Episode 35: A Long Night, Ended

Sorry about that abrupt interruption, folks.

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Transcript

[A LONG, PULSING STATIC.]

THEME SONG

JESS: [AWAY FROM THE MIC, LESS AND LESS DISTORTED] –Are we- are we back? Jordan, do you wanna just- make sure everyone is okay? Are you okay? Okay, great. Thank you. 

Hey, folks, I think we’re back. 

You might be, like we are, wondering what the hell that was. Fair. We don’t really know. 

I should probably be hesitant to speculate on air as that isn’t responsible journalism, but it sounded like an explosion, didn’t it? 

The booming echo in the distance, the way the walls and windows here seemed to faintly shake. Everything suddenly rattled and then stilled. Not to mention the massive surge of interference and static we experienced on the radio side of things, that was… interesting. 

I was told there was an earthquake or two around here a little while ago, but I don’t think it was another one of those…. Though, I’m no expert, on anything at all really, so, who’s to say. It just- seemed more explosion-y. Not a huge one but, still. 

Sorry. I don’t mean for this to sound so casual, listeners, this is potentially a very serious situation, and I’m- I’m sorry if any of you are afraid. I just… it's been a long night. I don’t– 

[REMEMBERING, AWAY FROM THE MIC] Tanner, did Carlton come back while I was…? No? If you and Martha are heading out, keep an eye out for him? And be safe. 

[BACK ON THE MIC]

So, yeah. We hope everyone and everything is okay. We’re going to do our best to figure out what’s happened and touch base with those of you that we can. If anyone was willing and able to fill us in… there are those of you who know where to find us. 

In the meantime, the only real thing I can share with you is that I checked all the windows from here to make sure nothing broke, and all we know for sure is that there is a plume of smoke rising in the– north, I think? I’m not sure. At first I considered it could just be a last wisp of smoke from the field but, it's pretty strong. And it's not– moving the same way. It looks just- normal. Like normal smoke. 

As always, listeners, we will update you as things develop. 

If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna get another cup of coffee. 

[MUSIC]

Maybe it's all the coffee talking folks, but I feel… weird. In like, a fun way. Mostly. 

Just- I suddenly became hyper aware of my existence and the physical state of my body. Like, my own relationship with the tangible, corporeal world. I feel… energized, not like ‘standing knee deep in a cool river’ energized, but ‘standing in an open field during a thunderstorm’ energized, like, enjoyable and refreshing, but there’s the risk of being struck by lightning at any given moment. 

Obviously there is no real risk of me being struck by lightning right now. There is, however, a smaller, more surreal risk insofar as there’s never truly a zero percent chance of something happening. 

Stranger things have happened, though, haven’t they? Happened to me. Happened here. Prior radio hosts in Braedon have died stranger, more unpleasant deaths. 

Maybe- maybe something in me knows it’s my turn coming up. 

[FOOTSTEPS, SCRAPING CUP ACROSS TABLE]

What- hey, wait-... 

River just… took my coffee. 

[MUSIC] 

You know those possible updates I mentioned earlier? I’m happy to report, we’ve got one to share in the form of bullet points written helpfully on a sticky note that I get to summarize. 

First things first, though folks, I feel it needs to be said as it's our only means of receiving information right now: we here have no official way of confirming any news we receive through word of mouth. This is not to say we do not trust you, but it is to say we have to trust you. I cannot think of any one of you who might take advantage of that fact… and this news was brought to us by someone we trust deeply, so consider this just a separate side-note, but even the people we trust can mislead us or lie to us— usually, hopefully, unintentionally. 

However, given the nature of our situation as a whole, I’d rather share what information we get, and then, if there are future updates, and maybe we find out we were wrong… then we were wrong. You trust us to share things with you. And, I hope you further trust us to address and correct our inevitable mistakes. 

And with that, let’s get to the update. 

Martha and Tanner ran into town and back- literally, I can see them across the room and they’re pretty out of breath- and brought Carlton back with them. They all said they spoke with a few of you, so thanks to everyone who shared, and likewise everyone who helps maintain our secret. 

It sounds like my initial, observational guess was correct: there was an explosion. A small one. Somewhere north of town, which explains the pillar smoke I saw rising somewhere in what I guessed was that direction. 

