50 — Making Waves

And then all hell broke loose.

I mean, more hell broke loose. The more the merrier, right? What was even merrier than that?

Imagine yourself in a private boat out in the sea, sunbathing and drinking coconut juice. Now, imagine that you've received the news of a massive tidal wave headed your way and there's absolutely zero possibility to escape and live.

Your last wish, just before the wave crashes onto your little boat and sweeps you to your death would likely be that the wave was, at the very least, a massive motherfucker. Like one of those real hefty waves that should be the stuff of legends.

Calista, Freya and I, within moments of the song's release, minutes perhaps, watched as the streamed count went from zero to literally hundreds, thousands, then hundreds of thousands. What took my previous song a full day or two, the new one barely gave me minutes of respite before all manner of buzz surrounded it.

"Holy fuck."

I was in awe.

"I feared this would happen..." Freya's low-spirited voice came out. She had obviously heard the mastered song prior to its public release, and her reaction had been a mute one. I thought she'd have a spark of disapproval, at least, but from beginning to end, not a single word had come out of her mouth until now. She finally looked at me. "Is this what you wanted?"

Not the first time someone asked me a variation of the same question, which just goes to show how absolutely batshit insane this had become.

My mind was swirling.

Freya stood up from her chair and, at a gentle, calm pace, walked out of the room.

She did so without any semblance of anger or judgment.

I felt my shoulders slump as she left.

I turned to look at Calista, who refused to return any of my stares. Freya wasn't happy, and neither was Calista. Neither Willow, for that matter, though she wasn't here to share her displeasure.

And there was probably an abundance of the same sentiment with my other sisters as well.

I was being selfish. I couldn't deny the truth in that.

But my motivations were neither egoism nor self-indulgence. You could argue that I was doing it for a greater cause, to bring the system of this world down to its knees, or whatever. But I could no more call myself a revolutionary than any random man in a world where social equality was not yet a thing. It might be on its way to become a thing; I wanted it to become a thing.

I'll let myself be elevated on a cross and thrown on a heap of burning rubble if it means reaching that destination.

Just for the sake of transparency and efficiency, I snapped a quick text to Valeria as well, telling her that the song had gone live.

xXx

Sarah was an ordinary student at an ordinary university. An average looker on a good day, with long black hair and dark-colored, serious eyes, she couldn't really stand out. At a party, her choice of fashion didn't reflect the current trends, not that she had ever gone to a party.

She did hear though that someone on campus was throwing a party and that a boy would be there—that was the latest gossip that rippled across school. 

As for Sarah herself, she didn't even consider ever going. If even top performers and stunning beauties like Jessica were struggling to get a date, much less a boyfriend, why did she think she could do it when even the former could not.

The simple reality is that when a person's mind has never considered the notion of anything remotely extraordinary, that person's behavior is defined by the habits and stereotypes of a species on the brink of extinction—the loser, the creepy, the weirdo and whatever other labels had been stuck on her over the course of her entire life.

It would've been a lie to say that this lifestyle hadn't festered some resentment and animosity in Sarah towards the world. Everything was just so boring and predictable—day by day the same schedule, the same dull faces, and the same unremarkable topics to talk about.

To begin, let's acknowledge the elephant in the room.

The problem: men.

Men were so scarce, and were growing even more so that she believed she'd live to see the day they went extinct right in front of her eyes.

While women could find a way to reproduce among themselves, a world without males didn't sound interesting at all, especially not to a healthy young woman.

She hated the world for it, and also hated it for not enjoying the colors of a pride flag. At least in that case, she could've fully satisfied her urge of sexual gratification and romance. 

Not even that popular streamer that cosplayed as a male, talked like a male—made her entire online persona based around being a fake man—made the cut for her. 

After all, despite the outside glamor, at the core the girl was still just another female.

"You're not coming with us, Sarah?"

She was approached by one of her classmates as she was picking up her stuff to leave.

"Oh, are you guys heading to the party tonight?"

The girl nodded, smiling broadly.

She had a full set of bright teeth, and she used them to make one of the widest, friendliest grins. "Yes! We are."

This was Emily. Emily, like many others around the school, were making plans for the upcoming party hosted at the apartment block just off of campus. A mega party with a male! What was not to love about such an occasion, honestly?

"Hey, yeah... no." Sarah mumbled. "Thanks, but no, thanks, sorry."

Emily cocked her head to one side. "I think it'd be a good opportunity for you as well. I don't know who said it, or why it even became a rumor, but people have been saying the male will definitely appear tonight. In fact, there might be more than one as well..."

"... that's... not... true, is it?"

Emily chuckled. "Who knows? But with so many people joining, it seems reasonable to conclude he will join, don't you think? I've heard that Jonas is also thinking of showing up since Chris is his friend, and he's likely coming to protect him from us. But it should be fun, and everyone wants to try getting his attention. Wouldn't it be worth it? You might as well just go with us, too, you know."

