Chương 23: Chapter 22: An Unexpected Turn

"So you were singing a song," Emily said, going over the story I'd told her, "because Gav sounded afraid, right?" Giving a nod of agreement, I adjusted slightly in my seat. We'd gone over the entire scenario several times, but Emily wanted to be sure she understood everything. I passed out for about an hour after it was all over. Everything was hazy during the first few minutes after I woke up, but I was mostly feeling okay.

"And after you started singing, you were in your treehouse." Emily continued.

"What did it feel like? What were you doing there?"

"I…I was singing a song that I remembered, something I used to sing when I was afraid, afraid like Gav was. I remembered that feeling…the memory came to my mind and I just started singing." Emily nodded.

"Memory…yeah, you mentioned that. Was this a dream, or did it feel like a memory?" She asked, holding my hand, eyes focused entirely on me.

"I, um…I was younger." Taking a deep breath, I tried to remember everything I could.

"... yeah, it felt more like a memory, something I was playing back. I don't think I had any control over it, but I still heard Gav. He sounded slow, as if he was moving through time at a different speed or something." Gav leaned closer.

"Or maybe you were experiencing it faster."

"Maybe." I agreed. Emily reclined slightly in her chair, hand on her chin as she thought aloud.

"So, last time this happened, it was for a few seconds, but it felt like about a minute to you. Now, it was the same white room, but the second time, you were in that state for about thirty to forty seconds, but it felt like a few minutes, if you were able to sing the entire song. You…" She paused, looking at me as her speech slowed a bit. I looked intently, wanting to make sure Emily was sure.

"... you could still hear Gav." She continued.

"You could still hear him, recognize his distress, and that made you think of a similar time in your life." Nodding, I agreed.

"That sounds right." Gav chimed in, "but the treehouse didn't show up until you started singing." I nodded again. Emily and Gav both looked at each other, then back to me.

"Sound, feelings, emotions, those all got through to you when you were in that state…but everything else: the memory, the song…that all came from you." Gav reasoned. Oliver moved toward us from the other side of the room, listening to the conversation from a distance.

"Gav, I know that tone. You get that way whenever you're about to do something really dumb." Gav smiled, standing and offering a hand to me. I took it, and he pulled me off of the couch.

"Come with me." He said.

"I think I have an idea." All of us followed Gav back to the basement. He moved a few things off of his large desk.

"Here, have a seat. This should only take a minute." Gav promised. We all sat in our usual spots. Oliver pulled his wheelchair next to me as we both watched Gav walking around the basement, searching through every box he found. Emily raised an eyebrow.

"What's gotten into him?" She asked Oliver.

"He's got an idea." He said simply.

"... but he won't tell us what it is because he's too excited. Trust me, I've seen this before. Just let him do his thing and he'll explain it eventually." Suddenly, Gav let out an excited squeal, yanking something out of one of the boxes before running over to us. He was holding an old looking stereo system, the kind of boombox I would always see in older television shows.

"Emily! Hand me that multimeter!" Gav said while she started to plug in the stereo system, setting it next to the box we'd been using. Emily, stilling closest to the multimeter, looked at Oliver, who just shrugged. With a sigh, she grabbed the multimeter for Gav and handed it to him.

"Could you elaborate on what you're doing here, Gav?" She asked him, not really expecting an answer. Her expectation was correct. Gav didn't answer Emily, as if he didn't even hear her. He simply turned on the multimeter, poking and prodding at various parts of the circuits on the inside of the box. Oliver was right. We just had to let him do his thing for a while before he'd be responsive again. Gav turned on the box as I watched the familiar screen flicker to life.

Even if he couldn't see what was on the device, Gav had gotten accustomed with its layout to navigate the menus all on his own. He moved to one of the shorter files we'd discovered, selecting it. This particular file always lasted for about a minute and a half before stopping itself. As it sat on that screen, he continued poking various parts of the circuit board. Suddenly, he stopped, intently looking at one particular spot.

