Silence

Leo.

Leo. Can you hear me?

The words printing on my computer echo around my bedroom, but no one comes to check on me. I must be imagining it, but it’s so loud that I can’t be - on the other hand, no one is coming so I have to be.

It’s some kind of glitch,  I reassure myself. A mere coincidence that Leo is my name. I’m tempted to slam my laptop shut and ignore the words. But I don’t. I won’t ignore something like that. I never ignore anything strange. Besides, I could probably fix the problem or report it.

The message pauses for a moment after the word ‘me’. I tilt my head to the side, confused. Even more confused when I realize the voice sounds very familiar, yet not quite recognizable.

I don’t have time to think about it, because the words start pouring in again.

Answer me, Leo, if you’re who I think you are.  I know you’re confident, you’re a Leo, after all, and you should obey me once you realize who I am.

“You’re no one I know,” I find myself whispering. 

The voice laughs, but nothing comes up on my computer. 

Nothing comes up when I laugh, says the voice, as if reading my thoughts, because there are no words for laughter.

“That wasn’t laughter. It was fake. You’re fake. Probably just some spam.”

Leo? Don’t you remember me?

I shut my eyes tight, covering my ears. Where have I… 

Oh, no. Aria.

My sister has been dead for over ten years. I didn’t remember what her voice sounded like, but I do know that what she suffered would have been fatal in all scenarios. There was no way she could have survived.

At last. You won’t be able to say no to this voice, will you?

I slam my computer shut. “You are not my sister. You are not Aria.”

I have classes today. The incidents yesterday happened late enough that they could be a dream, but I don’t think that’s the case. I’m so tired that even though I usually wake up early, at five, I woke up at seven today, almost missing my bus.

I know we’ll need our laptops at school; there’s a kid who is in Canada and he needs to join a call with us.

I hope Aria’s voice won’t bother me again.

When I open my computer, I see the messages from yesterday still there, this time not just floating around but on a fully white screen. Nothing else is there. I can’t even see my cursor. But I don’t want help with this. It’s too… suspicious. I close my computer. A bit too forcefully. The eyes in the room venture my way.

“Leo?” Says my teacher, Olly. “Would you like to take a break in the hall?”

“No,” I reply. I know it’s not the answer they’re looking for. But I do it just to spite them. I don’t like school. And I don’t like how Olly jumped to the conclusion that I was angry or fooling around.

They raise an eyebrow at me. “Take a break.”

I roll my eyes, but do as they say. At least it gives me a minute to figure out what’s going on with my computer. I open it again. I barely have time to register the new words on the page when the laptop begins to scream at me. Leo! It spits. You must see the new updates in your gmail.

I can see my cursor now, so I swipe to my gmail tab. It’s exploding with emails. All from the same person, someone named Sophia. Just Sophia. There’s no last name. Just Sophia.

It continues to scream at me the words in each of the emails. It’s loud. Too loud. A low hum rises in the background of the screaming. I shut my eyes, feeling tears of fear leaking out the corners. I cover my ears and fall to my knees on the ground. The noise is still there, louder even. “Why are you doing this?” I wail. The sound pounds in my head, like it's to break it open. “Ah..!”

Suddenly, everything stops. There is no sound, not even the sound of my quiet sobbing. Not the sound of Olly  running out to see if I was alright. Not the sound of their gentle shushing. Nothing. Silence.

“What is it?” I say, not even knowing if I’m saying this correctly as I cannot hear myself. “What is this?”

Silence. For the first time in what seemed like forever, but was probably only a minute, the computer spoke.

“What?” I cry. “What do you mean by that?”

I still can’t hear anything. That’s what it means. Silence.

I’m giving you the sound, it tells me, so maybe I was wrong, of silence.

I open my eyes. I see what I thought I would never see again.

It’s her.

Aria.

I blink tears out of my eyes, trying to see her better. But she’s gone. She was only there for a moment, hovering in front of me. I remember her so well. Her eyes, which were brown like mine, always betrayed her by showing emotion even when she tried to hide it. Her hair. Brown, with a copper tint. She was beautiful, but her beauty wasn’t the only thing I remember. She was my first friend. As well as my last. I will never make a friend again after what I did to her. It’s not like anyone would want to be my friend anyway.

The computer laughs. You remember her. You remember what you did to her. That is something no one would be able to forget. Even if you did forget, you’d remember. I’d make you remember.

It comes to me so clearly. She had gone to school and come back with a new friend. I was so surprised and hurt that she would be friends with anyone but me. I turned away from her. Ignored her. Hated her. I told her we were not friends, and only sisters by name. And all she said was okay. It was not okay, we both knew. After so many years, our friendship could be broken by such an invasive thing. Jealousy. She died that night. Off to her friend’s house, and got hit by a car. No one knew that it was my fault but myself. It was my fault she left, I told her to. I said, if you’re such good friends with her, you can be sisters with her. I can’t say I’d be sad if you left..

I stand up, my hearing slowly returning. “Are you okay?” Gasps Olly.

“I’m fine,” I mutter. I return to the classroom, leaving my computer outside. I promise to myself: I will make sure that computer suffers the same fate as my sister.