To Deaf Ears

I wrote this for national novel writing month (November.) This took me a while to write so I really hope you enjoy it.

To Deaf Ears

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Chapter 1

Tuesday, January 26, 2047

I stare out the window into the sky. Slowly I rise from my seat and fly towards the heavens. I swirl through clouds, torpedo over planes. I feel a force pulling at me, pulling me further up. I let myself go to the temptation and soar up into space.

I speed through the cosmos, touching nebula and circling around planets. I’m having the time of my life I wish this never stopped.

Suddenly I feel a tug on my shoulder, I look down nothing there, must’ve just been my imagination. I feel it again, it pulls me down a bit, then more. All of a sudden I’m being pulled through space, my arm reaching out. Stretching to stay in this paradise. As I speed towards Earth I hear a familiar voice calling to me.

“Rose! Rosemary! Don’t go, don’t do it!”

I look around, nothing but space speeding by, I yell out into the void, “Who are you? How do you know my name? What shouldn’t I-”

I hit the Earth’s atmosphere, the sudden shock jolting me from finishing my question. I continue being pulled down and down. I look below me and see… My school? I keep on heading towards my school, I hit the roof. I phase through it unharmed amazed I almost forget where I am. I look around I’m in my classroom. I glance over at my desk and see myself sleeping. I realised just what had happened milliseconds before I am snapped to my resting body.

I jerk up my head almost hitting my teacher, Mrs. Snyder. She backs away before exploding, “Ms. Hale, what have I told you about sleeping in class?”

“I’m really sorry, but I don’t really care about this subject.”

She crosses her arms, “Oh, come on, the history of the Federated States of Micronesia, is a very thought-provoking subject.”

 “Well it might be super-interesting, but why do we need to know this?”

She puts her hand over her mouth, “No this is very important, what happens when you need to go there for a job, huh?”

“Well, I’m not going to have to do this.”

“Why not? What are you going to do with your live?”

“I want to go to space.” I look up into the sky, a spark of inspiration in my eyes.

The class starts to laugh, Mrs. Snyder joins them. After a few minutes, she pulls herself together. She puts her hand on my shoulder. “Oh, Rosemary, you know you can’t. We have never been able to, you of all people should know that.”

“Why because of my dad?”

“Yes exactly, Dr. Silas Hale, your father, should have educated you, he was the one that found that interstellar space travel was impossible.”

I turn red, “No he’s wrong.” I start to yell, “It’s possible, we just don’t know how to yet.” I stand up. “I’ll show you, I’ll show you all!”

Mrs. Snyder grabs my shoulder, “Rosemary, go to the office,” she says sternly.

I walk out of the class, head hung low. And I start towards the office.

2 hours later, after school

I stare at my feet, I got another detention, mom’s going to be mad.

I think back to the last time I got detention, six days ago.

My mother was sitting with me in her 2016 Honda Odyssey. We were both silent, it was my fourth detention this year and tension was high. We hit a red light, she turns to me, “Rosemary, why do you do this to me?”

I cover my face with my hand, “I don’t know mom, I really try, but these subjects are just so boring. I mean why do we even need to learn exactly how the moon landings were faked.”

She turns into a side road, “Because that fraud was a major turning point for our country. We had lied to two very power nations.”

“Yeah, I get why it should be important, but we didn’t fake the moon landings. We just said that so-”

She pulls over to the side of the street, “Rosemary Odelia Hale! Stop thinking that right now, why can’t you be more like your father.”

“I’m sorry but I want to believe in the future of humanity. I’ll walk the rest of the way.” I step out of the car and head towards the school.

“Hey, your Rose, right?”

I look up, ripped from the memory. “Uh, Rosemary actually, why?”

“Oh, that’s a weird name, but anyway I heard about your outburst in class today. Do you really think that we can get to space one day?”

“Well of course, and do really think my name is weird.”

He blushes a bit, “Yeah, it kind of sounds like the spice, not really a name. Sorry if that offends you.”