"... alligator clips," He said, pointing behind himself, "from the soldering station. I need two alligator clips." As I was the closest this time, I left my chair, rummaging through the box to find two metal clips. They looked a bit like an alligator's head, so I figured they must be what he needed. Scrambling back to Gav, I handed him the objects and settled back into my seat. Gav was stripping some wires, two of which had already been connected to the stereo.

Taking the two alligator clips, he connected them to the board. The file had already ended, now back at the menu.

"So," Gav started, then cleared his throat, "I was so focused on the files, I forgot to ask myself: what could they be? Now, I could be wrong, but this thing behaves like a music player of sorts, right? I mean, you have all these files on it, you select them, it sits there and doesn't seem to do anything for a very specific amount of time for each file. Those actions sound like a music player."

"You think there's music on this?" I asked, ears twitching. The thought of hearing my species' music was something I'd never considered.

"Do you think you can make it play? I'd love to hear it!" I said, standing in my chair. Gav shook his head.

"Hold on, I don't think it's quite that easy. See, music doesn't make any sense, not in this case. I think it's something more. Why would they need such large files for music?" I looked at the box, then back at Gav.

"What do you think it is?" Gav nodded, looking at Emily and leaning in his chair, arms folded in victory.

"Go ahead, you tell them." My attention turned to Emily, who looked as if she'd been lost in thought the entire time Gav was talking. She looked up at us, nodding, like she'd just been running the idea through her head one more time.

"Did you figure something out?" Oliver asked. Emily still appeared to be thinking for a moment longer. Then she turned to Gav, addressing him instead.

"Pull up a random spot inside the file." He nodded, opening the familiar text file and scrolling down to a random location. The text, too, looked completely random.

"Alright, so," Emily continued, "we were looking over this earlier, and I was looking for patterns…really, anything that could tell me something about what was going on in here. Like Gav showed us before, there was a bunch of information that was identical at the beginning of each file, which must be some format thing. It's hard to say for sure, but once we got past that pattern, it all just seemed to be random." I nodded. That summary sounded right.

"It seemed random," She repeated, "until I noticed a particular character showing up more often than any of the others. Gav, can you change this character–" Emily asked, pointing to a symbol in the file, "–to a 'new line' character?" Gav nodded and changed a few settings. A moment later…the text didn't look as random. Every line had a similar number of characters in it, with each being a few hundred in length.

"I think each time that symbol appears, it means there's a new command. I tried finding patterns through the whole thing, but so far, the only thing I can see is that it always starts with a particular set of characters. There seems to be about a hundred different starting patterns for each line, but after that, it rarely shows the same full command twice…like, really, really rarely." Emily explained. Raising an eyebrow, Oliver asked, "so, what does that mean, exactly?"

"I was telling Gav earlier that it almost felt like these commands weren't so much 'commands' as they were…' pointers', as in, pointers to locations. Data tends to have patterns that repeat often, but in this case, the only patterns I found were those starting points. If I'm right, there's very little actual 'data' in here. It's all just pointers to other locations. However, there seem to be small bits at the end of each command that repeat pretty often.

I don't know what that could be, but in the final sections of each line, there are a few thousand chains of text that regularly appear."

"And…" Gav said, rolling his hand, trying to get Emily to continue.

"And what?" She asked.

"And the last bit? The thing you were thinking it could be…?"

"Oh, I mean, I was just thinking out loud, I don't know if–" Gav interrupted her.

"–she thinks these commands are actually neurological pathways."

"They could be. Maybe. I have no idea." Emily admitted.

"Neurological pathways?" My voice rang out.

"So…you think this is pointing to parts of someone's brain? Does that mean…" I paused, gears turning in my head.

"... these files…are they for recalling memories?"

"Bingo!" Gav excitedly beamed at me.

