Every couple of months a few writers gather together to create a series of Tandem Blog Posts. What this means this time is that seven of us – Nick Frost, Trevor Black, Megan Furniss, Ashley Visagie, Dave Luis, Candice D’Arcy and myself – all received the same title a week ago – The Missing Voice – and the idea is that each of us will create a post inspired by that title with a link to the next person’s post and you are invited to read all seven [or as many as you can get through] and we would LOVE it if you have a moment to write an impression/thought/response/encouragement in the comments section below the post you read… This is going to be a four week series and we all hope that you will enjoy it very much – if there is a story/piece you particularly enjoy, feel free to SHARE it across your social media platforms…

THE MISSING VOICE

Zach carefully stuck his head out. He looked nervously around, up and down the road, and then once more, making sure there was no one in sight. When he was completely convinced that it was just him, he quietly walked around the corner, on tip-toes so as to lessen the sound his feet were making on the gravelly path, and looked for a place to hide. ‘Back to the wall of the building’, he thought. probably the safest place for him to be.

There was an out-of-place strange double-step at the side of the chapel, that didn’t seem to lead anywhere, but he didn’t give it a second thought as it seemed like the perfect place to plop himself down. Which he did. It wasn’t particularly comfortable. But it was somewhere to be.

Freedom! How long before anyone noticed? He really didn’t care right now. There was a big chance that with so many people they may not even notice at all. But he would deal with that later if he had to. For now he was safe. The thought made him a lot happier than it should have. A lone ‘C’ played on a slightly out-of-tune piano somewhere not too far behind him, seemed to signal an unspoken agreement with him.

Zach reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. No messages. No new notifications. Yup, that seemed about right. He looked around to take in his surroundings. Trees, some grass, a few scattered clouds in the sky. Done. He looked at his phone again… Nothing.

He sighed out loud and let the sound of it linger in the air. He liked the sound of that so he did it again, this time letting the sigh go on as long as he could. And one more time, trying to beat his record. “I am your father, Luke,” he whispered out loud in a really bad Darth Vader impression. “Luke, turn to the dark side.” He let out a short giggle at his own impression.

Zach listened to his own breath as he heavily breathed in, filling up his lungs to capacity. ‘They haven’t even started yet,’ he thought. ‘Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…’

And back to his phone. He played three levels of Fruit Bonanza, clicking on the same colour fruit to make rows disappear, only to be replaced again with different coloured fruit. Level 67 was turning out to be his nemesis. He gave it one last try and then angrily snapped his phone shut.

Zach looked up at the sky again and noticed that the clouds had shifted slightly. He tried to visualise complex creatures contained in the patterns he saw, but the best he could come up with was swimming puppy. And even that was missing a limb. Bad day for cloud formations. He let out another long sigh.

He should have brought someone with him. But who? The rest of them were a bunch of goody two-shoes who thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the ordeal, especially the performance. He couldn’t think of a single one who would have dared join him today, mostly for fear of missing out on the show. And it was a show, Zach didn’t care what anyone said about it being otherwise. ‘A chance to use your gifts to bless the other boys in the school.’ Screw that, it was a show. Everyone knew it was all about being picked to do one of the solo parts. And that clearly had not been him.

He picked up a small pebble and aimed it at the small statue of an angel that was standing guard over a flower bed far to his left. Not even close. He tried another. Better strength, but his angle was still far off. The third stone went right over its head. The fourth one was way short again. He gave up.

As he closed his eyes to help pass time, he started to feel the heat of the sun that had been slowly inching its way to his step. Zach pulled off his blazer and lay it across his legs, shielding them. ‘Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot.’ “Hot!”

Phone? Nothing.

And as he let out another long sigh, finally, in the building behind him, he caught the strains of his fellow grade tens, beginning their very first song…

= = = = = = = = = =

 

That was my interpretation of ‘The Missing Voice’. Please make sure you check out Candice D’arcy’s story which you can find by clicking here.

We will all be back next week for another round of Tandem Blog posting. Try and read as many of them as you can…

What did you think of this one?