“No, it’s fine I get that a lot, but you called me Rose.”

He laughs a bit, “Yeah, I just thought it was a good name. Has no one ever called you that?”

I chuckle along with him, “Ya know, I don’t think anyone actually has… I actually like that name.”

He reaches out his hand, “Then that's what I’ll call you. By the way, my name’s Ryan Arkwright.”

I shake his hand, “Okay, Ryan, would you like to walk to the end of the street with me?”

“I would love to, Ms. Rose.” He tips an invisible hat, we both laugh at that as we walk down the street.  

Chapter 2

Wednesday, April 24, 2060

“Hey, Rose are you awake?”

I open my eyes, “Well. I am now. What do you want?”

Ryan turns over to look at me, “I don’t know, I guess I’m just worried about the wedding.”

I touch his arm, “What are you worried about?”

“I don’t know it’s just… what if something goes wrong. I mean it’s supposed to be this wonderful day but we haven’t really planned much out. It’s only a month away.”

“Oh don’t worry, we’ll just do what we did in high school and let the last minute adrenaline sort it out.” I laugh at myself; he joins in, but only halfheartedly. “Ryan, seriously what’s wrong? You can tell me.” I say to him softly.
He takes my hand, “You have just been really different lately, you seem distance. I know that we’re getting married soon, but I feel like you’re having doubts, and I just don’t want it to-.”

“Ryan, how long have we been dating?”

He thinks for a second, “Um, eight years.”

“Exactly, and how many times have things gone bad?”

“Once.”

I push him, “Oh, excluding Pennsylvania.”

“So never.”

“So what are you worrying about?”

“I don’t kn-”

I pull him into a kiss before he could finish his sentence. I pull away, “Goodnight Ryan.”

He opens his mouth to speak back, but I’m already asleep.

About One Month Later

The Wedding

The priest turns to Ryan, “Do you, Ryan Arkwright, take Rosemary Hale, as your loving wife?”

Ryan smiles at me, “I do.”

“And do you, Rosemary Hale, take Ryan Arkwright to be your faithful husband?”

I smile at Ryan, almost too happy to speak, “I do,” I manage.

“Then you may kiss the bride.”

I feel Ryan grab my back, as he dips me into a kiss. The crowd cheers.

* * *

Ryan closes the video, “It’s hard to believe that was a year ago.”

I tap my cheek, “Yeah, so much has happened since then, you got your job at the library.”

He smiles at me, “And you finally got accepted to work at that archeological dig in New Guinea.”

“Yeah, I’ll be so much fun. It sucks that you can’t come until July though.”

He touches my cheek, “Don’t worry, I’ll be there before you know it.” He pauses as if thinking, “When are you going there again?”

“You forgot?!”

“Yeah, sorry. You know me, though, I forget my birthday sometimes.”

I sigh, “Well you’re not wrong. I’m leaving in a week.”

He looks at me astonished, “Really that soon? Jeez, I thought it would it would be at least another month.”

I laugh, “You really do have a terrible memory.”

We both laugh at that. I stand up, “I’m going to go take a shower. I’ll be back.”

He smiles, “Okay, I’ll be here.”

I blow him a kiss, as I walk to the bathroom.

Chapter 3

Tuesday, May 16, 2061

Ryan gives me a hug, “See you in a month.” He chokes up a bit.

I lightly punch him, “Oh shut up it’ll be fine.” I squeeze him a bit harder. “I’ll miss you a lot, too.” I pull out of the hug and stare into his eyes. I smile, “You’re the best.”

He tugs me into a kiss, after a few minutes he pulls away, “No, you are the best.”

I hear a bell ring, “I need to go, my flight is about to leave. I love you.” I give him one last hug before hurrying away. The last thing I saw before I turned around was him smiling, thinking about the next time we see each other.

Thursday, May 18, 2061

I wake up, yawning.