"Or at least, they can make the user recall memories. I don't think it actually stores any memories, I think it just remembers the neurological pathways to stimulate those memories into coming back to the user. Kind of like a dream!" Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"But…how would that even work?" Oliver asked.

"Ahh, so that's why Gav grabbed the stereo…" Emily replied, seemingly understanding. Gav nodded to her, then looked at me.

"Emily told me how important music is to you, and how you're not able to recognize people until you hear the sound of their voice. Music and sound seem to define a large part of your–" I blinked, taken aback a bit.

"What are you talking about?" Emily gave a small sigh, massaging her temples.

"Gav, I told you not to bring that up."

"Oh! Right, right… uh, sorry… whatever, it's not important right now. What's important is this…" Gav turned in his chair, seemingly changing the subject as he reached for the stereo, turning it on as he pressed the button on the box to select the same file. At first, it was quiet, but when Gav started to turn up the volume, a semblance of a song started to burst through the speakers. It had a fast beat, but even more noticeable was the static and random noises playing alongside whatever rhythm was trying to play.

I leaned closer, trying to make out any sort of pattern or rhythm, anything which would make sense… but it was too hard to focus. Leaning away from the speakers, I noticed everyone looking at me.

"What?" I asked. Oliver rolled himself next to me.

"Do you hear anything special or…different? Anything odd in it? It sounds like random noises…to me, at least." I nodded, squinting at the speaker again, trying to decipher something, but I still couldn't find anything concrete.

"I think I'm hearing the same thing you are, Oliver."

"Oh! That's what you were on about!" Emily exclaimed, looking at Oliver.

"What?!" He and I both asked. Emily looked at me.

"When you were in that state, Tess, you could hear sound, you could hear emotions, but nothing else could get through to you. If this sound is what we think it is…if it just points to neurological pathways, that means…oh gosh…" She whispered the last few words.

"What does it mean?" Oliver asked again. Whatever Emily and Gav had figured out, he and I were still completely left out of the loop. Gav stood.

"I think I know what that flashlight is doing to Tess."

Twenty minutes later, Emily and Gav had set up a reclining chair for me in the basement. I was upstairs, getting myself a drink in the kitchen. Intentionally going into that state from the flashlight had me a bit scared, but Gav and Emily both thought it was the key to putting me in a state to allow the sound to communicate with me. The whole idea felt unsettling, but I knew I couldn't stop now, not when I was so close to making a breakthrough. Anything could be on the other side of that memory.

Gav had chosen the shortest one we had found. Probably a good decision, I figured, since I didn't want to start with anything big. Either way, if this sound did what they were expecting, I could find just about anything on the other side. I could hear Oliver arguing with the two downstairs. He was afraid this whole experiment could hurt me, trying to convince them to try other things first. Even though I was glad he was looking out for me, the more I thought about it, the more I knew I was on Emily and Gav's side.

I didn't want to wait any longer; I wanted to know what was on the other side of that memory. Taking one last swig of water, I headed back downstairs again.

"What if you're wrong? What if you end up hurting her?" Oliver said, clearly sounding upset.

"We'll keep it short!" Gav promised.

"She's seen the light before. I think it was only doing that to her because she didn't have any sort of input. My guess is the light is part of the whole thing. As for the other people, well, I don't know why they used it the way they did, but this puts Tess in a state where she can listen and hear these sounds, which makes memories come to her. These things are all connected!"

"And what if you're wrong?!" Oliver asked again. Intentionally taking a loud step at the bottom of the staircase, everyone turned to me as I entered.

"Oliver…" I said softly, walking toward him, "... I'll be okay. This whole thing–all of this–was to figure everything out. I think Emily and Gav are right, and we've got to try this. If anything goes wrong, you can always turn off the light. I'll be okay." Though he sighed, Oliver eventually relented.

