Raising the Bar

The sound of a handheld tape recorder being turned on with the press of a button precedes moments of silence broken only by the crackling of the device itself.

The tape progresses in silence for several moments before the uncomfortably high pitched squeaking of a metal door being moved abruptly is suddenly heard, the lack of any impact suggesting that it was opened, and not closed. Further attesting to this blind presumption is the sound of people entering the small room, the sound of their shoes clapping noisily against the marble floor fill the otherwise empty tape, ending only as chairs are then pulled across the room and seated upon as told by their quiet groans of age and strain. Determining how many have entered the room would not be an easy task, but following yet another moment of silence, two unique and distinct voices can then be heard speaking to one another in a somewhat formal dialogue; an interview, or an interrogation. The nature of the discussion is unknown, but the circumstances surrounding the tape's creation suggests that this is more than just idle pleasantries between two friends.

The first voice, commanding in tone and deeper in pitch, is the first to speak. Creaking from his chair can be heard as he leans forward to the device, the slight wheezing of his voice and clearing of his throat denouncing him as a man in his middle-age.

The man's breathing fades, the chair on which he is presumably seated creaking as he no doubt straightens his posture and leans away from the recorder. A stack of papers are heard being picked up and flipped through, each flip of the page spaced out from one another by no more than a minute at most. Finally, he speaks once more, his heard no longer as clear and crisp due to distance, but he is still more than intelligible;

The second voice abruptly responds without any need for further coaxing, replying to the question without hesitation nor any signs of anxiousness despite the evident circumstances. The voice's owner is easily identified to be of the opposite gender as told by the subtle differences between it and her unmistakably male counter-part, yet even then, a somewhat boyish nature is present due to the voice's hoarse condition.

Several extended moments of audio stillness follow the overly energetic outburst from the woman, only the sounds of distant individuals shuffling with their belts - no doubt security personnel preparing to act if things were to get violent. The tension between the two parties rising considerably as neither knew how to respond, yet one eventually did;

Following the man's words, a stack of paper could promptly be heard as they are tossed onto the table in exchange for another collection. Again, the pages flip one by one as the man reviews whatever documents lay before him.

Despite the earlier pause between the two, the woman's energy fails to recede in any way... If anything, it only grows the more she speaks. Already, any sense of formality is abandoned by the convicted party, taking on instead a much more casual tone despite the man refusing to do the same.

A short-lived but none the less lively chuckle escapes from the woman in reply to the man's sarcastic assurance.

Her words are cut short as the man clears his throat, a sharp series of taps being offered to the recorder, manifesting itself upon playback as aggressively loud thumping.

Her words are once more overlapped by the sound of the man leaning forward yet again, his voice overwhelming the woman's own as he speaks into the recorder. Despite his hushed tone, the woman abruptly falls silent as it's evident she's lost his attention.

Immediately following the conclusion to the man's threats, genuine laughter bursts forth from the woman. Her apparent amusement to the man's words going so far as to cause her shackled hands to slap down onto the metal table a number of times as she nearly starves herself of a breath, a few sheets of paper are heard falling to the ground as a result. Despite the older man's attempts, the woman's laughter does not die down for several minutes, and her apparent state of amusement continues for several minutes more - to the point where questions and further threats evoke little response other than further laughter.

The sound of a chair screeching against the floor is abruptly heard as someone abruptly stands, the tape promptly being grabbed and lifted to the man's lips as he concludes his interview. By the tone of his voice, he's clearly lost some of his cool, though succeeds in maintaining an official persona.

The audio cuts out shortly there into a mess of clicking and static, it appears the tape ends there.