Page 69 of In Her Bed
“I’m waiting, Diana,” Kevin’s voice came through, tight with barely contained impatience.
“Kevin, I’m trying to remember.It was so long ago.”
“You told me it was the most important message humanity would ever receive,” he replied, his voice rising.
Diana’s mind raced.She had said something like that, hadn’t she?Part of her late-night rhetoric, designed to keep listeners tuned in through the small hours.But what had she claimed to hear?What supposed wisdom had she dangled before her audience like a spiritual carrot?
She could sense Kevin’s growing agitation even through the sporadic transmission of the radio.If she couldn’t produce the cosmic message he so desperately sought, what would he do to her?
“Kevin,” she said carefully, measuring each word.“The message came to me in fragments, in moments when the veil between worlds was thinnest.It wasn’t something I could simply repeat verbatim.”
“You’re stalling.”
His voice had changed—flattened, deadened in a way that sent a chill down her spine.
Diana swallowed hard.Her only chance was to invent something convincing, something that would satisfy his obsession.
“The message,” she began, forcing her voice into the melodious, authoritative tone of the Midnight Voice, “spoke of frequencies that bind all living things.It revealed that consciousness itself is a form of broadcast—thoughts and emotions traveling like radio waves between minds.”
It was a bluff, of course—an improvisation.She paused, listening for his reaction.When none came, she continued, her confidence wavering with each word.
“The static contained a pattern—a repeating sequence that matched the golden ratio found throughout nature.It suggested that by attuning ourselves to certain frequencies, we could access a collective consciousness, a shared wisdom that exists beyond individual human experience.”
Diana waited, heart hammering in her chest.Had she convinced him?The silence stretched, unbearable.
Then came a sound that froze her blood—laughter.
“You’re lying,” he cut her off, voice suddenly sharp as a blade.“Making it up as you go.”
“No,” she protested weakly.“I’m telling you what I remember.”
“I’ve spent twenty years searching for that message,” Kevin continued as if she hadn’t spoken.“Twenty years listening to the static, trying to hear what you claimed to hear.I’ve built receivers, positioned them perfectly, used human conductors to amplify the signal.But you never heard the message, did you?”Kevin asked, his voice soft now.“I caught traces of it, scattered whispers, but you never heard a thing.You were a fraud all along.You made me think I was unworthy when you were the one who was truly unworthy.”
Silence filled the room again, broken only by Diana’s ragged breathing and the subtle electronic hum of the old equipment.
“I’m sorry, Kevin,” she finally said, the words inadequate even as she spoke them.“I never meant to hurt anyone.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” he replied, a strange peace in his voice that frightened her more than his anger had.“I know how to find the message myself.And you’re going to help me.”
“Help you?”Diana repeated, her voice small.“How?”
“The antenna on the roof still works,” Kevin explained, as casually as if discussing the weather.“With some adjustments, it could be quite effective.And with the right conductor—I might finally hear what I’ve been trying to hear all these years.”
The radio went silent.Then she heard the door swing open, and then shut again.He was in the room with her.
“Hello, Diana,” he said softly.“It’s time for your final broadcast.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
As the beam of Jenna’s flashlight cut through the darkness of the abandoned factory, she moved carefully to minimize noise of her footsteps on the debris-strewn floor.Beside her, Jake matched her cautious pace, his own light sweeping methodically from side to side, revealing the skeletal remains of shoe manufacturing equipment that loomed like prehistoric beasts in the cavernous space.
“Clear,” Jake whispered, completing his scan of the immediate area.
“The studio should be in the basement,” she murmured.“According to Ray Tucker, Astral Waves broadcast from a makeshift studio they built underground.”
Jake turned his flashlight beam to a metal door in the far corner.“That must be our way down.”
The door groaned in protest as Jake pulled it open.Jenna winced at the noise, hoping it hadn’t traveled far enough to alert anyone to their presence.