Sarah lowered her gaze back to the backpack she had in her hands, gently tightening her hold of its straps. "What's the purpose? They'll never look at girls like us... anyway, I'm going home..."

"......"

Emily slowly lost her friendly grin, nodding quietly. "Okay."

She left not too long after, along with others in their class. Sarah left as well, inadvertently bumping into a girl she never quite spoke to. "Oh, I'm sorry." She apologized, briefly looking at that long fringe that covered the girl's eyes. Ah, the quiet one in her class. An invisible presence that just... lingered there, at the back of the class without ever raising her hand or speaking at all.

She thought the girl had even emptier eyes than herself, except that when she tilted her head up to look at Sarah, now there was a vibrant spark within.

A will to live.

The latter nodded, arms around her books, and scurried away without uttering a single word, though she did take a second look at Sarah.

"......"

...

Back at home, Sarah felt so empty.

Lonely, most of all.

Her mother rarely contacted her nowadays. A strained relationship between the two, as her own mother was also fighting off crippling depression that affected nearly all people, at one degree or the other.

Sarah was also battling her own demons, though whether the ones that plagued her were as intense as her mothers, she couldn't really tell.

To be lonely for this long, she had already forgotten what it was like not to be. Even with a smattering of friends at school, she still felt like she was suffocating inside her own skin. 

A bleak prospect for the future, with a school workload that she couldn't keep up with, with a face that no one would give the time of day to, and an environment where everything was always stale, always stagnant.

She was losing interest in everything. She couldn't find a purpose to pursue in school or in life. Her existence had, more or less, fallen into apathy.

And on a typical Wednesday night like this, all she had done was spend the evening alone in her room, watching movies.

Nothing else to do but stay there, feeling nothing, eating nothing, sleeping a full eight hours of her depressing life, before having the privilege of doing everything all over again tomorrow.

Sarah briefly considered ending it all right then and there. Life had no value anymore, to begin with.

Why bother.

'Death is better than this, isn't it?'

Her eyes didn't blink once as she stared at the TV, until the continuous unblinking made her eyes tear up.

It was only the notification ringing of her phone that tore her attention away. She expected another text from her mom, or a friend, instead it was a link from an unknown number. 'A virus? A scam, maybe? Are we even supposed to respond to those texts anymore?'

Deleting and ignoring the whole thing would've been the obvious, saner reaction to get, and she would've done just that, if only she wasn't the tiniest bit curious as to what it could've been. 

Besides, after looking a little better at the unregistered number and the lack of a profile picture, she managed to find who it was because the same number was registered in the class group chat.

'What could it be?'

Her index finger slid up, then paused, then repeated the action and tapped the link before she could change her mind. It was the click of a lifetime, in this case, and one would've hoped it wasn't the type that led to a 404 page or even a pop-up spammer, but what was about to ensue would truly send Sarah's entire worldview upside-down and give her a brand-new purpose.

The link redirected her towards a song that started to immediately play the moment the page loaded.

"Die for You...?"

She mumbled the title out loud just as a hypnotizing beat began. She figured it was a woman's song, by the title alone, but her interest had been picked by the dreamy sound. 

She didn't bother changing the volume or putting on her earphones. As a result, when a soft male's voice rang in the speakers and his pitch drifted in perfect synchronization with the melody, Sarah jolted on her bed, scrambling to untangle her headphones and immediately hooking them up with a bated breath.

'Oh... fuck...'

Everybody had their breaking point.

The earphones cushions were rammed so aggressively into her ears that the bassline was directly stimulating her brain's g-spot.

The melodic lines were addictive.

There was no doubt, the voice of the singer could enchant an angel, and the lyrical content, especially when it climbed with the chorus, left her speechless. Was it really a man singing this? 

There were many fakes around, but they'd always have this artificial, pitch-flipped sort of sound, while this sounded perfectly natural.

Her mouth wouldn't even open.

Where did this devilish voice come from? 

Where have you been my whole life!?

For the first time in the year, in Sarah's dull life, her heartbeat had spiked.

Sarah lay down, head on the pillow, eyes to the ceiling, hands pressing on her ears as if to shove the singer's voice as deep as it would go.

The final keynotes rang, and she immediately rewound the song back to the beginning.

By the third loop, Sarah had tears in her eyes.

By the fifth, she turned off all lights and let herself be consumed by darkness.

After her sixth, seventh and eighth listening, Sarah no longer kept count. She ended up skipping class the next day.

Please considering supporting me on Patreon (and get access to 8 chapters ahead and the first 2 chapters of my newest Xianxia/RSM story 'Battle Through Reverse Morals')

Discord -> Discord