Episode 5: The Boy With The Recorder

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CONTENT WARNING: general unease, distorted voices, unreality

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Transcript

 Intro

(Radio) Narrator one

There was a boy that was given a recorder. His gifter had intended it to be a tool to help. To make the change in the boy's life easier. The boy found it clumsy and tedious. He feared he would be mocked. That he would be othered. He wanted to make a good first impression in this new place. The boy also feared other things, supersuspicious things. Things that he knew not to be true but scared him all the same. However, he still wanted to use the recorder. It had been a gift afterall. He decided to record when the mood struck him.

(Phone) Narrator Two

I did start recording sounds, the ocean, the road, the old bookstore. Like these are pretty mundane to me, but to someone else? It could be sounds they have never heard before. 

Pause

Like obviously lots of people have heard the ocean, and a road and the inside of an old bookstore. But not this one, at that time. Does that make sense? And I mean there are a lot of people that haven’t heard the ocean, or a road or a bookstore. 

Sigh

Cringe art thing. But whatever, it's nice, makes me feel like I'm making stuff, doing things without using too much energy. And man do I need all the energy i can get, collage is crazy. Like one minute I was a teenager that people barely paid attention to and now I'm an adult that is allowed to have opinions about what I want to do and when I want to do it. 

Like I know this sounds crazy but one of the first days of school I called my mom to ask if I could hang out with friends after class. And she said ‘you know you don't have to ask, just tell me when I should expect you home’. What do you mean I don’t have to ask? When did that happen? I’m still the same person I was two months ago when I graduated and I had to be home by 10. Not that much has changed.

Honestly sitting in silence and recording sounds, it's kinda grounding. Like I have to do homework later and go to work tomorrow and email a teacher and make dinner and whatever else. But right now, I'm listening to the ocean, and that's all I need to do.

(Radio) Narrator One

He started to record the sounds around him. It was for himself mostly. He didn’t show anyone else the recorder, let alone the recordings. He did it for the recording itself, not to listen to after. He didn’t think anyone would listen to it after. He recorded the places he liked, the places that made him feel calm and welcome. The ocean, the main road of town, an old bookstore. At first it was infrequent, weeks going by without a single recording. Then it became a habit, every sound became something that he hadn't recorded before. He began to look more closely at the things around him, paying attention to what sounds everything made, even the things that didn’t seem to make a sound. Flowers, the sky, an empty room, people standing still. 

Then it became instinct. He wouldn’t even notice that he had pressed the record button until the recorder would beep at him that it was almost dead or full. Recording entire conversations, days, and the many, many silences he had in his life. Sitting on a bus, doing homework, walking home, sleeping.

(Phone) Narrator Two

Okay, okay it is kinda nice to have this as a journal too, sometimes. It's much easier than writing everything down in a book. I can just let my mind wonder and talk and talk. And then if I don't want anyone else to even have the chance to listen to it I delete it. 

Pause

I try not to do that often.

(Radio) Narrator One

Eventually, the boy started to use the recorder as a journal, talking about his day, his thoughts, ramblings that he would overthink and later delete with the fear that somewhere, someday another would find the recorder and press play.

Intro Music

Story Pt.One

Sound of waves, creaking wood, wind and metal chains

(Phone) Narrator Two

It's crazy how distinct the sound of a pire is. It just has such a unique sound. Ocean waves, the wind, creaking wood, seagulls. Like there are some places, some sounds that are really hard to place. Like the weirdest one I heard is the sound of rain or cooking bacon. They sound identical. The ocean though, I think you would be hard pressed to recreate this sound with a lake, let alone trying to use something else completely. 

The waves going in and out. Splashing against the rocks. The pire groaning and shifting. There are a lot of people on it today. The metal chains of the ladders that go into the water. The wind. There's just so much that goes into making the sound of a pire. And your brain just knows when it sounds right. Even if you don't go to the ocean often. I would even say even if you have never seen the ocean in real life. 

You just know what a dock sounds like, right?

Interruption one

Ocean sounds continue, going through (AM Radio), (Phone), (Echo Source) (Microphone), (Bad Overhead Speaker), randomly and for different lengths of time. Finally losing most of the sounds except the ocean waves.

Story Pt.Two

Sounds Of a Town, people walkinging, cars, wind

(Phone) Narrator Two

There's not a ton in town. Like it's basically one street. There are some cafes, bakeries, toy stores, dollar stores, and tons of used bookstores. Or at least there used to be. Not so many anymore. The one I used to go to all the time recently closed down. It was so old bookstore, you know? It even had a fireplace and a book store cat. Although the cat passed away some time ago. 

