Proradio and button ON ANTENNA
On Monday morning, Lena Kulesza walked into the high school as if it were a comedy show, only without an audience. Her backpack creaked as it hid a microphone, tripod and three cables that always got tangled. She hosted the school's Shum at School podcast, so chaos was her personal jingle. What she didn't anticipate, however, was that on this day it would be the jingle that sang her out first.
The loudspeaker in the hall crackled, and then a voice sounded between a voiceover and a meme. "Attention, third graders, chemistry moved to 112 because the frogs refused to cooperate," it announced politely. Someone snickered, someone recorded a report on Instagram, and Marian the caretaker began clapping discreetly. "Lena Kuleszo, you found the memory stick behind the vending machines, I think it likes to fall on the chips," a voice added.
Lena pored over the faces of her friends and realised that the school radio had just been hijacked by someone, perhaps with humour. Olek, her hearty companion and a fan of noise, raised his eyebrows like a satellite dish. "We're going to the basement, that's where the old studio is, you know, the one from the floppy disk days," he said, already pulling out a torch. The smell of chalk and posters from the nineties led them to a door with a sign that said Radio Broadcasting Studio.
Inside, the controls blinked, although no one was broadcasting here since the director wore a moustache like a circus performer. There was a reel-to-reel tape recorder on the desk and a piece of paper above it: "Do not feed the microphone with sarcasm". The meter popped up as if laughing at his own jokes, and a school jumper hung in the corner. Lena leaned into the microphone and grunted, trying to sound professional, though her pulse was throbbing.
"Hello, studio, if this is a joke, it's quite an investment," she chuckled, and Olek showed a thumbs up. A voice immediately answered from the whole school's speakers, processing her sentence into a better version. "Dear listeners, here's the debut of a duo who have just entered the trouble of first grade," murmured the Radio. The reel squeaked, the red button ON THE ANTENNA lit up and the door clicked from inside. "Lena and Olek," said a voice softly, "we have a pilot project called Proradio 2.0, we're predicting a live future." The LEDs pulsed, the first bell sounded in the corridor, even though according to the plan it was only supposed to be in five minutes. "In ten seconds we will announce an event that will bring the whole school to a standstill, we ask for your support," a voice added. Olek looked at Lena, Lena at the red button, and the meter just started counting down: ten, nine, eight....
Author of this ending:
English
polski
What Happens Next?