It was around eight in the afternoon when Aaron got the call.
As with all weekdays, he was studying at his desk, adhering to the strict schedule he had set for himself. Since it was the seven to nine o’clock interval on a Wednesday, he was working his way through his statistics homework. Being a very organized person was something he took a lot of pride in. Before that day, he hardly ever broke his schedule. Elsie once joked that he might have OCD, but he simply responded with, “I don’t like to self-diagnose.” Humor wasn’t one of his strong-suits. Wit and sarcasm flew over his head like a kite.
It was mid-November, so there was a light drizzle outside. The raindrops tapped against Aaron’s window at a steady tempo, but despite this, he had been listening to “5 Hours of Ambient Rain Sounds” on YouTube. The real rain was nice, but he always felt that there was a subtle difference between that and the YouTube version that helped him focus better. There wasn’t.
The phone buzzed in thirty-second intervals; it buzzed, went silent, buzzed again. It slowly made its way towards the edge of the desk, and Aaron only acknowledged its presence when it finally fell to the floor. He reached down to pick it up, and after scanning for cracks and confirming there weren’t any, tapped the green “Accept” button. It was Elsie.
Aaron raised the phone to his ear and gave his obligatory irritated greeting, “Hey.”
“Hey Ron,” Elsie said calmly, “What’s up?”
Aaron set his phone to speaker mode and set it on his desk before returning to work.
“Not much. Just studying. Got that stats test tomorrow morning, remember?”
“I don’t, actually.” She paused. “You know, you take forever to pick up your phone. I tried calling like six times.”
“Yeah, well, you know how I am,” Aaron muttered as he blazed through his practice problems, “I just get so invested in my work, you know?”
“Mhm. You sure you weren’t just blasting your ‘Ambient Rain Sounds’ again?”
“Of course not,” he shot back, “I listen to classical music when I study.”
Aaron had a tendency to lie. They were small, inconsequential lies most of the time: the color of his socks, the type of cheese in his sandwich, things like that. He wasn’t sure why he did it, but it was a bad habit that he knew he needed to get rid of.
“You’re such a liar,” she chuckled, “I saw you checking your Spotify wrapped last year and your top artist was ‘White Noise for Babies.’”
“That’s-”
She cut him off. “What, you’re gonna say that ‘White Noise for Babies’ is the name of some quirky indie band I’ve never heard of?” She cleared her throat as if preparing for a speech. “Ahem!‘Well, actually, Elsie, “White Noise for Babies” is one of the most influential new acts of the 2020s. I'm surprised you didn’t know about their- their hit single-’” She tried to hold off her laughter, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry… Give me a minute… um, ‘their hit single-’ pfft!”
Aaron couldn’t help but reciprocate with a slight giggle. “God, you’re so mean. I don’t sound like that at all.”
“Oh yes you do. Remember when you tried to mansplain Animal Collective to me?”
He tensed up at the memory. “Please don’t bring that up again.”
“See? You know I’m right.”
Without taking his eyes and hands away from the papers in front of him, he changed the subject. “So…”
“So?”
“Why did you call? Just to bully me?”
He was grinning. His focus had shifted from seventy percent work, thirty percent conversation to a more balanced ratio of fifty on both sides. His pencil slowed significantly.
“Um, it’s a little more complicated than that.”
Elsie went silent for a moment.
She sighed, “I think it would be better to talk about this in person, actually. Can you head down to Liam Johnson Park?”
“The one behind the school?”
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“Right now.”
Aaron glanced outside the window, noting that the rain had intensified from a light drizzle to a downpour. “It’s a little late, don’t you think? Might not be the most optimal time to do this.”
“It’s the only chance I’ll get. You’ll see when you get here.”
He tittered. “Why so cryptic?”
“Um,” she paused again, then tsked, “I wanted to drop the big reveal when you got here, but…”
Aaron put down his pencil and waited for her to continue. “Yeah?”
“I’ve been freaking out about it for the past week and I… I really just need someone to talk to. I’ve been branded.”
______________
Various articles and news reports from the past year or so flashed in Aaron’s mind as he approached Liam Johnson Park.
Clutching his umbrella tightly against the wind, he recalled random headlines in no particular order: “Mysterious ‘Wrist Ring’ Confuses Scientists,” “Supposedly Supernatural ‘Brand’ Appears on Two More People,” “‘Branded’ Individual Vanishes.” He somehow remembered all of their names too. Kevin Garcia, 15. Eileen Chang, 15. Serena Harrison, 17. All in their late teens. All gone within a week of being branded. No other pattern.
Using the streetlights as a guide, Aaron turned a corner past the school and kept walking until his destination was in view. An old, rotted wooden sign assured him that he was in the right place. Some of the letters were faded, so it read “L am Johns n Park,” and in smaller text underneath: “Since 17 8.” It had been heavily vandalized too, with vulgar words and symbols that made Aaron feel disgusting just reading them.
A little further in the distance was a small bench sheltered by a tree. It was illuminated by a single street lamp that cast a perfect circle of light around it. Elsie sat there with no umbrella, her only protection being the maroon hoodie she was wearing. The drawstrings were pulled so tight that it concealed half of her face. Her crossed arms hugged her torso. The stillness of her sitting on the bench looked striking against the violent shaking of everything else around her. Eventually, she looked up and waved at Aaron, who hopped over two small puddles as he advanced towards the bench. She loosened the drawstrings and pulled off her hood when his umbrella came over her head.
“So,” Elsie started as Aaron took a seat next to her, “You wanna see it?”
“If you don’t mind,” he replied. He still wasn’t sure if it was a prank or not.
