Stop Humming

Story by S. Illustrated by S

The lights flickered off and on, off and on. Natalie Stuart knew that her cousin Andrea had arrived to babysit her. It was ridiculous. Natalie turned toward her bedroom door. Yep. Standing long and lean against the doorway, Andrea was there. She was still in her school uniform, grey sweatpants, and her white blouse. Her sweater vest and plaid skirt were missing, but since she still had her school loafers on, Natalie figured she must had come straight from school.

Andrea had black hair, chopped up short in a bob-cut, and she was tall. Really tall.
If people were insects, which was a game Natalie liked to imagine, Andrea would be praying mantis. She usually had one or both arms bent up or around her torso, holding herself like a praying mantis. Even now, she had her left hand resting on her left shoulder while her right hand lingered on the light switch nearby, at the ready to flick the switch again if ignored.

Despite feeling slightly miffed, Natalie smiled in greeting. She really loved Andrea because she was the easiest to talk to. She was the only cousin that could sign.

‘You were humming that song, again,’ Andrea signed, smirking a little.

‘Was I?!’ Natalie hastily signed. ‘Don’t tell my mom!’

Natalie’s mother was sick to death of the tune. Natalie had been singing or humming it since she was a baby. It was always the same song, and it was getting on her mom’s last nerve. Natalie was trying to be mindful of it, but it still slipped out like a bad habit. If Natalie wasn’t paying attention or if she was too focused, the humming would start in that same old familiar cadence (as her mother would often complain).

‘How did you even learn that song?’ Andrea asked. “I don’t recognize it. Sounds weird.’

Natalie shrugged. ‘No idea.’

Considering Natalie has been deaf since birth, she couldn’t hear the frequencies she was humming at. She could just barely hear loud construction noises or a sound of a plane engine at the airport.

Maybe she made it up and it got stuck in her head? For years?

Natalie changed the subject and started complaining. ‘I told mom that I didn’t need a babysitter anymore. I’m ten! It’s not like I would go anywhere!’

‘Hey, I wasn’t allowed to be home alone till I was twelve,’ Andrea signed. ‘You need two more years, I think. Though with your mom, not sure.’

Natalie huffed at the fact she’d have to wait another two years. Probably more. Her mom was a bit stricter than Andrea’s mom, Aunt Maggie.

‘Whatever, I’ll see you downstairs later,’ Natalie signed. ‘I want to finish this.’

She spun around in her chair back to her desk. With a sigh, Natalie frowned at the pieces in front of her. She had completely lost track of what she was looking for. It was her third day working on an exclusive twelve-inch 3D model of the Rhipicera femorata, or the feather-horned beetle. The head and the two front limbs were already assembled. Now she was working on the hind limbs. The hind limbs were made up of tiny, long cylindrical pieces that interconnected. But a cylindrical piece was missing. Where was it?

She couldn’t wait to work on the best part, the trunk. She was saving that one for last. The white spots were so cute! But first the legs. And no more humming.

The light flickered off and on again. And again.

‘What?!’ Natalie signed, turning back around.

Andrea was still there, eyeing her beetle model with a very unimpressed look. Not that Natalie cared, because her cousin thought all bugs were gross and disgusting and better dead than alive. Still, Andrea could at least appreciate the effort it took to build her models.

‘I need your help. Let’s go to Grandma’s house.’

So, Andrea has a death wish today. Grandma’s house was not even that far. It was around the block, but...

‘If Grandma finds out,’ Natalie cautioned.

‘She won’t find out,’ Andrea promised. ‘It’s Tuesday so Grandma is at the university till evening. Our moms’ have gone shopping for a couple of hours. We will be back before anyone returns. In and out.’

This feels wrong, Natalie thought.

‘You can stay here then,’ Andrea amended. ‘Can you at least show me where Grandma’s house key is? I’ll be back before you know it. I’ve never been inside her house. I keep asking and she keeps saying no. It’s not fair that you have been in her house, and I haven’t. I’m even older! This may be the only chance! Please.’

It was forbidden for Andrea to enter their grandma’s house. Their grandma, Dorothy Brennan was the mother of Natalie’s mom and Andrea’s dad, the matriarch of the family. Grandma Dorothy was weird, especially to hearing folks. Deafness ran on grandma’s side of the Brennan family. Grandma Dorothy, her uncle Mike (Andrea’s dad), another aunt, a distant cousin somewhere and Natalie herself were deaf.

The first cardinal rule of Grandma Dorothy’s was only deaf people were allowed in her home. Sometimes, there were exceptions for the few hearing people like her mom to enter her house, but only under grandma’s supervision, and only on the first floor. It was a bit much. Natalie had no restrictions and had practically grown up in that house. She even had her own room there. Andrea, on the other hand, was only allowed in the front yard.

Natalie did feel bad for her. Natalie had asked her grandma why, but her answer always was: ‘Because I said so.’

