Sander lay in his bed, the moonlight sneaking through the gaps in his curtains. He was beyond exhausted from his long day at University. He had had two tests that day and his brain was running on very little fuel at the moment. A recharge was needed. His eyes fluttered closed and he waited for sleep to catch him.
Then, loud music, pumping through his veins, assaulting his ears, disturbing his attempt at sleeping. He pulled a pillow over his head in an effort to block out some of the noise but it just got louder. Then came the lights, strobing lights of various colours illuminated his sight.
“What in the hell is going on,” Sander said aloud, annoyance playing on his voice.
“Hello? Who is that?” a voice called.
Sander spun around but there was nobody there, he was alone with blaring music, coloured lights and a random voice in his head.
“Well this can’t be good,” Sander said, very concerned for his current state of mind as he was now hearing voices on top of the music.
The lights ebbed and flowed in and out of his vision.
“What can’t be good? Who is saying that?” the voice uttered.
“Never mind who I am, who are you?” Sander said, demanding.
“Why can I see a bed? I’m not on a bed!” the voice said, alarmed.
“I can see club lights, why can I see club lights?” Sander said frantically, “I’m in my bedroom.”
“I’m in a club.”
“No, you’re not!” Sander said, getting more and more frustrated with the situation, “You’re in my head.”
“Um…no, if anyone is in anyone’s head then you’re in mine,” the voice protested.
“Well can you please go somewhere quieter because the music is way too loud,” Sander asked.
“Fine,” the voice conceded.
Sander felt a pain rush through his foot from his toe.
“Fuck,” they both said simultaneously.
“I just stubbed my toe,” the voice said.
“Well, I felt it, why did I feel it?!” Sander said, terrified at this point.
“How the fuck am I supposed to know?”
The music became softer, a dull sound in the background.
“Now, who are you?” the voice demanded.
“I’m Sander. Who the hell are you?” Sander said.
“I’m Robbe. Nice to meet you, Sander,” Robbe said, “Well, this wasn’t the most enjoyable of meetings but whatever.”
Sander let out a small laugh, which turned louder and louder.
“Why are you laughing?” Robbe asked, a hint of a smile could be heard in his voice.
“What else am I supposed to do? This is so weird and I don’t know the proper reaction so I’m just gonna laugh.”
They both started laughing hysterically.
“What’s going on?” Sander’s roommate, Noor, asked, “You woke me up.”
“Sorry,” Sander said apologetically, “I’ll be quieter.”
Noor looked around the room suspiciously for a moment trying to get a sense of why Sander was being so loud.
“Thank you,” Noor said, eyeing Sander once more before leaving his room to return to her recently disrupted sleep.
“Who was that?” Robbe asked.
“That was Noor, my roommate,” Sander whispered, trying not to evoke the fury in Noor any more than he already had. “Where are you standing, by the way, it’s freezing?”
“I’m in an outside area because it’s not as loud out here,” Robbe answered before pausing. “Wait, you can feel the temperature where I am?”
Sander took a moment to contemplate upon that.
“Yeah, I guess I can. Add that to the list of weird shit that has happened tonight,” Sander laughed, quietly.
Sander could suddenly see a phone screen taking up his vision.
“What are you doing?” Sander asked, curious.
Robbe opened the Notes app and started typing.
Weird shit that has happened tonight:
- We can hear the other person's voice
- We can see what the other person sees
“Are you seriously making a list?” Sander said, a small laughing escaping his lips.
“Yeah, why not?”
- We can feel the other person's pain
- We can feel the temperature around the other person
“Am I missing anything?” Robbe asked.
“I think that’s all, for now at least. We’ll update the magical list if anything else comes up,” Sander said.
“Hey, don’t make fun of the list. The list is very important,” Robbe said laughing.
“Okay, sorry for disrespecting the list,” Sander replied, his own laughter growing but he managed to catch it before it could get too loud.
Sander checked the time on his phone which sat on his bed side table, it was nearly midnight.
“Hey, I’ve had a long day and it’s really late so I think I’m gonna go to sleep now but can we talk tomorrow?” Sander said.
“Sure, that sounds great. Should I give you my number?”
Sander paused. “Now, where’s the fun in that?”
Robbe let out a small laugh, “Good night, Sander.”
“Good night, Robbe.”
And with that, it went silent. The only thing to be heard was the whistling of the wind through the trees. Sander lay his head back down onto the pillow and closed his eyes, sleep overtaking him within moments.
--
“There you are, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Jens said.
“Sorry, I needed some air,” Robbe explained to his best friend.
“Oh, okay. We’re doing another round of tequila shots, you down?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there.”
Jens spun on his heels and left Robbe standing there looking deep in thought. Robbe took his phone out of his pocket and stared at the list he had just constructed. He smiled at it because although it was fucking terrifying what had just occurred, it excited him. He was connected to someone, deeply connected and that felt comforting. He knew he was going to freak out about this more than he was right now at some point, but for now he was going to revel in the novelty of it all.
Robbe made his way back into the club, every beat of the music drumming loudly in his brain making it vibrate. As he returned to the table at which his friends were seated, he couldn’t stop thinking about Sander and his voice that rang so clearly in his head. The voice that seemed foreign yet known, like he had been connected to him his whole life and maybe he had.
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