The first day at the dig site was brutal. The head archeologist didn’t give me a break the entire time. The other workers assured me that he does that to every new arrival. Maybe today will be better… hopefully.

I get dressed and grab my breakfast, a cold piece of toast,  from the hotel bar. I sit down in the lounge. I let myself sink into the soft, velvety cushions of the chair. It felt good to finally relax after yester-”

“Vzzzzzt… Vzzzzzzzzt”

I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pull it out, plastered across the is words, “ALARM: WORK STARTS IN FIVE MINUTES.”

A wave of terror washes over me, I should have started driving twenty minutes ago, I’m going to be late.

I sprint towards the door, dropping my toast in front of a very distraught looking janitor, “Sorry about that!” I yell to him, as I slam the door.

I arrive at my car, I feel my pockets for my keys. Nothing.

I start to freak, “Where are my keys?!” I yell aloud. A few passersby look at weirdly, I smile at them, before shoving my hand into my purse.

I fumble around old tissues and receipts, I really need to clean this thing. Eventually, I locate my keys. I jab the key towards the lock. It misses by an inch, sending the key careening down the door of my car, leaving a large scrape. I drop the keys, exasperated I pick them up, and finally open my car.

Anxiously, I pull my car into the street and head towards the dig.

* * *

I drive off the street onto a winding dirt road. This trail went on for a while until I emerged in a forest clearing.

“Hale!” I look to my right to see my boss, Mr. Holmes, walking towards me, “What took you so long? We’ve already started the dig!”

I step out of my car, “I’m really sorry, traffic was really bad and my alarm didn’t-”

He grabs my shoulder and starts to drag me through the forest, “Hale, no more excuses. I will let this time go, seeing as it’s your first week, but don’t do it again or I might not be so nice.”

He lets go of me and we head further into the forest. He speaks to me as we walk, “So your plot will be the furthest to the left, next to Bill. That's the only one left so you really don’t have a choice. And… oh, we’re here.”

We step out of the forest into a large glade, hills rolling into the distance below me, covered in grass. Squares of dirt dot the surface of the land, sites where my partners were working. I gasp, “It’s beautiful, but why is it here, most the rest of the island is forested. Why is this area so… clean.”

He turns to me, “We don’t know, it’s very strange. But that's why we have this dig here because it’s so different.”

“Do you think at one point there was a civilization here?”

“Yeah, but we’re not sure it could just be- Why am I talking to you like this, we’re wasting time. Get down there and work!”

I sigh, “I was wondering where Mr. Holmes went.”

He laughs, “That’s funny, but still hustle up. You’re wasting money.”

I jog towards the dig.

* * *

I shovel away a pile of dirt, my trowel hits something. Excitement flashes through me. Did I find something important? I brush away the dirt to reveal, another rock. I pull it out of the ground and add it to the large pile next to me. I’ll never find something here, it’s all just rocks. Nobody could get anything here.

I hear someone yell from my left, “I found something!”

I sigh, Just my luck.

Everyone runs over to Norma Washington at plot 13-b. A crowd quickly forms around her, Mr. Holmes pushes through, “What is it? Get out of my way.”

Everyone takes a few steps back. He arrives at Norma’s dig, a look of glee masks his face. He starts to laugh, he hugs Norma, “Good job, this is an amazing discovery.”

The crowd surges back in, I get my first glimpse of the artifact. It was a gray, stone cube. Small runes cover the entire thing, each on a diminutive square, that looked they could move. The whole box was about three feet cubed. Each of its sides had about one hundred of those little squares.

Someone to my left gasps, “It’s amazing!”

I couldn’t agree with them more, the whole thing must have taken a while to make, not to mention how overall beautiful it is.

A few people agree with them, a couple of people advanced to get a better look, several more approach trying to touch it. And this is where Mr.Holmes snapped

“Everyone get away from it.” Everyone one quickly withdraws from the artifact. “Now all of you are going to dig around here.”

“Ok.” Everyone says in unison.

