It had started out as a typical Friday night. Delicious fish dinner, followed up by a movie, courtesy of Netflix. On cue, I was asleep before 11:00 P.M. Only a couple LED lights lit the room, as the sound of air passing back and forth from my ventilator barely whispered in the darkness.
Must've been around 1:00 A.M. when I was awoken. I normally wake up every couple or so hours, but this time something was amiss.
"There it is again!" I thought, feeling a slight twinge of nervousness. There was a very soft voice that sounded like it was just above me, but it was so faint that I couldn't make out what the male-sounding voice was saying.
My eyes were accustomed enough to the darkness that I could tell if anyone was in my room. Then, the voice was gone. Thinking that I was just probably hearing things I tried to get back to sleep, but a few minutes later the fuzzy voice returned.
Once again, I strained my ears to try and understand what the voice was saying, while wondering if my room was being visited by a ghost. I figured it couldn't be God, since I'm sure He would want me to understand what He was conveying to me. The TV was off, as was my computer. What else could it be but a ghost?
Taking a deep breath, I reached over and turned on the lamp, not knowing whether or not this would illuminate the source of the mysterious voice. As my eyes grew accustomed to the soft glow from the light, I scanned the room for any sign of an apparition, then let out a quick half-hearted laugh as, not only was I the only person in the room, but the voice had also chosen to, once again, fade away.
Now, I consider myself as having a logical mind. Have always enjoyed figuring out problems and puzzles, so instead of panicking or thinking I had lost it, I tried to reason out the source of this mysterious visitor. The main problem was that now it was almost 1:30 A.M. and my drowsy brain wanted to get back to dreamland.
Reassuring myself that I would conquer this quandary in the morning, I turned over to turn off the light and, at that moment, the voice not only returned, but also showed its origin. Somehow, and another mystery to figure out, my solar power flashlight - AM/FM radio had been turned on. The volume must’ve been so low that, maybe when a commercial came on, it was louder than the set volume of the radio station's regular programming. And, to why it sounded like it was above me? Well, that is because I can only hear about 50% from my left ear, so my right ear picked up more of the sound.
Laughing with relief, and at myself, I turned off the radio and gratefully worked on getting back to sleep.
Across my room, the LED light from my backup ventilator barely captured a tiny silhouette as it sank back into the darkness.
"That will teach you to feed me late!" the betta fish known as Mack expressed with a malicious grin. As he went back to his favorite spot behind a coral figurine, he started to plan his next diabolical prank, just in case his manservant messes up again on feeding time.
The room was once again peaceful, as the manservant named Mark dreamed of faraway places, completely unaware of what dangers may lay ahead, as Mack's evil laugh faded away with the night.
