From Scarlet (Listener Message)

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[TRANSCRIPT]

Hello, Whiskey. My voice might sound somewhat familiar. And I suppose it is, but at the same time… it really isn’t. You received a message from someone calling themselves ‘Red’, and that’s… there’s no other way to say it, but that’s MY voice. I would know it anywhere. It’s all I’ve heard for these past seven years, except for your transmissions, and the occasional stray advert on the airwaves. And when I first heard it, I honestly thought I was going crazy. Thought maybe I’d sent a transmission without even realizing it. It… wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. I mean I do talk to myself, so that’s probably a sign of something, right? But then… this… Red, this other version of me, she started talking about white walls, and painting them, and colour, and rainbows, and that… Well, that made it clear that it wasn’t me. Not unless I’d gone completely crazy. 

See… (laughs) ’See’… I’ve never seen the walls in this place. I’ve never seen the walls in any place. I don’t know what shade of green money is. I don’t know what the sun looks like. I can tell you what the heat of it feels like on my skin, or the smell of a five-dollar bill, and I know every single bump and dent and bit of texture on the walls of my home… but I’ve never seen them. I’ve never seen any of them. I’ve been blind my entire life. Or… at least as long as I can remember. I won’t get into the… medical details, it’s not like I was in a position to understand them at the time. An infection, a bad fever, that’s all I really know. I certainly don’t envy my parents for what they went through, let’s just put it that way.

So… you couldn’t bring colour back into my life, though I appreciate the sentiment. There’s just never been any there to begin with. I know some people do get lucky – such as that luck is - get to see shapes, or shadows, or pinholes of vision… I wasn’t lucky, I guess. Story of my life.

But I am lucky to be here, I suppose. Beats the alternative. And wherever Red is, it sounds like she’s somewhere similar. And… probably pretty lonely. I know that feeling well. The… desolation, the hopelessness. The silence. So… thank you for breaking the silence, at least, Whiskey. I’m very grateful for that.

And Red… if you’re out there, somewhere, able to hear this… I don’t even know how you would reach out, or how I would hear it, or if that would… destroy time and space or something, but just… I’m here. I’m here if you need someone. I’ve… become very well-versed in talking to myself. You’re… you used a pseudonym for a reason, and I suppose I should follow suit. Don’t want them tracking me down, after all of this. So… if anyone wants to reach out, whether it’s Whiskey, or Red, or… some other alternate version of me… you can call me Scarlet.