The guy listens
to this song every day. He hums the melody as the words “Mute – Phantom” move
back and forth on the speaker monitor.
“ Aren't you tired of this song?” one of his frequenters asks.
“You never get fed up with some of these classics,” the guy swiftly answers,
moving up and down with his scissors.
It was another beautiful day full of customers, waiting in line, for him to do
their hair. The guy’s name is Hugh McPherson; he is a competent hair designer
and a make-up artist.
After his shop closed at 6 A.M., Hugh visited a local general hospital for a
vision checkup.
“I’m at the general hospital for a checkup, nothing too serious; my eyes were
just tired lately,” he said into his phone as he pressed the elevator button.
“Alright, come for a visit sometime, talk to you later.” He hung up as he
entered the elevator.
A young woman followed him in, lighting a cigarette as he waited for the doors
to close. He seemed to be interested in the girl and quickly came up with a
question to start a conversation.
“What’s the name of the cigarette?” his voice quietly echoed in the sealed
elevator as he carefully asked.
Soon, the room filled up with stuffy air, full of awkwardness. Hugh, unable to
suppress the awkwardness of silence, tried again to talk to her.
“Which floor are you heading to?” he asked again, hiding his nervousness under
his low, steady voice.
With unchanged expression, she opened her hands and showed the number 6 to the
guy. He quickly moved his focus to the floor and direction information on the
elevator wall. His eyes moved down the words and numbers and stopped at the row
“6F-Psychiatric Clinic”.
By now, he had
started sweating, puzzled and confused about the woman. His eyes were already
reflecting his anxiety, and he felt as if the elevator was moving much slower
than before. The woman, putting on pink-red lipstick, started eating the solid
block of it with a disgusting sound. Hugh, ready to jump out of the elevator,
stared at the numbers going up on the wall. With a bitter grin, the woman
pulled his shirt towards her chest and kissed his cheek, leaving a red smudge.
Shocked, he shoved her out from the elevator as it opened on the 6th floor.
She stared into his eyes until the elevator closed between them.
Hugh returned home. He dropped onto his couch full of hazy and
puzzled thoughts. His face distorted as he rubbed his clean cheek. He called
the woman “psycho,” “a mess,” and other names full of stereotypical
assumptions. He still remembered the girl’s face and expression very
vividly.
He turns on the television and flips through the channels.
Something on the
television seems to suddenly draw his attention. Hugh watches the same woman on
the rectangular widescreen performing the same thing she did to him on a stage
in front of a large laughing audience. Then everything seems to make sense.
With an awed expression on his face, he realizes the girl is a comedian.
He runs his CD player and plays “Revelation” by his favorite musician, Phantom.
He pushes the monitor screen button and searches her name up on a popular
website: “Suzy Dunhill”.
Hugh spent his night trying to get information on her. Too bad he was unable to
find much interesting pictures or rumors about the comedian. Very
strange, actually.
“Not many pictures or articles related to her, guess she isn't very
mainstream,” he thought to himself as he sipped a cup of morning coffee.
“Having a comedian girlfriend would be quite fun, right?” After realizing the
girl was a comedian, Hugh’s perspective had clearly changed.
“Who cares if her hair and make-up is a mess, I can fix all that, I’m a hair
designer, a talented one.” He justified all his prejudicial assumptions he had
made about her earlier.
“Not everyone who goes to psychiatric clinic is mentally unstable; she is a
comedian who performs on stage! She could be normal; it could’ve just been a
simple counseling, ” he thought as he buttoned his shirt to leave his house.
He headed to a nearby grocery store to buy a pack of cigarettes.
“Excuse me; do you have Simple 7 Light?” He asked the store owner with a clean
smile on his face.
The owner turned around to face the wall of cigarette packs and found the
brand.
“By any chance, do you know a young woman with messy hair and weird make-up who
buys the same cigarette?” Hugh asked with a sense of hope in his eyes.
“The one who sings?” the owner responded as she put the cigarette package
on the counter.
“No no, she is a comedian, I’m trying to find her, ” Hugh explained as he took
out his brown leather wallet from his back pocket.
Just as the store owner rang up the price $19.99, Suzy entered the
shop and gabbed the pack and walked out from the shop, leaving a twenty-dollar
bill on the table. Hugh quickly followed her out and chased her across the
street. He called her aloud as she swiftly flew through people and entered a
coffee shop. He ran into the shop and found her sitting on a small table near
the windows.
