by Lizzie Vega
“Oh wow, like…this is freakin’ amazing.”
“Not today. I hear it in my head. It was beautiful but when the second set of colors started, I couldn’t handle it.”
“Understandable,” Kelli said, “what did the other colors do? Stay around the piano like the blue ones?”
Mikayla was startled by Kelli’s lack of concern, “Um well, they spiraled around for a second then moved away from Ethan, off to the right?”
“Okay, that’s where the soloist would normally stand, right?”
“Stage right, uh yes. I’m not nuts, Kel. I thought you’d be more freaked out by this.”
“Oh, believe me, I’m just keepin’ it together for you. We gotta talk about something. Do you trust me?” She looked down at Mikayla’s phone, “Wait, you recorded it right?”
“Yeah,” she responded glumly, “Just the six chords. Just like you said.”
“I’m gonna ask you a question. If you don’t want to, I’ll understand. Either way, I’ll respect your secret. What if though, just for a few minutes, I had somebody look at your phone?”
Mikayla’s answer was emphatic, “No. No way. A couple people at my old school found out about my color thing and it got out of hand stupidly fast. It’s one of the main reasons I transferred.”
Kelli was quick to understand, “Okay. That’s awful by the way. People think we’re crackpots anyway, so it kinda comes with the territory. Never mind. You feel like getting something to eat?”
“Probably not tonight, I’m gonna go home and try and get this out of my head.”
“Yeah, good plan,” Kelli agreed, “But you know what I’d do?”
Mikala’s brow pinched, “Kel, I said no.” Kelli ignored her protests.
“I’d stake out Ethan’s dorm room and then find out where he’s practicing, for starters anyway. While I was doing that, I’d have my ultra-cool best friend have your phone analyzed digitally. Next Thursday, I’d sneak an infrared camera and an electromagnetic field detector into the Union. With your color thing, add an ultraviolet camera to capture the whole spectrum.” She shrugged, “Like I said, for starters anyway.”
“You’re not gonna let this go, are you? So, this the ‘who ya gonna call? thing?”
Kelli nodded sympathetically, “I can let it go, Mik. But I can already tell that you can’t. I wasn’t listening to Ethan this afternoon. I was watching you. You’re not going to let it go. You shouldn’t, but hey,” she grinned, “Say the word and I’ll drop it. I’ll still be your ultra-cool best friend though.”
Mikayla blew her nose, “I haven’t slept for two days. I was so freaked out about this. I suddenly want a cheeseburger really bad. You only need my phone for a little while? God, I’m starting to ramble.”
Kelli snorted, “I’ll buy. You gotta meet my guys. They’re a little different, but I guarantee they will respect your privacy.”
Chapter 9
As they approached the off-campus house, Mikayla slowed, “Be honest, how much did you tell them?”
“Almost nothing, Mik. I want you to experience the look on their faces when you tell them your story. Gonna be priceless.”
“Seriously? Kelli, I don’t know where to start.”
“Start with the colors. That’ll get ‘em going.” She thought for a second, “then the phone. I’ll help you with that.” She took Mikayla’s elbow as they walked up the front steps of the house, “One thing maybe, Alvin has zero concept of personal space, so if he gets really close to you, he’s not creeping. He’s just excited.” Kelli caught herself, “Sorry, not in that way. He’s really into ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Really into it.”
“And the other one?”
“Edward is the tech guy and all that implies. You’ll like both of them. If they’re quiet, they’re dazzled. To be honest, this will be the biggest thing that Edward and I ever worked on. Alvin has experienced um, some more advanced stuff.”
Kelli opened the front door without knocking. They walked into a living room outfitted with an array of TV screens and monitors. Movie posters decorated the walls, everything from horror movies to anime. “Guys?” she bellowed, “We’re here.”
The girls heard thundering footsteps from the basement as both Edward and Alvin tried to make it through the kitchen doorway at the same time with a comedic result. Kelli turned to Mikayla making no attempt to stifle her laughter, “Subtle, right?” She turned to tease them, “I don’t seem to remember that level of enthusiasm when I first met you two.”
