skin off, tear my hair out, do anything, anything to feel something other than what I can only describe as nothingness.
When I looked up at the sky, there was Nothing. And it’s not like the stars disappeared or anything, the sky looked exactly the same. But I could feel it, and I’m not fucking going crazy-I know I’m not. I could feel how empty it was, how…Nothing, it was. And it was alive, and I could feel it. It was out there, and I could feel it slowly making its way through my body, through my blood, and it was all this, cold, dark Nothing.
It’s 3AM now. I can feel the Nothing looking at me, calling me. It’s already claimed me. I am the Chosen One, I understand now. It’s not even trying to get closer, it’s not worried. It can’t feel anything except for hunger. It already knows that I will be there soon.
I am so, so, so thirsty. That’s why I recorded this. I know I’ll end up drinking the water eventually. I can’t hold out for another three hours. At least if I record this, someone can find this phone and will have a record of me.
I can feel the Nothing. I don’t want to feel the Nothing. At least when I drink the water, I can’t feel it anymore.
[First Audio Recording Ends]
I…I have a lot to say about this. But I think it would probably be better for me to explain everything after the second recording. It’s a lot shorter than the first one.
Here we go.
[Second Audio Recording Starts]
I…I don’t know how long I’ve been up here. Everything is a blur, I don’t even know how I got here. Which is quite concerning seeing as I was the one who had to initiate the lift-off on this ship. All I remember is them bringing me out of the room, strapping me into the space shuttle, and then everyone waving goodbye and smiling. They were all smiling the same smile, waving exactly the same.
My sister wasn’t there to send me off. Karina was. I guess they got to her last night after she tried to warn me.
I’ve put together most of the pieces, I think. It’s just…A shame that it took me so long.
This…Nothing. It’s much stronger here. It’s not just in my blood, in my lungs, sliding through me anymore. It’s enveloping up here, it makes you feel nothing but cold, void, emptiness, the Nothingness.
I’m sure of it. The Nothing is alive. I can feel it moving, crawling closer. It’s not in a hurry, it knows it will reach me soon enough.
I’m going to try and explain it, but I don’t think I can actually put into words what this thing is. Or what it isn’t, I suppose. But I will try, nonetheless.
We humans only know about a small portion of the universe, that’s a known fact. There are so many things out there that we don’t know, that we don’t understand. I think that’s what makes this so hard to explain. I don’t understand it. It doesn’t make sense. But there is something out there that is simply Nothing. It is not there. But it is there. It is a void in existence, something made of nothing. And takes. It takes, and takes, and takes until there is nothing left to take. And it will keep taking until the end of time. There is no beginning to it, there is no end. It is nothing, and yet it is everything. And it is so, so, so hungry.
And I am very, very, very interesting to it. A human that’s not inside the confines of the planet of Earth? It is intrigued, once again.
It’s quite funny to me, really, now that I think about it. We humans all repeat history all the time, even when we think we’re better than that. The number of times humans have sacrificed each other to please some higher being or higher order is uncountable. And yet, how many times has that actually saved us?
It didn’t take me too long to realize that “The Chosen One” was practically synonymous with “The Sacrifice”.
They sent me up here to try and appease the Nothing, to give it an offering. I’m sure this isn’t the first time.
Do you know what the funniest part is? This won’t do anything to stop the inevitable. The Nothing never asked for sacrifices or offerings, it doesn’t need to ask for anything. It just takes. But it will take me, and it will devour me and leave nothing of me left. And it will not stop it from coming closer and closer to Earth. I can feel it…Waiting. It’s biding its time. There’s no rush. It will devour us all soon.
And we will all become Nothing.
It’s here now. I can feel it. I’ll spare you having to hear my end. I suppose this is my goodbye. Hopefully, this ship makes it back to Earth somehow. I’m sure it will. The Nothing only wants me.
If I have learned anything, it is that there is Nothing in space. And the Nothing is always here, waiting. It’s come to take me. And it will come to take you as well.
[Second Audio Recording Ends]
I…I need to take a minute.
Okay, I stepped away for a couple of hours to process this, but there are a couple of things in these recordings that I have to address. Firstly, at the end of the second recording, the audio starts distorting a bit. I don’t know what could cause that sort of distortion, but I swear I can hear…Something under the person’s voice. I can’t even describe that sound. Now, I’m willing to write that off as simply an issue with the phone itself or some interference.
Now, here are the undeniable facts. As I mentioned before, I had to get my hands on this recording because I recognized this person’s voice. I’m sure people have somewhat put together what was going on, so you can understand why I may be concerned.
The person speaking in those audio recordings was my older sister.
I can completely confirm that, especially since I grabbed her phone to check if it was the same phone. Same passwords, same apps, same wallpaper, same social media, everything is the exact same. The only difference is that the two recordings I listened to now were not on my sister’s current phone.
Let me explain: I referred to my sibling as “her” earlier and “sister” just now, my sibling is nonbinary and switches between feminine and neutral pronouns. Of course, there’s the truth of the fact that my older sibling’s code name in the agency is Ahari. I will refer to her by that name.
I know that Ahari is very very close with someone named Karina. I also know that Ahari has been undergoing special training in the same space agency where I work. In fact, I know she was selected for a very special assignment, and I found that out yesterday. I didn’t actually know what she did at work until just now.
Ahari hasn’t been home often and when she is, she doesn’t talk much about work. What bothers me is that somehow, this recording seems to know that I had made a plan to surprise my sibling the next week, the day before she went on her mission. I had worked on this plan with her supervisor, Bruce.
I’ve been hearing people talking about “The Chosen One” a lot, recently.
Now, here’s what really concerns me. If what the Ahari in the recording said was right, then there’s something wrong with the water. Now, I know that Ahari drinks a lot of water during the day, and she often forgets to take her water bottle. She’d been acting quite strange the last time she had been at home.
I don’t tend to drink much water in general, and I almost always carry my water bottle on me. The fact that the Ahari in the recording even got that little detail right…It bothers me. And I know that I’ve seen shipments of water bottles come into the company, and I know those are not any companies that mainly sell water if they do sell water at all.
Every time I interacted with a higher-up in the agency in a meeting or something, I was always offered water. Every time I talked to Bruce, I was offered a cup of water and my water bottle was suddenly missing.
But if what this recording says is true…Then how did I get a recording of something that should be happening in six days?
You know what, I don’t think that matters right now. I doubt this is a prank, seeing as some of the most important people in this agency were in that room, and they mentioned it could “impact the mission next week.”
I might be willing to admit that maybe my sibling could have lost her mind, talking about this…Nothing entity. But if there is any place where time could be warped…It would be in space, wouldn’t it?
I have to do something. I can’t let my sibling die. I need to warn her.
Now, I need to go convince my sibling of what’s happening. And then I need to destroy that goddamn phone.
Because honestly speaking, I think I believe the idea of my sister being a sacrifice over this agency just randomly sending a solo explorer into space with minimal training and no pushback.
And I know my sibling decided she never wanted to go to space back when she was only 14. So, now that I truly think about it, something is very wrong here.
My sibling wouldn’t have agreed to this.
I’m…Going to listen to the recordings again. I’m just putting this out here so people know this is happening. Believe me or not, I don’t care. But I am not letting my older sibling die in space, whether it’s to losing her own mind or…
There is nothing in space. There should be nothing in space. But I’m not sure what I believe anymore.