Stuck

We fell in love over music.

Cassie always said you could figure out someone's personality solely by listening to their playlists. In a way, I guess she was right. That's how it worked for the two of us. Our best dates were at concerts and festivals. While our tastes weren't always entirely the same we could discuss our favorite albums, artists, and even music videos for hours.

Maybe her love for music is what inspired the Earworm.

Cassie worked at a tech company. The kind that focuses mainly on finding the newest, biggest, most innovative idea out there. She was a rather big shot in there which consequently meant that she had to travel a crazy amount of time.

I remember when she told me about Earworm for the first time. Her eyes were shining so bright.

Earworm is basically a little device that you plant inside your ear. You get them in a set of two. One for yourself and one for your significant other. When you get a song stuck in your head, they will hear it too. Having a song stuck in your head can be pretty annoying in my opinion, so I wasn't entirely sure why she was so excited about the thing.

"Well, obviously music is only the first step. But don't you think it's absolutely insane that we are able to do this in the first place?" She said as her eyes grew even bigger.

"Can you read thoughts with it as well?" I asked.

"Why? Are you afraid I'll hear all your dirty little secrets?" Cassie laughed, "No, of course not. Although if the technology becomes more advanced, maybe we can in the future," she raised an eyebrow.

I didn't particularly like the work she did or how her ethical boundaries seemed to become more blurry each day. Cassie was in no way evil but I believe sometimes she got so excited over all the possibilities of innovation that she started ignoring downsides. Not everyone would like what they were coming up with. Although if you think about it, many were and still are wary of smartphones when they came out. We've all accepted being tracked, soon enough we probably would be alright with something reading our mind.

Though for now, it was only music. Music that my love and I would share. The annoying earworms as well as the songs that came to our mind when we thought of each other. A way for us to share our biggest interest while we were apart as Cassie had to go abroad for two months to introduce Earworm to their partner company.

"I will be working crazy hours and I won't have much time for anything else. I just want us to stay connected as well as we can… And you'd help me test the advice as well," she grinned.

"Alright. But no musicals!"

\--

We got the devices planted inside our ears on the day of her departure. It didn't hurt or anything but it did feel a little strange. Like it wasn't supposed to be there. At first, there was nothing. Possibly because my mind was pretty blank as I drove my girlfriend to the airport later that day. I guess so was hers.

We stayed quiet for quite some time but just before we reached the airport I learned what technological advancement really meant.

*Yes, no, maybe, I don't know...*

"Can you repeat the questiooon," Cassie suddenly started singing. I hadn't even realized that I was thinking of a song. I was watching Malcolm in the middle that morning. I guess the intro just came to my mind.

"This is insane," I laughed.

"And pretty cool too, right?" She asked.

"I guess? It's definitely different."

"We'll take them out when I get back.. If you want to," she said.

"Depends if you're gonna torture me with your terrible taste over there," I joked as we got her suitcase out of the car.

I hugged her. We kissed good-bye and that was it. For hours there was silence. Until she texted me that she had landed.

*I read the news today, oh boy*

*About a lucky man who made the grade*

She was listening to music now. I heard it very faintly. Like background music in a movie. I lay in bed just listening to what Cassie heard in her ears all those miles away.

*He blew his mind out in a car*

*He didn't notice that the lights had changed*

\--

The following days we hardly called or texted. Our communication went mainly through music and it was the most exciting interaction we'd ever had.

Sometimes I would be doing something absolutely mundane, like getting groceries when I suddenly heard a song I loved as a kid but had completely forgotten. I had to keep myself from smiling like a moron in public because Cassie would listen to some trash hits to get my attention and annoy me. We made a game out of it. Who could find the most obscure hits that we would both have stuck in our minds. It was even more interesting when we were listening to music at the same time. Only one of the songs would get stuck in both our minds, or sometimes I'd get hers and she'd get mine.

It was pretty exciting until it wasn't anymore. As with any other type of technology you get used to it quite quickly. And then you either get addicted to it or you will be bored out of your mind.

As for me it was just getting really fucking annoying. Cassie had music in her ears most hours of the day and if she didn't, there would be a tune stuck in her mind. Usually one verse of some annoying song that I would hear over and over again. As we were in different time zones, sometimes I'd hear music until the latest hours. My sleeping schedule was absolutely wrecked.

