The Price of Living

[recording start]

HARRIS: October 3, 2113, 19:00 hours. My name is Sydney Harris, I’m joined by Lucas Brown.

[silence]

BROWN: Do I start?

HARRIS: Go ahead.

BROWN: Okay, so, um… yeah. My name is Lucas, I am somehow alive through all this shit. Jesus, the patent hasn’t even expired on this thing, has it?

HARRIS: Please stay on track.

BROWN: Right, right. Uh… I mean, what do I say? I lost my mom in this, I guess. We weren’t close or anything, but it was still hard, y’know? Especially considering the circumstances with the whole, like, dead-people-revenge thing.

HARRIS: How did it start?

BROWN: Oh, uh, so my mom was really close with her sister, right? Well, her sister, like, died a couple years ago, like, cancer or something. I don’t know, I didn’t really know her very well. But, uh, anyway, when she heard about the whole dead phone calls or whatever she got real excited. She started saving up right away. We weren’t super rich, or even well off, so it took her a bit, but when she did, she was calling her almost everyday. Like, between school and work and shit, I don’t think I ever saw her off that phone.

HARRIS: Did her behavior change in any way?

BROWN: Yeah, she got all, like, annoyed real easy. Like, I got home and shut the door too loud I guess, and she chewed my fuckin’ head off, y’know? Like, stupid shit like that, just gettin’ real mad over everything. I thought she maybe stopped taking her meds, it wouldn’t be a first. But now I know what it was, she was… she…

HARRIS: She what?

BROWN: Y’know, I should probably go. I-I don’t know how I’m gonna get back safe unless I leave now, I don’t like walking in the dark.

[recording end]

[recording start]

HARRIS: October 4, 2113, 07:00 hours. My name is Sydney Harris, I’m joined by Sid Jones. Sid?

JONES: Wait, so, why am I here if you already got all your information from Lucas?

HARRIS: You know Lucas Brown?

JONES: Oh, yeah, we met in middle school. We’re still in touch. After his mom was, well, you know, taken, he reached out to me. I don’t know why.

HARRIS: Interesting. But this isn’t for information.

JONES: Oh, yeah, that’s right, your little time travel plan. Uh, for the record, I’m only here because of someone I lost, yeah? She’d want me to do this.

HARRIS: How did you lose her?

JONES: She was taken. How else?

HARRIS: Can you explain what you mean by taken?

JONES: What, you don’t know?

[silence]

JONES: Oh! That’s right, this is for the recording. Uh, so, when someone gets taken, it’s like the dead people take the living’s souls. Just, like, pull it out. I think. I’m not sure. I didn’t really, like, watch it happen? But I did lose someone to it.

HARRIS: And who was lost?

JONES: My girlfriend. We, um… she…

HARRIS: You don’t have to talk about it.

JONES: No, no, she would do this too, if it were me. Uh, so, she wanted to contact a friend she lost. All it really took was one phone call and they…

HARRIS: Sid?

JONES: What did they even want with her?! She’s never done anything wrong! All she wanted was… she just… it’s not fair!

HARRIS: You’re right, I’m sorry.

JONES: I just… miss her… it should’ve been me…

HARRIS: I’m sure that’s not true.

JONES: I… I think I’m gonna go… I can’t do this right now… I’m sorry.

[recording end]

[recording start]

HARRIS: October 4, 2113, 10:00 hours. My name is Sydney Harris, I am joined by Seven Chance-

JENKINS-CHANCE: Jenkins-Chance.

HARRIS: I’m sorry?

JENKINS-CHANCE: I took my husband’s last name and hyphenated.

HARRIS: I see. And you are here today because?

JENKINS-CHANCE: We lost our daughter, Bryce. I wanted to make sure it didn’t happen to anyone else.

HARRIS: You sound calm for someone who just lost his daughter.

[silence]

HARRIS: Well, then. How did you lose her?

JENKINS-CHANCE: The moment that phone was on the market, my husband and I, Chris, didn't trust it at all. In fact, we sat Bryce down and had a talk with her. Told her to stay away from it, warned her of the dangers.

HARRIS: And she didn’t listen?

JENKINS-CHANCE: That’s the thing. She listened. She was taken by a stray ghost or corpse or… I’m not sure how they’re referring to them. The point is, she was innocent.

HARRIS: And you said in your email that you think you know who took her.

JENKINS-CHANCE: Yes. My mother passed away a few years ago, not long after we adopted Bryce. We wouldn’t let her see our daughter. My mother and I, we… well, she wasn’t a very good parent. And I didn’t want her in my daughter’s life. Chris agreed. And after my mother passed and this phone came out, it wouldn’t surprise me if my father used it to contact her. It also wouldn’t surprise me if she took him and then Bryce, just as a slap in the face to us. She wasn’t very supportive.

HARRIS: Did you happen to see it?

JENKINS-CHANCE: Bryce being taken? Yeah. We, um- I’m sorry.

HARRIS: It’s alright to get emotional, Seven.

JENKINS-CHANCE: She was just… staring at the wall. Blankly. We tried to get her attention… her eyes were glazed over white… she looked like she was actively decaying. We didn’t even have time to call 911. She… she was gone by then.

HARRIS: Dead?

JENKINS-CHANCE: Mhm.

[recording end]

[recording start]

HARRIS: October 4, 2113, 13:00 hours. My name is Sydney Harris. I have found no other people willing to talk about their experiences, so… here I am. The theory is that the dead were tired of being overlooked. I know it doesn’t make much sense, but we’re really grasping at straws here. They lured the living in by promising they could see their dead families and friends again. Then, like Sid said… they killed them. Took their lives. It was devastating. It started with only a few, maybe one or two disappearances. And then it spread. So far that people all over the world were vanishing, left and right. As you heard, people lost relatives, friends, partners. I…

[silence]

I’m not sure how much more we can take. What’s left of us at least. So I leave you with this: Keep the dead on their side. It’s not a better place.