Under the bubbling anxiety, there was a bit of a thrill to see if they could pull this off. Natalie stood up and signed, ‘I know where mom keeps grandma’s house keys, but I’m coming, too.’

To fool their mothers, their phones had to be left behind due to the tracking apps installed by their parents. With her grandma’s keys in hand, Andrea and Natalie quickly headed out.

The air was wet with the earlier rain. Natalie had grabbed her old yellow raincoat and rainboots over her plain blue t-shirt and leggings. She didn’t like that the raincoat from two years ago still fit her perfectly. She was sensitive to how short she was, and how it looked like being tall was not in her future. With long, brown frizzy hair tied in a long ponytail, she categorized herself as resembling an alpine shield bug: short, stout, and compact. Another insult to injury was the brown thick framed glasses that dominated her face.

Andrea was already charging way ahead of her, nearing the first corner to make a left. Natalie quickened her pace to catch up. With the warm, humid air, her rain jacket was stifling. It was not raining anymore. Though looking at the scattering of the dark clouds looming above, the rain may have simply just paused for now.

After the final corner and another left, Grandma’s house was in sight. Her mom always said that you had to be both blind and deaf to miss Grandma’s house. On a block of beige and neutral houses, Grandma’s house stood out like a sore thumb. It was a Victorian painted lady, with two colors dark maroon and pink with a full wrapped around porch. It was also the noisiest house on the block with various types of wind chimes hung up around the porch.

The mature oak trees around the front and back yard weren’t enough to dampen the chiming. Natalie never understood why Grandma had wind chimes since she herself couldn’t hear them. It was certainly no secret that the neighbors were not fond of Grandma.

Andrea was showing no signs of trepidation, her long strides causing Natalie to jog after her to keep up. Andrea was already at the front door, motioning Natalie to hurry up.

‘Keys!’ Andrea signed, holding out a hand for them.

Hesitant, Natalie pulled out the set of keys from her raincoat’s pocket. Andrea snatched it. It was the key to the backdoor. Wrong one. Natalie huffed and pointed to the correct one. Nodding absentmindedly, Andrea was still not looking at her. Out of the corner of her eye, Natalie notice the camera right above the doorbell.

The camera! Grandma’s going to see us! Natalie panicked and tapped furiously at Andrea and pointed to the camera. How did I forget about the surveillance?!

Andrea, annoyed by the tapping, kept waving her off, and finally the door opened. Andrea grabbed Natalie’s jacket and pulled her inside, quickly shutting the door. The key was still in the keyhole outside.

“The key is still in the door!” Natalie signed to ...no one. Andrea was already disappearing down the hall.

I’ll leave the keys alone; we’ll be leaving soon anyway.

The entryway had a built-in bench and coat pegs above on the left side. There were a bunch of Grandma’s shoes lined up the other side. In front was a narrow L-shaped wooden staircase with ornate wooden railings original to the house. A long hallway ran down to the back of the house. On the left and right side of the entryways were arched doorways to rooms.

Natalie took off her sweaty rain boots and grimaced at the realization that Andrea did not take off her shoes. Another cardinal rule of Grandma’s broken. Grandma Dorothy hated shoes in the house. Natalie decided to leave her raincoat on since she wanted to leave as soon as Andrea was done exploring.

Natalie decided to head to the west room, left of the small entryway. The west room had a long dining table and the eight dining chairs with an opulent chandelier filled with dangling crystals above. It was supposed to be a dining room, but no one could eat here. Almost every chair was pulled out and stacked with loads of papers and books, some precariously leaning over. The table itself was covered in more papers, files, and folders. It was a chaos of papers. A small section at the far side of the table was slightly tidier with a closed laptop. The only empty chair was in front of that laptop. This was where grandma did her work.

Andrea appeared, stomping into the dining room. Natalie could feel the wooden floors shake and vibrate with her heavy steps.

‘Whoa, Grandma’s messy,’ Andrea signed as she picked up a random book with papers off the chair.

‘Don’t touch it.’ Natalie was getting even more nervous. ‘She will know if you move it.’

Putting it back, Andrea shook her head. ‘How can she even find anything?’

‘She always does.’

‘Grandma has so much stuff,’ Andrea signed animatedly. ‘Did you see the pagan statues in the back? So cool!’

Seeing the excitement that Andrea had as she signed what else she discovered, Natalie reasoned that it really was unfair that she hadn’t been here yet – especially when she shared the most interest in grandma’s work. Their Grandma Dorothy was the professor of archaeology and the leading expert in the Celtics. The house was full of historic artifacts and history books on ancient civilizations. Natalie had no interest in history, just insects. Andrea, however, dreamed of becoming an archaeologist just like her grandma, and she was crazy about the pyramids and the Mayans.

Suddenly Andrea froze, her hands in mid sign. It seems like she was listening to something.

‘What is it?’ Natalie watched her face for clues.

