DISCORDIA

[ 01 ] morse code

00:00 |───────── 10:07

     AT EXACTLY THE SAME TIME every evening when the Guard patrolled the lockup for the delinquents, someone would play the harmonica in one of the cells. It was always just a series of random noises, as if the player had no concept of what music actually sounded like. The room would echo with its dissonant cries, spilling out into the hallway through splintered cracks for others to hear. To some, it was a grievance and others thought it a godsend from the monotony of their daily cells. Nobody knew what it was supposed to mean—unless they knew morse code.

     Y.O.U.   A.R.E.   T.H.E.   B.I.G.G.E.S.T.  A.S.S.   I.N.  T.H.E.   U.N.I.V.E.R.S.E.

     It was an inside joke that ran rampant around the Sky Box—the solitary ghost that lived in the corner cell. None have ever had the pleasure of catching a glimpse of the illusive inmate, or even knowing exactly how long she had been in there with them. Rumours about her were ever evolving and adapting to new culminations of the imagination. Jinny Shumway was as mysterious as the dark side of the moon, an enigma that shrouded herself in incomprehensible shadows. Once, she held her head high as people looked up to her in reverence—the quintessence of humanity's limitless potential. Her mind worked in unfathomable ways, building intricate scaffolds that reached the highest heavens of knowledge. She had wasted it all away on a decadent dream.

     The door to her room suddenly opened with a loud slam, causing her to start in surprise and abandon her past time of coding various expletives. The Commander's all too familiar presence strode inside with unyielding authority, his sharp eyes set on her with a perturbed frown. Jinny stared back at him defiantly, eyebrow raised; it wasn't everyday that she got to see her father in the very flesh. Visits had always been limited to a need to know basis.

     "Get up," he ordered.

     Jinny gave him a disgruntled look that clearly asked him to go float himself. The Commander sighed with impatience, before marching over to grab her arm roughly. He pulled her up onto her feet and swiped the harmonica from her hands.