Piercing Through the Silence

by James Sandepp

  What I had always been told was the ability to speak was not part of a human being’s capability and this fact had even found its place in my history subject in school. I remembered my history teacher saying humans lost the ability to speak several hundred years ago because of a superbug which destroyed our ability to speak and basically wiped out some part of our vocal cords. Since those times, no one had been successful in ever speaking and every human being across the planet became a silent shadow of themselves. The silence unleashed hundreds of years ago defined our human nature now with our society thriving in signing and lip reading and everything we did revolving around this reality.

  I knew what my ears heard but I could not imagine what I was thinking was possible because it was not possible but there was still the sound to deal with it. The reactions of the two men and the women proved a sound existed and I wasn’t the only one who heard it.

  I started walking again and headed home lost in my confusion over the sound wondering how it could happen if I was the source. I did not know who I could ask and reaching home I was glad Felix wasn’t back home yet because he would probably have noticed my stunned look and started asking questions which was the last thing I needed right now. Right now I needed some space, remembered Felix saying he would be working late tonight as I walked into the kitchen still in a daze over the day’s events and ate some leftover food.

  My mind began to recall the three nonsensical words the now dead woman had been saying over and over: stop the process. The way her lips had been moving, which were both haunting and urgent at the same time, had found a comfortable home in my mind. The way she highlighted the word ‘process’ was strange and my uncertainty over the sound was replaced with curiosity now. I wanted to find out if there was more to this because, if not, why would your last dying words be these three words. A normal person would be asking for help in such a life-threatening crisis and, yet, the woman wasn’t concerned about her own death, at least, not until the very end. It must have been extremely important to sacrifice your last words on this ‘process’ and, maybe, by finding out the truth behind the ‘process’ I could redeem myself for the coward I was earlier in the day, make her sacrifice worthwhile and not be damned as I thought I was.

  I messaged my friend Oliver but chose not to reveal anything about the incident, woman or the sound for now. “Hi Oliver! Have you heard of something called ‘the process’? By the way, thank you for the wonderful birthday wish today!”

  No reply came immediately and, while waiting, I fell asleep.

  FOUR

  Two knocks on the door and only then did I realize I slept a lot and it was morning already.

  Checking my phone there was one message from Oliver. “Hmmmmm…. never heard of it. Let me try to search for anything on it. Hope yesterday was a blast for you!”

  Only if he knew the irony of his last words as I rushed downstairs for breakfast because, apparently, I was quite hungry. Today was a holiday and was thankful I didn’t need to face anyone in school.

  As soon as I entered the kitchen Felix signed, “Have you heard?”

  “Heard what,” I motioned.

  “Yesterday there was an incident,” Felix signed.

  I was hoping he was talking about the big traffic jam but I had a strong feeling he wasn’t as I kept my eyes glued to my food.

  “Incident. What incident?” I signaled rapidly pretending to be surprised.

  Felix was staring towards the kitchen window. “There was a car explosion a few blocks from here and it made a lot of noise and attracted a lot of people. You mean you didn’t hear it on the way back?”

  “No I didn’t hear about it,” I gestured.

  “They say the explosion was quite loud and deafening,” Felix motioned. “Our neighbors across the street even heard it.”

  “The traffic jam was very frustrating already and I must have been listening to some music. Maybe that’s why I didn’t hear anything,” I signed.

  It was the only pathetic lie I could make up in the moment.

  “That’s good because there was some news about it. They also reported the police were investigating it and were going around asking people many questions,” Felix signaled shaking his head.

  “The police….,” I signed continuing to show my lack of interest in the whole conversation.

  Did they suspect something? Had someone told them about me? It was unlikely but, if so, someone would have been here by now.

  “Don’t be surprised if the police show up here too,” Felix gestured. “Our block of houses is the closest to the vicinity of the explosion.”

  This was not good and the last thing I wanted right now was the police snooping around asking questions. It was good Felix warned me about it because now, at least, I could mentally prepare for it with some kind of story.

  “But there is more Marinette,” Felix signed. “One of my colleagues messaged me earlier about it.”

  I sensed I was not going to like whatever Felix was going to tell me next.

  “There are rumors going on about something happening following the explosion. I don’t know what it was about but the police questioning is beyond the normal activity you see for such an incident,” Felix indicated.

  Felix drummed his right hand’s fingers on the kitchen table and his eyes darted from side to side.

  “Do you know every street in Thomson has a camera now?” Felix continued.

