Okay if you remember I did warn you that the next few chapters would be short compared to other chapters.
Good news is here is another chapter and I am working on another chapter, bad news… its not my favorite chapter aaaannnddd its short… it more just here for filler.
That being said however… Next chapter should be a bit longer… and this is where the story will start picking up a bit more intensity and angst.
Errors have and will always be mine… its what makes us human.
RONI'S POV
Dustin was so excited about his recording he could hardly sit still. I on the other hand was skeptical, and the foreign language that Dustin has played four times now was only making my headache worse. I listened again to the recording hoping something would just click, but nothing that was said made any sense… it was all gibberish.
"Steve!" I heard Robin call from the front. This was the fifth time she had yelled at him but he was content pacing the small break room listening to Dustin's recording. Peeling a banana I watched as he stopped and scowled as Dustin finally stopped the recording and looked at us.
"So, what do you think?" Dustin asked hopeful.
"It sounds familiar." Steve said nodding his head and I looked at him surprised and a bit confused on how he understood any of that.
"You're kidding." I said lifting my head. He shrugged and took a bite of the banana.
"The music, I've heard it before."
"What music?" I asked rubbing my temple as I leaned forward and put my elbows on my knees.
"The...the music at the end… I've heard it before." He said again, his mouth full.
"Why are you listening to the music Steve!" Dustin asked loudly. "Listen to the Russian, we're translating Russian."
"We aren't translating anything right now." I stated annoyed. "We have listened to the recording three times and all we've managed to do is change my headache to a migraine."
"All right!" Robin burst through the door, "you need to get in there." She came in only to stop in front of the whiteboard that was hanging on the wall. Dustin and cleared off what had been on it earlier, which when I asked Steve about it his cheeks turned red and he said it was nothing. "My board! That was important data, shitbirds."
"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data." Dustin rolled his eyes smirking at Steve. Rolling my own eyes I just sat back and watched as Robin crossed her arms.
"Yeah, and how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyway?" She asked and I chuckled shaking my head and then watched as Dustin and Steve looked at each other shocked.
"How does she know about the Russians?" Dustin asked.
"I don't know," Steve said as him and Dustin argued back and forth.
"Boys." I said looking at Robin before looking back to them. "You haven't been quiet about any of this. You have played the recording over and over and there is a window right there."
"Exactly, you are both extremely loud, you think you have evil Russians plotting against our country on tape, and you're trying to translate but haven't figured out a single word, because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet then we do…" She reiterated then looked to me and raised an eyebrow. "How'd I do?"
"About covered it." I nodded impressed. She smiled satisfied and reached for the recording.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you think you're doing?" Steve asked when Dustin pulled the recorder back towards him possessively.
"I want to hear it." Robin said pleadingly.
"Why?" Steve and Dustin asked together.
"Cause maybe I can help." She offered, "I am fluent in four languages you know."
"Russian?" Dustin asked a spark of hope in his voice.
"Ou-yay re-yay umb-day." Robin said and I laughed covering my eyes and turning my head.
"Holy shit…" Dustin whispered in awe.
"Oh please." I groaned.
"Are they really this dumb?" she looked at me and I just sighed.
"I do the best I can, but there's somethings that can't be taught… or unlearned." I said and got a consecutive 'hey' from both boys.
"That was pig laten dingus." Robin explained exasperated at their ability to be gullible.
"Idiot." Steve mumbled under his breath, and I looked at him and raised an eyebrow at him.
"But I can speak Spanish," Robin quickly added, "and French and Italian and I've been in band for twelve years." When she was met with confused looks, she sighed. "My ears are little geniuses, trust me."
Dustin and Steve looked at each other and then at me. I just shrugged, still trying to nurse my headache. "It couldn't hurt to get a new set of ears on the recording…we're obviously not getting anywhere."
"Come on… it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate." Robin pleaded again, "I don't even want credit. I'm just bored." After the two boys had a silent conversation between themselves finally Steve relented and complained all the way out to the main floor, where he immediately changed to his customer serves fake voice to welcome a new customer.
For the next hour we I sat in the back as we dissected the recording word by word. Robin, to my surprise, was really good at figuring out the words that sounded to me like a toddler babbling. After figuring out how she was getting each letter I started to see the pattern. Head in my hands I listened to the recording again and then quickly lifted it snapping my fingers and pointing to Robin.
"Dustin, play that last part again." I said and I watched at Robin listened to it again and her eyes sparked with realization.
"There, that word." She said indicating to Dustin to stop the recording. "That word it's pronounced … dly-nna-ya." Dustin repeated it and I stood going to your makeshift alphabet on the wall.
"Which is spelled…" I mumbled to myself hearing Dustin repeat sounds and came up behind me. Reaching over my shoulder he pointed to one of the symbols.
"The… The chair, the chair looking thing." He said excitedly.
