The CD ended, and Morgan pressed the stop button on the stereo. For some reason, listening to the voice seemed to calm him. Perhaps it was Kyungsoo’s smooth voice. Wait, since when did he think of the voice as a person?

Morgan looked at Jason. The boy seemed oddly calm and he shifted his weight on the bed so his chest was touching his bent knees. “Well?” Morgan asked.

“Well,” Jason replied. “It sounds like you. Creepily like you.”

“What else? What about what he was saying?”

Jason laughed a bit. “Was I supposed to understand anything from that? It was a bunch of gibberish.”

The recording had seemed pretty straightforward to Morgan, but maybe that was just him. He was the pathological crazy one in the room, anyway. “So what do I do now?” he asked, lying down on his back atop the bed, near Jason’s feet.

There was a moment of silence. “You do nothing.”

Morgan sat up to look at his friend with a bewildered expression on his face. “I what?”

Jason’s face was stone cold with seriousness as he peered into Morgan’s dark brown eyes with his sea green ones. “This is real, Mor,” he said.

“No kidding, Jay, that’s what I’ve been tryin’ to tell yah.”

He was poked on the forehead. “This isn’t the time for jokes!” Jason growled. Personally, Morgan didn’t think he was being facetious, but it was probably best to not state his thoughts. “Obviously, this guy is either crazy or sending these recordings to the wrong person. Either way, the best thing to do is ignore them.”

“But I-”

“No.” Jason cut off Morgan’s protest quickly. “No, listen to me for once in your life.”

Well, if that didn’t shut Morgan up, nothing would. “Okay, okay, fine.”

Jason’s phone lit up and made a quick buzzing noise on the bedside table. He sighed and picked it up. “The ‘rents are telling me I have to go home to get dinner. I have to go to work tonight.”

Morgan sighed and moved so his head was on his friend’s leg. Another thing that would be weird if they hadn’t been childhood friends. “I’m worried,” he said.

Jason shifted his body.“What about?”

“Something doesn’t feel right about this.”

“Why?”

“Because…” Morgan sighed. “Because it feels like whoever is making these recordings really wants someone to hear. Like… like he’s desperate. Kyungsoo’s desperate.”

“Who?”

“Kyungsoo,” Morgan said, not realizing his mistake. “His name is Kyungsoo.”

Jason’s eyes widened. “Don’t call him that.”

“Why not?”

With a quick exhale, Jason ran a hand through the golden hair. “You’re starting to think of this as a person, not as a voice speaking gibberish on a freaking stereo.” The phone buzzed again, and Jason growled in frustration. “I gotta go. Are you gonna be okay?”

Morgan nodded, and his best friend grabbed his bag and left the house. Morgan waited until he heard the roar of the engine in the old, beat-up truckster, then listened as the sound faded. As soon as the truck was gone, he felt a horrible loneliness fall upon him like a thick blanket. He wondered why - he usually felt fine when he was alone. His eyes landed on the stereo atop his dresser, the screen emitting a small blue light.

Kyungsoo. His name was Kyungsoo.

Morgan shook his head. Why did he say was?

Instead of getting up and getting to the work he was supposed to be doing, Morgan rested his head on his bedpillow and stared at the stereo. He felt a strange tiredness as he lay there.

“Soo?” Someone was calling

“Soo?” They called again.

“Come on, Soo, I know you’re out here somewhere.”

Kyungsoo laughed, feeling the fresh spring air in his lungs. Yes, Sehun, he was out here. But that didn’t mean he wanted to answer you. After all, he had already silenced his phone to avoid you guys.

“Kyungsoo! Where are you?” Joonmyeon’s voic