Can You Hear That?
A short piece of fiction, inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic
I wrote a short scene about first emerging after months of obeying the “Shelter in Place” order in California. Now, as we retreat back to our shelters again for the next month, it feels timely to share this piece.
“Can you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“That buzzing?”
“I don't hear anything.”
“Must be in my head,” he laughed nervously.
He had feared this, after three months without social contact, that something would have changed in his brain. Something shifted, distorting what was internal and external. He was talking to his neighbor for the first time since the pandemic started and now he was confirming that something did in fact change.
“It's like there's a fly stuck in my ear.”
“That sounds awful.”
“You really don't hear it?”
“No, it's quiet.” His neighbor turned to look at the empty street.
“It's just, I didn't hear it until I left my apartment.”
He looked around and up at the building next door, at the windows, trying to find the source of the noise that his neighbor couldn't hear. It had been hot recently so maybe it was someone's air-conditioning unit. Or a fan set in a window to pull in the cool evening air. But as he turned his head this way and that, the buzzing didn't change.
The neighbor shifted from one foot to the other. He wanted to help but didn't know what to do or say. The neighbor stood there, shifting from foot to foot, scared to get close to another person for fear of infection, and now also scared of a phantom noise.
He stopped searching and turned back to his neighbor.
“It’s not... I can't...”
He knew it was in his head, that he was hearing a sound that wasn't there, imagining a noise that didn't exist. He knew he had been alone in his apartment for so long that his brain had created its own background noise to replace the city traffic and ambient conversation that used to be a part of everyday life. But he didn't want to admit that he was going crazy.
“Huh,” he said and put his hands on his hips. “It stopped.”
He was lying. They looked at each other for a moment. Two men, standing six feet apart, living side by side in fear of invisible germs and imaginary noises.
This piece was written during the 8th month of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020.
I can totally understand him. I miss the noise from city traffic and ambient conversation in my hometown. very often and a lot. there are some similar noise in Dresden too. but it's so different. love this piece.