  I nearly choked on my food but managed to control myself at the last second as I had completely forgotten about the cameras which the Magistrate had mandated be installed on every street in Thomson a few years ago. I still remember during those times the Magistrate stating cameras were a necessary precaution to provide security for the town but many people, including Felix, had felt it was an invasion of privacy and unnecessary. It was also obvious crime wasn’t an issue in Thomson because murders and robberies were unheard of and in those days, with our inability to speak, the freedom of expression shown against it by the people was limited. I personally did not fall into the protester profile but when you cannot speak it was hard to be heard and simply using sign language to communicate did limit our freedom.

  Anyway was there a camera on the street where I had been standing and, if so, had the camera captured me? I remembered I had been standing on a corner of two streets which meant I may not only be dealing with one camera but possibly two cameras!

  “The best is to mind your business like you always do,” Felix signed. “And stay away from the area near 20th & Craig Street!”

  I nodded staring at my now empty plate but realized minding my business did not help the woman and her unborn child. Both of them were dead in a cruel explosion and I had just finished filling my stomach with breakfast.

  “I am going to meet Oliver,” I signaled leaving the kitchen.

  As I weaved my way back through the side roads I realized I needed to know whether a camera near the incident was able to capture me or not. Approaching the vicinity I noticed the rumors were working well to draw a crowd as there were police barricades and people gathering everywhere. People are curious by nature and there hadn’t been much happening in Thomson in years to pique their curiosity.

  Two men in army uniform with weapons were walking to and fro on the other side of the barricades which was a rare sight because army presence was unheard of in Thomson and for a simple car explosion incident. Police would be a common sight, but the army seemed quite unusual unless this was more than a simple explosion.

  I slowly made my way to one corner of a barricade to try and find out whether there was any camera, but the bright sunlight made it too hard to take note of any cameras on the rooftops.

  As I gave up and started to walk away, my eyes caught the attention of the people around me and their conversations. Living in a society where no could speak had its advantages, one of which was the ability to easily see what other people were talking about since sign language made it very hard to hide your conversations. I mean if
someone could come up with a way to talk secretly using sign language the person would probably be a genius and very rich by now. So far there really was no sign language equivalent to the idea of whispering in your ears.

  I was attracted to the words “a sound” being discussed between an older couple and their signing was quite animated which confirmed what I already knew in my heart. I observed their conversation casually for a few more minutes before moving on. I caught the phrases “this is so exciting”, “it is impossible”, “finally there is hope for us all”, “maybe someone found a cure” and “was this a Council test run” in their exchange.

  The last part about a cure intrigued me but I knew one thing for certain which was it was no test run by the Magistrate or Council. A real person died during the explosion but then I realized Felix never mentioned about anyone dying during the explosion which was strange. It’s not something Felix would have chosen to filter out unless the news report made the decision first and the older couple’s conversation also showed they had no idea about the woman.

  It was time to find out more information about what’s going and the only one I can rely on was Oliver.

  FIVE

  Looking for Oliver was the easiest thing to do in this town since someone could blindfold me and I would still be able to find him because his world was lined with predictability. I walked over to his second home, Books & All, one of the older establishments in Thomson which had survived the waves upon waves of digital tsunamis over the years. Oliver was a book-lover to the core, his love or obsession for books was extraordinary to the extent I seriously thought people were ranked a distant second to books for him. If there was one genre he was fascinated by it would be history because he was always waiting for the next historical book to be published.

  I had known Oliver since I can remember as he and I grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same schools and it was really fate we became close friends. He was the closest to a best friend I would ever have, and I was thankful for him in my life. One of the reasons for our closeness was because we shared one unpleasant fact that both of our parents died when we were young. Oliver’s parents died in a boating accident when he was ten years old and, unlike me, who had no memories of my birth parents, he had ten wonderful years with his parents which shaped him to be the person he was today. I still remembered the day when a head teacher came into our class, asked for Oliver and he knew something was wrong but marched out of the class with courage and his head held high. The next few days he didn’t show up at school but eventually when he did he was still the same Oliver, at least to me, although I wasn’t as close to him in those days as I was now. After his parents’ death his aunt took him in and became his caretaker.

  I walked into the bookstore and the girl managing the cashier looked at me, smiled and pointed to the back of the bookstore. I was a regular visitor to the bookstore who didn’t purchase anything, and she knew why I was here and I waved at her as I walked to the back of the store and found Oliver staring at some book stacks. I touched his shoulder, he turned and looked at me with a grin.

  “Today is an exciting day!” he gestured.

  I gave him a quizzical look.

  “Come on don’t tell me you don’t know,” he signed. “The incident near your place yesterday was the talk, forgive the pun, of the town.”

  I maintained my composure, nodded at him and accepted the fact that I will need to deal with this every time I meet someone.

