The Strange Sound

The strange sound.

                                          The eerie tones were getting very frequent now. The tone that draws everyone to close their eyes and stand still while they listened. At first, six month ago, when the sounds were not being broadcast as often and people didn’t seem to notice, the sounds were being broadcast once every other week. Then twice every other week, and now two to three times a week. Back then, when the sounds weren’t as frequent, people went about their business as usual, the sounds were not affecting them in anyway. And did they ever even hear the sound? But lately, since the sounds have become frequent, it has caused an effect on the people. Seconds before the tone, people will slowly stop whatever they were doing and stayed still. When they heard the tone, they’ll close their eyes and stand still until the sound is over. The tone is not loud and it has a span of 5 seconds before it ends.

                                          The sound doesn’t affect me in anyway for some reason. My friend James and another kid, Julian, are the only people that I know that are able to hear the sound with out any problems so far. I am curious to know why is the sound is not affecting me or my friend and the other kid in anyway. Is it a flaw? At first I didn’t like the sound and thought that it was the town implementing their new code red signal. They had advertised about testing a new emergency code system in case of a meltdown, since a huge power plant is located about ten miles from where I live. But I don’t think is them with the new sound they are testing; they wouldn’t for this long. By now I have learned to ignore it. My reason, so far, for the strange sound is that someone out there is brain washing us, getting us ready to finalize the plan. I can see it all now, a massive alien invasion. James says that is a country testing their newly found weapon of mass destruction and there are testing it on us.

                                           How much longer will they keep implementing their message into our brains before we are ready for the final phase? One thing is for sure, I will be here when that day comes and I am one of the few that hasn’t been affected by their method of preparing us for the bigger picture. I tried telling my family about the strange sound and how, lately, they submit to it. They just tell me that I am crazy and I need to stop imagining things. Run alone they say. I don’t think anyone one has a clue of what is going on.

Except, the other day, there was this guy on the news. He was on top of the roof at a supermarket with a microphone and a loud speaker. He looked sweaty and jittery, and looked like he hadn’t slept for days. He rambled of about an evil sound that was reading and taking over our minds and how they were controlling us and used us for experimentation. He had gathered a couple of people’s attention while he talked. Then the news lady said that he had collapsed and minutes later an ambulance was called.

My family doesn’t know that something out there is threatening our way of life. And soon all that we know will be gone. Who knows what’s going to happen when they are done with their operation. And what will become of us?

I was in the kitchen pouring a bowl of my favorite cereal when my mother came in. I looked at my mother and saw that there was something different about her. She kind off acted a bit different from her usual self. She seemed a tad slower on her gestures. It was as if she was mimicking them.

“Did you heard the sound a couple of minutes ago”, I asked her. The sound had stopped about 15 minutes ago.

“Jack, baby” she says. “You need to stop worrying about these things”. “Eat your breakfast and get ready, you are going to be late”. My mother sounded possess.

She came over and hugged me. I looked at her and she gave me a wonderful smile. She grabbed her coffee and walked over to the television to watch the morning news before leaving for work. “And don’t forget to take your sister to school”, she says.

Then, my little sister walks in to the kitchen ready to go to school. Mary looks at me motionless for about 3 seconds with out saying a word. She looked so cute in her school uniform and with her backpack on. She didn’t seem as odd as my mom did, except she wasn’t as animated as usual. My little sister, Mary, wasn’t running around or talking or singing while she waited for me to take her to school. She got this way about a moth ago. Mary, now, moved like a controlled machine, robotic. As if the sound was consuming her personality and making her lifeless like a zombie. She has no clue with what’s happening with the world. We usually walked together since her school is on the same path as mine. She waited quietly, for me by the door with out saying much, while I tried to finish my cereal as fast as I could so we could leave. I looked at my sister and wondered what would become of her. Will she ever be the same little sister I always remembered? I would definitely do anything to help my sister and my family. I didn’t like the thought of someday my family not recognizing me.

