Noise and Silence

The door creaked open again.

Not slammed this time.
Just… opened. Like it had been waiting for her.

El looked up slowly from the mixing desk.

There she was—again.
Still barefoot, still dragging sand in with her steps. Her hoodie was drier than yesterday’s, but just barely. This time it smelled like salt and sunlight—like she’d sat by the sea all morning before deciding to show up again.

She didn’t say anything at first. Just stood there in the doorway like the storm had dropped her off and whispered “go back.”

“You don’t lock this place?” she asked, eventually. Her voice echoed softly in the quiet studio.
“Someone could rob you. Or worse—rearrange your vinyls by genre instead of vibe.”

She smirked, walked in, and plopped herself on the stool next to him like they’d done this a dozen times before.

El stared.

“Why is she back?”
“No one ever comes back.”
“…I didn’t think she would.”

He cleared his throat.
“…It’s not a café.”

“Obviously. No menu. No barista. No overpriced oat milk.”
She dug into her sling bag and pulled out a cold boxed Milo like a magician revealing a trick.
“Don’t worry. Brought my own drink. Very independent woman.”

She took a sip. No straw. Just drank it like she was in a music video from the 90s. It was annoying. And kind of funny. But mostly annoying.

“Who drinks Milo like that?”

“Oh,” she added, tapping her bag with her foot. “Also brought this. Again. This time wrapped in bubble wrap, tissue paper, and irrational hope.”

She offered him the cassette like it was a gift.

El didn’t reach for it right away.

He just looked at it. Then at her.

Then back at the cassette.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

Not sharp. Not tired. Just… genuinely confused.

Most people left.
This village was a place people passed through, not returned to.
That’s why El stayed.

She didn’t answer at first.

Instead, she set the cassette on the desk gently.
Her fingers lingered on the case longer than necessary.

The room filled with silence.
Not awkward silence.
Not tense.

Just… quiet.
Like the ocean when it exhales.

“Because yesterday…” she said softly, “when you looked at the tape, it didn’t feel like you were just looking at plastic.”

He blinked.
Didn’t expect that.

Her voice—still playful—was dipped in something different now. Something honest. Like she was trying to meet him halfway in a room where people usually kept their shoes on and their feelings out.

He looked away.

Last Night – El Alone in the Studio

The lights were off, but the cassette machine still spun.
Nothing played. Nothing recorded.

It just turned in the dark like a heartbeat.

El lay on the futon upstairs, staring at the ceiling through the floorboards.
His eyes weren’t really open.
But he wasn’t really asleep either.

Sofi’s words floated back to him.

“My sister’s voice.”
“She drowned.”

The rain had stopped hours ago, but his room still felt wet. The air thick with things unspoken.

He didn’t know why she affected him like this.
He didn’t know why he cared.

But part of him had wanted her to come back.

“That’s a problem,” he thought.
“Wanting things again.”

BACK TO PRESENT – The Studio

El finally reached for the cassette.

Gently.

Like it might shatter beneath his fingers.

“It’s damaged,” he said, almost apologetically.
“Warped. Salt exposure. If I try to play it, there’s a chance it’ll snap.”

Sofi just nodded.

“Better to hear half a voice than none at all.”

That sentence hit harder than he expected.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, turned toward the deck, and slid the cassette in.

Pressed play.

Static.
A quiet pop.
Then a voice. Muffled. Soft. A hum? A breath?

It was hard to tell.
Like the past trying to speak underwater.

Sofi leaned forward, eyes locked on the speakers. Her lips parted slightly—not to speak, but to listen better.

El didn’t watch the deck.
He watched her.

The way her expression changed. The way her fingers curled into her palm.

“Why does she look like she’s bracing for something?”
“Why do I feel like I’ve seen that look before?”

The studio, once silent, now held something fragile.
And El wasn’t sure if it was the sound…
or her.