"Yeah okay!" Robin nodded grabbing the translation book. It took some time but we were finally able to come up with a sentence. I stared at it beside Robin and crossed my arms.
"Well that's helpful." I said.
"At least its something." She shrugged. Turning I slid the window open and threw a spoon at Steve.
"Ow…" he turned glaring at me. "I am working over here you know."
"Yeah whatever." I rolled my eyes. "We've got our first sentence."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah," Robin nodded coming up behind me leaning into the window so we were shoulder to shoulder. In a bad Russian accent, she repeated the sentence. "The week is long."
"Well, that's thrilling." Steve replied and Robin just shrugged turning back to breakroom.
"Its better than nothing." I said and he nodded turning back to hand out the ice cream in his hands to the customers at the counter.
"Okay here you go," Steve said and I watched as he handed a strawberry cone and a vanilla with sprinkles to El and Max. Both girls smiled and thanked him before seeing me and instantly looked guilty and caught.
"Hold up." I said with a scowl closing the window and walking quickly out the breakroom door.
"Are they allowed to be here?" Steve asked as I got to the counter just as the girls hightailed it out of the ice cream shop.
"No." I said firmly before chasing after them. They didn't get far, it was hard to run away, giggle and eat ice cream. When they turned around, I was behind them arms crossed both amused and annoyed. "Want to fill me in on what's going on?"
"Girl's day." El said looking to Max for confirmation before turning back to me with a smile.
"Girl's day?" I repeated raising an eyebrow before looking up with a sigh. "And does Jim know about this… 'Girls day?'" Neither girl said anything as they both looked down at their melting treats.
"It was my idea." Max said quickly and I stared at her shock as she started talking quickly in hopes to ease any punishment. "Mike lied to her, and she came to my house asking about boys… I told her boys are stupid and wanted to get her mind off things. I didn't think anything bad…"
"Whoa," I closed my eyes and put my hand up to stop her. "Slow down. What did Mike lie about?"
"His grandma." El answer scornfully and I winced at the venom in her voice.
"Okay…" I stretched out the word as I processed everything. "Look just don't do anything stupid."
"Wait… you're not gonna take her home?" Max scowled confused.
"Will you tell Jim?" El added and I sighed debating the two options.
"No… no, I'm not gonna do anything like that, as long as you don't do anything stupid that's gonna make me regret this decision." I warned. "Jim will get over it, you deserve to let loose."
"Wow." Max seemed surprised and El just gave me a hug in appreciation.
"Yeah, well, I don't have the energy to figure out how to handle this so just don't destroy anything and don't get arrested." I said and I watched as they giggled and ran to the next shop. It was nice to see El so happy and carefree, she deserved to feel like a kid more than anyone else. Slowly I made my way back to Scoops Ahoy. Steve was still at the counter but there was no one at the counter and only a few people in the shop. Feeling more exhausted then before I sat down in the booth closest to the counter, put my arms on the counter and laid my head on them.
I could have fallen asleep right there if given enough time. Since the blackout I hadn't slept and had a constant headache. That on top of Dustin's revelation on the Russian I was ready to crawl into a cave and hibernate.
"Everything with the girls alright?" Steve asked sliding in beside me.
"Girls, being girls…" I mumbled without lifting my head.
"Got it." I didn't need to lift my head to hear the understanding and know he was nodding at what I had said. With a groan I lifted my head leaned into the corner of the booth so I could comfortably lay my head on the wall and the back of the seat. "What about with you?"
I opened my mouth to reply but he just shook his head and glared at me, as if daring me to lie to him.
"Don't you dare say your fine." He stated.
"How do you know I'm not?" I asked simply.
"Why are you avoiding the question?" he shot back and I just smiled and rolled my eyes at him.
"I'm not avoiding it, I'm just not sure what you want me to tell you." I replied honestly. "You can't fix bad feelings and headaches."
"What bad feelings?" he asked with a scowl.
"Its probably nothing." I said quietly wishing I hadn't said anything.
"Let's say it isn't though." Steve said an urging tone in his voice. "What bad feelings?"
"Just… the whole black out and then this transmission Dustin got," I shook my head looking down at my hands. "I don't know how to explain it, I just… something doesn't feel right about any of it."
Steve didn't say anything and just seemed to be digesting what I had said watching the people outside the shop door walk around with no worries. I sighed and closed my eyes. "Its probably nothing and I am just overthinking everything."
"Either way…" Steve finally spoke and I opened my eyes to find his looking back at me with warmth and comfort. "we'll figure it out together." I felt the weight of his words and the comfort they held, and it helped ease some of the worry and stress I had been carrying. He didn't even know why I was worried or stressed, and he didn't seem to care, he just wanted to make sure I knew he would be there regardless. I opened my mouth to reply, I wanted to tell him how much that meant, and how much he meant to me….ever since the dance I held this guilt about pulling away and for what I said.