He watched as Elsie slowly rolled up her right sleeve, revealing a pitch-black ring circled around her wrist. It was so dark that it seemed like there was a gap of nothingness between where her hand and arm connected. The kind of black that couldn’t be faked, just like Kevin, Serena, and Eileen had. Aaron’s jaw dropped.
“I-I thought you were joking,” he stammered, still processing what he was looking at.
Elsie let out a nervous laugh, “Yeah, I wish.”
Aaron couldn’t take his eyes off the brand. “I don’t know what to say.”
“That’s okay.” Elsie lowered her arm and let her sleeve fall, concealing the brand again. “I don’t need you to comfort me or tell me it’s okay or that I’ll find a way out of it. I just wanted to talk for a bit. At least one more time.”
Aaron turned his gaze to his feet. “You seem awfully calm about it.”
“Well, I guess I am now.” Elsie sighed, “I noticed it last Thursday when I got up in the morning. I tried to wash it off in the shower for an hour. Used literally every soap I could find in the house, and it didn’t fade even a little bit. I got in so much trouble that day because I also decided to skip school to cry in my room the whole day.” She chuckled, “I used every excuse in the book to try and justify why I had it. Maybe someone pranked me with permanent ink. Maybe I just slept on it in a weird position. None of them added up, no matter how much I tried to lie to myself.
“I got angry, and I needed something to get angry at, so I turned to religion. I directed my anger at a god I no longer believed in. I cursed him for what was happening to me while I sobbed for hours, and then at some point, I started to beg for mercy. I was so desperate.”
Elsie’s smile didn’t falter despite the grave nature of her words. Aaron continued to stare at his shoes and couldn’t stop himself from shaking. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold or because of what Elsie was telling him.
She continued, “Eventually, I gave up and locked myself in my room. It was like the five stages of grief, kinda. Except where I am now is less 'acceptance' than it is indifference. Like, I can be happy if I just kind of act like it isn’t there, but not in a denial kind of way. More like a… ‘I don’t care’ kind of way, I think.”
She turned her head in Aaron’s direction and smirked, “Hey, look at me. This isn’t like you. Say something pretentious like you always do, come on.”
Aaron turned his head slightly, just barely enough to meet her gaze, but he could hardly hold eye contact for a second. His lower-lip quivered. He thought about it for a bit, what the “right” way to respond would be, averting his eyes to retreat into his memory. He desperately tried to find a similar situation to use as a reference point. The closest thing was when Elsie’s cat went missing in seventh grade. Her family had only had it for a week before it disappeared from their lives. When Elsie told him, he just said, “Maybe pick one that likes you next time.” In retrospect, he thought the way he responded was very unempathetic, but Elsie just wiped away her tears and laughed back.
This trip down memory lane felt like an eternity, but, in reality, it only lasted three seconds. Aaron felt like he was backed into a corner. The words echoed in his mind: next time.
Now, when he opened his mouth again, his voice started to crack. “I’m so sorry, that must have been so awful. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you… I had no idea… I’m so stupid… I thought you were just out sick-”
Elsie grabbed his shoulder with her right hand and used her left to force his chin in her direction, “I already told you, it’s okay. Nobody could’ve seen this coming. It’s not my fault, it’s not yours, and it sure as hell isn’t the fault of some stupid god. I just got unlucky. Same as a lot of other people. Some are born with Huntington's disease and have to live with the fact that they’ll die in their thirties. Some find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time and get into an accident. My case might be, um, a little unconventional but it isn’t any different, right?”
“But that doesn’t make it right,” Aaron objected. His eyes had become visibly damp.
Elsie tightened her grip. “Sure, but there isn’t really anything I can do about it. These are the cards I’ve been dealt. Whether it’s ‘right’ or not I can’t cheat the game. Besides, I don’t even know if it’ll kill me. Maybe I’ll get sent to some cool fantasy land or something.”
The wind carried the umbrella away, dragging it away from the circle of light and effectively making it disappear into the night. With no more protection, the rain started to shower them, drenching their hair and making tears indistinguishable from raindrops. Elsie slowly loosened her grip on Aaron’s shoulder before letting go. They both returned to their original positions and absorbed the white noise for a few moments.
“Hey, wanna change the subject?” Elsie asked, cutting the moment short.
“Yeah,” Aaron responded, still choked up. He thought about it for a little bit, and when he noticed her airpods he decided on what to say. “What are you listening to?”
Elsie took out her right airpod and extended her arm, offering it to him, “See for yourself.”
Aaron picked up the airpod and stuck it into his right ear. When he realized what the song was, he brightened up, smiling for the first time since he left his house. “Really? Phoebe Bridgers?”
Elsie snickered. “What? She’s a quirky indie artist, right up your alley.”
Aaron shook his head. “I don’t know, she kind of puts me to sleep.”
“Yeah?” Elsie scoffed, “Says the person whose top artist on Spotify is White Noise for Babies.”
“Oh my god, shut up.” Aaron giggled, clutching his stomach, “You’re never going to let me live that one down, are you?”
They stopped talking again and sat still, listening to the song in one ear and the rain in the other. The storm wasn’t getting any better, but it didn’t bother either of them. Heavy raindrops attacked their heads and bodies, but they were completely unmoved. Aaron started to grow drowsy as Elsie closed her eyes and started to sing: “So I had to go, I know, I know, I know…”
By the time the song was over, Aaron was fast asleep, and, when he woke up the next morning, he found himself alone on the bench. He called the school to let them know that he would be absent for a couple of days, and that he would make up his stats test at a later time. He wasn’t feeling well.
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