SHANI, 16-year-old high school student, sits horrified, mind racing only a bit faster than her heartbeat. She is in an abandoned classroom in the school, listening to her iPad. At only 5 feet tall, her feet swing off of the ground in the tall stools. She twists her braids in her hand nervously, feeling glad that she is wearing black. She feels less visible. It is like her worst nightmare come true. She listens in disbelief, hoping against hope that she is mistaken about what she heard. But she knows what it is. All over social media are words that she knows well because they come from her very own recordings. She wants to die.
As she sits dazed, not wanting to listen, but not able to stop, 17-year-old TY comes bursting into the room. Tall and thin, he is wearing his professional attire for dress to impress day. He runs his hand across his waves and turns on SHANI.
Welcome as Tales Of The Text Podcast presents “The Recording”. Have you ever used voice memo and just walked away or have you ever secretly recorded your friends?
TY
It was you, wasn’t it?
SHANI
What??
TY
It was you. You recorded us. It had to be you. Nobody else was anywhere around.
SHANI
I don’t know what-
TY
Don’t lie. You’re sitting here listening to it with that look on your face. Obviously somebody got ahold of your stuff.
SHANI
Listen, I’m sorry, okay. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.
TY
It doesn’t matter because it is. I could get into serious trouble. I am the president of the student council. I’m supposed to be on track for Ivy League. I can’t have my business out in the street.
SHANI
It’s not just your stuff. This is my stuff that got violated. It’s bad enough that it was stolen, but now all of this stuff is coming out.
TY
Why did you make these recordings? Were you going to blackmail people or something?
SHANI
No! I would never do that.
TY
So what was the point?
SHANI
You wouldn’t understand.
TY
Try me. You owe me an explanation.
SHANI
Okay, okay. It’s just…I’m a writer, okay? I just use the stuff for my stories. That’s it. No one was ever supposed to know where I got the stuff from.
Join us after the drama for our After The Text segment where we discuss the themes covered in the show. We discuss how the characters and story lines in the show relate to our own lives and what lessons we can take from this episode of Tales of the Text podcast.
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Young Voices
Kaitlyn
Lyric
Leland Stanford
Hugo Sunchild @hugo_sunchild
Executive Producer/Creator/Narrator
Ms. J (Joi Mitchell)
Music From Epidemic Sound
Yomoti – Blurred Out (podcast intro music bed)
SINY – Buzz (@ :24 second mark)
Vaxla – Isberg (@ 8:06 mark)
_91Nova – Gridworld (@ 15:29 mark)
oomie – Imaginary Friends (After The Text @ 16:18 mark)
Audio Editor:
Scott Stronach – SoundMind Editing
Sound Effects
Epidemic Sound & Youtube Audio Library
Recorded At Mystery Street Recording ~ Chicago, Illinois
Photo Credit- Shutter Stock