As everyone leaves to grab their tools, I stayed back for a little bit, I looked over at Mr. Holmes.

He had grabbed the artifact and was bringing it to his tent, set up halfway across the field. When he arrived there, I squinted, looking at where he put the relic. I don’t know what I was expecting him to do with it, but all he did was set it on his desk and start to walk back to the site. Leaving it completely unguarded.

An idea was forming in my brain, a dangerous idea. But an idea that I felt I would act on eventually.

Chapter 4

Twenty Minutes Later

I puncture the soft earth with my trowel. A single drop of sweat cutting a path down the side of my face.

I know New Guinea is supposed to be hot, but I am not really enjoying this torridness.

I wipe my forehead, the idea I had had a few minutes ago was still  plucking at the back of my head.

I try to ignore it, but the sensation was too much. I was feeling a tug towards to tent. A few minutes later, the apprehension got the better of me.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” nobody even glances at me. I smile, just as I had thought nobody cares enough about anyone here to even notice anything. I stand up and sneak towards the tent.

I got there with no interference, the only one that could have been a problem, Mr. Holmes, was yelling at someone on the other side of the field. I enter the tent, there was a single table with a map and some pencils, along with the cube.

I rush forward and touch the box. the surface felt smooth, unnatural almost; it felt like something not from this planet. As I run my hands over the hexahedron, I feel the small squares shift around beneath my palm.

I look at the  squares, something was odd about them. I could move them about, kind of like a sliding puzzle. Something clicks in my mind and I start to rearrange the pieces. Faster and faster, my flew across the box; switching and turning, sliding and readjusting.

I continue to solve, minutes turn hours. The sky was darkening when I heard Mr. Holmes yelling.

“Where is she! Why isn’t she working! Rosemary! Where the heck did you go?!”

I rush to finish the puzzle; I’m not really sure why I’m doing this, but I just felt that I needed to finish it.

“Is that her in my tent?! Oh, is she touching the cube?!” He starts to storm towards me.

My hands speed up even more. One more piece…

Something touches my shoulder, I jump back it was Mr. Holmes. His face was beet red. He opens his mouth to start screaming, but something next to me catches his eye.   

I turn around and gasp, the cube was starting to shake. The pattern I had made on its sides started to glow. We both back up out of the tent, looking in amazement as it began to float.

Both of us are suddenly thrown back as the tent explodes. The supports fly through the air embedding themselves in the ground and one just narrowly missed Norma, who screams in surprise and falls over.

The cube continues to rise until it’s about twenty feet off the ground. Suddenly, the cube begins to speak.

“Hello, creature. This is a message from the g'ulisrbsw. We have placed this mechanism and the planet Earth in what you would call year One Hundred Million B.C.” Its words were robotic and it sounded as if it had just recently learned our language. “We have learned your language from the creature that solved the puzzle, and now may that one step forward. And they will get a prize of whatever they want. Riches, love, if they want it they can have it. So can they please step forward.”

I take a step towards the cube, but Mr. Holmes suddenly pushed me away and he started to sprint towards it.

“It was me, it was me. I was the one that solved it, that was me. Now give me what I want.”

He looked up towards the machine, waiting for a response. And that response came five minutes later.  

“We have probed your mind and you are not the one that solved this. You have no memory of ever even trying to complete it. Your lies will not be excused, for this slander, you must pay. Your misrepresentation will be your demise.”

A look of horror cloaked Mr. Holmes’s usually arrogant features. He takes one step back before a light shoots from the cube, cracking through the air with the sound of a thousand bolts of lightning.

The light blasted towards Mr. Holmes. What happened next could only be described as impossible, but there it happened in front of me, a mere thirty feet from me. Before he could do anything the light hit him and it was that luminosity that killed him. In less than a second, he went from my stringent boss to a small pile of ash. And even that was vaporized. In a snap, my employer was just a whisper in the breeze.

