Records From the Void: Chapter 8
Molly finds another tape, and someone comes knocking at her door
I awoke to a pressure on my chest. A weight that felt as if it would cave my chest in at any moment sat unmoving atop me. I gasped for air, unsure if I could even fill my lungs. When I finally opened my eyes I saw Atramenti sitting on me. The second we made eye contact the creature’s eyes went dark and its mouth unhinged, revealing a wide open pitch black maw once again. The only difference was this time it was inches from my face. The guttural hum began once more and as I was about to look away and cover my ears, I noticed something within the maw of the creature. A letter with my name on it.
The humming continued to get louder the longer I stared. It felt as though it reverberated not only throughout my room, but through my body. I suppose Menti doesn’t have thumbs. So eventually, after deciding it might shut the creature up, I reached my fingers into their mouth. It was cold. Much colder than my home and the difference was abrupt, as if my fingers had passed an unforeseen threshold. Once I felt paper between my fingers I grabbed it and retracted as quickly as possible, nearly hitting myself in the face with my hand. It was heavier than I expected. That’s when I realized the paper was wrapped around an item. Atramenti ceased their noise making as soon as I had the paper.
I shooed them off of me so I could breathe easy once more. Their mouth and eyes returned to normal as they sat next to me, staring as always. After turning on my bedside lamp I sat up and looked at the page more closely, and saw what it was that was attached. My name was written in what looked to be Kadi’s meticulous handwriting. I hastened to read it, hoping for some sort of explanation. A quick look showed it was a single piece of paper and another cassette tape. I set the tape onto my bed beside me, only to find even more dusty residue hit my bedsheets with a poof as some then filled the air space around me. This time, it was orange.
I coughed, almost inhaling some of the spores, and waved them away from my face. Once the dust settled a bit, I read the note. It was definitely written by Kadi. Her handwriting stood out as perfect script. I’d have known it anywhere.
Molly,
If there was ever a time to be unlike your parents, it’s now.
Do what they couldn’t, what I couldn’t.
Keep the tapes safe. The ARC can’t be trusted with them.
They want access, and precious history will be lost if they get it.
And whatever you do, don’t consume the fungus.
Kadi
P.S. Don’t fear the voids, they can help you like they’ve helped me.
P.P.S. Tell your little friend I said hello.
I stared at the letter, then back to the new tape. I still wasn’t sure what her angle was, but I was sure that I questioned whether or not to meet with Johnson again today. Picking up the new tape I realized it was labeled with my parent’s initials as well. This one though had a one marked on the label. I grabbed the cassette player from my nightstand. The morning suns were just beginning to rise from their murky graves beneath the waves. Light from the suns shone down the hallway and onto my open bedroom door. Though I had no time to watch the suns rise. I had to check if the other tape had a number label I had overlooked. It did. The initial tape I received in the mail had the number two labeled on it. I can’t believe I missed that.
I hoped to gain something from this new tape as I hastily shoved it into the player. The holder snapped shut with a quiet click, and I adjusted the headphones nervously as I pressed play. What I heard next was hard to listen to. It was my mother.
(Audio Description: The click and whirring of a cassette tape being played followed by the next paragraph being read aloud. The audio is choppy.)
Honey, could you turn of- the l-ghts? Yes, tha-k you. Alright, is this thing recor-ing? I - -ink it is. The r-co-ding will b- a journal for - -llecting any impo-tant fin-ings in -egard t- the Blight. A fungus that was f-und at -y recent artifact site. - -ough I’m -eally n-t s-re we ou- -t to -e the ones responsib-e for it -nd-r the ARC, we have already o-s-rved -olist-c properties u-like any alrea-y known fun-us on Terr-h. It's a st-ange fungus that's dastar-ly looking ev- -. - - - orang- hue- - -n't be com-ar-d, though -t i- - -e inf-ctious p-op-rty that is so -iverting t- watch. - -w, at firs- we just - -llected informatio- on its -pread, b-t over ti-e we noticed it can affix its-lf to any surface. We do no- yet kn—------------------------------------------------------------------------and t- - sounds! We have never heard anything like it -efore. I wil- be sure to -nclude some sounds on the next tape. Elouise si-ning off t-is -ape.
The voice of my mother filled my ears, and for minutes I listened to the tape as it played from start to finish. The wear on the tape, which caused frequent cuts and haziness to the audio, did not phase me. After it finished playing out I rewound it and listened to it again, and a third time. In part to glean as much information as I possibly could from the shoddy audio, and also to hear my mother’s voice. A voice I hadn’t heard in over a decade. A taste of something normal.