Pause

Okay you know what there is kinda a lot in town. Like everything you need and a bit more. Grocery, doctors, places to get clothes, places to eat out. A flowershop. It's just, it feels small, it feels like a small town where nothing happens. Like there's a fridge that sits outside on the sidewalk that has eggs inside, and it expects you to pay for the eggs and not just walk away. And people do! 

Pause 

Or at least I assume they do. I don't get eggs from there and I've never seen anyone open it. But you know, small town vibes. Things that would only work in a small town. Oh! Like the main street, the one you have to go on to go through town? It's a one way street, how crazy is that? Like obviously, when you get to the end of the street you just turn and go back out the side road. Either to the highway or where all the houses are. But that's weird right? Main street and you can only go down right to the ocean. Kinda. Like you don't just drive right into the ocean, but it sure looks like you will. Like one moment you're on a road and the next splash, ocean.

Interruption two

Town sounds continue, going through (AM Radio), (Phone), (Echo Source) (Microphone), (Bad Overhead Speaker), randomly and for different lengths of time. Finally losing most of the sounds except the wind and buzzing

Story Pt.Three

Inside a room, Arlo closes a door right as he starts talking and places the recorder down

(Phone) Narrator Two

Okay that should have not been as scary as it was. I forgot my earbuds at home this morning, which really sucked by the way, cause that also means I forgot my recorder. So like I could sit and listen to the sounds of the bus and city and school, but it felt pointless because I wasn't recording it. I don't know. It was boring. Anyways that wasn't the scary part. When I was near my home I started hearing a buzzing sound. Like high pitched, but quiet, but also kinda loud? Like I couldn't not hear it but it wasn't hurting my ears or anything. Anyway I had never heard it before and I thought to myself ‘oh shit that sounds like electricity. Maybe a wire fell somewhere.’ There's not a ton of street lights by my house and it has been getting darker, it's almost winter. So I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight. I didn't see any wires but that noise was everywhere. And now I was walking very slowly, but it didn't seem to be getting any louder, or quieter. It was just there, everywhere. It was so weird. And then also I'm still thinking about trying not to get electrocuted. I just, my heart was beating so fast. Now this is the stupid part. It was the transformer. Like I can not believe I had not heard it before. The street light near my house has a transformer and that's what was making the noise. I could physically feel the panic leaving my body. So stupid. 

Pause

I honestly still don't know if that was a normal noise for it to make though, that light kinda looked like it was dying. It was noticeably flickering.

Interruption three

Outside streetlight turning off and on, silence, sounds of a different place, walking then running, the sound of a swing

?v=iVrRH1mAKTo 

Story Pt. Four

(AM Radio) Narrator Two

I have to keep walking. I have to keep walking. I have to keep walking. There's no one here, there's no one in town but me. I can't see anyone! I’ve walked here before. Over and over and over. I can't be lost. 

No one is watching me.

I have to keep going. I’m on the main street. I’m on the main street. I’m on the main street. I can’t be lost. The street only goes one way. 

I can’t turn back, there's no way back. There's only this road.

And the ocean. 

The main street leads to the ocean.

It's the only way out.

The road only goes one way, one way, one way

 Splash

Interruption four

Ocean sounds, slowly walking footsteps, recorder is picked up, placed back down, clicks and turns of dials

Blue Jay Walker "Everybody Thinks They're The One To Get Away”

‘I knew a preacher with a tight necktie, 

Shaking his fist at the folks going by, 

Saying don't you know you're heading the wrong way?’

Story Pt. Five

(Microphone) Narrator One

“What the hell?” he said. The words catch in his mouth, no sounds coming out. Where was he? What was this place? He looks around at the world around him. Everything was wrong. It was night. It had been night. But everything was white, the house, the sky, the road. That, that wasn’t possible. Even during the day these things weren't white. What was going on?

The street light shone above him, still flickering slightly. Blue, it was blue now. He pulled his recorder out of his pocket, it was instinct now. Always ready for a new type of sound. Although this time he feared the worst had happened, that he had been right to be afraid of it in the first place. That he was about to record something awful happening to him. But that was stupid. It wasn’t real. There's no way this could be real. Those were all stories, they weren't even based on anything. They were completely made up.

This can’t be real. 

There was a flickering down the street. He turned towards it. It was fuzzy, hard to distinguish. It looked kinda like a person. Had to be a person, it was walking on two legs at least. It seemed to be moving very fast and then would slow down. Its details were so little that it looked much further away than it was. Or it was very large. He shook his head, no it was just a person and whatever was messing with his eyes for colour was also messing with this. That had to be it. He let out a breath, still not hearing the air as it left his lungs. And whatever was messing with his hearing too. 