“Kel tells us you’d like to join our club,” Edward said as he offered his hand with an appreciative grin, “we’re cool with that. Have you had any experiences? Tell us. It’s okay if you haven’t, it’s a lot of fun to investigate stuff. I mean if you like creepy cold basements and sitting really still for long periods of time…I’m not very good at that. I do the computer stuff…” He shot an innocent look at a smirking Kelli, “what?”
“Maybe you could let her answer your first question.”
“Right. Sorry.” He looked at Alvin, “What was it?” He started to laugh at his own eagerness.
Already beginning to feel comfortable, Mikayla found herself laughing as well. “I don’t know about joining, but I’m having something,” she glanced at Kelli, “unusual happen to me at school and Kelli says you guys are the experts.”
Alvin pointed to the sofa, then jumped forward to straighten the rumpled back pillows. He pulled on the corner of a strategically placed blanket to hide a stain on the arm, “Have a seat. We’re all ears.”
Mikayla set her phone on the coffee table, “I have a thing where I associate colors with music. It’s called synesthesia. It’s happening at school.”
“Cool,” Edward said as his fingers started to fly across his tablet. “Is that the same as people that see colors with words?”
“Have you always had it?” Alvin asked formally, then pointed to Edward, “He’ll search everything you say. Don’t take it as rude.”
“Of course not,” Mikayla said with an easy smile, “There are a lot of word to colors combinations in the studies. Some are more common than others.”
“More common in women than men,” Edward began commenting on what he was already seeing on his screen, “Taste and color, interesting. Vision and touch,” he looked at Alvin, “that would be fun. The percentages of population fall off from there.” Edward turned to Alvin, “Probably a biased sampling. It’s statistically skewed as well. I can run a keyword search to verify.”
Kelli winked at Mikayla, “He’s just getting started.” She pointed to Mikayla’s phone, “wait ‘til the sound engineer part of him shows up.”
“Is it affecting your schoolwork?” Alvin asked quietly, “Can’t have that.”
Mikayla nodded, “Yeah, and I think as of yesterday, it’s gonna get worse.” She retold the story of the Union performances, then pointed at her phone, “No one reacts but me. I hear more music than anyone else and it’s starting to freak me out.”
“Full disclosure here,” Kelli interrupted, “The piano player’s a hottie.” She received a withering glare from Mikayla for her comment.
Mikayla sank into her chair, “Not really my main concern at the moment.”
“No judges here,” Alvin said as he scowled at Kelli, “She’s not being mean. Think about it…huge stress of school, performance level, no less. No way I could do that.”
“No way,” Edward added for emphasis, “Are you a soloist?”
“I want to be,” Mikayla added, “but sometimes I get freaked out. An auditorium full of people is a little daunting.”
“I’ll bet,” Alvin added, leaning forward in his chair, “You transferred, so you’re a little behind, right?”
“A little.”
“Sleep deprived?”
“A lot.”
Alvin looked at Edward, “Wide open receptors, repressed hormonal shifts, high IQ.” He looked back at Mikayla, “This isn’t an interrogation, how’s your EQ?”
“Your emotional intelligence,” Kelli interjected, “They asked me this stuff too.”
“I’ve never been tested, I guess,” she shrugged, “No idea.” She picked up her phone making Alvin grin, “The piano player, your thoughts on him.”
Mikayla paused with a warning glance to Kelli, “I did a little research on him. It’s a sad story really. I think he’s really lonely.” Kelli leaned forward to say something and Alvin held up his hand, “Let her finish.”
“Maybe he just needs some friends to get back into his music. It’s not about me,” Mikayla added, “what if we could help him?”
Edward’s furious typing came to a halt. “EQ, higher than most,” he said quietly as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
“Seems so,” Alvin added as he pointed to Mikayla’s phone, “You recorded the little concert, that was smart.”
