Wonderland Bites

Midnight Radio Zero

Midnight Radio Zero

Shingo's grandmother died five days ago. His family just finished cleaning out her house. The boy inherited her old radio. This was one of those radios that was made post-World War II. It probably hadn't worked in years.

"She wanted you to have this," his mother said. Shingo just stared at her. He overheard his uncles and aunts saying that his grandmother collected nothing but junk. Still, Shingo figured he could fix it up and see what he could get.

Good thing he had the powers to do it.

It didn't take long for the radio to be fixed. Shingo decided to wait until tonight to test it out.

"Good night," his mother said later that night.

"Night," Shingo said in bed. He waited for her to close the door. The tech tadpole held his breath as he took a listen. He reached under his bed and pulled out his radio. Shingo took another listen for his mother moving around. One... Two... Three... Four... Five...

The tadpole took a breath and turned it on. Soft static filled the room. Shingo doubted that he was going to get anything on the radio. Still, he had to test it out. He started to play with some of the knobs. The boy had to make sure that his mother stayed asleep in her bed. She took his cell phone last week because he wouldn't stop watching videos on it. He couldn't risk losing the radio too.

Shingo took his time scanning the stations. All he got was static so far. But then, something caught his attention over the airwaves. At first, it came out sounding low and dull. Shingo strained his ears for a listen. Faint music started to come through the speaker. To him, it sounded like something that would be played in an elevator in the seventies. Maybe he tuned into an old-timey radio station. Shingo listened with a confused look on his face.

"What is this?" he whispered to himself. He slowly reached for the knob.

"This is the Midnight Radio Zero station," a man's voice said over the radio. "This is the best station for the goings on around Tokyo and all over Japan." Shingo froze.

"We are the station that delivers breaking news, weather reports, community reports, and music. I hope you will enjoy this evening's show. Once again, this is Midnight Radio Zero station." The voice sounded low and sounded. Another voice was in the background repeating, "This is the Midnight Radio Zero station". It faded into soft lo-fi music. Shingo sat there with a blank look on his face.

"What the hell?" he asked himself. The Midnight Radio Zero station? What kind of radio station was that? Part of Shingo wanted to turn away from it. But he had to hear what else was on here. He looked up at his door. Good, his mother was still in bed. Shingo looked down at his radio. Time to see where this rabbit hole went. He counted himself lucky that the need to sleep was gone from him. Shingo pulled the radio close to his side.

The tech tadpole made notes about this strange station. The Midnight Radio Zero station mostly played lo-fi music. Not the happy upbeat kind either. This was what could be called dark lo-fi. It wasn't exactly to Shingo's taste. The station didn't play anything else. However, Shingo was more focused on the messages that the DJ said. They weren't exactly normal either. They usually played some dark lo-fi in the background. Here are some reports that Shingo managed to take notes.

"And now the weather. This is a weather station after all. Tonight, we will be experiencing a clear, cloudless sky. As with all cloudless nights, please do not look at the lights in the sky near downtown. They are not real. It is really easy to follow the lights without thinking about it. The lights will often lead to the woods near the cemetery on the edge of town. It is not the lights that are dangerous, but the woods themselves. Thank you. This has been the weather channel."