It wasn’t until the fourth listen that the tears stopped flowing. I hadn’t even noticed I was crying to begin with. After I wiped the tears from my face and collected myself, I addressed Atramenti. They had sat and stared at me the whole time, unmoving, as per their usual unnatural stillness.
“So, that means this tape,” I held up the first tape I received. “Is what the Blight sounds like.” The creature’s gaze was unwavering as they gave me no indication of understanding me once more. I sighed. “And my parents were helping study it. I’m assuming for The ARC’s interest?”
That got me a response. A nod. I wasn’t sure what made the creature respond or not, but I’d take what I could get from them. I nodded in return, indicating I understood their response to me when a thought occurred. Maybe they don’t know what’s on these tapes either. I turned to face the creature sat at the end of my bed once more.
“Do you know what’s on these tapes?”
They shook their head. Truth be told it was more like they twisted their head from side to side, imitating what a head shake might look like.
I nodded again. Understanding then that I had my hands on something quite secret, more so than I already suspected. There’s no way I’m returning these, then. I had no idea what precious history Kadi referred to, but I wasn’t going to return them either way. Though that left me with a problem. I had to meet Johnson again today, at least I told him I would be back. I’m not meeting with those psychos again. Kadi’s acting weird but I’m going to trust her judgement over the man who held a gun to me. I’d be staying home that day to plan my next moves.
As I made my way out of my bedroom I was faced with another problem I hadn’t addressed the night before. The orange spores I had tracked in had bloomed within the floorboards of my home. I had small lanky fungus growing in part of my living room. Near which was a dark spot. As I went to inspect what I assumed to be rot now consuming my floorboards, I stopped. It wasn’t on the floor. As I got closer it became clear it was suspended in the air above the fungal growth. I crouched down to get a closer look.
What I saw put a pit in my stomach. The dark spot looked like what Johnson had showed me, a void. Soft fuzzy edges where our space meets its maw, unmoving, and looks the same from all angels. But this one was tiny. No larger than a couple inches. They’re connected then. The Blight and the voids. I couldn’t think of any better explanation. I tracked in spores. The spores bloomed, and so did a void. Since I had no idea how to get rid of those things, my only hope then became that it would stay small enough to be ignorable.
It didn’t.
———
I had expected that Johnson wouldn’t be happy about my no show. What I hadn’t expected was anyone to come knocking on my door once it had gotten dark out. I had spent the whole day watching the tiny void in my living room grow to a four by two foot hole in reality. The mushrooms at its base grew along with it. From dawn til dusk I had filled my journal with furious scrawling observations on the matter. Including how long it took to reach certain sizes, how it looked at different stages, even its shape shifted throughout the day. I was so enthralled I had forgotten to eat all day. Thankfully my stomach still wasn’t too hungry anyway.
I had only been torn away from my study by the banging at the door. I checked the time. It was about ten at night. I wasn’t sure who it was, but judging by the knocking they sounded angry. Fuck me. I wasn’t sure what my excuse would be. Maybe I’ll just not answer. On any normal occasion that might have worked, but this wasn’t a normal occasion. As I sat in my living room, just out of view from the front window, I heard a voice from the other side of the door.
“Molly we know you’re in there. We just need to talk.” I couldn’t quite make out who the voice belonged to.
Yeah bullshit. Johnson holding the barrel of a gun to my back the previous day flashed through my mind. I looked to Atramenti who was fixated on the door. I lowered my voice to a soft whisper as I gathered the tapes, player, and my journal into a bag I’d readied earlier in the day for such an occasion. “What’s the plan?” I asked as I shoved the bag behind the bottom drawer of my desk.
The banging got louder. I knew we’d either need to run or hide, but my place was a small one bedroom. Not many places to hide. Atramenti stood up and turned to me before they took a few steps towards the home grown void in my living room. The pounding at the door continued to escalate.
“Oh no, we aren’t messing with that.” I said in a hushed tone. The creature, unfazed, swiveled their head to face me, nodded and hopped through. Just as they did so I heard the people at the door start messing with my lock. Shit. They’re coming in no matter what, huh? I got up and took a few steps towards the void. I hesitated. I knew you could stick your hand through these things, but had no idea about the consequences of just stepping into one. My heart pounded in time with the banging at the door. As I contemplated if I was really about to do what I thought I might, I heard the pounding stop, and the lock on my front door give way with a loud CLICK, prompting me to stop thinking and start doing. I took one last deep breath and jumped through after Atramenti, unsure what I’d find on the other side.