Aza’s Hearing Voices

I snuck out to listen to the voices again last night. Lala and Baba would be mad if they knew, but they don’t. I can be so quiet when I really try to be. Plus, it makes almost no noise at all when I push open my window now, not since last fall when Baba oiled the hinges. I laughed then because he started huffing and puffing while he rubbed the oil in with a dish rag, all bright red cheeks and sweaty forehead. He looked like he was trying to make a wish on a magic lamp, only instead of a lamp he was rubbing a window, and instead of a genie all he got was a lousy cloud of dust. Baba has bad luck like that. Baba can’t hear the voices like I do. 

I had to go. They haven’t finished telling me their story yet, and I have to know how it ends. I’m super tall now, the tallest girl in my class and the third tallest of all the boys, too, so I can step onto my windowsill real easy. Todd’s branches are right there—he’s always ready to catch me. I’d be cross with him for days if he ever let me fall. He hasn’t, though, so it’s alright. Todd is getting super tall too. Lala and Baba told me that when we first moved into this little house, his tallest branch was only as tall as the flower box Lala put under the kitchen window. I was a baby so I don’t remember that at all, but I’m grown now and Todd is huge! I bet in ten more years he’ll be able to touch the sky. I bet I’ll be able to touch the sky too. Then I’ll finally find out what a cloud feels like. I’ve asked Lala about the clouds a bunch, but she always gets that look on her face like she just bit into a lemon. When Lala’s face looks like that it usually means I should stop asking her questions and go play outside for a bit. 

The voices are always louder when I’m outside. The whole time I was climbing down Todd’s trunk last night I could hear them talking, except they’re too quiet for me to really hear anything until I get closer to the water. They’re way more chatty by the water anyways; they won’t tell me any stories unless I’m there. Last night I had on the great big rain boots Baba bought me last harvest season, when it rained icky black water and we all had to walk around holding silly-looking sun parasols so our clothes wouldn’t get stained. With them on, I can walk into the sea a little bit. Just until the water touches the top of my boots. One time I walked into the water without shoes so I could hear the voices better and the whole bottoms of my feet were stained black. I had to lie and tell Baba I had been playing in mud and forgot to wash off afterwards. I don’t like lying to Lala and Baba, but the voices said I have to keep it a secret or else they won’t keep telling me their story. 

The water didn’t used to be all dark and icky. It used to be really pretty and blue, but then the clouds started crying black tears and kids started disappearing and everyone got scared. I think the sea is sad because no one goes to swim in it anymore and that’s why it changed colours. Everyone in the village is scared of it, but I’m not scared. 

Lala and Baba have people over all the time now. There’s always somebody new in the kitchen when I come home from school. Lala bakes cookies all the time so that her and Baba’s friends have something to eat while they talk, and I always steal a few for me and Todd to snack on outside while I do my homework. The cookies are nice, but Lala and Baba’s friends always look so sad. They all have the same line between their eyebrows, like somebody pinched them really hard and the skin is too scared to relax. Everyone in the village is scared like that. I used to buy oranges for Baba on my way home from school every day because they’re his favourite, but I can’t buy them anymore. Now, all of the shops close while the sun is still in the sky. 

The grocer was one of the people in Lala’s kitchen a few days ago. He looked super upset. Lala and Baba and him stopped talking when I walked in the room, but I could tell that he was crying. Ellie—that’s his daughter—wasn’t in school yesterday. I usually play dragons with her at recess, but she was gone so I had to play by myself. I don’t really talk to the other kids that much. They’re all boring. They don’t like playing make-believe. Ellie is a little bit boring too, but if I do almost all of the imagining and she just does a little bit, she’s really good at playing dragons. I hope she comes back soon so we can keep playing. 

The voices don’t talk to any of the other kids as much as they talk to me. They told me I’m their favourite, that I’m the best listener. They save all of their most special stories for me. I am a good listener. Lala told me so too, except she also said I’m only a good listener when I have my mouth closed long enough to listen. I guess I talk a lot. The voices don’t mind, though. They told me more of their story last night, and then I told them about Todd and Lala’s cookies and Ellie being gone so I can’t play dragons with her anymore. I guess they could tell I was sad about it, because then they said they would finish their story tonight. They said tonight’s the end. 

Baba would be so angry if he knew I was sneaking out to go to the water, but I have to know what happens next.