10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!
You read that right, today, 31st of July, I'm celebrating my 10-year anniversary as a writer. I've been on this website for about a decade, entertaining people with my stories, making friends and trying to come up with new story ideas. I still remember how I started out as a writer, my first story being Digimon Rumble Arena Championship, with my former name being Tamer Arisa (then changed to Da-Tenshi Setsuna, before I settled on Tenebrae Vesper, due to a personal history with that name) and I would also like to thank my old friend, Tamer of the Zero Unit, for being the very first reviewer. Since then, I wrote a lot more stories, improving my writing skills and even made a profile on Ao3 (Archive of Our Own). Unfortunately, some of my older stories were deleted due to past me thinking they weren't good enough or not wanting to continue writing them coz I came up with a better story, and now I'm regretting my decisions. X3 Don't do stuff you'll regret later, kids.
I have a few ideas for new stories from different franchises, but if I write them, it'll probably be when my other stories come close to an end (I had specifically Rockman. EXE and Hataraku Maou-sama! on mind).
I'm thankful for everyone's support, with a special shout-out to Dovahkiin795 & Comedy Monarchy (You guys are awesome!), from the very start until the very end and I hope I can stay here for another decade, having fun.
Now, the reason I hadn't been really active for the past months was because I wanted to come up with a way to celebrate the anniversary, and I had figured that the best way to do that would be to write a chapter for each of my currently active stories: Digimon Tamers: Cyber Battles, Five Nights at Freddy's: Obsolete & Up Ladybug. I hope you are going to enjoy them.
Also, for those who are reading this story for the first time, I need to inform you that Five Nights at Freddy's: Obsolete is a part of a tetralogy which encompasses the following stories: Five Nights at Freddy's: Masterpiece, Five Nights at Freddy's: Salvaged, Five Nights at Freddy's: Nothing Remains & Five Nights at Freddy's: Obsolete. Therefore, I suggest you to read the first three stories before you continue with this one. Also, I'm still waiting for Security Breach to be released to properly continue this story.
EDIT: So, I shortened Phone Guy's script for this chapter. We all already know what he's telling us.
Please, leave a review and enjoy the story! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via PM. X3
Night 4
Help Wanted
''Can you hear me, I- I've been calling to you. Don't fall astray, I can show you what I'm hiding. I can tell you anything you wanna know. I could take you right to where you wanna go. Hide yourself behind a mask even though you're so reluctant. Father of children without a home, creator of vessels without a soul; Just stay the course, focus on my voice – I'll show you the way then you'll rejoice!''
– Stay The Course by NateWantsToBattle ft. CG5
xXxXxXx
Seriously, what is the point of this? I don't even know whether I can find solace in exploring this game.
Sam sighed, still unsure whether this was even a good idea. After all, there were other things she had in mind, like the Showtime Animatronics, her nightmares, the fact that she would sleepwalk, the missing Drawkill Animatronics, exploring Ricky's Wonder Shack with Matt and finding whoever destroyed the Nightmare Animatronics. However, she knew that Matt was right about her finally having to confront her issues, as she couldn't avoid them forever.
Therefore, she decided to use all of her free time to play the video game she had gotten – Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted. Admittedly, she had the choice to play either the version her father had gifted her after the beta tester sent it to him or the official version of the game released by Fazbear Entertainment. She decided to go back to her original plan, to first check the earlier version and then the official version, curious about the changes between the games.
Admittedly, she already knew that one of the changes was the title of the game. Sam made a note that the video game was originally known as The Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience, before it was switched over to Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted. It seemed that this change was made after the beta testing, with Sam assuming that Fazbear Entertainment wanted the title to sound more like a normal video game.
This feels like the start of some kind of creepypasta. Sam smiled bitterly as she completely reset the game, wanting the full experience from the very start. She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands together. Fine, let's start the investigation.
Before she had even started the game, she decided to check the e-mail her father had sent her containing information about the earlier version of the game, with the beta tester's e-mail attached to it. Admittedly, Aaron was a little surprised about the beta tester sending him the earlier version of the game, telling him that he was allowed to send the early version of Help Wanted to Sam, but he figured he shouldn't question that decision. He just reminded his daughter to not spoil the game before the official version came out.