“We’ve seen each other before right? Comedian Suzy Dunhill, I saw your show.”
He asked her as he was panting from the chase.
She took out a phone and started typing. His expression twisted, as he felt
slightly offended.
There were some texts on her phone screen as she showed it to him. “A fan? No
one has ever recognized me before.”
“Ah, I’m pretty fast in visual learning; I even remember your expression on
that day in the elevator.” He spoke with a sense of confidence in his gesture.
She flipped her phone and it said “looking for one night stand or something?”
He flew into rage and explained he was a famous hair and make-up artist. The
look on her face shifted slightly. Hugh was puzzled about what she might be
thinking.
“Let’s get right into the topic, why did you kiss me in that elevator?” he
asked staring right at her face.
She flipped her phone and showed the text: “I just felt like it; also to refer
to my show.” Losing his will to answer with any anger, Hugh leaned forward and
read the words on the screen. She looked through her bag and took out the
lipstick and stretched her arm right in front of his face, showing him the
lipstick. He quickly realized it was a chocolate prank candy and stared back at
her with a look of discomfort. She showed the text: “To be honest, that was
just a joke.”
“Why did you go to the psychiatric clinic then?” he asked with his chin resting
on his hand.
Just as she faced her phone and started typing, he tapped the table making her
stop.
“Come on, let’s just simply have a talk, we don’t have to complicate
ourselves,” he argued as he pointed at her phone.
She then with a confused look on her face brought her fingers towards her mouth
and crossed them making a letter “X. ” She again showed her phone saying: “I
can’t talk, I’m a mute.”
“Don’t kid around, one prank was enough, I even heard your voice in the
elevator, telling me the name of the cigarette,” he spoke as he broke out
laughing.
Without a word, she took out a card from her bag and showed it to him. “Suzy
Dunhill, Speech Impaired Class 3.” Hugh pushed his chair back and quickly rose
up and took out his name card with the address to his shop.
“I’m sorry, I think I misunderstood. You can always visit here for hair and
make-up.” He foolishly turned around and ran out from the shop, leaving her
behind at the table.
“How can you even communicate with a speech impaired person? This is funnier
than the fact that she kissed me last time,” he thought to himself as he
arrived at his place after running back from the coffee shop.
Suzy, left all alone at the small coffee shop table, took out a bottle of
capsules labelled “Anti-depressant” and took a few into her mouth. She gulped
them down with a sip of coffee and laid her head down at the table, staring
through the window at the people outside.
Hugh’s shop was
always full of visitors who came for their hair and make-up. The clean glass
door swung open and he greeted the customer with his usual smile. Familiar
face: he realized it was Suzy from a few days ago.
“I didn't expect you to actually come,” he said in a sarcastic
manner as he wrapped a nylon cover sheet cover around as she sat in a chair.
She showed her usual phone screen: “I've never been to a hair shop; I cut
it myself at home.”
“No wonder, you probably just chopped it off with Staples scissors, I bet,” he
answered with a sneer on his face.
“Just trust me, I am a professional. I studied hair designing in Britain for 4
years and make-up in Japan for 3 years. ‘Talented and gifted’ is what people
say about me.” He was swiftly moving through her hair with scissors and a comb
between his fingers.
She again showed the screen: “Ha. Ha. Ha,” making Hugh blush with
embarrassment.
He played one of the songs from his favorite artist, Phantom. The melody flowed
from the speaker and he started humming the notes.
“Ah, who listens to Phantom these days, change the song,” she him on her phone.
“Can’t you see? I’m a big fan, ” he answered, smiling to her reflection on the
mirror.
Hugh hummed through the song and was moving back and forth with her hair in his
hands. Suzy suddenly rose up and went close to the Phantom album poster with
her chocolate lipstick. He sprang at her and stopped the girl’s arm from moving
closer.
“What are you doing?” he squeaked as he held her wrist.
“A sign, thought you were a fan, ” the phone screen said.
After a few minutes after settling her back down into the chair, he dragged a
big, circular machine over her head.
“It’s going to take about twenty minutes, want me to get you a magazine?” he
asked as he pushed the buttons on the machine.
She stuck her hands into her pocket and took out a cigarette pack labeled
“Simple 7 Light”.
“I told you, it’s Simple 7! You told me the name in the elevator, I clearly
heard your voice saying it!” he pointed at the text and exclaimed at her.