From what we’ve been able to gather so far, no one was killed or even really injured as the blast was small, but the explosion did cause some damage beyond itself. Broken windows, loose items knocked and fallen over, that sort of thing. It sounds like everything’s okay for the most part, though. Except for the thing that exploded, which we’re still not totally clear on what that is- or, was. 

And, just the fact that something exploded is a lot to reckon with, wouldn’t you agree, listeners? It's such a violent thing, and sure, violence has happened here, but the kind of sudden, bursting violence of an explosion… and I mean, we don’t even know if it was an accidental detonation, or something deliberate yet. But, I’m going to refrain from speculating.  

I also briefly spoke to Stephen during the break. I was bringing him some coffee, cause I’ve been told I’m not allowed any more tonight and there’s a whole pot going cold, and I decided to ask whether or not this explosion was something Town Council knew about, or if it was at least something he thought we should be worried about. He said quote, “no”, and, quote “how should I know?” respectively. 

So, not super helpful I guess, but an answer of sorts. An answer that rules out something, but not an answer that explains anything. Those are my favourite kind of answers, personally. 

Stephen also mentioned– and I know, I know, but- if you are in need, and comfortable, he said that anyone greatly affected by this is free to reach out to Town Council, that they have a fund in place for these sorts of things RE: supporting the community when it comes to, quote ‘unprecedented damages’ unquote.  

I’m reminded of that secret emergency fund for some impending, looming, terrible thing that we apparently all know is coming. But he made it sound like this was a different fund. So, I guess that great, looming, terrible thing has yet to reach us. Which, checks out. My instinct concurs. And my dreams. 

However, well, I’m not sure if it's still going, but I do also remember that garage sale at St Barbara’s church and the fund the community itself was working to set up. If that’s still around and on offer then, well, there’s two resources you can reach out to about getting any shattered windows fixed or that sort of thing. 

[PAUSE]

Oh, I just- I just saw a small flash outside the window. I’m not sure if that’s the start of the meteor shower or… something else. 

I’m gonna pop outside to check. Be right back, I promise. 

[MUSIC] 

Herman Blanchard stopped by over that break, and by ‘stopped by’ I mean I was standing out there, in the dark, watching the sky, and suddenly, I could see a shadow approaching, which introduced itself to me as Herman Blanchard with a familiar voice and smile. He was no longer carrying the case I saw him with no more than an hour ago, and he no longer looked nervous but— excited? Maybe excited isn’t the right word. He looked… alert, and almost inspired? Energized. Or, like he was still riding the high of an adrenaline rush. He also looked a tad– singed, and smelled, it's worth noting, a bit like burning. 

Herman came to fill in the blanks of our broadcast this evening, and informed me that: 

a) the thing that exploded was a radio tower that had been set up on Farmer Daniels’ still fenced off property. Specifically, in Clarence’s northernmost field. When I asked Herman how he knew this, he smiled and simply repeated the cryptic message he had relayed to me earlier. When asked for details about what happened- again, all he had to say was what had already been said. 

Herman’s second point was b) quote, “we don’t have to worry about that frequency no more” unquote,– you know, the one that made us all unreasonably aggressive and violent and the whole reason we’ve been maintaining a consistent on-air presence?  

The man lastly reminded me to remind all of you that if you were wanting to watch the meteor shower tonight (which technically is not allowed but who’s keeping track?), go stargazing, or in his words “just do something about all this dark,” you should probably join the stargazing club, as part of their membership process is teaching you how to properly ask permission to gaze down into the dark, star-speckled void from the void itself. Along with other things he did not explain. 

Recalling his earlier travelling companion, I asked Herman where Weatherman Todd Stevenson ended up. He said Todd was safe, and quote, “probably just waiting out the ringin’ in his ears” unquote. 

I thanked Herman for this new information, which he gave me permission to share with all of you, and watched him, for the second time today, walk off and disappear into the shadowed distance. 

I understand the implications of a lot of what I’m saying folks, and I once again want to apologize if my tone or phrasing seem quite casual. This is a serious situation, and pretty big in terms of community news we’ve had to share recently. I just– the idea that this long night might almost be over, I thought would excite me, but has actually… exhausted me. The end is in sight and I am losing steam, I think. 

