Misty and the Oom Sound Weapon
Author’s Note: This piece is republished and revised from my original blog at https://kittiephoenixromans08.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/misty-and-the-oom-sound-weapon/. It was based on incident that I had involving a mouse and a basement level washroom. I don’t like creatures, but I also don’t like dead things.
My name is Misty. I’m just a quiet grey creature who’s so very small, and I don’t like a lot of attention or noise or actions. My clan tries to live and make peace with the Ooms. They don’t understand us too well. They’re so big, and sometimes they’re mean. And they don’t listen when we try to talk.
We try to listen to our Elders. They teach us the ways of the Ooms–which ones are dangerous, which ones make good living mates, you know, all the important things.
My clan, in their peace-making efforts, lives in the big caves of the Ooms. These caves are warm and often provide us lots of food. Sometimes, they are too well lit. Other times, they don’t understand we want peace, and they set traps to catch us. The ones who get caught smell funny and are never seen again.
Too many of my older brothers and sisters have disappeared this way in my cave. I’d been a really good mouse, and I really tried to listen to my Elders.
But I really blew it last week.
My Oom cave had three levels. Our Elders have said none of the levels should be visited openly in daylight when the sun can be seen. But I was SO hungry. I just had to venture out.
I was in this cool and quiet room in the Oom cave. Nothing was happening. I couldn’t smell any good food, and I couldn’t find the water I kept smelling, so I sat and thought about it.
All of a sudden the door burst open. I thought it was an Oom, but then there was this awful, loud noise. It was in my lower hearing range, and I could feel it shaking my insides. It couldn’t really be an Oom; none of the Elder’s stories said anything about sound and noise and feeling sick and vibrating in my belly. It went away for a while.
Then it came back. It was horrible. It looked so real, like an Oom, but it had this horrific sound. It had to be some deceptive Oom machine made to look like an Oom. It just had to be a weapon, something the Ooms made to hurt my clan.
And it approached me…Ooms aren’t supposed to approach us. It’s the Elders’ rules! I don’t know about their machines though. Don’t the Oom machines have to follow the same rules as the Ooms?
I sat, shaking and quaking. I didn’t have any Elders to help me. I just didn’t know what to do.
All of a sudden, I was tumbled into something with an artificial sky. I could see everything. The sky was above me, but I couldn’t get out even though it looked like I could run for it.
The horrible Oom sound machine flew me through the Oom cave and put me outside the Oom cave. It was so bright. I started getting sick all over again. I just couldn’t stop shaking. I peed and peed and pooped and pooped.
And I could not escape.
I was alone for a while. The Oom machine kept going away and coming back; it tapped the sides whenever it was there. I started to feel okay when it left, but I would get sick all over again when it came back. I really hoped it would go away and never come back.
This was a disaster of epic proportions. I cried and cried, but the Elders just couldn’t hear me. As the sun moved and the air got cooler, I saw another Oom. I started shaking as it approached me. It didn’t look like that other bad Oom machine.
At least, it was quiet. It started to move me through the air again. You just can’t imagine how horribly scary it is to fly when your clan was never designed with wings. It started taking me to where the winged clans live; most of the winged clans are good and won’t make my clan disappear. The lands of the winged clans have lots of nice leaves and ground, and I can hide. I will follow the Elder’s rules about hiding this time!
The Oom dumped me out. I wanted to yell at the Oom. I tried, but it was walking away and I was too angry and scared to put my voice in a way Ooms can hear.
I stopped, and I stayed where I landed. I thought it was all safe, but then… I smelled it. On the wind…
It was a Destroyer. It was horrific. The sound isn’t as bad as the Oom sound weapon, but you know once you hear it you have to run for your life. The Elders tell us no one ever meets a Destroyer and lives to tell about it.
I ran and ran. I finally found a little hollow and hid. The Destroyer passed, but it was so horrific. I froze. I’ve sat here for a week. My friend the monk who goes by Chip leaves me little nuts. He tells me I have to leave soon.
I wish I would have listened to the Elders.
Elders, if you can hear me, I promise I will be a good member of the clan. I promise I will listen to all your rules. Just come find me and take me to another Oom cave, any Oom cave but that one. And make sure you tell little clan members about the Oom sound weapon!