* * *

There was silence, no one spoke for minutes. No one could speak, what had just happened was baffling, nobody completely grasped what had just  happened. All of us just denied it; it was impossible, he couldn’t be dead he was are boss. He couldn’t be. Suddenly, like a pair of floodgates opening, all of us realized. Someone started screaming from the digs.

Julia Albertson had broken down, she was on the ground shrieking. “He’s dead you killed him, he’s dead you killed him, he’s dead you killed him!” She repeated over and over, she seemed to be losing her mind.

We all stood there listening, pondering. Each repeat sending a stab of pain down my back. Suddenly, she stopped, raising to her feet she pointed at the foreign cube.

Slowly she says, “You killed him, and you’re going to kill us.” She collapsed to the ground wailing, seconds later more followed suit.

“ENOUGH!” the cube yelled, “I won’t kill you as long as the solver comes forward, if not I will.”

Needless to say, this did not help the mental state of most the group, even more collapsed, and the already downed wailed with new force. In seconds most the group was incapacitated. All except me and a few others.

I didn’t want anyone else to die. I couldn’t have anyone else die. I walk towards the cube. Every step lasting an eternity, I became acutely aware of everything around me. The smell of the jungle, the light breeze against my face, the howls of my coworkers, all this added to my complete and utter sense of dread. As I’m not completely sure I will ever experience these wondrous things again.

I arrive in front of the cube, “I am the solver!” I yell, terror coursing through my veins as I spoke to the object.  

Silence, I felt a slight pain in my forehead as the thing probed my mind. Minutes later it spoke.

“You are the solver.”

A wave of relief washes over me. I look up at the thing, “Okay, you have your solver. Now, what was the point of this?”

The voice from the box suddenly becomes less mechanic and more organic, it had trouble shaping the words, but it made out in its raspy voice one singular sentence. “To find… the per… perfect test subject.”

My heart skips a beat, “What do you mean?”

Silence.

“Stop it, just tell me? Why can’t you-”

A whooshing sound cuts me off. I look above me to see large metal box materialize out of thin air.

The cube now talks to me, “Like I said to find you, our perfect test subject.”

Too late I realize what’s happening, and as the box falls towards me. I have just enough time to let out a small whimper before the entire thing falls on top of me.

Chapter 5

??? minutes later

I wake up groggily, What happened, where am I? Then it hit me, I remembered everything that happened.

I become completely aware of my surroundings, the walls were a type of metal. A type I had never seen before; it seemed strange, almost alien. The box they had dropped seemed like a solid block, but I was standing in what I assumed to be that same box and it was surprisingly hollow.

Questions started to pop into my head, How did I get into this strangely seamless box? Why was I in this box? What did they want me to do?

These thoughts continued to propagate my mind. Filling me with uncertainty, a sense of dread. Will I ever get out, this box didn’t seem to have any vents so it would only be a matter of time before I ran out of air. And of course, that would mean I would…

“Vzzzzzt… Vzzzzzzzzt”

My phone vibrates in my pocket. “That's weird, why is there service?” I ponder aloud to myself.

I pull my phone out and answer it, “Hello?”

“Rose… Rose?”

“Yeah, it’s me, who’s this?”

“This is Tasha Lane. Thank god you’re okay. Things are insane down here.”
“Down there?” I asked confused, “I thought I was on the ground.”

“Yeah, after it landed on you, it rocketed up into the air, we didn’t see you squashed on the bottom so you must be inside.”

“Yeah I am. What are you talking about by the way, what’s going on where you guys are.”

I hear someone yell behind her, it was a while before she answered, “Rose it just landed I need to get out of here if I don’t it’ll be just like-”

The phone went silent. What did she mean by that?

I searched my cell; it was all the same metal, there were no seams in the material. It was confusing how it was made it looked like one sheet of metal that just naturally became a cube.

That's cool but it does mean one thing, there’s almost no chance of me getting out.

I sit down, pondering that truth. I started to hyperventilate, my body fills dread. I start pounding at the walls. There must be a way to get, there has to be, I can’t die here. What about my friends, my family.

