Reborn

by Thomas A. Watson

  Taking the remote from Besseta, Kenneth went to his account and started scrolling. “So, life through the ages was promiscuous and stinky?” he asked, stopping at an action movie and looked over to see Tiffany with watery eyes. Turning back to the screen, he moved down to comedy.

  “We bathed rarely when I was a girl,” Besseta chuckled. “I can remember going over a year without a bath. We would wash our hands and faces in a bucket of water if they were really dirty, but I remember momma saying don’t wash much or I’d get sick.”

  Wiping her eyes, “We actually bathed frequently,” Tiffany said. “I watched bathing decline rapidly after the Roman Empire fell. It wasn’t until the early 1900’s that people started bathing regularly again, here in the west. In Asia, they never stopped. They bathe like the Romans did.”

  Finding that interesting, “How about the promiscuity now, compared to then?” Kenneth asked, scrolling.

  “Shit, compared to the ages, society is damn near celibate now,” Tiffany chuckled.

  Thinking as he scrolled through the titles of movies and shows, Kenneth stopped and laughed. “I wish I could learn what the real history of the world was and not the watered-down, white-washed version.” he said. pushing play.

  Lifting her head up and looking up at him, “I will sit down one day, and start writing down all that I’ve seen,” Besseta promised with a smile.

  “That would be cool,” Kenneth said, kissing her forehead.

  As the movie started, Besseta laid her head back on his chest and Tiffany put the dogs back onto her lap. “I can do that as well, if you like,” Tiffany offered.

  Reaching over, Kenneth patted her leg and Jack grabbed one of his fingers and started chewing. “Yes, I would like that, Tiffany,” he said, looking at Jack. “Jack, that doesn’t feel good.”

  Jack let go and sat back on Tiffany’s lap, letting out a small bark and then panted at Kenneth. “Yes, his teeth feel like little needles,” Tiffany said.

  When the movie was over, they were all still laughing when Kenneth grabbed the remote and started searching for another. “It feels weird not sleeping,” he said.

  “You’ll get used to it,” Besseta said, rubbing his chest. Feeling something on her hand, she looked over and saw it was covered with hair from Kenneth’s chest. Shaking it off, she continued to rub his chest softly. “It depends on how much you do. You will get tired and go to sleep. Before I met you, I slept once every few weeks. Now, I like to catch a nap after we-,” she stopped and cleared her throat, remaining silent.

  Kenneth chuckled. “You nap. I pass out.”

  “Hello, you two aren’t alone,” Tiffany chimed in.

  “Sorry,” Kenneth said, glancing over.

  Tiffany smiled. “Believe me, I know what goes on, the whole house shakes. But you two don’t have to remind me what I’m missing.”

  Looking back at the screen, “Action now?” Kenneth asked.

  “How about a cowboy movie?” Tiffany said, looking around. “I rather liked the old west.”

  “That sounds good,” Kenneth admitted, noticing Tiffany looking around.

  “What is that sound?” she asked.

  Besseta lifted her head up and concentrated, a low static white-wash buzzed in her ears. “Sounds almost like a waterfall from really far off,” she said.

  Kenneth sighed with relief. “Glad you two hear it. I thought I was going crazy,” he said.

  “Baby, you have to tell us what changes you hear, see, and feel. I thought you were feeling tense from seeing boobies in the movie,” Besseta said, looking up at him.

  Scoffing, “Huh, those were fake,” he grinned, dropping his eyes to Besseta’s chest. “I like the ones I have now.”

  “Still here,” Tiffany sang out. “What is that sound? Is it coming from the speakers?” she asked, getting up and walking around to each speaker in the room.

  “I just figured I was hearing something really far off,” Kenneth said, squeezing Besseta. “You talk about super hearing and vision and I didn’t want to worry you.”

  Shaking her head, “You will worry me more, if you don’t talk about it. We’ve been through it and can help,” she told him. “Anything else?” Kenneth just blushed. “You can smell that?” Besseta blushed, sitting up and answering his thought.

  “Oh yeah,” Kenneth grinned.

  “You need to cool it, buddy,” Besseta said, lightly slapping his chest. “Yes, I’m in the mood.”

  Kenneth pulled her back down, “I smell stuff that I have no idea what it is,” he said. “I don’t know how dogs live with this kind of sensory overload.”

