Have you heard of the Midnight radio show?

I’m hoping someone can help me. I’m having trouble putting this all down, but hopefully you’ll understand why I need someone to call me as soon as possible. You see, it started about a week ago, just after finishing another late shift. I was planning on driving down my usual route back home, sadly, the whole road was closed due to road works. Which meant I had to take the longer country road back. After pulling my frustrated face off my steering wheel, thinking about the forty-five minutes of sleep I was actively losing, I turned around to drive through the quiet backroads.

While the streetlights faded behind me in the rear view, all I could do was curse under my breath about all the small inconveniences in my bubble that seemed to line up perfectly today. My crappy boss that saw me on the way out the door stopped me to ask, “Could you stay a little longer? We need to finish our presentation for the board. It’d mean the world to me.” While he put on his coat, patting me on the back before adding a “Thanks bud, you’re the best”.

I’d like to think this was an out-of-the-blue type of day, honestly this was becoming more typical with each passing week. I remember thinking about quitting, then running through the whole interview process again with other companies, along with all the other headaches that come with searching for a new job, so I quickly shut the idea down.

So, twenty minutes into my detour, as the clock struck midnight, the radio that was blaring to keep myself awake turned to static, eating away at my music until all that was left was a chipper voice breaking through to announce himself.

“Gooooood evening to all you lovely listeners, and welcome back to Midnight radio, it’s me, the host, back again to bring all the joy of a late night show”. 

“What the hell?” I muttered, thinking I’d probably picked up a signal from some independent station. This didn’t stop me from attempting to switch my own music back on before giving up a few attempts later. Rather than risk driving into the nearest tree, I kept “the host” on while I continued on my drive. As I approached my driveway, I found myself enjoying the show more. There was new music from bands like: Tall Man with the Backbone, Six Dollar Sunglasses, and Jim Jones retirement plan. 

It was almost one o’clock when the host came back on after Tall Man’s latest hit “Don’t go looking for my face” finished playing before closing out with “Well, listeners, we’ve come to the end. We’ll be back tomorrow night with a few new additions to our little radio show, so be sure to tune in. I hope you have a good rest of your night because sometimes it might just be your last, goodnight folks”. With that ominous last sentence, the strange broadcast ended, leaving me in the static, sitting idle in my driveway. Feeling a lot more relaxed, I sank into my bed, set my alarm for work, then let myself drift off.

The next day, I get into work a little later than I planned after sleeping in past my alarm. My boss decided to make a big joke with a fat grin on his face when I walked through the door, “Well, look who decided to show up! Maybe lay off the drinking on a work night, eh champ?” Fifteen minutes by the way. I was late by Fifteen god damn minutes after doing his overdue work, and I got a live at the Apollo stand up routine. I centred myself, letting all the awful things that I could do to him fade from my mind. My body’s tense muscles loosen as I take a deep breath. “You’re right! Haha! Anyway, we’ve got that big presentation coming up, let’s get in there!” Yeah, I hate myself too.

We walked in to see the heads of the other departments all gathered to hear our new finance plan to help turn this company around. I’m not gonna leave any details here because, well, I don’t want people to find out where I work, and second… This is all incredibly boring. The point is, I did all the work. 

So when this guy, at the beginning of this presentation that I worked on for weeks, decides he’s more “qualified” to present this to the others than I am, while introducing it like he did all the work to show off. I make a fuss, I stand up for myself, I tell him I’m the guy who did it, while all he did was sneak a greasy bag of food into his office to eat. (He thinks he’s slick, but we can hear him gorging inside that wet slop filled box of his). 

After getting some of this out of my system, letting the red mist leave my body, I realise I’m standing there with the other bosses of the company who are now convinced their fellow boss has brought a screaming mad man into the workplace. To top it all off, after I’m done mouthing off, all he does is put his sweaty palm on my shoulder, while saying, “Why don’t you go home for the day?”.

The expression on my face clearly didn’t help people’s feelings towards me at that current moment, so without further comment, I slowly walked back out of the room, listening to his voice irritating me further about how “Sorry he is for my outburst” and to just move on with HIS presentation.

