"Oh, Anna…!" Ethan's voice rolled through the speakers, soft at first, then curling into a laugh that didn't quite sound human anymore. It was too measured. Too aware.
Anna sat stiffly in her chair, her fingers hovering over the console. The studio lights suddenly felt too bright, the air too thin.
"What do you want?" she asked, her tone sharper than she intended.
On the other side of the glass, Thompson leaned forward, whispering urgently, "Keep him talking."
Ethan exhaled slowly, almost like he was savoring the moment. "You got the message, didn't you? So speak to me with a little love… and maybe some advice." A pause. Then, casually, "The police will never catch me. They shouldn't waste their time."
Anna's jaw tightened. "What….Do you want?"
"My story." His voice softened, almost intimate now. "I want people to hear my story." Then suddenly, his tone shifted…mocking, amused. "And why are you acting up? I already gave you a warning. Beep beep… viewers no…no….listeners discretion is advised, remember?"
"Entertain him, Anna," Thompson murmured again. "You know he can do anything."
Anna swallowed. "Continue from where you left off… so we can end this."
"End?" Ethan chuckled, low and dangerous. "I'll think about it. But for now… I'll tell you everything."
There was a long silence,then
"Ah!!! How dare you make me a culprit by saying I killed them?" His laughter burst through, sharp and unsettling. "Actually… I liked that thought. Fascinating, really. That you saw me that way."
Anna's fingers trembled slightly.
"And oh, Anna…" His voice dropped to a whisper. "Yes. I did. I killed them."
A sharp intake of breath escaped her.
"The police already have another piece of evidence against me. But it wasn't my fault." His tone hardened. "They made me do it."
"Who?" Anna asked quietly.
"They kidnapped me."
The room froze.
"They tortured me… until I became what you're so afraid of." His voice cracked just slightly, just enough to sound real. "Should I tell you how?"
Anna hesitated
Then whispered, "Yes."
Flashback
"Sir, we need to run! It's not safe anymore they're coming!"
The world was noise.
Gunfire ripped through the air like tearing fabric. Smoke blurred everything into shadows and ghosts. Ethan stumbled forward, boots dragging through mud and blood that no longer felt different under his feet.
"Move! Move!" someone shouted, grabbing his arm.
They ran.
Not heroically. Not bravely. Just desperately.
They reached a broken stretch of land half forest, half ruin and collapsed behind what remained of a concrete wall.
"Set up here," another soldier ordered, breathing hard.
For a moment… there was silence.
Ethan blinked.
The war didn't end.
It just paused.
And even in that pause, it lived inside him.
Because war didn't leave people like him.
It followed.
It waited.
It changed form.
Now the battlefield was quieter.
Cleaner.
Controlled.
No bullets.
No explosions.
Just… breathing.
Too loud.
Too heavy.
Too real.
The soldiers sat scattered around, exhausted beyond words. No one spoke. No one laughed. Even their thoughts felt like too much effort.
Then...A click.
One of them turned on a radio.
Static filled the air.
Ethan flinched.
"Turn it off," someone muttered.
But then…
A voice
"Welcome to another exciting episode…"
Everything changed.
Ethan's head snapped up.
The voice was soft, Calm and Warm.
It didn't belong in a place like this.
It didn't belong in a world like his.
"Who is that?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
"Some radio host," the man replied, reaching to change the station.
"Wait." Ethan grabbed his wrist. "Don't."
The man frowned. "Why?"
Ethan didn't answer immediately.
Because he didn't understand it himself.
That voice… it cut through the noise in his head. It didn't silence the chaos but it gave him something else to hold onto.
"Can you… record this?" Ethan asked.
The others exchanged glances.
"You're serious?"
"Please." Something in his tone made them listen.
That night, Ethan didn't sleep.
He couldn't.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw faces. Heard screams. Felt the weight of decisions he could never undo.
So he played the recording.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Anna's voice filled the darkness.
Gentle.
Steady.
Alive.
And for the first time in weeks… Ethan slept.
It became his routine. The soldiers were trying to get backup or a rescue team but it fell like they were black listed as if they never existed
So they waited for their fate, thinking and trying to find their way home.
Every night, no matter how bad the day had been, what am I saying their day was boring and filled with fear of the unknown they had to be on watch every time but when others were troubled he listened, he Listened to Her voice which had became his escape.
His anchor.
His reminder that something good still existed out there for him and he has to find his way to this person.
"3567899067...…..your number will never leave my head"
Then one day…when he was listening to her, someone screamed
They found us….ran"
The war came back.
Not as a distant threat but as a storm crashing directly onto them.
Bullets tore through their camp.
