Every morning was always the same. I woke up before the crack of dawn and somehow found the will to keep going on with my miserable little life. I always started with turning on my old grayish brown radio which  I had since I was a kid. I should have tossed it out a long time ago, but could never bring myself to do it. It reminded me of home.

I switched it to the only bearable talk show on at four in the morning to make my apartment seem less lonely, to drown out my thoughts of last night’s nightmares as I got dressed and ate.

As I chewed on some toast, I didn’t bat an eye at the raspy voice. It was early, even people used to this schedule would have a morning, rat-sounding voice. I strained my ears to understand what they were trying to say, but their words were mangled together into gibberish. I got up from the kitchen table, with only one chair, and went over to where the old radio. was placed. I slammed my fist down on the top as hard as possible, figuring it was a problem on my end. When it kept going, I sighed and gave up.  After I turned it off, the noise didn’t go away.

It continued to play, and the words gradually became whole: “Mu… Murd… Murder…Murderer…” on repeat, with mixed static. “Murderer, murderer, murderer!” getting louder with  every repeat as the mumble turned into an animalistic scream.  

My blood ran cold, reached my feet, and froze me to the spot. I knew that scream. After all, how could I forget it when it haunted my nights and filled my head every hour of the day? It was as clear as that day back when we were kids, when I got jealous, when I pushed him and he fell too far, when I didn’t tell anyone.

The scream became so loud, it shook the walls. I instinctively covered my ears in a futile attempt to protect myself from the sound. The volume increased  far past the capabilities of the technology. The whole street must have been able to hear it. At some point, it turned into a hum for me and I felt a searing pain in my head and something wet against the palm of my hands. My body, my mind, and my spirit couldn’t take it anymore and all three collapsed.