Grinding my teeth all the way home, walking through my door before flopping my entire body onto my couch. I decide then and there, after today’s final straw, I will be quitting in the morning. Until that happens, I’m gonna drown myself in my feelings. Grabbing the remote, I stick on a movie I’ve seen a hundred times over while trying to imagine what it would be like if I never had to work ever again.

A few hours passed by before my phone started pinging with notifications from the work group chat. For the first couple of pings, I ignored them, but when they piled up to the point where I thought my phone was going to explode, I relented, picked up my phone to see our whole office going out after work to a bar with pictures of what looked like the best night of this year.

People were ecstatic because our boss did a stellar performance, so much so that they all got together and organised an impromptu party to celebrate. Looking up from my phone, eyeing the bottle of Jack that had been waiting for me ever since I walked through the door. I give up. “Well, I might as well play the part of the office drunk”. After an hour and half a bottle later, I was three sheets to the wind. If you had walked past my house to listen, you’d think you’d have heard a great get together happening. 

It was right in the middle of not my most beautiful moment when the speakers I set up to play bad music from the early 2000’s crackled, popped and screeched static, then swiftly turned into the late night greeting from the host. “Goood evening listeners, welcome back to Midnight radio,  tonight we’ve got a few more new bands lined up for the next hour, there will also be a little treat for some of our newer listeners at the end of the hour, so stay with us while we get settled in to the sound of Motorbike Cascade by the Shredders”. I jumped out of my seat at the sound of his announcement. I went over to my speakers while checking my phone for any changes. Nothing had changed on my phone, it was still showing that my playlist was still connected to the speakers.

I stood there scratching my head, wondering how the hell this radio station began blaring through. But as I said, I was completely drunk at the time and couldn’t be bothered to fix the issue. Instead, I decided to sit down to enjoy the next hour or so before resigning myself to pass out on my couch.

What followed was music that topped last night’s selection by a mile, for the strange names that they were given, I wrote them off as some new indie bands just pushing their stuff out there. More bands came and went with peculiar names until the last five minutes of the show, when everything came to a dead stop.

Silence. For about thirty seconds, there was nothing, to the point where I got up to check if my speakers had just given up. As I reached out to turn them on and off again, the host came back in a flash with more of an upbeat tone than before. “Well, folks, we’re coming up to that special surprise we’ve been cooking up. Tonight we will be calling one listener to play, What’s that song!” A crowd can be heard applauding in the background from one of his sound effects. “We here at Midnight radio wanted to thank you for the new listeners for tuning in, you’re making dreams of ours come true, so let’s call a lucky listener now!” My phone buzzes in my hand.

I look down to see no number displayed on my phone, only a big green button is shown. Without much of a second thought, I drunkenly thumb the button, swing the phone up to my ear while slurring a big “Yelllllow!” The host’s voice busted out of my phone with the same enthusiasm, “Hello there! Congrats on being called in for our one question quiz! How are you feeling today?”.

I wasn’t sure how many people might have been listening to this broadcast at the time, although I don’t think knowing would’ve stopped me from blurting out details about why I was having a one man drinking game with myself before finishing off with some colourful comments about my boss. After I finished up on embarrassing myself live on air, I heard, “Well, I’m sorry to hear you’ve hit a low point…But! Tonight, you can turn all that around by answering one simple question. What’s! That! Song!” The applause comes again, stronger this time as the host lays down the rules. “Now you only get one chance, so make it count. Don’t worry, though, because you do have a support line, so feel free to call on them if you need it. Be warned, though, you will not qualify for the prize if you do.” I thought that was a stupid idea. “Why would I use them then?” The host ignores my inquiry and moves swiftly onwards. “Are you ready? Because here it comes”.

The song begins to play, which I recognise instantly from last night. The name was escaping me in a drunken haze, then, through closing my eyes, pinching the brim of my nose, muttering “Come on, you know this” a few times to myself, the answer struck like a bolt of lightning. “Don’t go looking for my face!” I yell triumphantly to the sound of a cheering audience and the host, “Well done, listener! You nailed it, glad to know you’ve been paying attention. Now”. His voice takes a lower tone as he begins to talk about the prize. “Have you ever wanted something more than anything?” I nod drunkenly, even though I’m alone. “Well, now you can get it, listener. All you gotta do is make a wish”.

