Headphones

'On May 17th, 2015, at approximately 22:40pm, the dead bodies of Colleen and Leon Hansen were discovered alongside a diary and a set of pink, circumaural headphones (of which brand remains unknown) in a ruined, ransacked home on the outskirts of a small rural town in Illinois by police, who were called to the scene by a neighbour concerned by ‘muffled screams’ and ‘banging and crashing’ coming from the house. This diary is believed to have been owned by the couple’s missing 14-year-old daughter, Samantha Hansen. The following are the only entries in said diary found by police investigators, with the last being incomplete as a consequence of the manner in which she vanished.'

May 14th, 2015
Dear Diary,

It’s nice to have someone you can rant with (or to), letting out all your frustrations and irritations at/to someone without getting screamed at. That’s why I’m using you instead of some stupid pillow or stress ball that the others in my class use. I mean Sharon (the head of my anger management meetings/classes/sessions) is the expert, and she gave it to me for free, so who am I to complain? Anyway, since then she also recommended I try using headphones. Wraparound headphones. You know-the ones a DJ often wears, with a wireless connection. Mine are a bit cheap-looking and a nice shade of pink. I got them today from Dad, who bought them from some ‘friend at work’, and they work great! I can easily change the volume and pause videos just by pressing one of the bright little buttons on the side. The audio is crystal-clear, which helps blocking out the ambient sounds of passing cars outside my window, the wind, lawnmowers and all the other annoying crap that just ticks me off so easily. For example, last night I thought I was free to have peace and quiet to myself while Mom and Dad were out for the night, but nope! Some dumb bird or something had to smack into my window; whatever it was, it was loud. Really loud. And guess what? Some tall, lanky creep in a hoodie and bottoms stood there smirking at me in response to seeing me nearly shit myself. Oh yeah, comedy gold that. Wouldn’t surprise me if the asshole threw something off my window. Seriously though, the headphones are perfect, but it is odd that there aren’t any brand logos or anything on them, and that there is a slight bit of static every now and then. Dad says the guy handed them to him in a plain cardboard box, claiming he made them himself; a bit far-fetched knowing the people Dad works with, but whatever. The music I’ve been suggested is great and all; maybe I should try other songs? They’re my headphones now after all, so I should be free to listen to whatever come up on my playlist and block out the noise.

May 15th, 2015
Dear Diary,

Mom and Dad are saying I shouldn’t wear them all the time and have the volume so high, but I can always still hear them if they’re calling for me...I think. Usually it’s just sounds like muffled shouting or monotone mumbling into a pillow, but I can typically make out what they say. I stayed up late last night with the clasped around my ears, and they help me sleep too-they mute the sounds of clattering metal, howling winds and the rustling of leaves and litter around my house. Mom and Dad argued again today, over God knows what now, but my headphones ensure that I won't hear enough to care, so it's not too bad. They’ve been getting worse and worse though, but at least I can block out all the ranting and rowing to the best of my ability with these headphones. They even argued last night again, which they’ve been doing a lot recently, yet they always seem to forgive each other so easily. It’s pretty pathetic to be honest, but I wouldn’t care, since marriage isn’t really my thing. I don’t fancy ending up in a relationship like Mom’s. Too much trouble, I say. A bunch of little shits, probably seventh-graders, were screaming their asses off outside my window last night, so again I had to resort to my headphones. Then Dad went on a rant with Mom about that co-worker of his who gave me the headphones, something I couldn’t really make out, but they sounded relieved from the faint mumbling I heard. At one point I swore they mentioned the name “Miller”, which is one of my friend’s surnames. I guess I’ll ask Tara tomorrow since she’s seeing a movie tonight. At least Mom and Dad are starting to agree on stuff again.

May 16th, 2015
Dear Diary,

Tara says her Dad doesn’t work with electronics at home or anywhere else, and since our families haven’t met, that rules out that possibility. I asked Dad today about the guy who gave me the headphones, but he wouldn’t talk about it, because he’s an asshole who doesn’t like me asking him about his job. He’s always been so secretive and private that I feel sometimes that I never really know the real him, but I’m probably just exaggerating and overthinking things. Then again, I’m his fucking daughter-shouldn’t I have a right to know what he gets up to at work as he knows what I get up to at school!? At least Mom isn’t so obsessed with privacy, but she’s out at the time I’m writing this, so I’ll probably ask her later. Dad’s said I can’t leave the house today, says it’s “too dangerous now” or something; I didn’t really hear him with these headphones on. I knew Dad had a dodgy job, but I wouldn’t have thought it would get so risky that the cops were after him. He never was specific about what he did, but I do know he has nasty ‘falling-outs’ with his ‘friends’ sometimes, so that might have something to do with it. I’m praying to God he hasn’t done something illegal. Those kids haven’t come back, and I think I saw that creepy guy from the other night wandering through my street as though he was checking for something, or waiting for someone to turn up. The static seemed to be louder while he was there, like he was even creeping out the headphones! The static’s been an issue since this morning, though. Regardless, I’m getting more worried now, so I’m using my headphones again, and you, to give me comfort. You two keep me calm, and you’re both exactly what I need right now. It’s been coming and going in intervals, every now and then. Oh well, at least they’re not broken!

May 17th, 2015
Dear Diary,

The static’s been getting louder and more frequent, and I’ve not had the chance yet to ask Mom or Dad yet since they’ve been busy all day. I’d heard arguing and shouting again from downstairs, and it sounded a lot worse than normal. I think they’ve broken something again, but I’m too tired right now to go and check since I’ve had a busy day today. My friends are saying that a curfew’s on its way after the local news reported a bunch of kids going missing-in my street. They weren’t from around here apparently, so I can’t imagine why they’d end up here. This street isn’t the best for playing games in. What worries me is that not only do I think they were the ones I heard the other night, but the news said all of them had various types of sketchy-looking, coloured headphones, a bit like mine. I’m just hoping I’ll not get bored if it goes ahead. The racket from downstairs has stopped now, or at least I think it has, it’s hard to tell when I’m wearing this thing, especially since the static’s started up again. I’ll probably help them clear up whatever mess they’ve made tomorrow. One of them must be coming up the stairs now as I’m writing this. At least it sounds as though they’ve sorted everything out, though this static getting louder and louder makes that a massive assumption. Better go and see if everything’s alright.