  “Ohhhh…. the incident,” I signed. “Felix told me all about it.”

  I skipped the part about being there, making a sound and going to the scene of the incident to check out the cameras since this information wasn’t necessary for him to know for now.

  “Why is everyone so excited about it?” I motioned. “I meant someone died in the car explosion and wasn’t that more important? People seriously need to grow a heart and care about others more.”

  It was Oliver’s turn to look puzzled, but I realized too late that he didn’t know what I was talking about and I hoped I hadn’t revealed one too many things.

  “What did you mean died? The Magistrate news said there was an explosion, but no one died in it. The person driving the car managed to escape before it exploded was what people were talking about I heard,” Oliver signed. “Who knew Thomson could have such excitement right?”

  I stared at him in confusion but recovered quickly. “Oh my mistake. I thought the way Felix described the car explosion someone had died during it.”

  This latest bit of information was stunning, and I didn’t know what was going on here but I knew I did not imagine the woman in the burning car and her repeating those nonsensical words over and over.

  “Did the news report say anything about if anyone tried to help the person?” I signaled.

  “Yea the news said there were some people in the area, but they were too far to help him,” Oliver indicates. “The guy in the car was so lucky to be alive as he was able to jump out of the car without any injury.”

  “Guy…. what guy?” I signed. I was even more puzzled as to what was going on here.

  “The car belonged to some guy,” Oliver motioned. “This wasn’t in the news by the way, but I heard it on the way to the bookstore. Thomson being such a boring place this whole incident was big news. Fortunately, the guy managed to get out before the car blew up. I heard it was like fireworks in the area with all the smoke and fire. You a bit slow today huh? Give me a minute M.”

  Oliver was the only person I allowed to call me by M. I turned around, pretended to look at my phone and wondered why did the Magistrate news report on some fake news to the public and whether this was all part of a cover-up. Obviously, someone was spreading rumors about a guy being in the car among the public because they could have reported on the car explosion and the woman dying in it. Sure such explosions did not happen around here at all but this could only mean the car explosion wasn’t a mere accident but something else more sinister and the woman who senselessly died in it wasn’t simply another person caught up in one of life’s random tragedies. She was obviously of value to someone for the Magistrate to go to all these lengths to cover up the truth and I wondered if all this was linked to the army presence today.

  “Okay I am back,” Oliver signaled. “So did you like the gold card?”

  I initially wondered what he is talking about. “Oh yes the birthday card was quite something.”

  “I know for a fact those gold cards are mailed directly from the Council itself,” Oliver signed. “The Magistrate doesn’t even get to handle them.”

  I was surprised to hear this as Oliver was a good source for all things news which was a side benefit of working here where he got the chance to meet and talk to the many people who visited the bookstore. After the incident and the possible cover up by the Magistrate my birthday card was the last thing I was interested in now.

  “Did the news mention anything else about the explosion?” I signed. “You did say it was an exciting day.”

  “Wasn’t that enough excitement for a day in this deadbeat town?” Oliver signed back. “It was like in one of those action movies. I know I sound very bad saying it in this way, but I am relieved there was a happy ending for the guy.”

  “Anyway, were you able to find anything on what I asked about yesterday?” I motioned to him.

  “Not yet M. I’ve been digging through some stuff but so far haven’t found anything,” Oliver signed shaking his head.

  Oliver continued his gestures. “By the way, where did you hear about this thing called the process?”

  I hesitated a bit before motioning to him. “I saw some people talking intensely about it recently and I was curious.”

  “Hmmmmm. Well, I will let you know as soon as I find something,” Oliver signed.

  I decided to change the topic. “Do you know how we, as humans, lost our ability to speak?”

  Oliver’s eyes started to sparkle as if someone had given him the birthday gift he
had always been waiting for. To him, being the history lover, I had hit his holy grail.

  “Oh my. How do I even start to answer such a huge question? Actually all of this happened centuries ago, I had read so many books on it and I clearly remember it was a special superbug which destroyed the larynx in each of us,” Oliver motioned.

  “Larynx…. what?” I signed with a puzzled look.

  “The larynx is also known as the voice box and is basically an organ inside each of us which produces sound,” Oliver signaled. “Without it we, as humans, cannot speak. The fascinating thing about the impact of this superbug was it affected every generation after it too. I remembered reading about the first group of babies born and the doctors were stunned in those days as to why they were also missing the vocal box. Initially people thought it was a coincidence but as the number of babies being born with the same condition continued to grow panic began to spread across the towns. I mean it was pure hysteria in those days which I cannot even imagine but everyone accepted this as the new normal and up to this day no one still knows how such a thing could be transmitted across the generations.”