“Are you serious?” What a cop out, I thought to myself, “As a heart attack, sir!” His chipper tone had come back in full force. “Now what do you want more than anything?” I sat there for a few moments thinking about what I wanted most from this. If I were to treat this like blowing out birthday candles, I might as well go all in “You know what host?” I start to say while pacing around my living room, “All I want most in the world right now is for that fat prick of a boss of mine to take a short walk off the top floor of our office!” The host laughs loudly at the sound of this, like he can’t believe his ears. “You know I knew I liked you, listener. Now is that your wish? If it is, just say your name, your wish, and hang up. It’s that simple”. Barely conscious at this point, while now lying on the floor, I say.

“My name is Patrick, my wish is for my boss to dive off a building” with that I hang up, fall back while the host leaves me with his sign off “Well that sure was an exciting quiz, we’ll be back again tomorrow night so in the mean time, I hope you have a good rest of your night because sometimes it might just be your last, goodnight folks”.

The next morning, I found myself hungover in a puddle of my own drool, the sounds of the morning made themselves known slowly through my ringing head. The bird tweeting, cars driving by, and the three alarms that I missed were going off to alert me that I was at least an hour late for work. “Crap” I grumbled to myself, thinking that if I wasn’t going to quit today, they were definitely going to fire me. I dragged my hands over my eyes, walked over to the sink to splash some water on my face to wake myself up. Finally, while half dressed, I made my way out the door to quit my dead end job to move to another one.

Driving into work, I was still hungover, trying to think of the perfect last thing to say on my way out the door, then, as I pulled into the car park, I  immediately saw the ambulance out front and the police standing guard to stop anyone from getting too close to the scene. My heart dropped. People were all crowding around, desperately trying to see what was going on. I walked over before getting stopped by one of my more friendly co-workers, “Where were you this morning? Did you see what happened!?” I was in a state of shock, looking over at the crowd. “It’s a good thing you weren’t here, we don’t know what happened, he just…” Their voice trails off as they sneak another glance behind them. Putting my hand on their shoulder, excusing myself past them and through the crowd. The police yelled at me to get back, but I had to know. For a brief few moments, I saw him. What was left of him anyway.

Later, I was told that when the people working on the first floor and above looked out their window at the right time today, they would have caught a glimpse of a man in his early forties, zooming past for a split second before the sounds of bones crunching against pavement could be heard. Everyone in the building came rushing, screaming out the front doors to see what was left of my boss lying face first against the pavement, his legs twisted at an awful angle, with his right arm broken with bones poking out of the skin, as easily as a needle through fabric.

According to the people who stuck around to help while the ambulance came, they turned around in horror when the boss lifted his heavy blood spattered head off the ground, letting people see his eyes, which were turned upward as if he was in a trance. Then, with the last of his strength, he had used his only barely functioning left arm with broken, snapped fingers to pull himself back towards the building’s entrance, towards the stairs, leaving a snail trail of crimson gore behind him. 

He died somewhere between the first and second floors after paramedics tried desperately to take him back to the ambulance. The sickening smell swam around us all in front of the building, a stench that was almost certainly going to cling to some of these people if not their clothes then their memories, for a long time to come. I didn’t know what else to do, so I just got in my car, taking the long way home.

Sitting in front of my TV later that evening, the story was, of course, in the news, and the people who were interviewed had said they saw him leaving his office before tragically taking his own life. He greeted people on the way out as if he was leaving early in the work day and not about to jump off a four storey building. I had my head in my hands while listening to their comments about what a nice guy he was, how he looked out for them in the worst times. I turned it off. I couldn’t bare it anymore. I messed up, I messed up bad. A man was killed because of me. I looked at the clock, only three more hours until midnight. I had to make it right.

I needed to take that quiz again. I had another wish to make.

I sat there patiently waiting in the dark, listening to nothing until eventually, shocking me out of my stillness all the things in my house that could produce a sound all yelled at once “Goood evening listeners welcome back to Midnight radio, tonight since our last broadcast was so successful we’ve decided to bring back the quiz for another night, if this keeps up we might have it as nightly part of our show! Now, how does that sound?” The applause started up, so he could pat himself on the back for coming up with this idea. 

