Chapter 1: Noise

I'm turning this blog into a story blog that'll be updated Mondays and Thursdays. I'll try to do an accompanying picture for each installment as well. But we'll see if that one happens. But here it is.

Chapter 1
Noise

It was just supposed to be another day.

My alarm rang at 7:30AM, right on time. I was up immediately and turned it off. I slept my usual eight hours and felt perfectly normal. I turned on my computer, loaded some music, and did my exercise routine. I checked my e-mail and saw my professors sent me a few– nothing important though. Not that it ever is.

I wore my black jeans, my white dress shirt, my red tie, my grey hooded jacket, and my grey toque with the yellow stripe. I grabbed my wallet, my backpack, and my cell-phone, and I was out the door.

I walked along the same city street as I did every day, and I saw the same people talking on their cell-phones, listening to their iPods, honking and yelling at one another from their cars but no one ever listening. I continued on my way toward school.

In lecture, when the professor asked a question, as usual, my hand was the first one up. Not that any other hands went up. These parasites that called themselves students just sat there, absorbing air as they squandered their time sleeping, chatting to one another, sending texts on their phones – wasting away. All my classes passed like this.

During my lunch break, I sat by myself in my college’s park, eating my sandwich. I saw people walking by, staring at their phones, texting as they walked, talking to someone a hundred feet away on their cell-phones. I hate cell-phones.

My phone rang. I looked at it. Mom. I didn’t answer. I knew how the conversation would go. This was the voicemail.

“Hi honey, it’s mom. I just wanted to ask you if you needed anything? No? No, you never do. You’re such a good boy, Hank. I’m so proud of you. A top college with a full ride. Well, your father and I miss you. We hope you’re enjoying college. Bye, sweetie.”

My school day ended at 2. I walked toward the subway to return to my apartment. Although it’s my first year at college, I don’t live in a dorm. The endless sound of squabbles and mundane gossip are things I can do without. Someone hands me a flyer. I don’t take it, but the man persists in handing it to me. I take it ruefully.

Listen to another. It could change your life. Visit www.listentoyourpeers.org/

I laughed. I have my own opinion, and you have yours. Let’s keep it that way.

On my way to the station, my phone rang. I looked at it.

Unknown Call.

Well, that’s even less appealing to answer.

I hit the red button to send it to voice-mail. It didn’t stop. I held it down to turn off my phone, but it didn’t turn off.

So, I hit the green button. Noise flooded into my ears. The voices of the city shouting, whispering, crying, and I was at the center of it. I fell to the floor. And then, I heard the laughter. Such terrible laughter.

I hit the end call button. And the sound stopped. I looked around, but no one seemed to have noticed. Everyone was too busy with their own lives, and that’s how it should be. I got up and began to walk toward the station again. My phone rang again. I looked warily at it. Nothing was written on the screen.

I answered it.

“Help me! Help me!” It sounded like a kid.

“That’s sick,” I said into the phone.

I hit the end call button.

“Help me!” I could feel the voice coming from my left, from down an alleyway.

The phone was still on.

I continued walking.

“HELP ME!”

I ran down the alleyway. What the hell am I doing? I could feel the voice closer and closer as I ran down the alley, echoing in my mind. I knew exactly where to turn. And there he was, the little kid backed off in a dead end.

“What’s wrong?” I huffed.

“Save me!” he yelled.

“From what? There’s nothing here!”

As the words left my mouth, I could feel something descend from the shadows above me. I turned and saw my reflection in eight red eyes.

That was enough. I ran away, but the monster was faster. It spat a tendril of web at me and caught me by the leg. It started pulling me toward it. It opened its mandible. A putrid smell came out like rotted meat. It was the only thing going through my head. Fear does wonders to you. You focus on the most unimportant things when you’re about to die.

But it wasn’t my time.

I found myself on the floor. The arachnid was split in half nearby, bubbling and disintegrating until there was nothing. And then I saw her. A girl standing before me, holding a black sword that crawled back into her shadow.

It was just supposed to be another day.

Image and Text © Jonathan Lee