"Okay. But if it looks like anything is going wrong, I'm turning it off." I stood on my tiptoes and wrapped Oliver in a hug, then, giving him a nod, I walked to the recliner. As I got comfortable, I looked at the box and stereo, both set up next to me. The crystal hung off the side of the box as I stared at it. It didn't feel quite real, but that crystal held something inside it… some sort of secret. Whatever it was, I needed to know. Leaning as far as I could, I looked up at the flashlight.

Gav had mounted it on a spring-like arm meant for a tablet, holding it with duct tape. I always appreciated the lack of adornments in Gav's designs. He made them work, which was what mattered above all else.

"Going over the procedure one more time." Emily stated.

"We'll turn the light on and start playing the sound. After that, we'll let the file play in full, then turn off the light when it's completed. If anything looks like it's going wrong, we'll turn it off. This whole procedure should only go for about a minute and a half, so it shouldn't be too bad. Are you ready, Tess?" I looked to her, then to Gav as he sat near the box. Nodding, I tilted my head back and looked up at the light. Gav reached forward and the light flickered to life.

Keeping my eyes shut for a second and steeling myself, I let my eyelids drift open… and instantly, I was teleported back into the world of the white void. I clenched my hands and twisted my foot on the smooth surface of the ground, trying to focus on anything tethering me to my current position. The last thing I wanted to do was drift off to random thoughts. I took a deep breath and held it for a moment, focusing on why I was there. A sound came through the void. I turned, trying to hear where it was.

Like last time, it felt as if the sound was coming from everywhere. I blinked… and suddenly, I was walking through my hallway. I was at my old home. Looking at my hands, they were covered in grease from working on the truck. I looked around again, only to see John, walking alongside me.

"So, once you get that pipe off the bottom, I should be able to take it from there." He said, opening the door into the garage for me. I slid underneath the truck, only to be tapped on the shoulder by him.

"Don't forget this." He said, handing me a wrench.

"Thanks, I-" I started, turning to him. His smile was gone. His face was pale as his eyes locked with mine. I felt a hard shiver run through my body, as if all the warmth in me was drained. My gaze drifted down to my hands, the black grease turning red. I looked up again. John's face was tearing itself apart. His skin and muscles were peeling away, revealing his skull underneath his flesh. I skidded as far back as I could, back bumping into the truck. His empty sockets stared into my eyes as he asked.

"Why did you leave me in there?" Unable to look away, utterly paralyzed in fear, I opened my mouth, trying to respond, but no sound was coming from me. I felt the truck against my back disappear as I fell. The ground was gone. I fell away from the scene in front of me. I fell away from John's body as it turned to bones, disappearing into the blackness. For a brief moment, I could see Oliver's face, a bright light next to him. I tried to reach for him, but as quickly as he was there, he was gone.

"Woah, there." John's voice called once more. I looked for the source of the sound. I had been in my treehouse, but had just jumped to the ground as John approached. He never did like seeing me fall from that distance. I felt like he was just being overly concerned. I'd jumped from there so many times. It wasn't a big deal.

"You know that's how I get down every time you're not here, right?" I asked him, grinning.

"You could have stopped it." He said, smiling back.

"What?" I blinked, turning my head slightly.

"You could have stopped them…if you didn't run away." John replied. He turned his head to look out at the setting sun. Massive, severe scars lined the side of his cheek.

"You were a coward. You chose to leave me there to die…after I saved you."

"N-No! I…I…" I stammered, unable to reply. John turned back to me again, the rest of his face now covered in burn marks, muscles pulsing underneath the wounds.

"After everything I'd done for you, you chose to run away." His voice was getting deeper as he talked.

"I didn't mean to! I'm…I'm sorry!" I screamed, begged. I was shaking as I stepped away from him.

"Liar!" It was the last thing I heard him yell before being surrounded in black once more, falling as I flailed my arms. I tried to stop the world from spinning around me. Again, I saw a flash of Oliver standing over me, looking concerned. I could see the box with the crystal inside of it. I could see the flashlight. I tried reaching for it, even saw my arm move for a brief moment… then my vision clouded again. I finished screwing the new light in place on the outside of the chicken coop.