All I was longing for was a little bit of silence. Just a moment alone with my thoughts and without another sound. I couldn't believe I'd ever reach that point in life but I was sick of music.

Cassie begged me to keep the Earworm inside just a little longer. She and her team had a big meeting ahead of them and they needed the data they were collecting through us.

"Can you just try to listen to a little less music? Or maybe shut your mind off a bit.." I asked her over the phone.

Cassie stayed silent for a moment.

"Yeah, I can try. I always wanted to meditate," she joked, "and I won't listen to music when it's night time for you," she promised.

And for days she kept that promise. We still heard each other's earworms at times but it went back to being nice. On my birthday she woke me up with my favorite song. She had to get up at 3 AM for that.

*To die by your side*

*Is such a heavenly way to die*

*To die by your side*

*Well, the pleasure, the privilege is mine*

Despite everything, it felt nice to be connected. Especially through the one thing we loved so much.

\--

There were only a few days left until Cassie would come back but last night the music was louder than ever before.

I was asleep already when she started playing the song. I knew she had to be listening to it because it was far louder than a song stuck in her head. I'd learned to make the distinction.

This one was blasting through her stereo.

*I've been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand*

Cassie didn't like Joy Division. Maybe she had people over?

I tried to shut off the song in my mind and get back to bed. But it would keep playing on repeat. And it got louder each time.

*Lights are flashing, cars are crashing*

*Getting frequent now*

Finally, I had enough and texted her.

**Cas, can you turn it down, please? I have work tomorrow..**

It still felt strange that I had to tell her to quiet down a song in my hand. No idea if that was something I could ever get used to.

She didn't respond to my text. Instead, the song started playing again.

*I'm watching you, I'm watching*

*Oh I'll take no pity from your friends*

My ears were almost bleeding, I was entirely fed up with her. I started thinking that she was pissed at me. Maybe I'd forgotten something important or hell knows what and she wanted to punish me. I felt a migraine settling in. It really drove me nuts. I was so close to just ripping that implant out of my ear. But then all of a sudden I heard something else.

Joy Division was still playing but it was mixed with a different tune now.

*So when you're near me, darling can't you hear me, S.O.S.*

*And the love you gave me, nothing else can save me, S.O.S.*

ABBA, seriously?

I texted her again.

**Cas, are you watching Mamma Mia again? You promised no musicals!**

Again, there was no response. It felt strange that she was listening to two songs at the same time, with the ABBA one being so faint in comparison.

I was quite tired then, I'd only woken up after all. But when I made the connection, I shot right out of bed.

Was she trying to send me a message?

I kept calling her again and again but she wouldn't pick up. Until all of a sudden, the music was gone.

Though there was certainly no silence instead

The music was replaced with the most dreadful sound I ever heard in my life. It sounded like pure agony. Voices, that I didn't know, were screaming and crying. It's hard to describe the noises because they were like nothing I'd ever heard before. Something about them just felt wrong, in a way that made the hairs on my skin stand up and my toenails curl.

They were hurting the insides of my soul.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I ripped the device out of my ear which at this point was already bleeding.

After Cassie still didn't respond to anything I sent her, I called one of her colleagues. A guy that worked in the Earworm team as well. He promised me that he had been testing the device for weeks now with nothing remotely close ever happening to him. But this wasn't only about the device anymore, I could tell that something was awfully wrong.

It took a while but I convinced him that there might be something happening to Cassie. I was sure that wearing the device was somehow hurting her. Maybe the worm was digging deep into her brain and she couldn't take it anymore.

He called the rest of the team but nobody knew what was going on. At that point, it was the middle of the night over there and people were getting worried. When they finally called the police to go and check on her in the Airbnb she was staying at, it was already far too late.

It wasn't the worm that hurt her.

Cassie had been brutally murdered by some monster that the police still haven't found. When the police broke into the apartment, the Joy Division song was still playing on repeat. The song that was supposed to overshadow her screams.

I haven't listened to any music since I lost my sweet Cassie. I don't think I will ever enjoy music again. All I hear now is the sound. The last sound I heard before crushing that implant. It will follow me until the day I die and maybe even beyond.

I believe I heard what death sounds