The Voice

I tried to look everywhere in the lab but all I could see were students who were paying attention to what the teacher was telling them. I could not understand where is the voice coming from. When I did not hear anything else for a few minutes, I took a sigh of relief.

"Phew… guess I really was hallucinating… I really should stop playing games all the time at home."

"Hey dude! What are you doing standing alone here? Everyone is already pairing up for the experiment! Wanna join me as my partner for the experiment?"

Abhay, my close friend, came to me and asked me to partner up with him for the experiment we were performing. He is one cheerful guy who always keeps smiling but also keeps getting into all sorts of trouble. He is that one student of the class who loves to mess with everything and everyone around him but he is a kind person.

"Yeah sure! But you will have to explain me what did the teacher even tell us to do. I was kind of dozing off y'know~ Did not sleep well last night haha..."

"Sure man! Just leave it to me! You know you can always count on me whenever you are in trouble, right? After all, I am The Great Abhay who is going to conquer all the girls in the school one day!"

"I prefer not to comment on those words of yours…"

Yeah… He is also the delusional type guy. Honestly, I don't feel so good asking him about the experiment… But well, now what's done is done.

"But I have a bad feeling about this…"

The class began and everyone started performing the experiment. Just while I was looking at everyone else performing the experiment because Abhay told me to stay put as he is going to do everything, I heard a loud noise-

BOOM!

Everyone turned towards us and I turned towards Abhay, whose hair was pointing upwards, towards the roof, with his face covered in smoke. He tried to say something but what escaped his mouth was smoke instead of words.

"Gosh… I should have known this was going to happen…"

"Ken, would you mind taking care of your friend and taking him to the nurse' office? He probably needs it…"

Upon the request of teacher, I took Abhay and left for the nurse' office. Once we reached in the office, the nurse told Abhay to rest for a bit. While nurse was talking to Abhay, I started hearing that damn voice again…

"What the hell…? W-What is this! Why am I hearing it again? This… It is giving me a headache… Agh! What is it even saying? I can't understand a single thing!"

The voice was still not something I could understand. All I could hear was a high pitch voice that pierced through my eardrums and it felt like it was hitting my brain as if someone was poking needles inside my brain directly. This time the things it said or tried to say seemed much more than before as if it was trying to communicate with me desperately but I could not understand a single word or even a single letter it said. All I could hear was high pitch voice as if someone was 'screaming'(?) in front of me but still, I don't know what but I could tell it was trying to have a conversation with me.

"☐☐☐ ☐☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐!! ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐ ☐ ☐☐☐ ☐☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐☐ ☐☐☐!!"

I could not bear the pain it was inflicting on my brain and I held my head with both my arms tightly trying to reduce the pain while also covering my ears.

The nurse had finished talking to Abhay and Abhay turned towards me and saw me in that state.

"Ken? Bro? What's wrong? Did ya get hit by the chemical too?"

But I could not hear what he said. The 'voice' kept echoing in my head non stop and it did not give me a chance to hear anything else.

At last, I could not bear the pain and I fainted on the spot making a loud noise of hitting the ground that attracted the attention of the nurse who was sitting a little farther away.

"Ugh… My head… What exactly happened just a moment ago? I better wake up and--"

"W-Wh--WHAT THE HELL"

The moment I opened my eyes, once again the scenery in front of me was not something I have seen before but it was not same as before where I could see the people dying everywhere. Rather, this time it was a pleasant scenery. I was under a tree in a grassland? This seems to be the only tree in the area and no matter where I see, all I could see was green ground with some flowers. It was a very beautiful sight I never had seen before with a cool breeze that was very relaxing.

I woke up and went for a walk to see if there is anyone I could talk to and maybe understand what exactly is going on here and where is even this place. I could feel my body perfectly so there is no way it is a dream.

At that point, I started to believe that it is no normal dream and there is more to it than what meets the eye.

"Perhaps playing so many games and watching anime might actually help me out somehow… haha"

Before I could take more than 10 steps further, I heard some rustling sound from behind the tree I woke up at. For a second my legs stopped and I was frightened remembering the sight I witnessed in my dream. What if something pops up from behind the tree? What if it is the time just before the destruction I witnessed? Like similar to what happens in anime?