She flipped her phone in his face: “I’m speech-impaired.”
“By any chance, you are not pretending to be
mute right? Because I still remember your voice answering my question in the
elevator,” Hugh replied.
“Guess who needs some psychiatric help?’” she texted while snorting at
his
statement.
After washing
and drying, she opened her eyes and saw a gorgeous reflection of herself in the
mirror.
“See? You look much better with this hair,” he whispered to her as she was
vacantly staring into the mirror.
Soon, he saw the words: “Be my manager, I’ll give as much as 5 times more than
this.” Then she broke out laughing.
“You don’t understand, I love my job, I give pleasure to all the customers during
their visit. Also to add, I’m not interested in you at all, ” Hugh explained
thoroughly, looking into her eyes.
She
typed: “Today is December 1st, , so you have until
the 31st to decide. That’s exactly one month. You said
you are my fan.”
“Suzy, I only learned your name few days ago, what do you mean fan?”
Hugh turned around to sit at the chair beside her.
“Do you know why I just ran out from that coffee shop a few days ago? You were
embarrassing, that’s why I left without even asking for a simple cup of
espresso.” He looked unkindly at the woman.
The screen replied with a short response: “Continue.”
“Of course, disability is not something to be embarrassed by, it’s just bloody
annoying. Truly, with you, I will always be tired and annoyed. I guess I was
insane after all, searching for a speech-impaired comedian who kisses random
people for fun, ” he breathlessly snapped at her without any pause.
“At least you don’t sympathize with me for not being able to talk.” She
then typed “I’m actually grateful.” But she did not show it to Hugh.
Hugh bitterly let his words out into space as he stood up from the chair: “I’m
a hair designer; I listen to people’s words and gestures. Would I be able to
listen to your voice?”
“I’m a comedian; I can communicate with anyone and make them laugh
without spoken words.” She too got up from her chair and put on her
jacket.
She left her card that had“30 days from tomorrow. 1 month” written on it
on the counter and briskly left the shop with no hesitation in her step.
The stage lighting is hitting her head as she gets prepared to go on stage. She
always chews and swallows the anti-depressant before going on. Her
manager since last week, Hugh’s expression doesn't seem too bright.
The girl runs around the stage bumping into walls and obstacles making
hilarious movements. She tumbles down onto a small table with a cup of coffee
on top and spills the coffee all over her face. When she falls hard
on the plastic floor, a basket of water balloons hanging from the ceiling
drops. Balloons explode all over her giggling face. With the echoing
sound of the director’s word “cut” her chuckling expression freezes like a
block of dry ice. She gets to her feet. Suzy displays a sign of thank you
to the laughing crew as she brushes off the remaining balloon parts stuck to
her face and hair.
“Great job.” He quickly ran up on the stage and dried her hair with a soft
towel.
“I suppose professionals are different. Such a cynical person like you looks
like the happiest person on Earth on that lighted stage. Do you auto
suggest or something?” he asked as he fixed her rumpled hair and smudged
make-up.
Suzy wrote: “you will see the effect right away with these” as she took out a
bottle of anti-depressants.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” he asked looking at the black bottle of drug.
She wrote, “Ask me anytime if you need some.”
Hugh whispered as he drew eye liner on her closed eye lids,
“I thought being
comedian is an entertaining job when I watched it from the television. Everyone
laughed at your performance, but for some reason, I
just couldn't laugh.”
Suzy typed: “It might look very rough and crude when
you watch very close from the actual stage, but it’s going to look amusing
watching from a distance through widescreen television.”
“Why did you go about choosing your career as a comedian?” he asked as she got
up and changed to a clean shirt.
“After becoming speech-impaired, I decided to become a comedian, a person who
makes others happy and laugh. If a laughing person is happy, a person who makes
them laugh would be happier.” She wrote, “I’m a happy person.”
As a song of Phantom crawled out from the radio, Hugh asked a question.
“Can I ask how you became speech impaired?”
She wrote, “Don’t know, reason unknown.” And took out a black umbrella from the
prop box and slowly walked towards the playing radio.
“So there is not a cure for it?”
Suzy held the umbrella up high above her
head and smashed the radio into pieces as he carefully asked the question.
He got hit by the umbrella as he ran behind her and fell on the ground. She
turned around. He was unsure whether if it was sweat or tears pouring
from her face. She quickly took out her drug bottle and swallowed a pill. Soon,
she wrote “No. I can’t speak until I die,” as she forced a smile back at the
Hugh fallen on the floor.