'''I believe that your daughter would be happy to play this video game. After having tested it by myself, I can say for sure that it will be an interesting experience for her. I'm sure that she will become obsessed with it','' Sam read the e-mail. So far, there was nothing noteworthy in it, except for the fact that the beta tester agreed to allow her to play the video game and praised it.
Attached to the e-mail was also a teaser image of the video game, showing Freddy and his friends gazing creepily at her and almost melting into each other. When she found it the first time, Sam only gave it a brief glance and moved on. This time, however, she downloaded the image, deciding to analyze it properly, checking its name and whether there were any hidden messages in it.
''No way…'' Sam's jaw dropped slightly when she put the image through a filter and turned the brightness up, only for a small message to be revealed, having been written in the corner of the image.
Don't listen to them.
We let something inside.
It was an accident.
Remember Jeremy.
''Who the hell is Jeremy?'' Sam muttered under her breath, rising an eyebrow. ''Okay, from what I'm getting here is that someone is not trustworthy because of an accident involving Jeremy and another being, that entity being something they let inside.'' She glanced over at the VR headset that was lying on her bed. ''The question remains, what was that accident and what did they let in?''
She got up, feeling chills all over her body. She was very familiar with this sensation, that being the thrill she would always feel whenever she would investigate anything supernatural. Despite the fact that this was just a video game, she realized that there was a lot more to it than it appeared to be. She knew that she came across another secret that Fazbear Entertainment, and perhaps even Silver Parasol Games, wanted to keep hidden from the public. She was also quite sure that the beta tester, who had sent this game to her father knew a lot more than she let on.
On the other hand, it is possible that she had been foreshadowing the plot of the video game, since Dad had talked about how much I love the game and solving the lore. However, this is Fazbear Entertainment we're talking about. Nothing is certain, as they might be telling the truth and pretending it's all made up for ''reasons''. Sam's eyes narrowed. Note that these are the people I agreed to work for. Admittedly, it was because of my own reasons, but still…
Sam sighed, leaning back against the chair and rubbing her temple as she felt another upcoming headache. Sure, it was intriguing, but she also had a very bad feeling about this. Of course, having a bad feeling had never stopped her from continuing to uncover whatever hidden secrets there were. Taking another deep breath, she reached for the VR headset and put it on, then grabbed the controllers and started the game.
With this, the intro sequence for Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted had started. Sam had found herself inside some kind of coaster, passing by of images of the supposed ''Lunatic Developer'', which looked like someone just photoshopped photos of a random guy while listening to HandUnit introducing her to the game and its background.
''Welcome to the Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience. Fazbear Entertainment is excited to join the digital age, and what better way to do that than with an edge-of-your-seat virtual reality experience? We know that Fazbear Entertainment has developed something of a bad reputation over the last few decades, and while it's true that some stories associated with our name were loosely based on actual events, the majority of them were total fabrications from the mind of a complete lunatic (lawsuits pending).''
''Oh, boy, you guys have no idea…'' Sam smirked. Rest assured, in her case, they were already too late, since she had gotten confirmation from the very person who was the reason Fazbear's Entertainment had been ruined that most of the rumors were correct.
''But we aren't above laughing at ourselves, ''Ha Ha Ha!''. That's why we have recreated many of these completely fictitious scenarios (lies) that you've been fed over the last several years, into a hilarious VR Game in the hopes that we can finally move past these childish ghost stories and develop a new relationship with you, as well as your kids (Don't forget the merch perfect for birthdays). So sit back, and enjoy a few scares!''
As she reached the end of the ride, Sam made sure to quickly pick up a tape that was to the left of the rail, having seen it, but missed it during her first time playing the game.
''We do however ask that you agree to a simple waiver before you play. It's mostly just legal mumbo-jumbo and isn't at all based on user experiences thus far or injuries associated with testing. Just touch the button to agree, and then we can jump into some harmless fun that can't harm you in any harmful way. Thank you for playing the Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience!''
