I don’t know what it is about this particular sound effect causes such a visceral reaction in me. Tonight I felt compelled to change my timer’s ringtone and I came across it. It’s like the hair on the back of my neck stands up when I hear it.
It unnerves me somehow. I do not know why. I cannot remember.
It gives me the feeling I’d have if I had to wake at an ungodly early hour for something unpleasant. Something I dreaded doing, like saying goodbye to a loved one when I wasn’t sure if I’d see them again. There’s that sinking, sick feeling that goodbyes can bring.
Perhaps I used it as an alarm clock over the summer, when my dreams started to be long, intense and emotionally draining. When the ringtone went off, and I slowly came out of that groggy fog and into consciousness and the sound of it faded out as something else faded in – that one song that kept playing over and over in my head. That’s certainly an unpleasant memory to be brought back to – that weird, haunting stress reaction to a heavy heart.
Or possibly it’s just a super creepy ringtone.
BEAN'S BABBLETORIUM 