  “It’s not the speakers,” Tiffany informed them, walking around and the noise wasn’t getting louder no matter where she moved.

  “Well, let’s watch a movie,” Kenneth said. “We can figure it out later.”

  Tiffany stomped her foot and Jack and Jill jumped off the couch, running over to her. “It’s annoying and I can’t concentrate on watching a movie. I missed half of what was said in the last one.”

  Letting out a collective sigh, Besseta and Kenneth got up. They each walked around the house, but the sound didn’t get louder. “Well, it’s not coming from anywhere in the house,” Kenneth said.

  “Let’s take the dogs outside and walk around the island. We can see if it gets louder from one direction,” Besseta said, walking to the back door. Hearing the back door open, Bonnie and Clyde jumped off the couch. With the rapid click of nails on the marble floor, they shot outside. “You could’ve told momma you needed to go outside,” she said, following them. “It’s not like you don’t have a doggie door.”

  They casually walked around the island with the four dogs bouncing and playing on the grass. When they reached the back of the island, “Where is it coming from?” Tiffany said, throwing up her hands. “It never got louder.”

  “Maybe we’re hearing a transmission of some kind,” Kenneth offered. “You know, like a radio frequency.”

  “It would’ve gotten louder somewhere,” Tiffany said.

  Shaking his head as they walked to the back door, “Not necessarily,” he said. “If it was a low or high wide band, it would saturate the area.”

  Tiffany looked around, then up at the sky, “I’ll break whatever it is.”

  Chuckling, Besseta grabbed her hand. “We’ll turn the sound way up on the TV and drown it out,” she offered. Reluctantly, Tiffany nodded as Kenneth held the door open for them.

  “Popcorn now?” he asked, following them in.

  The sad face left Tiffany as she clapped, “Ew, that would be great.”

  As Kenneth grabbed several bags of popcorn, throwing them in the microwave, Besseta and Tiffany gave treats to the dogs. He pulled out the bags and dumped them into a large bowl as the girls made the dogs stand up for their treats.

  Seeing Kenneth pouring the popcorn into the bowl, the girls ran to the living room, playing chase with the dogs. The dogs yapped around them as they ran and jumped on the couch with them.

  Kenneth laughed, grabbing the bowl and headed to the living room as the dogs bounced over the girls. “Doesn’t take much to make the dogs happy,” Kenneth mumbled and then froze. The bowl fell out of Kenneth’s hands as the low rush of static turned into a violent roar. With a loud scream, “AAAHHH!” he dropped to his knees, covering his ears. Kenneth curled into a ball with his chin on his knees and forehead on the floor, and he pressed his hands tighter against his ears as the roar intensified, blanketing his mind.

  Besseta and Tiffany jumped off the couch, darting over to him. “What is it?” Besseta asked, dropping down beside him. But Kenneth just grunted rhythmically in pain, holding his head. Calming herself, Besseta tried to link with Kenneth’s mind, but couldn’t.

  “Can you see what he’s thinking and what’s hurting him?” Tiffany asked, kneeling on the other side of Kenneth.

  Shaking her head, “No, I can’t see or feel anything from him,” Besseta said, looking up distraught. “What do we do?”

&n
bsp; “Well-,” Tiffany started and let out a scream, joined at the same instant by Besseta. They both grabbed their ears, falling on the floor. Like they had stuck their heads in a massive waterfall, a loud roar filled their heads.

  The noise was so loud, it caused enormous pain. They both curled up on the floor on their sides as the dogs jumped off the couch and ran over, licking their faces and trying to help. Besseta tried to think, but the roar and pain took over her mind.

  It was some time, before Besseta was able to push the pain back enough to open her eyes. She saw Bonnie and Clyde laying down on the floor, looking at her. Seeing Besseta open her eyes, they lifted their heads up.

  Seeing the worry in their bug eyes, Besseta wanted to smile at them, but couldn’t. She looked behind them and saw Kenneth still on his knees curled up, slightly rocking, holding his ears, and Tiffany was beside him on her side, holding her ears, curled up in a ball.

  Moving her eyes back to Kenneth, Besseta could see he was soaked in sweat with an actual ring of sweat around him on the floor. Taking a hand off one ear, Besseta reached over and touched his soaked skin. Kenneth gave a tremble at her touch, and Besseta caressed him.