Sam gave the waiver a nonchalant gaze. Frankly, she couldn't give a damn about suffering from injuries because of this VR game since she had found herself in much worse situations, including having been wounded and scarred by real animatronics. Still, she decided to read the whole liability waiver:
''Welcome to the Fazbear Entertainment Quality Assurance team. Before we can officially congratulate you on your fabulous lifetime career choice, you must agree to this simple waiver. Our lawyers have come up with a way to save you time by bypassing all the legal terms, and pages and pages of law-related verbiage by creating this simple in-game app. The important points have been condensed to a single page. Consider precious moments of your life saved.''
''Why does this feel like a contract a night guard would have to sign in the 90s version of the restaurant?'' Sam muttered to herself, shrugging. ''Except for the part of releasing a missing person's poster long after they cleaned up the blood and guts.''
''The auto-scroll feature was designed to protect you from potential repetitive stress injuries. It's just another way that Fazbear Entertainment cares for its employees. You should also take care not to over-exert your eyes while looking at such small text on a highly contrasting document screen.''
''Dude, it's a VR game,'' Sam added in a deadpan tone. ''I know that my eyes are gonna hurt and I will be stuck with a headache if I play this for too long. Also, who the hell made the text so small?!'' She paused. ''Right, they probably wanted to avoid people seeing the small print.''
''Therefore it is recommended that you rest your eyes while agreeing to these terms. Please close them now for safety purposes. Are they closed? Good. If you agree to the terms presented, you may press the button in front of you to confirm. Or, if you would like to reduce the risk of repetitive stress injury, you may allow the accept button to remain untouched for 10 seconds. The 10 second mark will let us know that you intend to press the accept button, but are a health-conscious individual.''
Sam just rolled her eyes and pressed the button on the waiver. She knew she'd regret it and she didn't care. She already had done enough things that would land her in an asylum.
''You acknowledge that Fazbear Entertainment is not responsible for; accidental digital consciousness transference, real world manifestations of digital characters, nightmares, night terrors, Night sweats….''
HandUnit's voice faded out as Sam found herself in the Main Hub Area, with the selection menu in front of her, with Helpy, a chibi version of Funtime Freddy, giving her a cheerful look.
''Welcome to the Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience. Use the console in front of you to navigate the menu and pick one of the frightening experiences available. By completing these scenarios, more will become available. You'll see plenty of familiar faces, and some new ones as well. So, stay awhile, and have a good time, and remember: despite the temporary horror you may experience, this is a completely controlled environment and you aren't in any real danger (Fazbear Entertainment not responsible for real danger). Please make a selection from the virtual menu.''
Sam took a look around the Main Hub Area, which looked like the Dining Area in a Freddy Fazbear's Pizza location. There was a show stage with the curtain closed behind the monitor in front of her and behind her was an area filled with tables and chairs. The Prize Counter was also visible at the end of the room near the exit. Foxy's Pirate Cove was located at the left of her and a mysterious, dark hallway could be seen at the right, albeit looking a little blurry, or rather, glitchy.
On the table in front of Sam was the monitor, a switch that could change the game to hard mode, buttons that led to different room, a tape player that led her to the Tape Room (she figured this one out after switching to Hard Mode out of sheer curiosity), and a cupcake basket with candies.
''Let's see…'' Sam muttered as she switched through the minigames. ''Which one am I going to play first? I could go through FNaF, FNaF 2 and FNaF 3 first, but I also have Dark Rooms, Parts and Service, Vent Repair, and Night Terrors.''
She also knew that she needed to collect all of the Faz Tokens and tapes, having not done much during her previous playthroughs. Not to mention, there was also the Blacklight Switch, which contained the altered levels, letting her access the Tape Room.
''Oh, right!'' Sam snapped her fingers, having realized that she didn't unlock the Tape Room yet. She went over to the Prize Counter, finding a Faz Token on the counter in front of the prize select monitor, as well as the glitchy tape player on a shelf next to the Toy Chica plushie. However, she then realized that, having not played any of the minigames, she had no access to any of the prizes, meaning she had no items she could use to knock it over. ''Damn it… Fine, Five Nights at Freddy's it is.''
She returned to the selection menu, choosing the FNaF 1 minigame and starting the night, hearing the phone ringing once she found herself in the office, and answered it.
