1991 came and went, in like the lion out like the lamb as they say.

1997 wandered through the brothers' white door.

The Christmas lights seemed dimmer that year. The house was tired, the brothers were tired, the radio was tired.

They sat, slumped, on the couch.

At twenty-one hundred hours, twenty-one hundred hours, December twenty-fourth, the buzzer stopped.

Ludwig stared at his brother as the silence engulfed them.

Silent.

Neither could speak.

For a moment they thought it was all over, the radio was broken, no more signal.

Gilbert lunged for it, reaching to spin the dial.

"Ya, UVB-76, ya, UVB-76…"

"Ivan!"

Gilbert shushed his brother.

"180, 08, BROMAL. 74, 27, 99, 14. Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa. 7, 4, 2, 7, 9, 9, 1, 4."

Gilbert nearly fell over himself racing to get a pen from the kitchen.

"Did you get it? Did you get it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, Ludwig," Gilbert paused, "1-8-0, 0-8. B-R-O-M-A-L, 7-4, 2-7, 9-9, 1-4."

"Names too?"

"Yeah, Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa, and then the numbers again, right?"

"Yeah… What does it mean?"

"I-I don't know, I don't know this code."

"Did he give you anything to-"

"No, no, he just gave me the radio," Gilbert ran a hand through his hair.

A pause.

"We should call them…" Ludwig's voice was choked.

"Who? His sisters?"

"Don't you think they should know, that he's still out there, he's still alive?"

"I-I don't know…" Gilbert stopped, "Yeah, yeah, let's call them."

Ludwig nearly ran to the phone.

The old plastic receiver clicked, the buttons were stuck from years of disuse.

A voice came over the line, "Hello?"

"Katarina?"

"…Ludwig…"

"I-Ivan, he- I heard a broadcast, on the radio."

"What? What radio, Ludwig, what are you talking about?"

Ludwig clasped his hand over the receiver, "He didn't tell her about the radio?"

Gilbert just shook his head.

"Katarina, your brother, he left me a radio set to a certain channel, there was just a broadcast and-"

"Was it him? Oh, Ludwig, was it our Ivan?"

"It was Ivan, he gave a code and then the regular broadcast went back on."

Ludwig could hear muffled cries on the other end of the line.

"Oh, Katarina, don't cry, please don't cry…" The off-white receiver had become wet in his hand. "Please, do you know this code?" He paused and waited for the whimpering to quiet.

"180, 08, BROMAL. 74, 27, 99, 14. Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa. 7, 4, 2, 7, 9, 9, 1, 4."

Muted shuffling could be heard, the line crackled.

"No, no, I'm sorry, Ludwig, I don't know what that means…"

"Th-that's okay, we just wanted you to know about Ivan, and tell Natalya as well."

"Call anytime, Ludwig, we'd appreciate that, and tell Gilbert we miss him, the house has been so quiet since eighty-two…"

Ludwig managed a smile, "I will, goodbye…"

"Oh, and Ludwig?"

"Yes?"

"Th-the station, can I have the station?"

A pause, "UVB-76."

"Thank you, thank you so much…"

"Goodbye, Katarina, call sometime…"

"Goodbye, Ludwig, we love you…"

The line clicked.

"Well?"

"Katarina didn't know the code…"

"Oh…"

"She said they missed you."

Gilbert smiled, "I had a good time in their house, they were all so good to me, given the circumstances."

"Ivan-"

"Was always reclusive… He would come downstairs every so often, just to sit on a couch and admire his sisters, he seemed happy when they were happy."

Ludwig smiled.

"Raivis and I would drink and play jokes on the other, he was so excited to have an 'older brother.' And Toris and Eduard were always so quiet; I think they were scared…" Gilbert looked away.

"Of what?"

"I-I think they were scared of Ivan, but, he always seemed so nice to his sisters, he bullied Raivis a little… They were scared of something in that house…"

Ludwig tensed. "Were you scared?"

Gilbert looked up from where he had pressed himself into the couch cushions.

"Yeah… Yeah, sometimes I got scared in that house; we all knew it was there, we just didn't know what 'it' was… It was like the radio, Ludwig, it was a noise in those halls, I-I think it was history… Like armies marching, and men dying, and the people singing…All one big noise… Even Ivan was scared of it…"

"What happened?"

"It was eighty-two; it was cold, so brutally cold that winter… He just left, Ivan just left…" Gilbert looked off towards the dimming Christmas lights. "The government came to take me in summer, and he was with them… I don't think he called them…"

Ludwig swallowed.

"I think the noise had gotten to him over the years, he looked as if he had been wandering all those months… I told you, his coat was coming apart; I had ripped fabric in my hands… But it felt almost like blood, blood on my hands…"

The buzzer sounded.

"Let's not talk about that anymore, Ludwig, let's be happy he called."

Ludwig nodded his head.

Neither brother slept that night.