“Not entirely noble,” Mikayla said suddenly as she looked for the app, “I thought I was hearing things and as of yesterday, I’m hearing more things.” She pushed play and smiled softly as the music played briefly. Even with the background noise of the lounge, Mikayla smiled again as she heard it. She frowned as Amanda’s complaining could be heard at the end.
“Not bad,” Alvin said. He looked at Edward, “Thoughts?”
“Break it into layers, take out hiss and background then smooth out the frequencies to see what’s there. About five minutes.”
Alvin pointed the kitchen, “To the basement. Beer’s in the fridge.”
True to his word, a few minutes later, Edward had isolated the piano chords from the rest of the noisy lounge background. He looped the sequence to play over and over. “It’s pretty.”
Mikayla grinned, “I think so too.”
Edward pointed to his screen, here are the six chords. There are blips before the first chord and at the end, but it could be reverberation from the piano.” He looked at Mikayla, “Can you play this?”
“Probably in my sleep, why?”
“Mmm, nothing. I just wonder what…hang on.” He picked up a pair of noise reducing headphones, “You hear violin just before the first chord?”
“Ethan comes in on the half beat, then accompanies the violin.”
“How many notes?”
“Five notes in all plus a full octave slide. It seems like a moderately paced solo for the rest of it. Whoever is playing is concert level good.”
Pointing at the monitor “There’s a huge frequency change just ahead of the first piano chord,” Edward isolated the first jagged section of the screen and zoomed in, “Let’s see what’s in here.”
Caught up in the technical analysis of Edward’s software, Mikayla nudged Kelli, “Who are these guys?”
“We’re geeks,” Alvin said quietly brushed past Kelli. He leaned toward the giant monitor, pointing at the busy static on the screen, “In conversations, we’d use EVP to try to record it.”
“Electronic voice phenomena,” Kelli whispered to Mikayla, “To record a spirit’s attempt at communication.”
Edward began to twitch suddenly, pointing at the monitors, “Watch the VU meter, it’s fast. There’s something in front of the first chord. Like gaps in the recording. It should be smoother than what’s here.”
“Yeah, it’s two or three seconds at most. Bringing up the gain.” Edward pointed to a break in the static, “Your phone records the basic levels of human speech in a pretty narrow spectrum. This was in the Union lounge, right? Thursday?”
Mikayla nodded, “Every Thursday for the last month. 2PM sharp.”
Alvin exchanged a glance with Edward. He looked at Kelli, “It’s up to her. There’s something under all this noise. If we could get our stuff to record the next performance,” he stopped and deferred to Kelli. “It’s not my call.”
Kelli looked at Mikayla, “It’s yours.”
Chapter 10
For Mikayla, the days that followed their first meeting grew difficult. Twice she found herself standing in front of the old concert hall daring herself to go in. The chance that Ethan would again practice alone on the stage were slim, but her mind went back to the dark shapes that loomed from the shadows as he played.
Her doctor had warned her to get regular sleep and that too much overexertion might cause her symptoms to flare. Too many assignments to catch up on plus the sound of those notes ringing, now almost constantly in her head.
During ensemble practice that morning, her thoughts drifted away from the music the small string group was playing. In the wrong key and tempo, she played the short interval without realizing it. Looking up to see the viola player staring at her, she tried to cover for her error, “I do that, once in a while,” she stammered, “I like to improvise.”
It didn’t work.
“We don’t get that luxury,” the fourth-year cello player snapped, “That’s twice now.” As Mikayla winced from the criticism, the student softened her words, “Mikayla, I know how much work you have. You look tired. I’m sorry to jump your case.”
“Let’s go again,” Mikayla offered, trying to hold back tears. She pointed to the chart, selecting a starting point, “Can we go from the bridge?”
Nodding, the senior counted down and the quartet picked up from just before the mistake. The rest of the piece continued without error.
“That would make a cool wedding processional,” the other violinist offered as they finished, “We could make money doing this. Especially over the summer break.”
“Not a bad idea,” the celloist added, “Weddings plus other venues, like museums and stuff.” She heard Mikayla sigh and ended the conversation, “We can talk about it later, when we’re not as focused on mid-terms.”
