Your blood goes cold. You sit up. You check the recording length: 00:00. No file saved. The app closes itself.
You open it. The red button is gone. Instead, there’s a list. The Sound Recorder -Windows Phone-
The app opens. No settings. No list of old recordings. Just a single red button and a waveform that pulses with the ambient noise of the classroom: the scratch of pencils, Mr. Hendricks’ monotone voice droning about isosceles triangles, the hum of the overhead projector. Your blood goes cold
You hear static first. Then a soft breath. Then your own voice—but slower, lower, like a vinyl record at half speed. It says something you never said: No file saved
You are Sam. You are sitting in your room. You are very much home.
“You should have stayed in the car.”
You turn around.