The Night Club

Three in the morning. A perfect time to link up.

“Ninja,” texted Bernard, “Remember to sleep,” he joked, addressing Frank who only saw a notification from the status bar. The sender’s name popped up, and immediately, a smile formed on his face, conquering an invading enemy; sleep.

“Not until I’m done with this video,” he replied, his eyes hovering on the other screen where his project lay.

“What are you working on,” asked Bernard, himself tired of fixing the bug in his code. “Something like python?”

“Sound. Hissing,” he replied, giggling while trying to figure out where he’ll get a sound effect recorded underwater. He couldn’t try making one because none of his equipment was waterproof. “Don’t people pretend to drown nowadays?”

“I’m drowning in my own code man,” said Bernard, after sharing a string of laugh emojis and stickers. “You should try it. It’s fun!” Patsing the last time Frank drowned.

The two had taken their better halves on a date. The girls wanted to have a drink, swim a little bit, and go to the park. Frank and Bernard agreed, knowing they too missed swimming. The last time Frank swam was back in high school, in form one; when he’d visited his grandmother during the holidays. Ever since swimming never crossed his mind.

“I had things under control,” defended Frank, laughing at himself over his actions. “I know I panicked but I got everything under control.”

Sending another set of emojis, Bernard almost choked on his own breath, “I know. Those were several mouthfuls of panic glasses,” he texted, adding another set of laugh emojis.

Ignoring his friend for a second, Frank hovered his eyes on the second screen, thinking to himself he cannot stay up all night only to be a laughing stock. In his heart though, he knew he drowned on that day. No doubt. Everything turned dark in a few seconds, and all he remembered was water penetrating into his lungs.

“Water is worse than fire,” texted Frank, adding a couple of emojis to enforce his point. “But I didn’t drown.” Then, a thought robbed his attention. What if I adjust the pitch of sounds? He thought, trying to visualize what sounds could imitate underwater effects. If he skews the pitch of running water, that sound will come out muffled; and that’s similar to what happens when recording underwater.

Reaching for his mouse, Frank made a few clicks, searching for a feature he’d seen on the program. It was under the audio editing tab; audio effects option.

Frank loved working at night. It was peaceful, and around his house was a tree with birds. In the past few weeks, he heard new chirping. A new bird that perched, and he loved listening to it complain about the cold – though he wasn’t sure because it could be snoring. Its chirping intervals were calculated all through the night, heavy, and memorable too.

“How did it go by the way,” texted Bernard, inferring to the job offer Frank had sent – without emojis attached.

“They interviewed me a few days back. I showed them my portfolio. I’m waiting,” he replied in several text paragraphs, a prayerful emoji at the end.

“They’re considering you,” sharing a congratulatory emoji, “I know someone who also applied. We met at the coffee shop I was telling you about. It turns out he works for Nation media. And he wanted to make a switch.

He wasn’t called for an interview.”

Bernard’s reply was long. Frank couldn’t see the whole message from the popped desktop notification. He had to click on it, and read everything from the app yet he didn’t. His attention went to the audio effects settings. He saw robot; Lo-Fi, distorted, vinyl, electric; scrolling all the way to the last one. There wasn’t any effect that seemed to help. Another dead end.

“No way!” replied Frank after collecting Bernard’s beads of hope, “What was he doing at Nation media?”

Replying, “I don’t even know. I couldn’t ask for ore information,” recalling being baffled on that day. Bernard still wonders why everything happened. The man came to him, sat beside him, and initiated a conversation out of nowhere – quite a mystery!

There weren’t enough stickers he could send to express his joy. Frank instead sent three gifs, each showing cartoons jumping to the moon in elation, because during his interview; all the members of the panel became all too friendly after seeing his portfolio. Asking what felt like silly questions: ‘Where do you get inspiration from?’

All his life, Frank never stepped into an interview. All he had were deep imaginations of the mood, questions asked, and how to conduct himself. Hearing such questions made him feel uncomfortable for nothing. No employer asks for a source of inspiration, and creativity when there are serious issues to ask; like timeliness and ability to work with others. Frank planned strategic answers if they made a mistake to ask about his flexibility with working in a team. He memorized an analogy he’d use to draw the in and make them believe he was the one the company needed.

“You deserve it, man,” texted Bernard, absorbing his friend’s joy. He knew Frank had done his best in the past few months. That’s why Bernard took Frank’s advice to heart. He focused on three things; understanding the skill, growing a portfolio, and presenting it in the best way possible.

“Yeah, thank You, That’s what Keisha said,” replied Frank, recalling his girlfriend’s joy that surpassed his own. “I can’t wait for them to reach out.

I feel alive.”

Going back to his rabbit hole, Frank had more juice to review the audio effects settings before discarding the idea. Inspecting one option after the other, he scrolled slowly this time, leaning towards the computer screen until he saw muffled. That’s it, he thought, glad everything worked out smoothly. The effect muffled would work.

“You’ll get it,” texted Bernard, telling himself the man from Nation media served that purpose; Making it known that his friend was getting a new gig. Himself, a few months aback, he had landed on a software engineering deal that made him feel alive. He was tempted to go on vacation for at least two months but didn’t. Frank said it wasn’t the smartest thing to do.

“She’s awake,” texted Frank, complimenting his text with heartbreak and laugh emojis. “I saw her look at me smiling at the screen, and I know she has questions.”

“Oh boy!”

Bernard had found himself in a similar hole not so long ago. It was on one of his sleepless nights, and when he stopped to text with a friend online, his girlfriend came asking whom he was chatting with in the middle of the night.

“I now understand how it felt,” followed up Frank, sending a bunch of stickers while imagining what it looked like. The clock said four in the morning and all the lights were out. Only his forehead shone bright, imitating the moon’s surface. He was seen staring and smiling on the screen when Keisha came checking up on him. She’s gone to bed a few hours ago, and it felt colder without him. She just woke up to access the lavatory and ask him to go to bed with her. Only that she didn’t. She did check up on him but said nothing.

“Talk later man,” texted Frank, “Let me finish this project. Good morning!!”