The creature locked eyes with him. White with no pupil, taking up most of its head, then it smiled big and wide. Then it ran.

(Microphone)

He left the blue light in the opposite direction, not daring to look behind him. His feet slapped on the ground and his breath came in big buffs. His heart thumbed in his ears. It was so much darker than it had been under the blue light. All the witness was back to black, but a deep black. The kinda black you get in an open field, or up on a mountain.  He couldn't see anything, no house or cars. The road and sky blended into one. He kept going not daring to look back, or think about were he was going, he could figure it out later all he needed to do now was get away from that thing. 

A white light appeared in the distance. It was tiny, so small that if the black wasn’t so complete it would have gone unnoticed. He had no reason to believe that the light would help him or even if it was safe. But it was somewhere to go. Somewhere that wasn't the endless black. As he got closer another light started to appear, then another, then another. They could have almost have been mistaken for stars.The first one was becoming more and more clear, going from a single point of light to a,

a street light, of course, it was a street light. White this time instead of orange or blue. It lit something beneath it. A stone bench. A woman sitting on it reading a book. Leafs fell around her,  landing on her, the bench and sometimes her book. When this happened she was quick to brush the leaves off. Her hair, tied up in a neat bun, had a few loose strands that danced in the wind. Her cardigan looked warm and comfortable wrapped tightly around her. The boy started as she read. He watched her eyes move across the page.

Brown, her eyes were brown. 

He watched her turn pages. Her hands looked soft, fine wrinkles and vines visible. He watched her tap her foot. Cross and uncross her legs. Tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She turned many pages as he watched her. The creature that had been chasing him was long forgotten. 

He knew this woman, had walked by her many, many times. Only then she had been a statue.

Finally he decided that he should go talk to her. Ask her what this place was, how he could get out. 

(Echo Source)

“I know you can hear me.”

(Microphone)

He froze and looked around trying to see where the voice was coming from. He was just about to answer when the women spoke.

“And I know you can see I am reading.” She didn’t even look up from her book. Something shifted in the white light, a hand becoming visible, then disappearing just as quickly. The boy realized there was a figure in the white light with the women. It was like a flickering white shadow, hard to make out if you didn't already know it was there.

(Echo Source)

“We have a problem." 

(Microphone)

The figure continued.

“Oh? We Do?” The woman turned a page of her book.

(Echo Source)

“She’s gone”

(Microphone)

“Dear, please be more clear with your words. ‘we‘ don't have a problem, you do.”

(Echo Source)

“This involves you.”

(Microphone)

“It most certainly does not. I will not be helping you out of a problem of your own creation.”

She said,  The wind suddenly stopped. The leaves froze in place. The light above started to flicker, changing to orange. The figure drew closer to the old woman, leading forward.

(Echo Source)

"I can make it all go away."

(Microphone)

It said. She looked up from her book for the first time, her face defiant. 

The figure spoke again 

(Echo Source)

"Do you like how you exist now? What bliss it must be to be as you are. All the good that comes with old age. The experience, the memories, the satisfaction of a life well lived, of already having made your mark. All there is left to do is read and tell stories right?" 

(Microphone)

It launched forward grabbing her shoulder pushing her back against the bench. Her book fell to the ground.

(Echo Source)

"I can give you all the bad. The regrets" 

(Microphone)

The defiance left her face.

(Echo Source)

"The loss." 

(Microphone)

Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes.

(Echo Source)

"The guilt." 

(Microphone)

Fear, her face was full of fear.

(Echo Source)

"And all the pain. Your feet and knees and back and neck. The pain of having to see your loved ones pity you." 

(Microphone)

it grinned 

(Echo Source)

"The pain of forgetting."

(Microphone)

"No" she whispered, the tears spilling down her face. "Please, don't, I'm sorry."

The light stopped flickering orange and turned back to white. The wind returned.

(Echo Source)

"Then we have a problem."

(Microphone)

"Yes." The old woman said through muffled sobs.

There was silence as the old woman waited for the figure to tell her more. The figure waited to be asked.

The boy spoke first. 

"Um, hello?"

They both turned towards him. The old woman's eyebrows shot up looking from the boy to the figure. The figure looked at the boy like he was a mildly annoying pet interpreting a meal. The figure stood up straight taking his hands off the old woman's shoulders, not breaking eye contact with the boy. 

The boy watched its every move. Its eyes coming into focus, winding then becoming glitchy again. A foot taking a step, out of sync with when the figure actually moved . Its fingers flexing then melting back into the figure. The grin that slowly spread across its face. It was the smile of a predator, an animal bearing its teeth. The boy started to back up, maybe he could run back towards the blue light. Maybe the creature was a better fate. 

