The storm passed by morning, just as Elara had predicted. Alex woke to a world washed clean. The sky was a brilliant, cloudless blue, and the air smelled of rain and wet pine needles. For the first time since arriving, he didn't feel the weight of the silence. Instead, he felt a spark of anticipation. He made his coffee, his eyes drifting constantly to the radio on his desk.
He did his morning scan of the horizon, his binoculars sweeping over the endless green expanse. No smoke. The forest was calm, glistening under the morning sun. He followed the official procedure, clicking the button on his radio's microphone.
"Tower 9, this is Tower 7. Morning check-in. All clear over here."
He let go of the button, his heart thumping a little too loudly in his chest. The static hissed for a few seconds that felt like an eternity.
"Morning, Tower 7," Elara's voice came back, warm and bright. "It's a beautiful day after the rain, isn't it? All clear at Tower 9 as well."
Alex grinned. "Yeah, it is. I was half-expecting to see a tree knocked over, but everything looks fine."
"This forest is tougher than it looks," she replied. There was a slight pause before she added, "So, Alex, the new guy. How are you liking the view so far?"
Her tone was friendly, inviting conversation. Alex felt the last bit of tension melt away. "The view's amazing. Better than the view of my old office, anyway. That was just a brick wall."
He could almost hear her smile. "I know what you mean. My last job was in a library. I traded endless shelves of books for endless rows of trees."
Their conversation flowed easily after that. They talked about the small towns they were from, the silly reasons they'd taken the job—Alex mentioned his hatred of beige cubicles, and Elara confessed she was tired of people asking her to be quiet. They discovered they both had a love for old horror movies and a shared dislike for cilantro. It was a simple conversation, but for Alex sitting alone in his tower, felt like a lifeline. In just few minutes, Elara went from being a stranger to being a friend. A distant friend, but a friend nonetheless.
Their radio calls quickly became the best part of his day. They established a routine: a quick, professional check-in in the morning, and a longer, more personal chat in the evening as the sun began to set. They were two lonely people, and their voices bridged the thirty miles of wilderness that separated them.
Alex learned that Elara was a skilled artist who brought sketchbooks with her to the tower, drawing the landscape and the animals she saw. Elara learned that Alex was trying to write a novel, an idea he'd been too scared to pursue in the city. They shared their pasts, their dreams, and their fears. The vast, empty wilderness felt a little less empty with her voice to fill it. He found himself thinking about her throughout the day, wondering what she was doing, looking at from her own tower.
About three weeks into his stay, the first truly strange thing happened.
It was a clear, moonless night. The stars were scattered across the black sky like spilled diamonds. Alex was reading a book by the light of his lantern when he heard it.
Click. Click-click. Click.
He froze, lowering his book. The sound was faint but distinct. It was a sharp rhythmic noise, almost like someone tapping a stone against glass. It wasn't the wind. It wasn't an animal. He stood up and went to the window, peering down into the inky blackness of the forest below. He saw nothing but the dark shapes of the spines.
Click-click. Click. Click-click-click.
It was closer now. And it seemed to be coming from multiple directions at once. It sounded like a code, but it was irregular, chaotic. A cold feeling prickled the back of his neck. Gus's words echoed in his mind: The quiet can getloud. Was this what he meant? Was his mind just playing tricks on him?
He grabbed his powerful flashlight and shone a beam down into the trees. The light cut a bright white path through the darkness, but it revealed nothing. No animals scattered. No person staring back up at him. There was only the forest, silent and still. After a few minutes, the clicking stopped as abruptly as it had started.
Alex had trouble sleeping that night. Every creak of the tower, every rustle of the wind, made him jump.
The next evening, during his call with Elara, he tried to bring it up casually. "So, I think I'm officially starting to go crazy up here," he said, forcing a laugh. "Started hearing things last night."
"Oh yeah?" Elara sounded amused. "The forest ghosts finally came to say hello?"
"Something like that," Alex said. "It was this weird clicking noise. Like Morse code, but all jumbled up. It's probably just a woodpecker with a weird sense of rhythm." He was hoping she'd agree, that she'd give him a logical explanation that would put his mind at ease.
Her reply made his blood run cold.
The playful tone was gone from her voice, replaced by something serious. "Alex... where did you hear it coming from?"
"I don't know," he said slowly, sitting up straighter. "It sounded like it was everywhere... All around the tower. Why?"
The radio was silent for a long moment. Only soft hiss of static filled the air. Then, Elara spoke again, her voice barely a whisper.
"Because I've heard it too."