Mikayla smiled weakly, “It is a good idea, but well...it would be fun once, things sort themselves out.” Reaching for her violin case, “I think I’m gonna call it a day. I was up way too late last night studying.”
“Good thing you’re not in my dorm,” Marci, the second year celloist added, “Nobody’s sleeping well cuz of the noises at night. Lots of weird stuff going on in the building.”
Mikayla snapped the clasps shut on her violin case, “Like what?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing except more girls are starting to get caught up with it. Tons of creaks and groans at night, doors slamming, jarring stuff like that.”
“That’s just cuz the building is old. The pipes make noise in my dorm too.”
Marci rolled her eyes, “Do the pipes steal your underwear too and knock books out of your shelving at night?”
That caught the other musicians, including Mikayla and they responded with an equal chorus of shock and disgust. “Gross.”
“Co-ed dorms…no thank you.”
“Books out of the shelves?” Mikayla asked, “Maybe a one-time thing? And the laundry rooms are shared. Maybe a mix up or something?”
“The room next to me has had it happen three nights this week. One of the girls claims she saw something, but she tends to be a little overdramatic.”
“Ooooo-ee-ooooo, spooky,” the senior grinned, “I’ve heard that crap for years. The school is old and these building have their faults. There’s constant construction here trying to fix stuff. Maybe they should keep an eye on the construction guys.”
‘I’ve heard the increased security warnings,” Mikayla said softly, almost to herself. She remembered that Marci’s dorm was right next to the old music building, “Let’s just be careful and keep an eye out for things.”
“Things that go bump in the night,” the senior repeated. “A few more months and I’m done with this place. The underwear thing is…yuk. And the security guys are just a bunch of power trip jerks.”
“The main cop guy was at our building last night. Said he was investigating the laundry area, but it was more like he was just hanging out. That was weird all by itself.”
“Ewww,” Mikayla grimaced, “Maybe they should police themselves?” Feeling creeped out, she raised her hand, “Anyone need an escort home?”
/>
Marci raised her hand, “They’re working on the streetlamps on our street. I’ll take you up on that.”
The walk back to the dorm was brisk and uneventful. No sooner had Mikayla parted ways with a grateful Marci, she heard her name being called from across the street. Not recognizing the voice, she squinted into the darkness. It took a moment to realize it was Edward.
“How ya doin’?” he grinned.
“I’m good,” she smiled, “I didn’t realize it was you for a minute, sorry.”
“No probs,” he smiled, “We just met, and this is out of context for you. I was just at the Engineering building picking up an assignment. You?”
“Just finished a quartet practice. I’m gonna grab a quick bite then I have some studying to do.”
“Always on the go, aren’t you,” he said, then he laughed, “Plus Kelli’s not exactly the most calming person to be around, is she?”
Mikayla laughed, “Not calming…at all. I like her though. I like trying to figure her out.”
“Yeah,” he came back, the paused, “Me too. All I have so far for her is direct.” There was an awkward silence, then “You headed to the Union? I could walk with you that far. It’s right on my way.”
Mikayla pointed as a campus security car rolled slowly down the street, “One of the girls in our quartet was commenting on the strange happenings at her dorm. Heard about that?”
“If it’s in Burgum Hall, Alvin has a friend in Burgum, and she’s told him a ton of stuff. Very active situation over there.”
“Noises or missing underwear?” Mikayla asked, then laughed nervously, “I just sorta blurted that out, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, ya kinda did.” There was another pause, “It’s not me…or Alvin I assure you. The panty thing might just be some prank or something. Let’s hope so cuz that’s creepy in the bad way.”
“One of the girls on Marci’s floor says she’s seen something. She didn’t say what, though.”
“Hmm,” Edward wondered, “It would be great if we could get in there to investigate, but the school would never allow it. They keep a tight lid on this place. Alvin has done a lot of research on this place and it has quite a history. Lots of scandals with teachers and students, too many suicides and a student went missing several years ago. The library, Burgum hall and the music building are all sources of a lot of stories.”