I gasp and say aloud, “What about Ryan.” Through this whole thing, I had forgotten about him. Guilt joins my soup of terror, I collapse falling to my side. I start to cry.

“Vzzzzzt… Vzzzzzzzzt”

I grab at my phone, “Tasha, Is that you?”

“ໃນປັ�"ຈຸບັນ�-ີ່�-່�™ນໄ�"້ຍິນຫມູ່ເພື່ອນຂອງ�-່�™ນ, ຂ້�™ພະເຈົ້�™ຕ້ອງກ�™ນໃຫ້�-່�™ນຍ່�™ງຜ່�™ນປະຕູ�-ີ່.”

When I heard them the words sounded unintelligible, but a sentence popped into my head from nowhere, I repeated it aloud.

“Now that you’ve heard from your friends I want you to walk through that door.”

I gasped, how did I know that?

“ແມ່ນໃນປັ�"ຈຸບັນໄປ.”

I repeat that phrase to, “Yes now go.” I look around, “Where is the door? I don’t see-”

I hear a groan from behind me, I spin around to see a large rectangular hole in the before featureless wall.

Chapter 6

I walk out of the box, strangely it had seemed to have attached itself to a hallway. Just like before there seemed to be no faults in the walls, making me wonder how exactly this was made.

Nevertheless, I continued walking, slowly the design of the passage turned from a rough, metallic coat to a glossy white. The floor became tiled and luminescent panels started to appear along the ceiling.

What was going on here, they just dropped the box on me. How did all of this just appear?

I had been walking for at least half an hour so it was far too big to fit in the field. Then how could it exist? I got my answer twenty minutes later.

Twenty Minutes Later

  I see some glass ahead of me, a window! I gasp, maybe I could see what’s outside, I could see where I was.

I dash up to the window, “Yeah, after it landed on you, it rocketed up into the air…” That’s what Tasha had said and now it finally made sense. It made sense, because before me was the Earth, spinning about two hundred miles below the spacecraft I was currently standing on.

I start shrieking; how did I get up here, why was I up here? I stumble backward and lean against a wall. My mind reeling; my hands grabbing at the wall, looking for something to grasp. I feel something, a small indention in the wall. My finger finds its way inside of the indentation. I touch a small button, without thinking I press.

Almost instantaneously the wall I was leaning on disappeared and I fell backward into a dark empty void.

I hit the ground pain exploding through my side. I sit there whimpering, my mind still staggering; I was unable to move. Two large hands grip my arms. I look to both my sides and see two shadowed figures neither of them were very humanistic in shape and the hands seemed quite slimy.

They both start to drag me forward, I lay there limp and pacifistic. They put me into a chair and bolt me to it. I hear a voice in front of me. It was that same strange language I heard before but confusingly I couldn’t understand it.

It paused for a little bit then began again. This time it seemed to be talking to the things by my sides. The one to the right suddenly grabs my arm and sticks what seems like a needle.

I scream in pain while a strange liquid flows from the container protruding from my arm. After all the fluid was poured into my limb they removed the syringe.

The thing spoke again, but this time I could understand it, “We have been studying your species for a very long time. We put that puzzle into the ground at the start of your species existence. It was us of course that put you there.”

I gasp, “What?!”

“It doesn’t matter, but we have a limited time. You see we have injected you with a concoction that will make it so you can understand our language. Another feature of this serum is that you will leave your body and be able to say goodbye to your loved ones.”

“Wait, say goodbye… What are you going to do to me?”

The thing didn’t respond. A ghastly silence passed over the room. Everyone in the room was silent as if waiting for something. For minutes this noiselessness persisted. Finally, after what seemed like hours the thing talked.

“It seems to be time, make every moment count. Goodbye.”

I struggle against my restraints, my vision slowly darkening, “What do you mean… what… what… do… you…” I collapse, unable to hold myself up. The rest of my sight disappears.