“Suzy, I know you hate songs because of your disability, but if you listen to
Phantom songs, one day, you might like their songs, eventually. Their songs
have some type of magical force that attracts people to listen.” Suzy stared
into his eyes in a blank expression as he calmed her down.
Contrary to Hugh’s words, Suzy will never come to like the artist Phantom. She
has become mute; therefore she will never listen to their songs. Phantom’s
albums have reached the mainstream music industry and gained extraordinary
success without even a single live performance revealing her true identity.
Many people wanted to watch her live performance but she had did not agree and
refused to reveal herself to the public. She did not release any new albums and
the singer Phantom was forgotten, just like that. Many fans still hope the
singer Phantom will comeback; however, she has become a mute. Therefore, the
singer Phantom will not come back to her fans with her pleasant voice.
A week or two later, it was another day when Suzy had a live performance in
front of hundreds of people. Wearing a tuxedo with a bow tie and an umbrella,
Suzy performed with her usual giggling expression on her face,
accompanied by a fake mustache. Under the bright lighting of the stage,
she stood lonely on the cold, wooden floor and pranced along the stage, with a
little help from her drug.
After the performance, Hugh quickly followed her with a towel and an empty hand
to carry her props. She asked him for a cold drink, so he left the change room
and quickly went looking for it. Soon after he had left the room, she felt the
room was too stuffy and decided to get some fresh outside air.
She quickly left and took the elevator. As the elevator door closed with
her inside, the light on the ceiling started blinking and making a scratching
sound. Then within a blink of a second, the elevator dropped with a violent
rumbling crashing sound. Suzy opened her eyes and saw two red lines on the
floor display of the elevator. She calmed her heart, crawled towards the
buttons and pressed the emergency button. With a buzzing sound, an
administrator answered.
“Hello, this is the administrative department, how may I help you?”
She blinked at the speaker holes and her lips dried up from the anxiety.
“Hello? Do you hear my message?” the person asked again.
Suzy quietly sat back on the corner and took a deep breath.
Just on his way back with a drink, Hugh saw a big crowd of people in front of
the elevator. He asked someone what was going on and heard the story of a woman
who was trapped in the fallen elevator. Some people even said she ran away as
soon as she got off the elevator without answering any questions. He ran out
from the building and to where she would most likely possibly be at. There she
was, at the coffee shop where they had first talked. He saw her sitting at the
table beside the window and tapped the window, calling her name. She took out a
pen and wrote something with a grin on her face.
“How does it feel like to be speech impaired?” she wrote.
He exhaled hot breath making the window fog in front of him. Then he wrote, “ I
feel like suffocating.”
He entered the shop and dragged gently but firmly her out to a quiet place near
the beach front.
“How can a speech impaired person be so reckless? Look at those hands: they’re
all scratched and bruised. I was originally a hair and make-up artist before
even talking about being your manager. I take responsibility and pride in what
I create and decorate. You are the canvas and my artwork. Don’t ever just
leave me and make me worry about you again,” he complained as she looked far
into the waves of water hitting the shore.
She turned and looked him in the eyes. Suddenly, his eyes open widely and
lurched with a brief shocked expression.
“Suzy, you can’t talk right?” she gave him a annoyed look and stared at him.
She took out her phone and starting typing “do we have to go over this again?”
“You were going to write “do we need to go over this again, right?”
“And you said I’m sorry before that.” He hesitated and explained slowly.
“Listen carefully, I know this sounds ridiculous, and I don’t read minds, but
just listen to me without being defensive.” He slowly finished his sentence.
“I think I can hear your voice. I can hear your thoughts and what you are
trying to say.”
“You told me the name of the cigarette you were smoking the first time we met
in the elevator. Simple 7, I heard it very clearly.” He looked straight into
her eyes and spoke in a careful manner.
“Can you, can you really hear my voice?” she thought to herself as she looked
down at the rough looking ground. Her eyes were moist and her bottom eye lids
swelled from heat and tears.
“You have such a beautiful voice,” he replied with an honest smile.
Suzy started dropping her tears as he held her arms and hugged her around her
trembling shoulders without another word. He looked up, and saw, mixed with
clouds and gaps between, a hint of clear blue skies and warm winter sun
glow.