''Hello, hello? Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night…''
Sam smiled bitterly as she heard Phone Guy's familiar voice. She already knew all of his calls by heart, explaining to her the dangers of being a night guard and the fact that Fazbear Entertainment didn't care about the safety of their employees. After all, they could be easily replaced. That is, after Fazbear Entertainment hid all of the evidence that they hired whoever became the victim of the week. She picked up the tape that was on the desk, as well as start searching for the Faz Tokens.
''Honestly, this kind of feels nostalgic,'' she muttered under her breath.
''Uh, let's see, first there's an introductory greeting from the company that I'm supposed to read…''
''I know, I know… 'Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. A magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. Fazbear Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property or person. Upon discovering that damage or death has occurred' we will remove your corpse from the animatronic suit, bleach the whole place and forward your ghost the bill,'' Sam added, shaking her head. ''So, they just re-used the recordings from the Five Nights at Freddy's game for Phone Guy, instead of making up something new.''
Sam then managed to find a Faz Token under the Cupcake and started rummaging through the drawers. She did check the monitors, noting that Chica was already on the move, but far enough for her not to worry.
''Blah blah blah, now that might sound bad, I know, but there's really nothing to worry about…''
''Yeah, there is nothing to worry about, except for the fact that those robots are out for your blood,'' Sam muttered, biting her lip as she took out the drink cups in the drawer. ''Gotcha! Oh, damn it!'' Sam looked up after having found a Faz Token under the drink cups in the drawer and seeing Chica slowly advancing towards her. Admittedly, it was a little fascinating to see Chica move like this instead of teleporting, but on the other hand, she had no idea whether the animatronic would just pass by the door and wait in the corner before she attacked or instantly attack her. Sam decided to shut the door down. ''I'm not going through this again.''
''So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit…''
''Oh, they certainly do,'' Sam muttered as she peeked through the window, waiting for Chica to finally move. She kept the door closed, listening to Chica's heavy steps as she passed by and then turned her attention to the monitor, finding Bonnie standing at the end of the hallway. Fortunately, Chica left, with Sam opening the door and tilting her head, trying to get a look at the chicken animatronic as she walked away. While she was familiar with real animatronics and this game, it still was fascinating to see the 90s animatronics like this.
''Uh, now concerning your safety, the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person…''
''Why should they? After all, they recognize everyone who isn't a child as the monster who caused them so much pain and suffering,'' Sam added. It was the same old song and dance. Whenever Bonnie and Chica would get too close for comfort, she would close the door, keep them outside and wait until they left. Around 3 AM, she found another Faz Token on the monitor on the right and checking the office once more, she didn't find anything. She did, however, grab the Cupcake and leaned out of the office just as Chica was approaching.
''Hey, you forgot this!'' she said, throwing the Cupcake at the advancing animatronic. It hit Chica, who just continued walking towards her, so Sam, giggling, quickly shut the door down.
''Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night.''
''Too bad no one will know that you had been a real person at one point,'' Sam muttered, leaning her cheek against her hand and sighing as she prevented Bonnie from breaking inside. Frankly, the first night of the game was a breeze for her and she wasn't creeped out by Bonnie nor Chica at all. At this point, all she had to do was to wait until the night was done so she could collect her prize. Eventually, the clock chimed, with the children cheering for her surviving the night.
She was then brought to a room with her prize. The room was surrounded with purple curtains with starry pattern. Several silver stars were dangling from the ceiling, and banner was placed in front of and above her saying ''GAME WON! CLAIM YOUR PRIZE''. In the middle of the room was a small purple table with a gift box on it. A crank was attached to the said gift box, and had to be turned before she could leave the room. Sam turned the crank, waiting for it to reveal her prize – a Freddy Fazbear plushie.
''Nice,'' she smiled as she heard the sound of children cheering for her. ''Now I have the necessary ammunition to get that tape player from the Prize Counter.''
After returning back to the Main Hub Area, she quickly turned towards the Prize Counter and picked the Freddy Fazbear plush toy on the monitor, only to realize that the basketball was actually available as well. Almost facepalming for not checking the monitor properly, she just moved on and grabbed the Freddy Fazbear plushie that had been delivered by the hand claw and aimed at the Toy Chica plushie on the shelf. She stuck out her tongue and threw the Freddy Fazbear plushie at the tape player, but unfortunately for her, she missed.