‘I hear Mom. My mom’s here. She’s upstairs,’ Andrea signed while facing toward the entry.

‘Your mom?! Here?’ Natalie asked incredulously. ‘Aunt Maggie?!’

She watched Andrea speaking, her lips forming the words mom, are you up there? She wasn’t the best at lip-reading, but it didn’t make sense for her aunt to be here. There was no car in the driveway. She was out shopping with her mom, wasn’t she? Andrea had said so.

Andrea tapped her shoulder to get her attention and signed: ‘Mom got dropped off here. Grandma had asked her for a favor. So, Mom’s upstairs looking for something, she’s surprised we are here too. I’m going up to help her.’

Natalie shook her head – that didn’t make sense. Aunt Maggie was hearing. Grandma would never ask Maggie for help in her house.

‘I’ll be back,’ she signed, running out of the room and up the stairs.

Natalie was done. She wanted to go home. She wanted to text Grandma, but her phone was at home. A slight movement above caught her eye, and she looked up. The crystals of the chandelier was shaking, vibrating, back and forth, swinging to and fro, with sporadic bounces.

What are they doing up there?

Soon the whole chandelier began to build its momentum to swing in a circular motion. What the hell? Were they pounding the floor to get her attention?

Perturbed by the sudden feeling that Aunt Maggie and Andrea might be calling for help, Natalie rushed up the stairs and aimed for the room above the dining room. The room was the storage room. It’s where Grandma put her most expensive artifacts. Some of them were encased in glass. The door was opened, and Natalie froze at the doorway.

In the center of the room, Andrea was dancing...like a maniac.

If it could be called dancing? Was there music playing? She had never seen her dance like this.

There was no coordination or grace in the jerky movements. Andrea was in a sea of opposing movements. She twisted, twirled, stretched, spun, pounded her feet, then sauntered and glided. She was contorting her body at such discomforting angles. Andrea slammed her feet down repeatedly as her arms and hands swung up and down with such force. There were moments where she was off balance with her back parallel to the floor and only one foot on the ground on tip toe. She should have fallen, but she didn’t, as if Andrea was a marionette doll whose strings were attached not to one puppeteer but many. The frenzied nature was disconcerting. Even her fingers were all contorting in different directions.

What is she doing? Natalie waved to get Andrea’s attention, but she was ignored. There was no eye contact. She took a step toward Andrea, but nearly got hit by a swinging arm. Every time Natalie got closer, Andrea would swing a flying limb toward her direction, and then continue dancing.

‘Andrea, Stop this. You’re scaring me!’ she signed, tearing up.

Where was Aunt Maggie? Didn’t Andrea say she was up here?

Someone grabbed her shoulder hard. Natalie screamed and was spun around – it was Grandma –thank goodness– her racing heartbeat was already slowing down its pace, especially with scent of fruity lotion that Grandma always wore wafting over Natalie. Her Grandma was in her usual old blue pantsuit and floral print shirt.

‘Grandma!’ Natalie signed in relief. ‘I’m sorry. Andrea won’t –’

‘The music box over there! Close it! Now!’ Grandma demanded, her hand signs abrupt and hurried. ‘There!’ Grandma pointed to a small wooden music box on the sideboard table under the west window. Grandma shoved her hard towards it.

Giving Andrea and her flailing limbs a wide berth, Natalie reached the music box. Inside, the gears were moving. This was playing? She had seen this music box before, even opened it before. There was a raised platform for a tiny mechanical dancer, but that dancer was long gone.

Natalie closed the lid, and immediately felt a thud on the wooden floor.

Andrea had crumbled to the ground hard with limbs in all directions. Her Grandma was also on the floor and had managed to cushion her head with her arm. Andrea was twitching and spasming. She was mouthing something.

Her grandma got Natalie’s attention and quickly signed, ‘How long was she dancing?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘How long?’ Grandma insisted, examining Andrea, and seemed to be using her voice to calm Andrea.

‘A few minutes? What’s going on?’ Natalie answered unsurely.

‘Get the black rectangular case from the cupboard behind you.’

Confused, Natalie retrieved the case and handed it to Grandma, who quickly pulled a thin steel rod that had even notches, and some weird scrolly design on the top.

Grandma instructed Natalie to hold Andrea’s head with her two hands. ‘Come here, and hold her head just like this. Hurry!’

Andrea’s head was resting on Grandma’s lap, held still by Natalie’s hands. Her left ear was facing up to the ceiling.

‘Keep her still,’ she signed.

Grandma then pointed the sharp tip of the rod into Andrea’s left ear.

What is Grandma doing?!

Before Grandma pierced her ear, Natalie saw Grandma mouth, ‘I’m so sorry, sweetie.’

...

The last thing Andrea would ever hear was the eerie sound of laughter, cackling and high-pitched, from a crowded room over the demanding melody of the music box.

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