Then a pricing sound filled the air, rising in volume as the figure raised its hands, fingers spread, palm facing up. Like a music conductor.

The boy's hands covered his ears, but did nothing to block out the sound, it was as if the sound was coming from inside his head. He needed something to focus on or he would pass out and then who knew what would happen. Soon the figures hand dropped to its side the sound still as loud and pricing. The figure moved closer and the boy made the mistake of looking at its face. Every detail was sharp. Every pore and crease visible. Its whole body slowly like a loading image was becoming starkly detailed. The amount was too much, like seeing every single atom everywhere you looked all at once.

The sound gained a buzzing, low like static.

The boy feared that he might lose his hearing, that his head might explode. It was just all too much. The boy closed his eyes.

(Bad Overhead Speaker)

And all the sound stopped.

The boy found himself sitting on the bench beside the old woman, back to a statue. His head had been resting on her shoulder, like he had just fallen asleep. He shot up from the bench so fast his vision started to turn black. He leaded on the streetlight waiting for the dizziness to pass. Once it had he quickly realised that the light above him was orange. He quickly moved out of it and started walking home, pressing the end recording button.

Outro

(AM Radio) Narrator One

The swing set squeaked as she continued to talk

"Do you even know why you want this?"

"Cause it's fun" I replied.

(Walkie-Talkie Turning On)

She really is a buzz kill

.

(Walkie-Talkie Turning Off)

"Why is it fun?"

I paced in front of her. Just out of reach of her swinging feet.

"Why is it fun? Are you kidding?"

She continues to swing. Blank face. I hadn't answered her question yet.

"Cause it's exciting, new. Something is actually happening." I move my hands in the air as I say this. Trying to show her how exciting it is. She doesn't understand that’s what that means.

(Walkie-Talkie Turning On)

She just doesn't get it.

(Walkie-Talkie Turning Off)

She continues to swing. 

I resisted the urge to grab the chain attached to the swing to stop it. She was listening. She had heard. She was just taking her time to answer. And why not, she had all the time in the world. I took a breath, tried to tune out the squeaking.

"People are getting hurt."

She didn't sound sad about it, not happy either. Just saying a fact.

"Oh, so you care about people now?" I stop pacing and stand beside the swing. I watch her arch forwards, then backwards, then forward again.

"No, but I thought humans cared about other humans."

I again resist the urge to grab the chain. Instead I put on a big smile and theatrically put my hand on my forehead like I'm looking for someone, the other hand on my hip. She says something quicker this time.

"What are you looking for?" I look at her with mock confusion.

"Well, these humans you are implying are listening in on our private conversation." 

I continue to stare at her after I say this, while she continues to swing, blankly looking forward.

"You are still human." There's a hint of emotion in her voice. Something between anger and amusement.

"Am I?"

I mean to say it with sarcasm, but my trough goes dry as I say it.

"Of course you are. Once a human it is very hard not to be one." 

(Walkie-Talkie Turning On)

Like you would know

(Walkie-Talkie Turning Off)

I grab the chain, abruptly stopping its swinging. The lack of squeaked making my ears ring.

"You can't possibly believe that." I say to her side profile. Her many braids haphazardly flung around her from the sudden stop. She stares straight ahead as she answers.

"Of course I don't believe it, I know it. It's dangerous to have uncertainty here." That last part is said so often it's basically a mantra. I roll my eyes.

"I know, I know." I let go of the chain. "I’m not a human." I add.

"Yes you are." She looks at me then, turning her head and none of her body. "Why do you say you're not?"

Many reasons flash through my mind. All she knows about. Of course from her perspective if a human did it, then it's a human thing to do.

"Something that was never human would never understand what it's like to lose humanity." 

I say proudly. She starts to pump her legs, the swing slowly gaining momentum. The squeaking starts again. 

Then she says "What a very human thing to say." 

Outro Music

Credits

Blue Flickering Street light is written, edited and performed by Karma Night and is produced by Lanterns Aura
Intro and Outro music is by Aleksander Kordov

Logo is by Racc00n_with_a_Sp00n

Narrator Two/Arlo Thorn is voiced by cakebird

“Everybody Thinks They're The One To Get Away” is used with permission by Blue Jay Walker

All other sounds are either record by Karma Night or are from Freesound.org under creative commons 

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Or visit our website Lanternsaura.com, this is also were you’ll find transcripts of episodes

All Links in show notes
Thank you so much for listening!

After Credits

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