''Damn it,'' she hissed, ordering another Freddy Fazbear plushie and aiming again. This time, she managed to hit the Toy Chica plushie. ''Close enough. Let's try once more.''
Taking a deep breath, she aimed once more and threw the Freddy Fazbear plushie, this time hitting the tape player and knocking it over. She fist-pumped. ''Yes! Nailed it!''
Having unlocked the Tape Room, she remained at the Prize Counter, noting that there were still a few tapes there that she needed to pick up, those being under the Disappointment Chips inside the counter and inside the left gum-ball machine to the right of the counter.
''Now, I could give them a listen or try to collect more,'' Sam muttered to herself, wondering what should be her next move. She made a snap decision. ''You know what, let's hear what whoever left them has to say.''
She returned back to the monitor, looking around once more, only to almost suffer from a heart-attack when she realized that she wasn't alone in the Main Hub Area.
''Who the hell are you?!'' she yelled at the figure that was standing in the hallway on her right.
The figure had the form of a man wearing a Spring Bonnie costume – who was a grinning, bipedal, golden-yellow rabbit. He was wearing a purple vest speckled with star prints and a purple bow tie with two black buttons near the top of his chest. He also had stitches stretching across his waving hand. He also had large whiskers on each side of his face, three eyelashes on both of his eyes, and large arching eyebrows. His eyes were a glowing vivid purple with small pupils, with Sam realizing that they were the glitchy parts she saw when she entered this area for the first time. The rabbit was translucent to some extent, glowing in a green-golden hue, but something told Sam that he might gain a less-spectral form over time.
After calming down a little and taking a few deep breaths, Sam tilted her head, staring at the rabbit, feeling puzzled. Rest assured, he wasn't an animatronic and while she could argue that he resembled Spring Bonnie, she was fairly certain that he wasn't the animatronic she had on mind.
''I wonder whether you were created specifically for this game,'' Sam muttered, crossing her arms. The rabbit just kept waving at her, with Sam wincing as she heard some kind of garbled speech, unable to understand what he was saying. She decided to wave back, but the rabbit didn't react. ''You won't jumpscare me, right?''
The rabbit didn't respond, keeping on waving at her. Sam wondered whether she should pick one of the prizes from the Prize Counter and try throwing it at the rabbit in order to provoke him, but she then figured it would be a bad idea. She had no clue what this rabbit was, why he was here or what he wanted from her.
Or, perhaps, there is an explanation for who this rabbit is. After all, I still have those tapes I need to listen to.
Sighing, Sam decided to leave figuring out who this rabbit character was for later and instead turned her attention to the Blacklight Switch, accessing the Blacklight Mode and gaining access to the Tape Room.
''We went to great lengths to create an authentic VR experience, including using scanned photographs for reference and using original performance routines where applicable,'' Sam heard HandUnit say upon entering the Tape Room.
The room itself was dark, with a desk in the center. On that desk, there was a shelf in front of her where the tapes she collected were stored. She could listen to them with the tape player right beside the shelf. On the right, there was a button to return to the main room. Sam looked around nervously, sighing in relief when she realized that the strange rabbit wasn't inside the room. Still, she couldn't get rid off the feeling that she was being observed in some way.
''Okay, calm down and get over with this,'' Sam told herself, glancing at the shelf with the tapes. So far, she had only four of them. ''Try listening to them first and then speculate about the lore.''
She grabbed the first tape and placed it into the tape player, activating it. She was a little surprised when she heard a female voice.
''Hello? Can you hear me? Don't exit this room, ok? This isn't a mistake. This room isn't a mistake. I had to hide these logs away from the core gameplay files in a place that only a beta tester would look and in a place where the files could be protected. I just really, really hope that the next development team finds this before the game is released to the public.''
''What?'' Sam rose an eyebrow, feeling bewildered.
''This game has some kind of malicious code in it that we haven't been able to fully contain or even understand for that matter. We're over-budget and out of time. But that's not the reason that we're shutting down. Listen, I have to keep this short so the file size will be small enough to fly under the radar. There are more. They may not be in order.''
