Listen (Novella)

“Listen to many, speak to a few.”
William Shakespeare | Hamlet


***

Sunrise to sunset, the radio echoed through the empty rooms of the farmhouse and kept Marjorie Morris from drowning in loneliness. The comedy of Jack Benny and Bob Hope; the drama of The Guiding Light; news reports and Roosevelt’s fireside chats; and music, music, music. Marjorie loved it all. She and Joe even sat and listened to thrillers on Suspense and Lights Out before he’d shipped off overseas, but she had no nerve for spooky tales when she had to endure the dark nights on her own.
She waddled from her chair and turned off the radio with a click of the knob. The day’s chatter silenced, she could now hear a wrathful November wind howling against the house. She rubbed at the lump of appendage protruding from her rounded belly, seven months along and taut as a drum, then wrapped her sweater around it tightly and climbed the stairs to bed.
* * *
That night she dreamed of a picnic. An old woolen blanket was spread beneath the soft green tendrils of the willow tree at the edge of the pond, past their barn and opposite the fields. She lounged, eating an apple, and watched the baby no longer in her belly as it cooed on its back and watched the willow branches sway in the breeze. A voice carried in by that same wind called her name in the lightest of whispers.
Marjorie, Marjorie, Marjorie.
Joe’s voice.
She looked around in the dream but could not see his face.
She opened her eyes to blackness, and a crackling reached her. A sound that, once she was free of the haze of sleep, she recognized as static from the radio in the sitting room. She was sure she’d turned it off before going to bed.
The hardwood floor, cold beneath Marjorie’s feet, creaked as she descended the stairs. She held tight to the railing for balance, not trusting her pregnant gait to keep her upright so soon after waking from the smothering clouds of deep dreaming. Moonlight from the sitting room window transformed the sofa, armchairs, and tables into hulking demons crouching in wait. Marjorie’s heart thudded. Stop being such a silly girl, she told herself as she entered the room and approached the radio in the corner.
The radio hissed and popped in nearly intelligible whispers. In her fretful imagination, Marjorie pictured the consciousness of souls long dead riding electromagnetic waves across the skies and into her home, spirits perhaps as lonely for someone to talk to as she was. The hairs on her arms stood at attention, and she reached for the knob to silence the static.
The tuning needle jumped on its own, and Marjorie flinched as the sudden volume of Vera Lynn’s voice filled the room, crooning in a melancholy voice like slow-dripping honey how she’ll meet her sweetheart again someday.
Her eyes flooded with tears as she remembered the last day she had spent with Joe. They’d shared a simple lunch of ham sandwiches at the small table in the kitchen, a tense silence between them with so much to say but neither of them finding the words. When this song came on, Joe stood and held out his hand and they’d danced to it in the kitchen, clinging to each other like they were drowning. That was May. They hadn’t even known about the baby growing inside of her yet.
Through blurry tears, movement outside the window caught Marjorie’s eye. The figure of a man sitting on the porch steps silhouetted by the moonlight. Shock mingled with delight flooded through her as she ran to the front door and yanked it open...."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - "Listen (Eerie Radio_The 1940s)" contains five incredibly good short stories, all revolving around weird radio transmissions, set during the WWII. The first story, "I’ll Not Forget You, Sweetheart" by Rachel M. Shannon was a simply stunning doppelganger story, with a fantastic ending. "Can You Survive the Night in a Haunted Tube Station?" by Mason Hawthorne was creepy, unpredictable, and atmospheric; it's literally about what the title says. "Artie, Can You Hear Me?" by Samantha Arthurs was a creepy ghost story, deeply insightful into PTSD. Trigger for unaliving. "Our Splendid Loves" by R.C. Capasso was an utterly riveting and very subtle tale about a wife never taking seriously the supernatural warnings about her husband. Finally, "Red Rover, Red Rover" by Trevor James Zaple, was a remarkablw war story, full of dread on many levels. A great and haunting anthology, my third favorite in the six-volume Sinister Century series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review." -Milt Theo (Goodreads Review)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - ""WWII Era Radio Vibes - 5 Solid Supernatural Stories

Sinister Century book 2 is themed around 1940s radio, and includes 5 solid supernatural stories. Full disclosure - I wrote the story that kicks off the collection. I'm really proud of how this one turned out, and thrilled to be a part of this series of excellent stories written by such talented authors.

'I'll Not Forget You, Sweetheart' by Rachel M Shannon (that's me) - While her husband Joe is fighting in the Pacific, Marjorie Morris staves off loneliness in her too-quiet farmhouse by listening to the radio. When Joe returns unexpectedly just before the arrival of their firstborn, the radio whispers that what came home to her may not be the man she loves.

'Can You Survive the Night in a Haunted Tube Station?' by Mason Hawthorne - A man with the alias Blue enters a radio-sponsored contest to spend a night in an abandoned tube station, reportedly the site of a tragedy during the Blitz. The night will reveal whether the haunting is a hoax, or a horror. A nice, spooky slow burn.

'Artie, Can You Hear Me?' by Samantha Arthurs - Young Artie returns after fighting in Europe injured, shell-shocked, and in need of escape from the loud chaos of the city. He finds the quiet of his aunt's lake house the balm that he needs, but then the voices from the radio begin addressing him. A poignant and sad ghost story of survivor's guilt.

'Our Splendid Loves' by RC Capasso - newlywed Ginny likes to listen to her favorite radio program as she goes about her household chores. She becomes disturbed, however, when the soapy romance starts to take darker turns.

'Red Rover, Red Rover' by Trevor James Zaple - Jimmy Kowalski's Marine unit is standing by on Echo Island, within visual distance of the fighting on nearby Guadalcanal. A mysterious voice on the radio starts calling the men, one by one, to come into the jungle. Super creepy, with a great ending." -Rachel (Amazon Review)