The last couple of times of listening to Midnight radio, it felt great. There was something in the songs that got played that was just so enticing, drawing me in for the whole hour right up until the quiz. But tonight, after everything that happened, there was a sense of dread forming in my stomach, like I had swallowed a set of weights. After the next agonising forty five minutes, the host finally announced it, in a cool, even tone, “Well, everyone we’ve had a lot of fun the past few days and even granted a wish. Maybe, like me, you are all curious how our winner from last night is getting on. So why don’t we give him a call since I know he’s listening anyway. Isn’t that right, Patrick?” I froze. I had no idea what I was dealing with here. I felt like I was being toyed with, as if a shark was swimming around me, letting the moments of life linger a bit longer before sinking its teeth in.

“Patrick,” His voice came again, not a question this time. He knew I was here. Listening. “What are you?” I said aloud to an empty room. My phone rang in response. I lifted it slowly to my ear.

“Did you get what you wished for, Patrick?” From the way he said it, I could hear the grin on his face. “I want to take it back. Can I do that?” My voice was trembling whilst also doing its best to sound somewhat confident. Laughing he said, “Well, of course you can. You just have to play the game again. May I ask why? You seemed awfully set on this wish just last night.” Stuttering in my response, I explained how I had no idea this was all real. Also, saying that I may not have liked the guy, but he didn’t deserve that. “Well Patrick, I had hoped you were smarter than that. I can’t fault you for trying to set things right, though. In any case, are you ready to play What’s! That! Song!”. I agreed.

The song began to start playing for a little longer than before. I think he did this just to mock me. At the time, I thought it was to give me more of a chance, to pull the song name from the lyrics, looking back, he must’ve known I would never get it. I fell for the trap, so by the time I realised I was in one, it closed. I gave the wrong answer.

“Ooo sorry, there Patrick. That’s not what we were looking for, it was, in fact, Big man, bigger falls. And with that-” I tried to cut him off pleading for another chance, but he continued “we’ve come to the end of our show tonight, listeners. Now, since Patrick here wasn’t up to the challenge, sadly, he won’t be back on again”. My guilt was overriding any pride I had. “Please, I’m begging, undo it! I’ll do anything!” The host stopped his sign off.

“Well, that’s wonderful, because we’ve got just the thing for someone like you, Patrick. How would you like to join our support line to help other callers get their wish?” I didn’t hesitate. “Yes! What do I need to do?” Immediately after saying this, the line went dead.

“Hello?” The words crept out of my mouth as if terrified to be heard. *Ring ring* Came an old rotary phone from behind me on the kitchen counter, which I had never seen before. I picked it up. It was the host. “Hey there, Patrick, glad you’ve joined our support system, happy to have you on the team”. Cutting to the chase, I asked, “What do I need to do to undo my wish?” Hearing a slight uptick of laughter in his voice, he replied, “Slow your roll! You’ll get there. But first, you need to understand the rules of this”. Losing my patience, exclaiming “What rules! Surely it’s not difficult?” “No, of course not, all you have to do is: Stay inside, Pick up when the phone rings, also listen to the show for a chance at winning. See? Simple”. I frowned at the rules being told, and before asking why I couldn’t go outside, he urged me to go take a look behind my curtains.

Nothing. Pitch blackness was all I could see through my window, which usually showed the glowing orange street lights. My hands began to shake, my breathing became shallow as the voice of the host broke through, “Now you’re going to stay here for a while while you wait on a new caller to ask for your help. If they ask for your help and you win, you get to take their wish”. Turning around slowly as if this phone was a wild predator, all I could think to ask was if they would let me out as well. But he had already left to finish his outro. “Sorry about that, everyone. I was just getting our new support caller situated. Now that he’s all settled, we can end this properly. So until then, I hope you have a good rest of your night because sometimes it might just be your last, goodnight folks”.

That was one week ago.

The radio has been going constantly with more bands and songs that I’ve never heard of. Every night the show starts, a new contestant is called, then I pray they ask for a support line. But why would they? You don’t get a prize for that. That’s why I’m reaching out here. I’m begging you, if you hear the Midnight radio show and you get called, please ask for me. I’m running out of food, and I’m trying not to be tempted to find a way out through the darkness outside my home, but every day it becomes more difficult. I think I hear people out there sometimes. So please, one last time, I’m begging you.

Have you heard the Midnight radio show?