''Wait a second, what are you talking about?'' Sam found herself asking, despite being aware that the woman, Tape Girl, as she decided to call her, wouldn't respond. She grabbed the next tape, placing in in the player.
''I saw it for the first time today. There was a character, I couldn't make out who it was, standing at the end of the hall. I thought it was just bugged out, so I made a note of it and kept playing. But then it was looking in the window. And not like Chica or Bonnie would. It was like it was actually looking in the window, seeing what I was doing.''
''No way,'' Sam muttered, feeling chills flowing down her spine as she put the next tape.
''I heard a pretty heated conversation this morning between Dale – our manager – and someone else on the line. It really feels like this project is in trouble, in no small part because of the lawsuit I'm sure. There has to be a lawsuit. There's no way there isn't. It happened in this building just a few doors down from me. I think it's made worse by the fact that Jeremy tried to tell us something was wrong. But as a dev team, we all just saw it as a challenge to find what the problem was and fix it. Who could have known that- I have to go.''
Feeling her hands shaking, she quickly put the last tape she had into the player.
''Have you ever heard of a guillotine paper slicer? It sounds made up, but it's an actual piece of office equipment. I didn't even know we had one in the supply room. I guess they're more common at businesses that do a lot of graphic design work. I remember seeing one when I was still in school, and even then I knew how dangerous it looked. I was always afraid of losing a finger. That seems so silly now. Jeremy used to do design work. I guess that's how he knew it was there.''
Once the tape was done playing, Sam had to take a few moments to process everything. She knew that, if this indeed wasn't part of the game, she had discovered something that might have dire consequences for everyone involved with this video game. Not to mention, the tapes also gave her hints for what that glitchy rabbit was.
''Okay, so, to recap, Fazbear Entertainment wanted to make light of the tragedies that had occurred at Freddy's by making a video game, while also trying to discredit the game developer whose games I previously played,'' Sam muttered to herself, exiting the Tape Room and returning to the main area. ''However, during the development of Help Wanted, something happened. If Tape Girl is indeed telling the truth and her tapes aren't really part of the game, that means that Fazbear Entertainment is once again responsible for unleashing something dangerous.''
She stared at the monitor, frowning. ''So, there is a malicious code in the system that the previous development team, that is, the one Tape Girl belonged to, was unable to contain, and that code might be that strange rabbit character.''
Sam looked back at the hallway, finding the rabbit staring at her and waving. She could hear him say something again, but unfortunately, there was no way for her to make out what he was telling her without recording it and altering the audio. Her eyes narrowed.
''Then, there's the fact that there was some kind of accident that that included this guy, Jeremy. The fact that there's a guillotine paper slicer involved doesn't give me high hopes for the outcome,'' she added.
Despite the fact that there was no reason for her not to believe that the tapes, the lore and the rabbit weren't part of the video game, she was familiar enough with Fazbear Entertainment's practices to know that Tape Girl was indeed telling the truth and that this was something that indeed happened during the development of Help Wanted. However, it was up to Sam whether she would believe her or not.
If this isn't some kind of sick joke, then this means that the horror story isn't over yet and that I still have work to do. She bit her lip, glaring at the rabbit. Who are you?
The rabbit grumbled something in a distorted voice in response, waving at Sam. The latter stared at the rabbit, before sighing and wondering what she was supposed to call the rabbit. The first thing that came to her mind was Spring Bonnie, but given the rabbit's appearance, as well as the implications that came with that name, she was a bit hesitant about calling him that. Another name that came to her mind was Malhare, but even though Tape Girl described the digital rabbit mascot as malicious code, he hadn't done anything that could be considered malicious… yet.
Sam clenched her fists around the controllers, feeling a lump in her throat as one more name came to her mind as she observed the translucent glitchy rabbit who was waving her. She knew that it could be just a coincidence, but her gut feeling told her that she was right with her assumption, even if she hated it.
''I guess I could call you Glitchtrap…''
Sam gasped suddenly, her eyes widening as she heard the rabbit speak again. However, instead of his voice being distorted noise, it was crystal clear, a simple question echoing in her head.
''Can you hear me?''