As much as I meant it, I hasn't said it because I didn't care or didn't like him… I was scared… terrified actually. I could face a dozen Demodogs, but I couldn't face how I felt about a guy who I genuinely cared about.
Before I could say anything Robin came bursting through the door looking around the shop until her eyes landed on us.
"There you are!" she exclaimed. "Way to leave me in there with curly."
"Sorry." I have her a half smile and shrugged, "had to handle some family shit."
"Right and what's your excuse?" Robin asked Steve.
"Break." He smirked.
"Right." She rolled her eyes before sliding into the seat across from us. "Well while you two were out here I think we figure out another line… we are so close I can almost taste it." With a new sense of achievement Robin led us back into the break room to finish translating the message. After a while the mall started to close and all other shops were locked up.
"The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west." We all stared at the board with our translation on it and read it out loud together. The sentence didn't make sense and left me just as confused as before.
"I mean it can't be right." Steve said scowling as we followed him out of the ice cream shop and he pulled the gate down and locking it. What was earlier a building full of people was now completely deserted.
"It's right." Robin insisted as we all started walking towards the exit.
"She's right." I nodded hands in my pockets. "We checked it three or four times."
"Honestly, I think its great news." Dustin stated.
"Care to elaborate?" I asked.
"So much for being American Heroes… its total nonsense." Steve added.
"Its not nonsense." Dustin defended. "Its too specific, its obviously a code."
"What do you mean a code?" Steve questioned.
"Like a super, secret, spy code." Dustin said enthusiastically.
"That a bit of a stretch." Steve scoffed.
"I don't know, is it?" Robin asked and I looked at her and scowled.
"Wait, so you believe all this?" I looked at her in disbelief and she shrugged.
"Well, maybe…" she said before directing her attention in front of her before explaining herself using her hands to gesture for emphasis. "Just for kicks, lets entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission, did we really expect them to say 'fire ze varhead at noon'?"
"Point taken." I said and Dustin nodded pointing to her.
"Exactly."
"And my translation is correct, I know that for sure so… 'the silver cat feeds.' Why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the true meaning of their message?" Robin continued. At this point it almost seemed like Dustin and Robin were just talking with each other bouncing their ideas off one another. "And why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?"
"Exactly." Dustin said for a third time. I just shook my head before realizing Steve was no longer beside me, but had back tracked to a kids pony ride machine a few feet away.
"So, I guess that confirms your suspicions." I heard Robin say before I turned and started walking towards Steve.
"What are you doing?" I asked under my breath as I approached him. Robin and Dustin still hadn't realized we weren't with them. "Little big for that ride."
"No, I was thinking back to the music on the recording…" he trailed off still looking at the ride.
"Ookay?" I scowled confused. "I still don't see how…"
"Do you have a quarter?" he interrupted and I about jumped back from the sudden outburst.
"Hey Steve!" Robin called as they finally realized we were no longer with them. "What are you doing?" But Steve wasn't paying attention to her, he was digging in his pockets dumping the contents onto the ground as he did so.
"I need… do you have a quarter?" He asked looking up for only a second. Still confused and a bit concerned I reached into my pocket.
"Sure, you're tall enough for the ride?" she quipped at him.
"Quarter!" He stated loudly reaching his hand out to me as I pulled one from my pocket. I looked over my shoulder at Robin and Dustin, both of which shared the same expression on their faces. Taking the quarter Steve quickly placed it in the coin slot and turned the handle. The carnival horse came to life and music filled the space around us.
"You need help get up, little Stevie?" Robin shot at Steve with a smirk, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Steve however didn't find the humor and didn't seem to care either.
"Shh…" he hushed her harshly, "would just shut up and listen." I scowled and listened to the music. It didn't take long for it to click why the music was so familiar. My eyes widened as I stepped closer, and I put my hand on Steve's shoulder.
"Holy shit." I heard Dustin say behind me and from the corner of my eye I could see him dropping his back pack and rummaging through it. "The music."
"That's why it sounded so familiar." I said quietly and Steve looked up at me meeting my eyes.
"I don't understand." Robin said her voice confused.
"It's the exact same song on the recording." Dustin explained.
"Okay, well maybe they have horses like this in Russia?" Robin offered trying to make sense of the song.
"Indiana Flyer?" Steve asked finally standing up. "I don't think so."
"If we are saying this recording is a code…" I said thinking out loud meeting both Robin and Dustin's gaze before finally resting them on Steve. "This code, it didn't come from Russia, it couldn't have. The only way for this song to be playing in the background of that recording is…"
"Is if it came from here." Steve finished and I found myself looking around the abandoned mall and then back at the horse.
Hope it wasn't too dreary of a chapter.
Chapter 12 is in the works, already laid out and I am excited to finish and post it.
Share any comments or suggestion you have, and I always appreciate likes/follows
Thanks again for reading.