I'm Dead

Most kids my age were obsessed with video games, but I was the weird one who spent nights taking apart old electronics. My dad had shown me how to build a simple wire antenna, and I became fascinated with scanning random radio frequencies just to see what I could pick up. One weekend, I stayed up until around two in the morning with the lights off, slowly turning the tuning dial while wearing a pair of cheap headphones. Most frequencies were just static, distant broadcasts, or bursts of interference. Then I landed on something I'd never heard before.

Instead of music or voices, there was a strange rhythmic cracking noise. The closest thing I can compare it to is someone slowly cracking their knuckles right next to a microphone. It wasn't random static either. There was a pattern to it, almost like it was trying to communicate. I sat there listening for several minutes, waiting for an announcer or some explanation, but the sound just continued at the same steady pace. Just as I reached over to adjust the dial, the cracking stopped completely.

For a few seconds there was absolute silence. Then a man's voice came through, so faint I almost thought I'd imagined it. He didn't sound frightened or excited. If anything, he sounded exhausted. In a flat, emotionless tone he said, "It doesn't work... we're already dead. We're already dead." Then the transmission ended. No static, no fading signal, just complete silence. I ripped the headphones off so fast they hit the floor, unplugged the radio, and shoved it into my closet. I don't think I've ever been that scared in my life.

Years later, I learned enough about radio to know there are countless ordinary explanations for strange transmissions. Signals bounce across the atmosphere, conversations overlap, and old broadcasts can sound bizarre when distorted. I've accepted that what I heard was probably some distant transmission mixing with another frequency. But every now and then, usually when I can't sleep, I remember one detail that still bothers me. The voice didn't say **"We're dead."** It said, **"It doesn't work... we're already dead,"** as if whoever was speaking had been trying something over and over again, hoping for a different result, before finally realizing they were talking to people who could never answer back.