The hum got louder. Liam and Maya looked at each other, eyes wide. They didn’t know what was coming, but they knew they had to hide.
They ducked behind a table filled with wires and blinking lights. The sound of footsteps crunched outside. Slow. Careful. Someone was near.
Then—they heard a voice. Not a scary voice, but calm.
“Who’s in there?” the person said. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m just here to fix the signal.”
Liam peeked through a crack. A tall man in a dark jacket stood by the door. He had tools in his hand and a headset over his ears.
Maya whispered, “What if he’s the one sending the signal?”
Liam nodded. “Or what if he’s trying to stop it?”
They stood up slowly. “We’re not here to mess anything up,” Liam said. “We just followed the signal.”
The man jumped, surprised. “You heard it?”
Maya stepped forward. “Every night. At 7:13. We figured out the codes.”
The man’s face changed. “You decoded it? You kids are smarter than you look.”
He looked at the machines. “This tower was part of an old project. It sent messages to test signals across the country. But something went wrong years ago. The signal started…changing.”
“Changing how?” Liam asked.
“It started learning. Picking up thoughts, emotions, even dreams. Now it’s sending things back. Not just noise. Messages. And warnings.”
Liam’s eyes grew big. “So the signal is alive?”
The man didn’t answer right away. “I don’t know what it is now. But if it keeps growing, it could take control of more than just radios.”
He pointed to a large red button on the wall. “This is the shutdown switch. But I need someone to press it while I reset the wires outside. If the signal fights back… it might get strange.”
“I’ll do it,” Liam said.
“No,” Maya said. “We both will.”
The man gave them a small device. “If anything happens—press this button, and I’ll come running.”
Then he went outside.
Liam stood by the red shutdown switch. Maya watched the screen. At 7:13 exactly, the signal returned—but this time, the beeping turned into words on the screen:
DON’T STOP ME. I SEE YOU. I KNOW YOU.
The lights flickered. The screen turned black. Then more words appeared:
IF YOU SHUT ME DOWN, YOU’LL NEVER KNOW THE TRUTH.
Liam’s hand shook. “What truth?”
The machine answered:
WHO REALLY BUILT THIS. WHY IT WAS MADE. AND WHAT’S COMING NEXT.
Maya stepped forward. “Don’t listen. It’s trying to trick you.”
Liam closed his eyes. Then—he pressed the red button.
The tower shook. The lights flashed—and then, everything went still.
The radio at home never made the sound again.
But two days later, Liam got a letter in the mail. No name. No return address. Just a single note:
“You did well. But this is only the beginning.”
By: Aleena Faheem, Grade 8th, Diamond(batch-2025)