The Antique Headphones

Story 1

        If you were to ask my friends to say something about me, they would with no doubt call me cheap. ‘Cheap Chris’ was my nickname. This was because I wasn’t like them, the average crowd of people who bought the average type of thing. Those average brands are full of baloney. They overprice you because they have an established name and have to make profit and whatnot. I was rather a… bargain hunter. That’s what I liked to call myself.  It was due to my bargain hunting habits that I found myself strolling somewhere, lost in a consumer’s treasure hunting spree. I managed to get myself to a desolate part of town. It was then that I stumbled upon an old beat down store that had some peculiarly interesting looking goods. Shops like these were usually gold mines for bargains. I entered the shop.

         A bell rung above my head as the door creaked open. What immediately struck me was the heavy musty smell that wafted through the air. An old man stood behind a counter and flashed me a toothy grin. Man, I thought, the old guy looked really old, like ancient. Hesitantly, I smiled back and looked around the store. Junk. Junk. And more junk. Oh wait what’s this… an Ouija board! It looked old, like even older than the man behind the counter. As I turned it around in my hands, I saw the price. Overpriced. I put the old board down and continued to scavenge around. There was nothing.

         I started to make my way towards the door. For a brief moment, I glanced towards the counter but there was no one there. Weird. For an old man he sure moved quietly. I turned back towards the door and there he stood. Whoa! I blurted out in surprise. The old man grinned his toothy grin and held out a box.

 ‘You young folk like yer music right?’ the old man shoved a box with headphones into my arms.

‘Er, thank you, but I’m fine.’ I replied.

‘Eh, but these headphones are a true bargain for a bargain hunter like yourself. What’s yer name, sonny boy? The old man said hastily.

How did he know I was a bargain hunter? ‘Uh, my name’s Chris.’ I replied.

‘Well Chris, this is a true bargain!’ The old man laughed heartily.

 I glanced down at the box. Headphones. I could actually use them, I thought to myself. The box was dusty and the headphones looked really out of fashion, bulky and overbearing. But it was really cheap! Like, unbelievable. The labels on the box said it had ‘noise cancelling’ which was a plus. I paid for them and took them home with me, silently congratulating myself on the smart purchase.

 I walked into the door of my apartment and set the box down on my coffee table. My sink was dripping, which was weird since I had it fixed last week. I plopped myself on a couch and watched television. My mind had drifted away as I concentrated on the television program. It seemed that time was non-existent as the TV drained my attention. The show I was watching was strange yet so entrancing. There was someone in the show that was creeping around slowly. The person tilted their head and smiled, something about it felt real. I was lost in it. The sun had set and the stars were twinkling a brilliant starry hue in front of me. They shone on the headphones. My gaze diverted towards the headphones, looking at them snapped me back into reality. I bolted up, conscious, and looked at my watch. Shoot! It was nearly midnight.  I had to get up early for my lecture tomorrow as I lived outside my universities campus. I took the headphones and brought them to bed to try them out.

 The headphones were okay. There was nothing to complain about, I wasn’t too sure that the noise-cancellation worked but it seemed decent. All of sudden I heard something other than the music I was listening to. It sounded weird and muffled up at first, but eventually I could make it out.