* * *

I float above my body, dead and lifeless below me. I speed towards the floor passing right through it. I continue towards Earth. I start to get the hang of the new weightlessness and as soon as I get used to it I fly to America to see the only person I care about. Ryan.

I speed through towns, a strange force drawing me towards him. A mere minute later I’m at my house. I sink through the roof and land behind him.

He’s fumbling with his phone nervously, “Come on Rose, answer your phone… I hope nothing’s wrong.”

I reach towards him, my hand passes through his shoulder, “Ryan, I’m here.” I say softly.

He jumps and falls over, “Rosemary, what… where are you?”

Oh, he can’t see me. I stifle a cry, “Ryan, I’m here, but I don’t have much time.”

He stands up still thoroughly confused, “What don’t you have time for?”

“I came to say goodbye, I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to see for a long time.”

“What do you mean?” He starts looking around frantically.

“I’m not sure myself, but I’m pretty sure I won’t see you again. So I came to say goodbye.” I feel a tug on my back, a pulling up words towards my body, “I can’t stay here much longer, just remember I love you.”

He starts to cry, “Rose, don’t leave, please.” He reaches out his hand.

I reach forward to grasp it, for a second my hand becomes corporeal and I grab a hold of him. I begin to cry, continuing to grasp his hand. Holding on to him, wishing that I could stay with him. Until finally I loose will and shoot up words, leaving him collapsed on the floor weeping.

As I rocket skyward I see a figure floating through space with me. With a gasp, I realize it was me, me but a lot younger. I scream to myself trying to warn them, tugging at their shoulder, telling them all that had happened, but I only managed a short burst of a sentence before speeding away towards the ship.

“Rose! Rosemary! Don’t go, don’t do it!” Those were words I had screamed to seemingly deaf ears.

* * *

I burst back into my body, I look around. I seemed to be in some sort of steel room. Above me on the wall was a large window. The floor was covered in small holes, each about an inch in diameter.

I hear a crackle from above me, I look back at the window to see the grotesque monsters standing in the frame. All of them were easily eight feet tall; they had large, bulbous eyes protruding from long antennas, but the worst part was their skin it was green and stretched over the bodies, they were all covered in a thick mucus that made my stomach crawl.

I was so busy being repulsed by the creatures that I almost didn’t notice the middle one talking, “ໃນປັ�"ຈຸບັນໃຫ້ກ�™ນ�-ົ�"ສອບຊ�™ວຫົກເລີ່ມ. ມະນຸ�"ຈະເປັນແນວໃ�"ເຮັ�"ແນວໃ�"ໃນກໍລະນີຂອງກ�™ນເຜົ�™ໄຫມ້ມີຊີວິ�"ຢູ່ໄ�"້.”

Without thinking, I translate the words, “Now let us test twenty-six commence. What humans do in the case of burning alive.” I realize what’s happening, “No wait, stop.”

The floor erupts in flames, I catch fire. I scream and scream, yelling words to no one, “I am hot! I am hot! Yes, yes breathing oxygen,” I yell deliriously before my speech turns to mumbles and I fall to the ground breathing my final breaths I hear the monsters speak.

“Ah, a very interesting find. Well, no need for this one anymore. Open the hatch.”

And there I die as the floor opens below me and I’m ejected into space.

Epilogue

1961

Two brothers are sitting at a table listening to the recording the just took from space.

“Achille, what do you think it means, all I can make out is, ‘It’s hot, it’s hot.’”  The first brother asks.

“I don’t know, but I think we just discovered one of the most amazing recordings in human history.”

They laugh together listen to their looping audio but little did they know that they were listening to the dying pleas of a woman born a century after them.

THE END

Author's Note

The inspiration for this story was actually an audio recording taken in the 1960's. The person who brought this to my attention was a youtube called Matthew Santoro in his video, 10 unexplained audio recordings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjM-5V_YCNY he's a great guy and I urge you to check him out.