It was dark, and the light which kept the chickens awake after the sun went down had stopped working. Luckily, it was all fixed now. The chickens never liked me too much, but at least they got out of the way when I needed to collect their eggs. Basket full of their produce, I started walking back to the house. Through the window, I could see John standing in the living room. He was standing right in the center of the room itself, eyes locked onto me, never blinking. John stared at me intensely through the window.

Despite the distance, despite the window between us, I could hear him as if he were standing next to me.

"How would you feel, Tess? If you were me? If I did that to you?" I could only see his blurry shape through my tears as I looked into the house.

"I didn't mean to. I was…I was afraid. I…didn't know what to do." Just after the words spilled out of me, the curtains were suddenly engulfed in flames. I tried jumping back from it, but my feet seemed to be anchored to the ground, forcing me to stay there. John didn't react. His eyes just stared into me.

"How do you sleep at night, knowing what you've done? You could have saved me. I would still be alive." The room around him caught fire, the inferno surrounding him. John's flesh turned red, then black. I tried to look away, to look anywhere else, but I couldn't. I couldn't look away. I couldn't move. A sinister smile splayed across John's face.

"Trying to run again? Leave me behind again? You're just as much of a coward as you were before, Tess. You're a monster. You didn't deserve to escape that night. You don't get to. Not again. This time it's your turn." A flash of orange flame surrounded me. The heat burned against my face as I tried to pull myself away. I was still stuck. When it finally dissipated, I found myself inside the living room. John was still watching me, on the other side of the window.

I could feel the flames burning my body on every side. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I could only see John, looking at me from outside the house, watching me burn.

"Please! John, please, just…help…" I pleaded. He shook his head. His gaze pierced my soul as he glared at me. I could feel the flames painfully lap against me while his stare made me feel as if I was freezing from the inside. His voice grew deeper, flesh falling away from his body as the flames became unbearably hot.

"You don't deserve help. You deserve this." The flames encompassed my vision, then quickly morphed to the scene of Oliver looking over me. I didn't hesitate this time. I didn't wait to see what would happen next. When I saw the box next to me, I lunged for it, grabbing the crystal and yanking it out of the slot. Any semblance of the black void disappeared. I stumbled, falling off the chair and onto the floor as I tried to regain my composure. I was crying, my body violently shaking.

The flashlight had already been turned off, the stereo making a single tone.

"Tess!" I heard Oliver yell, a hand grabbing my shoulder. I grabbed the hand, pulling it forward, off of me. Oliver screamed as I yanked him from his wheelchair and threw him ahead of me, sending him sliding across the floor. Slowly and shakily standing, I barely even registered what I'd done.

"Tess, it's okay!" Emily yelled. She tried to grab me too, but I was faster, pushing her hand away and sending her against the wall.

"Stay away from me! J-Just… stay away!" I screamed, eyes darting from person to person. I looked for John, but he was nowhere to be seen. I felt like he could be anywhere, waiting for me. If I dropped my guard, he would appear again. Everyone stood back, looking at me in a way I'd never seen from someone until now. They were afraid. Oliver was on the ground, trying to pull himself as far away from me as he could. Reality was setting into my dazed mind; I was no longer in that nightmare.

I was back, but I couldn't think straight, feeling as if I had been mauled by fear itself, with nowhere to direct that emotion.

"I'm sorry…" I said quietly.

"I'm…I'm sorry…I didn't mean to leave him there! I didn't want to! I was afraid! I didn't want that to happen!" I choked back a sob.

"I just…I wish I could go back, I wish I could do it again, but I can't! I can't!" I screamed, throwing the crystal onto the floor as I bolted up the stairs. Seconds later, I was out in the frigid air. Through my tears, I cried all the way to the lawn, flopping down onto the grass. I looked up at the sky and just cried. It was over.