  Then, the noise in her mind started to lessen. Stunned by this discovery, she stopped and pulled her hand away to get up and move closer, but the noise roared again, sending her back to the floor. With her eyes closed against the pain, Besseta reached out until she touched Kenneth and started caressing his skin.

  Once again, the noise volume dropped. This time, Besseta kept caressing Kenneth as she got up to her knees beside Kenneth. Using both hands, she caressed his back with her hands now soaked with his sweat. Leaning down, “I’m here, baby,” she whispered and thought, closing her eyes as the noise decreased more, and Tiffany sat up.

  Feeling woozy and blinking her eyes, Tiffany sat up, seeing Besseta caressing Kenneth’s back, and noticed Kenneth’s back was covered in watery blood. Then, she saw the floor around Kenneth held a pool of bloody sweat. The noise in Tiffany’s ears was back to what it had been before, a low hiss of white noise. Feeling something on her legs, she looked down, seeing Jack and Jill climbing up.

  “Get on the couch, babies,” she said, pushing them down. “I don’t know what’s going on and don’t want to hurt you.” They looked at her with sad eyes and Tiffany pointed to the couch. “Now,” she snapped forcefully.

  Slowly, the two puppies walked away to the couch. As Tiffany lowered her hand, she saw it was covered in blood. Raising her other hand up, she found it too was covered. Reaching over, she tapped Besseta’s shoulder.

  Lifting her head up away from the side of Kenneth’s face, “I have to touch and talk to him or the noise gets loud again!” she shouted, then looked up at Tiffany. She sat up quickly. “You have blood on your face!”

  Tiffany reached over, touching Besseta’s face. “You do too,” she said.

  Seeing Tiffany’s mouth move, but not hearing words, “What!” Besseta yelled.

  Startled, “You still hear the noise?” she asked.

  “Will you fucking talk and quit moving your mouth!” Besseta screamed.

  Tiffany held up her hand and got up, darting off. She returned holding a notepad and wrote, ‘You still hear the noise.’

  “Yeah, don’t you?” Besseta yelled, not understanding.

  Pulling the pad up, Tiffany scribbled and turned it to Besseta. ‘I hear the noise at the level it was when we were searching for it.’

  “It’s still loud, but it doesn’t hurt!” Besseta yelled and looked down at Kenneth’s back, noticing her hands had turned the sweat to a watery red. “How did you bleed on Kenneth and me?!”

  Writing, Tiffany tapped Besseta’s arm when she was done, holding up the pad. ‘You have blood on your face.’

  “Where?” Besseta yelled, reaching up to touch her face and noticed the noise getting louder. Quickly, she dropped her hand back to Kenneth’s side and put her cheek to the back of his head, and the noise dropped back down as Tiffany wrote.

  ‘It looks like you bled from your eyes, nose, and ears.’ The note read when Tiffany turned it around.

  Softly shaking her head, Besseta pulled the rest of her body up to Kenneth. Wrapping one arm around him and caressing the side of his face, the noise dropped more, making Besseta give a sigh. “It’s lower!” she shouted. Tiffany’s mouth moved again as she talked. “I still can’t hear you!”

  Sighing, Tiffany started writing, then holding up the pad. ‘It’s coming from Kenneth.’

  “Yeah, I kind of figured that out!” Besseta shouted with a little irritation.

  ‘It’s not noise, it’s from his mind.’

  “Figured that out as well!” Besseta screamed with a lot of irritation.

  Getting mad, Tiffany wrote in big letters, almost tearing the paper. ‘IT’S VOICES.’

  Seeing the message, Besseta shook her head, feeling the sweat from Kenneth’s hair drip off her face. “He thinks a lot, but never this much. He would have to have millions of thoughts to make this kind of noise!” she yelled.

  Turning the pad around roughly, Tiffany wrote and rotated it around. ‘It’s not Kenneth’s voice. They are other different voices.’

  “Who’!” Besseta yelled and Tiffany shrugged her shoulders. Besseta hugged Kenneth tighter, still repeating over and over in her mind, ‘I’m here, baby.’ Slowly, the noise decreased and Besseta closed her eyes, concentrating on the noise.

  Very slowly, she could hear men, women, and children’s voices in the roar. As the volume decreased more, Besseta could make out words in some of the voices and her eyes snapped open. “He’s hearing other people’s thoughts,” she mumbled.

