Daniel sat crossed legged on the brown carpet. In front of him stood his parent’s huge Hi-Fi stereo system, the volume knob turned all the way to thirty, its highest setting. Daniel listened to the constant fizz from the speakers as it waited patiently for a record or cassette to be put into it.
Daniel tilted his head slightly as the living room filled with the dead static sound, for he was sure he could hear something, something beyond the dull white noise that surrounded him. A voice, so quiet and distant not even the full volume of the stereo made it clear.
For four days now before school, he had flipped the knob up to maximum, convinced that there was a sound hidden deep in the black plastic and metal of his mum and dad’s sound system. And today, he was in just the right position to hear it. He clenched his eyes shut, and listened as hard as he could.
There, he had it. It was the same phrase repeated over and over again, but what was it?
It took another minute or two, but eventually, Daniel was certain he could make it out.
kill your parents.
Daniel’s eyes shot open, but he didn’t move an inch, not until he heard his mum coming in the room. He quickly spun the volume knob round to a reasonable level, and pressed the on/off button.
Daniel’s mum got on her knees and wrapped her arms around him.
“You know, it sounds a lot a better when you put something in it to play. Come on, time to get dressed.”
She stood up, lifting him up as she did.
Daniel left the living room to change out of his A-Team pyjamas and into his school uniform.
While Daniel is at school, and his mum and dad are at work, the living room lays quiet. Dust floats in the lines of light from the windows. The palm tree, too big for the room, cranes its neck against the ceiling, while a lone fly darts back and forth in the centre. The pictures on the walls and shelves of Daniel and his family smile brightly at no one, and all the while the Panasonic Stereo sound system, stacked up like a tower, sits in the middle of the far wall.
Bought five years earlier, it was one of their first luxury items. For they both had extensive record collections, and hoped that one day Daniel would inherit their love of music. And what better machine to fire that love than a top of the range Hi-Fi.
Shortly after four o’clock, the front door opened, and in came Daniel, followed by his best friend Kevin.
After each getting a drink from the kitchen, they went into the living room.
“Why won’t you tell me?” Asked Kevin.
“Because it’s horrible, and I want you to hear it for yourself.”
Daniel pressed the on/off button and turned the volume knob to thirty. The familiar hiss filled the room. Kevin clamped his hands to his ears.
“Does it have to be that loud?”
“Yes, ‘else you can’t hear it. Put your hands down.”
Kevin took his hands away and scrunched his face to the noise.
“You get used to it really quick.”
Daniel tried to put his head in the exact position it had been in that morning. The voice came easily now.
kill your parents.
“There! Can you hear it?”
Kevin, who was still standing, couldn’t hear anything except the incessant white noise.
“I can’t hear anything.”
“Come here, come here, put your ear exactly where mine is.”
He moved over to let Kevin into position.
“Now listen for a voice.”
After a moment or two, all Kevin could hear was his ear drums ringing.
“There’s nothing-” but he stopped himself, because he could hear something.
kill your parents
“Wait.”
His eyes went wide.
“I think I hear it.”
“What does it sound like to you?”
“It sounds like…” He couldn’t say. As he moved back from the stereo and sat on the faux-leather sofa he began to feel very cold.
Daniel immediately took position back in front of the stereo.
kill your parents
“It sounds like…I think it’s a woman’s voice.”
Over the din of the hiss, they almost didn’t hear the front door opening. Daniel was able to put the volume right, hit the on/off button, and switch the television on in what Kevin thought was a blink of an eye. Daniel was well rehearsed in this.
“Hello boys,” said Daniel’s mum.
“Hello,” Kevin smiled up at her.
“I hope you two aren’t planning on staying inside all day, not on a day like this.”
“No mum, we’re going out in a second.”
She smiled and went to the kitchen.
“What do you…can we turn the telly off…what do you think it means?”
“Well,” said Daniel, flicking the TV button, “just what it says.”
“But is she talking to us?”
“I don’t know, I guess so.”
“Should we do it?”
“What, you mean-”
“Yeah.”
Daniel thought for a moment.
“I don’t want to.”
“Neither do I. But she might get us if we don’t.”
They both turned towards the black tower.
The next day was Saturday. Daniel’s mum and dad were sitting on deck chairs in the garden, leaving him alone to sit in his familiar place in the living room.
“Why” Daniel spoke at the stereo, hoping for some reply, or at least further instructions.
None came. No answer, no response, not even a break in the mantra, just the same three words repeated over and over again.
Looking out of the window, Daniel could see his mum and dad sunbathing, his mum’s face covered with an angular's hat.
He sighed and turned back to the stereo. He wished he could turn the volume up higher. Maybe there was more to hear.
“How?” he said at last.
At night, the living room still lays quiet. The dust, invisible in the darkness, still hangs in the air, the pictures on the wall still smile brightly at no one, the palm tree, too big for the room, still cranes its neck uncomfortably against the ceiling, as if its trying to listen to something upstairs. Only the fly is gone, off to explore some corner of another room.
For yet another day, Dan sat in his pyjamas, the hiss surrounding him and filling the room. He couldn't hear it any more, the voice had gone, gone when he needed it the most.
Three loud knocks came from the front door. Dan got up and slowly opened the door.
“Hello Daniel.”
It was Missus Bannis, Daniel's English teacher. She smiled at him. He had always loved her smile. It soon faded as she looked at his unwashed hair, his bloodshot eyes.
“Daniel, we haven't seen you at school for the past few days, is everything ok?”
Daniel nodded.
“You don't look very well Daniel. Are your parents in?”
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