Men dropped around him.
Chaos swallowed everything.
Ethan's hands shook as he reached for a phone.
He didn't think.
He just dialed.
It rang.
Once.
Twice.
Then
"Hello?"
Her voice.
Real this time.
Not recorded.
Not distant.
"Anna…" His voice broke. "I'm glad I met you."
There was a pause. "Who is this?"
"If I make it out alive…" he continued, ignoring the question, ignoring the gunfire around him. "I'll find you."
"Wait...…what's going on? Where are you.....?
The call cut.
Ethan lowered the phone.
Then he stood up.
And fought like he had something to return to.
Four soldiers made it home.
Yes Only four had survived and found their way home
Ethan was one of them.
But he didn't come back whole.
None of them did.
They filed complaints. Spoke out against their superiors. Tried to make sense of the mess they had survived.
But the war didn't leave Ethan.
It followed him into quiet rooms.
Into sleepless nights.
Into every breath.
Until one day
He heard it again.
That voice.
Not from a memory.
Not from a recording.
But from a passing radio.
He froze.
Slowly turned.
And there she was.
Anna.
Speaking into a microphone, unaware that she had once been the only thing keeping a stranger alive.
Ethan didn't hesitate.
He found her number.
"Your number changed, I have been calling and looking for you but finally" he said happily
And he called.
"Hello, this is Anna."
Ethan smiled for the first time in what felt like years.
"You saved me," he said.
Silence.
"I'm sorry?" she replied, confused.
"You don't know me. But you… you kept me alive."
There was something in his voice that made her listen.
Really listen.
"Your voice.... It sounds like the guy who…"
"Yes it was me….. you remembered" he was happy
And that's how it began.
They talked.
At first, it was cautious. Distant.
But slowly…
It became something else.
Something real.
"Tell me something no one else knows," Anna said one night.
Ethan hesitated.
Then whispered, "When it got too loud… I counted your words."
"My words?"
"Yeah. Every episode. I memorized them." He chuckled softly. "You always say 'Stay with me' exactly three times."
Anna smiled without realizing it. "That's… oddly specific."
"It kept me grounded."
There was a pause.
Then she said, "Then let me give you something better."
"What?"
"A word. Just ours."
Ethan leaned back, curious. "Alright."
"If you ever feel like you're slipping… or if everything gets too loud again… say this word. And I'll know you need me."
He closed his eyes.
"Okay. What is it?"
Anna took a breath.
"Solace."
Ethan repeated it slowly. "Solace…"
"It means comfort in the middle of chaos," she explained.
"Hahaha silly" he laughed softly
"I know what it means," he said quietly. "I just… never had it before."
"You do now."
From that moment on, the word became theirs.
A secret.
A lifeline.
They built something fragile.
Trust
Connection.
Hope.
Anna began to wait for his calls.
Ethan began to live for them.
And eventually…
They decided to meet.
But they never did.
Because before that could happen
Ethan was taken.
Back to reality
"They blindfolded me," Ethan's voice returned to the present, calm but heavy. "I don't even know how long I was there."
Anna's grip tightened on the desk.
"They didn't just hurt me physically… they broke things inside my head." His breathing slowed. "They made me relive everything. Over and over."
"You…" Anna whispered.
"They knew about you."
Her heart skipped.
"What do you mean?"
Flashback
One of the four betrayed the rest to save his life when the others refused to take back their complaint against the superiors, he told them all that happened in the war to them and they used every detail against them
Ethan found a way to call Anna again and again to apologize for ditching her but she never answered
Back to reality
During my torment I called my friend but she never answered, they found out she was my weakness
"They played her recordings. Twisted them. Turned her voice into something else." His voice trembled slightly. "They took the one thing that kept me sane… and used it against me."
A tear slipped down Anna's cheek.
"I tried to hold on," he continued. "I kept repeating the word she had said to me"
Anna's lips parted.
The room went completely silent.
"And it worked," he said softly. "At first."
"But then…" His tone darkened. "Even that started to break."
Anna shook her head. "No…"
"They turned me into something else, Anna." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Something that survives… no matter what it has to do."
A long pause.
Then
"I didn't want to become this."
Anna finally spoke, her voice trembling but steady. "Then don't be."
Silence.
"You still have a choice."
Ethan laughed quietly.
"Do I?"
"Yes," she said firmly. "You called me. You told your story. That means something."
Another pause.
Then, softer this time
"Solace…"
Anna closed her eyes.
"I'm here," she whispered.
"Do you remember now Anna"
For the first time since the call began…
Ethan said nothing.
And that silence felt more dangerous than anything he had said before.