"Who am I kidding to. It is not some anime plot… I should check what is behi-"

Before I could finish my sentence, I turned back and froze at my place. I could not take a single step further. Not because it was something threatening to my life but instead because what was in front of me was a person. Not any normal person but a girl my age who was unbelievably beautiful.

Big pretty black eyes, long eyelashes, black long hair that easily go down her waist, fair skin that looked so smooth that any boy would fall for her at first sight without a doubt. I could not say anything to her. I was dumbfounded. Enough to make me forget what I was even doing a moment ago. I felt as if there is nothing but just me and her in this space.

The girl saw me, who was standing at a place without making a single movement with my jaw dropped open. She took a step closer to me and I kept watching her. She had a smile on her face. She seemed happy and for some reason, watching her joyful face made me happy. I wanted to hear her voice.

"I wonder if her appearance is so pretty, how pretty would her voice be?"

I thought. Then I saw her mouth open and I was excited to hear her say something. My complete focus was on her voice. I was staring daggers at her face, waiting to hear her voice. Then she finally spoke something…

-"☐☐ ☐☐☐!!"

The moment I heard those words or high pitch sound echoing in my ears, I came back to my senses and what followed was a severe head ache once again. I sat down on the ground holding my head and ears trying to bear the pain. Looking at me in this state, the girl's face frowned and her smile was gone and she stopped saying anything and my headache gradually improved and eventually vanished.

"S-Sorry… I don't think I can understand you… or even if you can understand me…"

I said, looking at the frowned girl in front of me. Watching her sad made me feel bad. I felt like it was my fault she was sad. Then I remembered I had to get back to my school. I was not sure if the time I am spending here in this 'dream' is the same as the time in the real world or if I am there in real world or not. What if I just got teleported here? Wouldn't that be frightening? Like, I remember Abhay being in front of me when I collapsed…

But then I remembered how I woke up from my horrible dream. I wondered if the girl knew a way out.

"Uhm… If you don't mind me asking… Do you know how can I get out of this place? I- I need to get back to my friends and family… They must be worrying about me…"

The girl, aware of the fact that I can not understand her words and it instead is painful for me, pointed towards a direction and started running towards it. After taking a few steps forwards, she turned back and asked me to follow her by her hands.

I started walking behind her. I was once again mesmerized by her beauty. Not only her front, but even her back looked so pretty that I could not see anything else but her in front of me.

After walking for a few minutes, she stopped and looked at me. I was still staring at her, finding it hard to take my eyes off of her. She pointed her finger towards what was in front of us. When I followed the direction of her fingers with my eyes, what I say was a door.

"Door? Is that my way home?"

The girl nodded as to reply to what I asked in "yes". I hesitated. I hesitated to take a step towards the door because the sight of the horrible dream was screaming at me not to open the door. I was scared to witness anything like that again. I could not take a single step ahead.

"N-No… I can't… I do not want to go through that door…"

The girl held my hand softly and looked into my eyes and nodded. She was trying to make me calm down and she was telling me "It's going to be alright". I could tell by her face that she was not someone who would harm me. She seemed kind and loving girl. I closed my eyes and decided to trust her words.

"Okay… If you say so… But, will I ever get to meet you again?"

I asked, wondering if I will ever be able to meet her. I could not forget about her, that I was sure of. How could someone forget about someone this beautiful?

The girl smiled back at me and nodded. It brought a smile on my face too and I decided to open the door.

"Then, Let's see each other again! I hope next time I will be able to hear your voice and understand it…"

I bid my farewell and opened the white door in front of me and entered it. When I entered the door, it was not black but white everywhere this time. As if the whole space was illuminated with light. It was nothing like back then when I was sent to some horrible war like area. I walked straight for sometime and saw another door which was of white colour. I opened it and entered the door.

"en… Ke…! KEN! WAKE UP!"

I opened my eyes and saw the nurse trying to wake me up. I was sitting on a chair and Abhay standing right beside me, also trying to wake me up.

"Seems like it hasn't been long here in reality…"

"Bro, you alright? You suddenly collapsed and I was like 'Oh shit my experiment killed ken!' I was even planning what I will do in prison if you had not woken up dude"

"Haha… Don't worry. I was just exhausted. You were right… I should stop playing games late at night…"

"Ken, it is not good for your health to be playing video games late at night. I am prescribing you some medicines, be sure to take them for 3 days. You will feel better. Okay?"

And with that, we left the nurse's office.

"I wonder who was that girl and what is up with these dreams…"