                                          While on the way to school with my little sister, I was noticing behavior in people that I have never seen before. It seems that the more they are expose to the sound, the more their behavior will change. There was this guy walking with his back hanging out, arms hanging loose, and his mouth and eyes wide open while walking aimlessly. There was this women laughing hysterical on the step of a house where she was standing. What attracted me to her was what she was saying. She kept repeating the words “where are they” over and over while laughing loony.

                                           And the other odd thing I noticed was how people drove their car. There was no honking, no driving fast, no cutting people off, they let other cars who were trying to get in to the road from their driveway get in, and they even stop for people who were crossing the streets and who were taking their kids to school. The crossing guard lady didn’t had to used the stop sign to cross the kids, people driving their cars knew to stop. Somehow people while driving their car, they all thought in the same process. And most likely it was the sound that was making them think in unison, but why the weird attitude in some people? Is the oddly attitude for some a way to start behaving like everyone or is it a way for some people who have trouble submitting to the sound to act weirdly until they become fully controlled. But what about people like me who the sound is having no effect on. What is going to happen to me after everyone gets converted? Mostly like they’ll try to get rid of me when this is all over.

My friend James waited for me while sitting on a rocking chair on the porch of his parent’s house. He walks with me to school mostly everyday. We have the same first period. He always has a goofy smile on his face. The three of us kept walking. While we walked James tells that his father is not being who he was anymore and that his mother is on the same path.

 “Soon my mother will be like him”, says James. “My father has become very machine like. Everything he does is done in a neatly orderly manner. He gets up in the morning, does the usual, and leaves for work in the exact time everyday. And he is always drinking water. He drinks water from morning until the time he goes to bed. And there was a package on the front door the other day. Since then, they don’t eat food anymore. I think they consumed the stuff that came with the package. And they rarely talked to me. I tried talking to them but they don’t respond”.

“That’s crazy”, I responded looking at my little sister who walks with her head forward with out looking sideways or at objects that my have distracted her before. She looked hypnotized.

“Does this means that everyone will get like them soon. What would be the purpose of having everyone the same? And will that be the final phase or is that a preparation for something bigger”, I tell James.

“I think you are right and I don’t know what would be the purpose for having everyone the same, but I think, it may have to do something with saving us from us”, James says. “ And what about my parents? Are they even my parents anymore? What is going to happen to them?”

“I guess we need to wait to find out what will happen to your parents and my parents and everyone that we know. After the master plan gets finalized, are they going to capture us and make us one of them, or get rid of us for having resisted their method? So far, I know you, the other kid and the guy from the news who was taken to the hospital and who is immune to signal.”

“I think all who are unaffected need to gather and start a rebellion”, James says.

“Yes, that is exactly what we need to do. All of us who are like us should come together and act on the situation at hand. Because someone out there is not going to like when they find out that not everyone is under their plan.”

I left my sister at her school and she walked to her kindergarten class. She didn’t say much either, like James’s parents. Our school was quieter than usual. In the hallway, mostly everyone walked quietly except for a few ones that were acting oddly. But mostly everyone in the hallway walking to classes looked robotic. They looked human but they moved stiff without looking around distracted. They were not paying attention to us either.

Then everyone stopped doing whatever they were doing and stood still and closed their eyes and then the long bleep began. That was strange. Usually the sound won’t get played twice in a day. Specially, when there was one not to long. And now there is another one. If they played it often through out the day, it won’t be long before they get everyone under their full control. James and me decided to walked out the school while everyone was submitting to the sound. And the sound seemed to have gotten longer. Outside dark clouds had set and there was no one outside. The streets were vacant. Everyone had gone indoors. James and I were starting to get really scared about the situation we didn’t know what to do. This may be the day when the final phase gets finalized. I guess finally we will find out who is behind all this.

We decided to go back to my placed to get our thoughts together. We ran as fast as we could so we would not get caught. When we got home no body was there. I immediately turned the television on, but there was no transmission. Whatever ends up happening, I hope everyone ends up safe, especially everyone that I love and know. For the first time, I felt uncertain of the future. Then I saw an artificial light getting in through the window’s drapes. I went to it and tried to see where was that light coming from. The light was far and I could not make out of what was coming down from it. After a couple of minutes, the light disappeared. But the dark clouds continued through the day. Something had come down from that bean of light and now was among us.