We’re going to take a short break here to give David a chance to confirm what Herman’s told us in relation to the frequency, but we’ll hopefully be back with good news. 

[MUSIC. JESS SIGHS]

Well, folks. Good news. I’m sure you can understand our position when we say: there will be no show this evening at eight. 

We’re uh- gonna take the rest of the day, and night, off. I mean, aside from the fact that I did make a promise, yeah, I uh, think we could all do with some radio silence. 

Which, David also seems to think you should for sure be able to turn your radios off now. So, please, turn them off. Give them a rest. Thank them for their efforts, but- yeah. I’d say they’ve earned a break. 

I also quickly popped outside again over that break to check and see the state of the skies, and unless the brief, glowing streak I saw in the sky wasn’t a shooting star but something else, I’d say that meteor shower has started. 

Not that it would be anything else. There’s no such thing as aliens. 

I don’t know why I felt the need to say that… probably because I used to be contractually obligated to remind you. 

But, y’know, I forgot how- full, the night sky was here. How the stars, those many burning eyes in the dark, stare down and– how it's almost a comfort to remember they’re there. As I’m not a member of the stargazing club, I won’t push my luck with observing the sky any further, and possibly being observed back, but… yeah. It's… pretty. 

I had to double check with Stephen whether or not typical meteor shower rules still applied given the current everything, and he said “better safe than sorry.” So, better safe than sorry folks. We’ll be going dark here until the sun’s fully risen, and we recommend you do the same. I understand it might be difficult as many of you may be at work and school, so, as in all things, we can only ask you do your best. 

But, now that I’m thinking about it, while I was outside, I swear I heard a strange sound in the distance, coming from the mine. Or like, that direction. 

I mean, I don’t want to add any stressors or concerns to what’s already happening, and it was so faint and far away that maybe it was nothing, but… it's something I’m gonna ask you all to keep an ear out for. Especially as we’ll be taking a break tonight. It's been a while since- since we addressed the mine, I think, or at least since I have, and I know that between our many hours long broadcast, the fire, this explosion, and the usual nighttime sounds here like the wind, the pulsing mechanical sounds from the building across the river, and whatever it is that cries in the distance, the nights can be pretty loud, but if you happen to hear it, hear a distant kind of grumbling– rumbling, shifting in the deep, distant beds of rock and whatever else is down there… then… let us know. Let each other know. Let me know. Somehow. 

And, maybe also let Weatherman Todd and the Mountain Watch know. The mine is in the mountains. They, y’know, watch the mountains. It might be important. 

[SIGHS, CONTENT]

Oh. As I’ve mentioned before, I can see the window from here, and it seems the first few pinks of dawn are finally starting to creep over the horizon, rising up beyond that faint orange glow. The night is, at last, dissolving into a warm gradient of morning. 

So, the meteor shower has started, but will likely only last until day swallows up the sky. A fitting end to all this, I think. Looking at the increasing morn coloured light, I’ve just been hit with this feeling of “Oh, there you are. We’ve been waiting for you. Welcome.” 

Relief, I think, might be the word. 

It's a new day to enter into, with fewer worries than when this long night started. I hope it is kind to each and every one of you. 

We’ll be with you again tomorrow, so until then…

Thanks for tuning in. 

[MUSIC, INTO STATIC, INTO:]

Hey. Me again. I- I can’t sleep and I… I don’t know. If I was back home, I would have called you by now. So I’m calling you. To pretend that maybe I’m there. And maybe you’ll pick up. And maybe I’m not alone out here. 

I dreamt of Braedon last night. I’ve been having a lot of weird dreams here, but last night… I keep dreaming about a storm. A bad one. This time though, I could see it coming to spread over the town. And there was this wailing in the background, like- like an alarm. Those siren, alarm things for bad storms. But- different. Vocal, like something was screaming. Or someone. The sky just kept getting darker and darker, and everything was bathed in this, like, purple, shadow. 

I know that stressful situations can trigger bad dreams and that's probably all that it is. Admittedly recent events have been nothing but stressful experiences. I’d go so far as to say wholly traumatic. But you know when you have those dreams that just feel like more? 

[STATIC, INTO RESIDENTS OF PROSERPINA PARK PROMO]