  “Yes, that’s what I think,” she heard Tiffany say behind her.

  Carefully and slowly, Besseta lifted her head up and looked behind her to see Tiffany sitting on the floor. “It would have to be millions to make that kind of noise,” Besseta said, sitting up and the noise level slowly continued to drop, but she kept caressing Kenneth.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised, if it was every thought of every person on the planet,” Tiffany admitted with a nod.

  Noticing Tiffany’s face was clean, “You washed that fast?” Besseta asked.

  Tiffany smiled. “You closed your eyes yesterday, after I wrote messages to you.”

  Besseta jumped, she thought only a few minutes had passed. “How long were you on the floor?”

  Letting out a breath, “We dropped on the floor, three days ago,” Tiffany said, reaching over and putting her hand on Besseta’s shoulder. “I got up when you stopped talking and found the dogs’ food bowls empty. I looked on the TV and got the date, so I was on the floor for two days, and you and Kenneth have been there for three.”

  Shock didn’t even come close to what Besseta felt. “How-,” she started, then looked off. “Hey, the noise is gone.”

  Hearing that, Tiffany concentrated. “Hey, I don’t hear it, either.”

  Still caressing Kenneth, Besseta felt his body stop rocking. ‘Always’ she heard in her mind.

  Letting out a wail of joy, Besseta fell on his back, hugging him. “Always,” she said and thought. Kenneth’s breathing relaxed, along with his body. Besseta slid off his soaked back as Kenneth dropped his hands.

  “That sucked,” he groaned in a raspy low voice with his chin still on his knees.

  Not able to argue that, “It’s okay now, baby, I’m here.”

  “That’s the only thing that made it go away,” he groaned, trying to move his body. “I felt you touch me and I heard your voice over the roar. Slowly, I could separate your voice and it calmed me, until I could make the other voices fade from my hearing.” Kenneth gave up on straightening out, his muscles were all cramped from holding him curled up, and he really didn’t care.

  “Baby,” Besseta said and stopped as Kenneth heard her thought. Shock gave him the energy and motivation to straighten up.

  “Those were voices in my mind?” he said, looking at Besseta. Slowly, Besseta nodd
ed and she heard Kenneth’s mind once again clear. Kenneth let out a grimace when his muscles cramped. He dropped and rolled over onto his side with his legs still folded.

  Besseta and Tiffany were shocked when he sat up. Kenneth’s face was bloody, and a pool of blood floated on the pool of sweat where his face had been. Besseta tried to stand and help, but her legs cramped as well.

  It took a few seconds and Tiffany’s help, but she got to her feet and they moved over and helped Kenneth straighten out his legs. Sprawled out on the floor, Kenneth looked like someone had soaked him with a water hose.

  “This gives me a new perspective of being rode hard and put away wet,” he mumbled, trying to stand up. Feeling the strength in Kenneth’s body now gone, Besseta bent down and scooped him up in her arms.

  “You’re getting a bath and going to bed,” she said, heading for the stairs.

  Smiling at first, Kenneth then stuck out his bottom lip. “I don’t wanna go to bed,” he whined.

  “Tough,” Besseta said, carrying him up the stairs.

  Tiffany darted after them until she was beside Besseta, walking up the stairs. “I’ll help if you want me to, but if you two start, I’m leaving.”

  Kenneth laughed, then grimaced as his muscles cramped throughout his body. “That may take a while. I feel like a truck ran over me.”

  Tiffany grunted when they reached the top of the stairs. “My head hurts so bad, I swear a horse skull-fucked me.”

  Widening his eyes, Kenneth looked up at Besseta. “She wins for the worst headache. I don’t even want to know what that would feel like.” Besseta just laughed as Tiffany opened the door to the bedroom and silently agreed with Kenneth.

  Chapter Six

  Besseta laid Kenneth down on the bed as Tiffany walked into the bathroom, running water in the tub. “Ah, baby,” Kenneth said, hearing the water running. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I really don’t feel like getting nude in front of Tiffany.”

  As she was pulling his lounge pants off, Besseta stopped and laughed, “Baby, who else do you think helped me take care of you?” The color left Kenneth’s face. “She only left this room really, to let the dogs go outside. I told them to just use the floor,” Besseta smiled and pulled his soaked pants off.